Citations and Style Guides

Citing your sources is an essential part of doing research. It protects you from committing plagiarism, allows your readers to find the information you reference, and improves your credibility. For every source you use, you will need to create a short in-text citation to include in the paper right after you reference the source, and a full citation to include at the end of your paper. However, the way you format your citations may change depending on what subject you're writing about and what your professor's preference is. In general, subjects in the humanities (literature, philosophy, religion, etc) will use MLA format, subjects in the social sciences (education, psychology, criminal justice, etc.) will use APA format, and historical or artistic subjects will use Chicago style. Subjects in the hard sciences (chemistry, engineering, medicine) may use subject-specific styles.

Always check in your syllabus to see what citation style your professor would like you to use, or email your professor directly if you do not see a specific style listed in the syllabus.

Common Citation Styles

More Resources

• Purdue University Online Writing Lab 
• Citation Style for Research Papers (Long Island University)
• Developing a Working Bibliography (Colorado State University)
• University of Pittsburgh Subject Guide

Free Citation Generators

• BibMe
• NoodleBib Express
• Zotero