What is a citation style?
Citation styles have been used in academic and scholarly literature since the 19th century. They are guidelines that determine how to properly credit other authors' work in your own writing.
There are a variety of popular citation styles, including APA, Chicago, MLA, and Harvard; each style has its own format for citing sources.
Taking the time to familiarize yourself with different citation styles is an invaluable tool that can help make sure your work appears professional.
Most Widely Used Citation Styles
are several different citation styles that you may need to use in your academic or professional writing. The most common ones are:
- American Psychological Association (APA) style
- Modern Language Association (MLA) style
- Chicago/Turabian style
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- American Sociological Association (ASA)
- Harvard Citation
- Oxford Style Citation
- AMA Style (American Medical Association)
Let’s discuss all of these citation styles one by one.
American Psychological Association (APA) style
American Psychological Association (APA) style is the most commonly used format for social science papers. APA style requires authors to include citations both within the text of their work as well as at the end of their document in a reference list.
Citations in APA format require authors' names, publication year, title of source, publisher information, and URL if available. For example, a book citation would look like this:
Last name, Initials. (Year). Title of chapter. In Editor initials. Last name (Ed. or Eds.), Book title (pp. page range). Publisher. DOI if available.
Modern Language Association (MLA) style
The Modern Language Association (MLA) citation style is most commonly used for humanities papers such as literature reviews and critical essays. Established originally in 1985, MLA style has been adapted by many universities and institutions as the standard for formatting papers since then.
It follows similar guidelines to APA with regards to in-text citations; however, instead of listing references in alphabetical order on the references page at the end of the document, MLA requires that all sources be listed in chronological order from earliest to latest work published.
Citations must include authors' names, publication year, title of source, publisher information if necessary, and URL if available.
A book citation would look like this:
Author last name, First name. “Title of Chapter or Work.” Book Title, edited by Editor name, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range.
Chicago/Turabian style
The third most common citation style is Chicago/Turabian style which uses footnotes and bibliographies instead of parenthetical citations and reference pages like APA and MLA styles do.
This citation style is mainly used for history papers; however it can also be used for many other types of works such as legal documents and business reports. This style allows authors to use either footnotes or endnotes when citing their sources; however it does not require a reference page at the end of the document like APA or MLA do.
Citations must include author’s name(s), publication year(s), title(s), publication information (if applicable), city of publication (if applicable), publisher’s name (if applicable), URL (if applicable).
A book citation using this style would look like this:
Author first name last name, Title of Book (Place of publication: publisher, year), page number(s).
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) citation style is most commonly used for engineering and computer science papers, as well as a number of other disciplines.
It is based on the American Psychological Association (APA) style and contains some similarities to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style. This citation system uses parenthetical in-text citations as well as a reference page at the end of the document.
Citations must include authors' names, publication year, title of source, publisher information, and URL if applicable. For example, a book citation would look like this:
Author(s) Initial(s). Surname(s), Title of the E-book, xth ed. City of Publisher, (U.S. State or Country if the City is not ‘well known’): Publisher, Year of Publication, pp.
American Sociological Association (ASA)
The American Sociological Association (ASA) citation style is most commonly used for sociology papers and other social sciences, such as political science and economics. ASA was created in 1937 to facilitate communication among sociological researchers, and since then it has become the dominant style for papers in the discipline.
It follows similar guidelines to APA regarding in-text citations and references, but it has a few key differences.
Citations must include authors' names, publication year, title of source, publisher information if necessary, and URL if available. An example of a book citation using ASA style would look like this:
Author's last name, First name. Year of publication. Title of book (italicized). Place of publication: publisher.
Harvard Citation
The Harvard Citation style is an author-date style of referencing. It is one of the most commonly used citation styles in academic writing and it has been adopted by numerous universities, scholarly societies, and publications. This style uses parenthetical references within the body of the document to cite sources, as well as a reference list at the end. Citations must include author’s name, year of publication, title of source and URL if available.
An example of a book citation using Harvard style would look like this:
Book title. Series title, Volume number. Edition (if not first edition). Place of publication: Publisher.
Oxford Style Citation
The Oxford citation style is a form of author-date referencing, which is used primarily for scholarly and student research papers. This style uses parenthetical citations within the body of the document to cite sources, as well as a reference list at the end. Citations must include author’s name, year of publication, title of source, publisher information and URL if available.
A book citation using Oxford style would look like this:
Author, Title of Book in Italics: Subtitle in Italics, edition number, Place of Publication, Publisher, year, page number.
AMA Style (American Medical Association)
The American Medical Association (AMA) citation style is a form of author-date referencing, most commonly used for medical and scientific papers. It is based on the American Psychological Association (APA) style, but there are some key differences between the two.
This citation system uses parenthetical in-text citations as well as a reference page at the end of the document.
Citations must include authors' names, publication year, title of source, publisher information if necessary and URL if applicable. An example of a book citation using AMA style would look like this:
Author(s). Book Title. Edition number (if it is the second edition or above). Publisher's name; copyright year.
When citing sources in an academic or professional paper it’s important to understand how different citation styles work so that you can properly format your citations according to what is expected from you by your professor or editor/supervisor.
This blog post provided an overview into three different types - APA , MLA ,and Chicago/Turabian - so that you can get started on formatting your own citations correctly!
Now you can rest assured knowing that if you ever find yourself needing help with citing sources correctly again ,you have somewhere to turn! Good luck!
