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Citation Styles

Guide for APA, Chicago, MLA citation styles and more.

Definitions

citation reflects all of the information a person would need to locate a particular source. For example, basic citation information for a book consists of name(s) of author(s) or editor(s), title of book, name of publisher, place of publication, and most recent copyright date.
 
A citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting. 

bibliography lists citations for all of the relevant resources a person consulted during his or her research.

In an annotated bibliography, each citation is followed by a brief note—or annotation—that describes and/or evaluates the source and the information found in it.

works cited list presents citations for those sources referenced in a particular paper, presentation, or other composition.
 
An in-text citation consists of just enough information to correspond to a source's full citation in a Works Cited list. In-text citations often require a page number (or numbers) showing exactly where relevant information was found in the original source.

Overview

There are quite a few different ways to cite resources in your paper. The citation style usually depends on the academic discipline involved. For example:

  • MLA style is typically used by the Humanities
  • APA style is often used by Education, Psychology, and Business.
  • Chicago/Turabian is generally used by History and some of the Fine Arts

Check with your professor to make sure you use the required style. Whatever style you use, be consistent! 

A great one-stop shopping resource is THE PURDUE OWL.  This has easy-to-follow examples of the major style guides.