You must cite the sources you use in your academic work. Sources are cited both within your text and at the end of the paper, in a list called a bibliography, works cited, or references page. MLA, Chicago, and APA styles are frequently used in university-level academic work. Each of these styles is explained in a manual, with instructions for formatting citations to different kinds of sources.
Which Style to Use?
- Use the citation style recommended by your course instructor.
- MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most often used by the humanities, including literature.
- APA (American Psychological Association) style is used in education, psychology, and other social sciences.
- Chicago or Turabian style is generally used by history and art history.
- There are other styles for specialized fields, more often used when submitting papers to journals to be considered for publication.