Citing Sources

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?

1. Use the citation style recommended by your course instructor.
2. MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most often used by the humanities, including literature.
3. APA (American Psychological Association) style is used in business, education, psychology, and other social sciences.
4. Chicago or Turabian style is generally used by history and art history.
5. AMA is a citation style commonly used in medical and scientific publishing. 
6. There are other styles for specialized fields, more often used when submitting papers to journals to be considered for publication.

The print editions of the leading style guides are considered the authoritative source.  Easy Writer summarizes the major styles and will answer most questions on citing. Print style manuals and a copy of Easy Writer are available at the library service desks or for purchase in the campus bookstore.