Citation Guide


citation guide

While many of our customers come to us for help with essay writing, more and more customers are coming to us because they are confused about citations in essays.  Whether students are asked to use APA, MLA, Turabian, Chicago, or a specialty format, they ask the same questions or types of questions about citations over and over.  In this citation guide we will clear up the confusion and help you understand how to effectively and correctly use sources and citation formats in your essay, research paper, term paper, dissertation, or other piece of academic writing.

What is MLA citation format?

MLA refers to the Modern Language Association’s format for documenting sources in academic or scholarly writing.  While many students wonder how to cite MLA format, it is the most commonly used approach in American high schools and one that most students have had to use before entering college.  MLA intext citation uses a combination of author and page number to help the reader find the information in the text.  In additions MLA intext citation format is easier for many students than using footnotes or endnotes.

What is APA citation format?

APA refers to the American Psychological Association’s format for documenting sources in academic or scholarly writing.

What is Chicago citation format?

Chicago refers to the Chicago Manual of Style’s format for documenting sources in academic of scholarly writing.  The Chicago Manual of Style is sometimes erroneously referred to as the Chicago Manual of Citation.  Kate Turabian published a guide explaining the style and it is sometimes referred to as Turabian.

What are internal citations?

When documenting sources in academic or scholarly work, there are two main approaches: notes and internal citations.  When using notes, the reader is referred to a footnote or an endnote for information about the source document.  When using internal citations, the reader can find the information about the source in the body of the document, usually in parenthesis.

What style of writing do I use for my assignment

Many times, professors will specify a particular writing style for your assignments, and we even know some universities and colleges that dictate the use of a single type of writing style for all writing assignments in a particular major or field.  However, sometimes, especially in upper-level courses, you will be given an assignment without a specified citation style.  By that time, you may already be familiar with what style to use.  If not, generally: MLA format citation style is used in English, literature, and humanities courses; Turabian style is used in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences; Chicago style citation is used for humanities and natural sciences; and, finally, APA is used in the social sciences.  In addition, many schools have a default style; the majority of our customers request APA style.  However, when in doubt, ask your professor.  Far better to feel like you look foolish asking about the preferred style than turn in a paper in a different style and receive a substantially lower grade than you actually earned because of formatting issues.

What if a professor’s instructions say to use a particular style, but also includes examples that are not actually in that style?

This is something that we see all the time.  For example, APA citation style does not include references to page numbers in in-text citations, but simply to the source as a whole.  (If the source is an article or chapter of a book, the whole reference may contain page numbers, but usually that will be multiple pages and not indicate the page on which the cited material can be found).  However, many professors will ask for APA style with page numbers.  As long as you are preparing your paper for a class, not for publication, incorporate your professor’s instructions, even if they go against the designated style manual.

When do I need to cite to source material?

This question or a variation on this question is probably our most frequently asked question about citations.  The reality is that many students are simply not sure when they are required to cite to source material, and, with many professors requiring students to use plagiarism-detecting software or websites when they turn in their works, students want to be certain that they are correctly citing all information that requires citation.

If you are providing a direct quotation, that quotation needs to be enclosed in quotation marks (or, if a long quotation, set aside as a block quotation) and cited.  However, there are certain word combinations that are common in the English language; you do not need to cite these word combinations to a source, even if you have encountered them in sources during your research.  If you have any questions about whether a combination of words needs to be cited to a particular source, ask yourself whether you have run across that word combination in the past or do a quick Google search to see how common the phrase is.  However, keep in mind that very famous quotations may have an extremely large number of Google hits and still need to be contained within quotations.

If you are referencing material you found in a source, but not including it in a direct quotation, then you may or may not have to cite the source material.  Is the information you are referencing common knowledge among your target audience?  For example, for you to note that the sky is blue is common knowledge, even if it is something that one of your sources says.  However, for you to name the frequency of the light that makes the sky appear blue, you are going to want to include a citation for most audiences.  If your audience is a group of electrical engineers who all have knowledge of light frequencies and consider that fact common knowledge, then you may not need a source. One way to determine whether or not you need to provide a citation is to ask yourself if you knew the information before you read the source, and, if so how you came by that information.  Little-known facts and any use of figures should be cited.

