Citation Assistance
Authors cite sources used in a paper in order to give credit to the ideas they have incorporated into their own work. This is a necessary step to avoid plagiarism.
This page will provide information about the most commonly used styles as well as tools to help you answer questions. If you have any questions about what style you should be using, it's always a good idea to check with your professor.
What style should I use?
There are a range of styles available. Which style you should use is dependent upon the discipline or class for which you are writing. MLA, APA, and Chicago are the most commonly used styles and will be covered on this page.
MLA style is from the Modern Language Association and is commonly used in the humanities. APA is from the American Psychological Association and is generally used for papers in the social sciences. Chicago and Turabian styles are used by history scholars.
APA Style | MLA Style | Chicago Style
Software for Creating Citations and Bibliographies
APA Style
American Psychological Association (Social Sciences)
In the Library
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001. Located on the shelf at BF76.7 P83 2001, Reference Room.
On the Web
Citing Electronic References in APA - Brief tutorial from the American Psychological Association website on citing electronic references.
APA Guide - From the University of Arizona.
Research and Documentation Online (Social Sciences) - From Diana Hacker.
MLA Style
Modern Language Association (Humanities)
In the Library
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2003. Located on the shelf at LB2369.G53 2003, Reference Room.
On the Web
MLA Guide - From the University of Arizona
Research and Documentation Online (Humanities) - From Diana Hacker
Chicago Style
Other General Guides
Additionally, you may find these websites useful during your research process.
Research and Documentation Online - Diana Hacker's Research Guide
Writer's Handbook - From the University of Wisconsin - Madison Writing Center
Software & Tools for Creating Citations and Bibliographies
Citation Machine - Citation Machine is a free website that generates the most common citation types for MLA, APA, Turabian and Chicago styles.
DocsCite - This free website from Arizona State University generates APA and MLA citations for those tricky government documents.
Zotero - If you use Firefox as your browser, you may wish to install the Zotero plugin. Zotero allows you to keep track of all of your resources in different folders including information inside library databases, the library catalog, and also websites found using Google Scholar or search directories. For a quick overview of Zotero, visit their quick start guide.
Last update on May 27, 2008
