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The citation style you use will depend on the subject you are learning and the
requirements of your teacher.
Two of the most commonly used citation styles are those of the American Psychological Association (known as APA style, shown below), and the Modern Language Association (known as MLA style). APA is the preferred style for social sciences such as business, psychology, and sociology. MLA is the preferred style for humanities-related areas such as literature, history, and the arts.
MLA and APA- all demand that you collect similar data elements from the sources you use- author, title, date of publication, etc. However each style requires that you note those elements in different orders, giving different emphasis, because of the importance of those elements to the particular academic field of study. For example, the timeliness of publications may be of more importance to the social sciences and sciences, hence the "Date of Publication" appears closer to the beginning of citations in the APA style than it does in MLA.
Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association, (5th ed.). (2001).
Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.Gibaldi, J. (1999). MLA handbook
for writers of research
papers. New York: The Modern Language Association
of America. |
Some other commonly used styles include AMA (American Medical
Association), Chicago, Turabian, CBE (Council of Biology Editors) and Legal (Bluebook).
The bibliographic citations for these style manuals are as follows:
American Medical Association manual of style: A guide for
authors and editors
(9th ed.) (1998). Baltimore: Williams
and Wilkins. The Chicago manual of style (14th
ed.). (1993). Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press.
Turabian, K.L. (1987). A manual for writers of terms
papers, theses, and dissertations,
(5th ed.). Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
Council of Biology Editors. Style Manual
Committee.(1994). Scientific Style and Format:
The
CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. 6th
ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
The Bluebook: A uniform system of citation (17th ed.).
(2000). Cambridge, MA: The
Harvard Law Review
Association. |
Here is a list of subjects or disciplines and the citation style(s) they commonly
use:
| Arts and Humanities |
MLA, Chicago, Turabian |
| Behaviorial and Social Sciences |
APA |
| Law and Legal Studies |
Bluebook |
| Life Sciences |
CBE |
| Medicine |
AMA |
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Helpful guides to these styles can be found at the following Web sites:
NOTE: You should be aware that there is a time lag with some citation
styles being more recently updated than others. Some provide more guidance than other on
how to cite sources on the Internet and in subscription databases. See Electronic Reference Formats
Recommended by the APA and MLA Style – How do I document sources from the Web in my works-cited list? for the
most recent additions for citing materials from the Internet and subscription databases.
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