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Citation Styles

There are a number of different citation styles that are used in academic writing and determining which to use can be confusing. Typically your professor will let you know the preferred citation style for their class and/or your discipline. For in-depth information about citing your sources, visit the Library's Citation Research Guide. Purdue OWL is also a great resource for MLA and APA citation styles.

Below you will find a table of four common citation styles, followed by a list of less-common citation styles:

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web.

Citation Styles

When to Use Them

More Info at Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)

Example Paper

MLA- Modern Language Association Literature and the humanities MLA Formatting & Style Guide MLA Example Paper
APA- American Psychological Association Psychology, Business, Criminology, Economics, Education, and Sociology

APA Style Guide (American Psychological Association)

APA Sample Paper
Chicago Humanities, history and social sciences Chicago Style & Formatting Guide Chicago Sample Paper
Chicago-Turabian Humanities, history, social sciences and natural sciences (often selected when people do not know which style to use) Chicago-Turabian Style & Formatting Guide Chicago-Turabian Sample Paper

Additional Citation Styles:

  • AAA (American Anthropological Association), ACS (American Chemical Society)
  • AIP (American Institute of Physics)
  • ALWD (Association of Legal Writing Directors)
  • AMA (American Medical Association)
  • AMS (American Mathematical Society)
  • AP (Associated Press)
  • APSA (American Political Science Association)
  • ASA (American Sociological Association)
  • Bluebook
  • CSE (Council of Science Editors)
  • Harvard Business School
  • ISA (International Studies Association)
  • LSA (Linguistic Society of America)
  • Maroonbook
  • NLM (National Library of Medicine)

Pulling Citations from OneSearch

It is often possible to pull auto-generated citations directly from a database. Here is a tutorial video that explains how to pull a citation from OneSearch: