Citing your sources all depends on the format that you're required to use. There are many different ways to format a paper, but here we'll just go over MLA, APA, and Chicago (Turabian) Style.

MLA Style Citations

MLA stands for the Modern Language Association and is a style most commonly used in humanities courses including English, Philosophy, Literature, etc.

In most cases in-text citation will be parenthetical (between parenthesis) and include the author's last name and page number if it exists.

The Works Cited page will include full-citations where you will need to list the author's names, the title of the work, the publisher, the date, and other details depending on the source type.

For more information on MLA in-text citation as well as examples for Works Cited entries, check the Writing Center's MLA Handbook

APA Style

APA is short for the American Psychological Association. This formatting style is often used in some sciences, and you can expect to see it in courses like Nursing, Psychology, Business, etc.

Much like MLA, the APA in-text documentation is parenthetical. However, more often you will see not only the author's last name but also the date in many types of sources. For direct quotes, a page number is also included. It's always important to check your source though, just to be sure what you will need to put in your in-text citation.

For the full citations, APA uses what's called a References Page. On a References page you'll need to record author's names, date the work was published, title of the work, publisher etc.

For more information on APA in-text documentation as well as examples for References entries, check the Writing Center's APA handbook

Chicago Style

Chicago style, also known as Turabian style or CMS, is a format more common amongst published works. Chicago Style can be found in subjects like Journalism, Fine Arts, and occasionally History.

Instead of using in-text citations/documentation, this style uses footnotes and/or endnotes. A number in superscript is placed after the quote or paraphrase, and the number corresponds with a footnote/endnote citation.

Chicago Style also contains a Bibliography with each of the full-length citations listed in alphabetical order (as opposed to the numerical order used in footnotes or endnotes). Pay attention to which sources need to be listed in the Bibliography. (Some sources are only in the notes).

For more information and examples of Chicago Style, check the Writing Center's Chicago Style handbook

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