How do I pick a quality resource?

This is one of the questions that we are asked most frequently, and an area where many students face particular challenges.  There are some general guidelines for picking a good resource.  Is the source a recent one?  There is a general rule that you should try to use sources that are less than three years old; however, this rule may vary depending on your discipline.  Some sources are essentially timeless, such as reference books and fiction books.

There are also a number of ways to find quality resources.  You probably already know about Google Scholar, but our other free favorites include: PubMed, and FindLaw.  Need a more specific niche? The folks at online universities have created a list of 100 time-saving search engines for serious scholars, which, as its name suggests, lists 100 of the top academic search engines.

How do I create my bibliography/works cited/ reference page?

We have a citation generator tool that you can use to help format your citations for your reference list, bibliography, works cited, footnote, or end note citation formats.  However, Purdue University’s Owl system also offers one of the best side-by-side comparisons of the three most popular citation styles, MLA, APA, and Chicago.  While these pages serve the same function, they may go by different names, according to style.  You may hear the terms MLA works cited page, MLA style works cited page, APA reference page, APA references page, Chicago bibliography, and Chicago style bibliography all to refer to the same listing of sources at the end of a paper.   While APA allows a writer to include works referenced, but not cited, in the reference list, the terms works cited, bibliography, and references have the same practical meaning.   In our how-to section, we will break down the comparisons by type of media, followed by an example.  We have provided generic examples to help you understand the various citation formats; for specific questions please use our citation generator service or see the applicable style manual.

 

Books

MLA

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book.  City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.  Format of Book.

Butcher, Jim.  Dead Beat.  New York: Roc, 2006.  Print.

APA

Last Name, First Initial.  (Year of Publication).  Title of book.  City of Publication: Publisher.

Butcher, J.  (2006).  Dead beat.  New York: Roc.

Chicago/Turabian

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book.  City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Butcher, Jim.  Dead Beat.  New York: Roc, 2006.

Magazines

MLA

Last Name, First Name.  “Title of Article.”  Magazine Name Date of Publication: page numbers.

Format.

Smith, John.  “Social Media and Politics.”  Wired 30 Sep. 2016: 5-8.  Print.

APA

Last Name, First Initial.  (Year of Publication, Day of Publication).  Title of article.  Magazine name, volume number, pages.

Smith, J.  (2016, September 30).  Social media and politics.  Wired, 15(4), 5-8.

Chicago/Turabian

Last Name, First Name.  “Title of Article.”  Magazine, Day of publication, Year of Publication.

Smith, John.  “Social Media and Politics.”  Wired, September 30, 2016.

Scholarly Journals

Scholarly journals differ from popular magazines and are cited differently.

MLA

Last Name, First Name.  “Title of Article.”  Publication Name.  Volume number.Issue number

(Date of Publication): page numbers.  Format.

Doe, Jane.  “Writing Basics.”  University Writing Journal 14.5 (1996): 5-10.  Print.

APA

Last Name, First Initial.  (Year of Publication).  Title of article.  Journal Name Volume

number(Issue Number), pages.

Doe, J.  (1996).  “Writing basics.”  University Writing Journal, 14(5), 5-10.  Print.

Chicago/Turabian

Last Name, First Name.  “Title of Article.”  Journal Name Volume number.Issue number (Year of Publication): pages.

Doe, J.  “Writing Basics.”  University Writing Journal 14.5 (1996), 5-10.

Online Sources

Many times, students do not know how to quote a website or how to provide citation information for a website.  This is due to the fact that many websites lack some of the identifying information that is considered necessary when citing other sources, making in text citation websites difficult to manage.  However, all three of the major style guides provide information on how to cite websites, both in-text and in footnotes.  Chicago style provides the easiest format for an in text citation for websites; if you can choose your format and know that your resource list will be heavily weighted towards on-line sources, you might want to choose Chicago style.

MLA

Last Name, First Name.  Title of Page.  Sponsor, Date created. Medium.  Date accessed.

Jones, Bob.  Training Your Cat.  Pet Life, 15 February 2016.  Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

On-line sources frequently either fail to cite an author by name or fail to provide a date of publication/creation.  When no specific author is given, either the agency owner or sponsor of the website is given credit:

Pet Life.  Training Your Cat.  Pet Life, 15 February 2016.  Web.  30 Sept. 2016.

If no date of publication/creation is given, then the date is designated with n.d.:

Jones, Bob.  Training Your Cat.  Pet Life, n.d.  Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

You are not required to provide a website’s URL when using MLA citation style, but some professors may require it.  If asked to include it, you place the website’s URL after the date of access inside of <>:

Jones, Bob.  Training Your Cat.  Pet Life, 15 February 2016.  Web. 30 Sept. 2016.

<http:petlife/trainingyourcat/.>

APA

Last Name, First Initial.  (Year of Publication).  Article or page title.  Publication Title, volume or issue number if available.  Retrieved from: web address.

Jones, B. (2016).  Training your cat.  Pet Life.  Retrieved from: http:petlife/trainingyourcat/

Some professors want you to include the date you retrieved the article:

Last Name, First Initial.  (Year of Publication).  Article or page title.  Publication Title, volume or issue number if available.  Retrieved on date of retrieval from: web address.

Jones, B. (2016).  Training your cat.  Pet Life.  Retrieved September 30, 2016 from:

http:petlife/trainingyourcat/

If the on-line source fails to give a date of publication, indicate that omission with the n.d. in the applicable spot.

If the author is a corporate or agency author, use the agency name.  If the author is unknown, begin the reference with the title of the article or page.

Chicago/Turabian

This format requires the least amount of information for an online citation:

Last Name, First Name.  Article Title.  URL or DOI.

Jones, Bob.  Training Your Cat. http:petlife/trainingyourcat/

How do I format my in-text citations? 

In-text citations, also known as parenthetical citation, follow the same basic format whether they use MLA style, APA style, or Chicago style, but the information contained after the citation can vary. An in text citation is a citation that provides the relevant citation information immediately following the cited material, rather than sending you to endnotes or footnotes for that material.  It has become the preferred method of citation for most academic writing because it is less expensive for publishers to print than traditional endnotes and footnotes.  For quoted material, the quote will appear inside of quotation marks, followed by the citation information, usually in parentheses after the quote, then the sentence’s ending punctuation.  For information that is referenced, but not a direct quote, then the sentence with the information is followed by citation information, usually in parentheses, followed by concluding punctuation.  The basic format is: “This is quoted material” (identifying information).

However, the specifics differ for MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian citation styles.  For the purposes of our example, our quotation will be “All bears like honey,” which is found on pg. 15 of John Smith’s book All About Bears, published in 2016.

How to Cite MLA

One of the most popular queries we get is “how to do in text citations MLA,” which is why we provide an example of MLA format.

An example of a direct quotation in MLA in text citation style is:

“All bears like honey” (Smith 15).

Another way to handle MLA quote citation is:

According to John Smith, “all bears like honey” (15).

MLA in text citation for  an indirect reference could be signaled in the following ways:
After looking at different types of bears, John Smith concluded that their affection for honey is universal (15).

Bears have a universal love of honey (Smith 15).

How to Cite APA

In APA, that direct quotation could be handled in a number of ways using in-text citations.  One of the common ways is to use a signal phrase:

According to John Smith (2016), “all bears like honey” (p. 15).

Smith (2016) tested a number of species and concluded that “all bears like honey (p. 15).

However, you can do in-text citations without the use of a signal phrase:

“All bears like honey” (Smith, 2016, p. 15).

An indirect reference in APA could be handled the following ways:

After looking at different types of bears, John Smith (2016) concluded that their affection for honey is universal (p. 15).

Bears have a universal love of honey (Smith, 2016, p. 15).

How to Cite Chicago/Turabian

Chicago citation style is very similar to APA citation style, except that Chicago manual of style citation is leaner looking.  For in-text citations, Turabian uses the same style as Chicago citation style. In Chicago manual of style citation, that direct quotation could be handled in a number of ways using in-text citations.  One of the common ways is to use a signal phrase:

According to John Smith (2016), “all bears like honey” (15).

Smith (2016) tested a number of species and concluded that “all bears like honey (15).

However, you can do in-text citations without the use of a signal phrase:

“All bears like honey” (Smith 2016, 15).

An indirect reference in Chicago could be handled the following ways:

After looking at different types of bears, John Smith (2016) concluded that their affection for honey is universal (15).

Bears have a universal love of honey (Smith 2016, 15).

How do I format footnotes or endnotes? 

Footnotes/ endnotes follow the same basic format, but the information contained in the note will vary depending on what citation style you are using.  If you are using Word to format your paper, then its “References” tool will help guide you through the endnote or footnote process.  You will simply select “insert footnote” or “insert endnote” from your menu bar at the appropriate location after you quoted or referenced text.  For quoted material, the quote will appear inside of quotation marks, followed by superscript number that indicates a note.  For information that is referenced, but not a direct quote, then the sentence with the information is followed by the superscript number that indicates a note.  The basic format is: “This is quoted material.”1

However, the specifics differ for MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian citation styles.  While the first footnotes and endnotes will look very similar to the reference contained in the reference list, they will also generally specify a page in the text to locate the identified material. In addition, subsequent end notes can look differently.

MLA Style Footnotes and Endnotes

MLA referencing is very straightforward.  Generally, there is a preference for in text MLA citation, but notes can be used.  When using footnotes or endnotes, the reference list citation for our example book would be:

Smith, John.  All About Bears.  New York: Fuzzy Publishers, 2016.

It’s first footnote or citation for our “all bears like honey” quotation would be:

John Smith. All About Bears. (New York: Fuzzy Publishers, 2016) 15.

Subsequent mentions of the same book would simply use the author(s) last name and the page number: Smith 15.

APA Style Footnotes and Endnotes

Like MLA, APA footnotes or endnotes will be similar to reference list for them.

In APA, the reference list citation for our example book would be:

Smith, J.  (2016).  All About Bears.  New York: Fuzzy Publishers, 2016.

It’s first footnote or citation for our “all bears like honey” quotation would be:

Smith, J.  (2016).  All About Bears. New York: Fuzzy Publishers, p. 15.

The inclusion of the page number is optional.

Subsequent mentions of the same book would simply use the author(s) last name and the page number: Smith, p. 15.

However, APA footnotes and endnotes can do more than signal the use of a reference; they can also be used to provide explanatory material.  For a more in-depth discussion of that usage of footnotes and endnotes, please see the APA Style Manual.

Chicago Style Footnotes and Endnotes/ Turabian Style Footnotes and Endnotes

Chicago manual of style footnotes are one of the easier footnote formats to manage.  In Chicago, the reference list citation for our example book is identical to the MLA format and would be:

Smith, John.  All About Bears.  New York: Fuzzy Publishers, 2016.

It’s first footnote or citation for our “all bears like honey” quotation would be:

John Smith. All About Bears. (New York: Fuzzy Publishers, 2016), 15.   *Please note that this includes a comma following the closing parenthesis that is not present in MLA.

Subsequent mentions of the same book would simply use the author(s) last name and the page number: Smith, 15.   *Please note that this includes a comma following the closing parenthesis that is not present in MLA.

Conclusion

While properly citing sources in your essay, term paper, dissertation, or research paper can seem like a daunting task, it is something that certainly gets easier with practice.  Use our citation guide to help format your citations correctly.  We also offer a proofreading/editing service, where our professional writers can review your sources to ensure that you have cited them properly in the appropriate style for your genre.

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