Citation Style Guides

Learn how to cite sources in different academic styles

📚 General Citation Principles

Citations serve two essential purposes: they give credit to the original authors and allow readers to locate your sources. While each citation style has unique formatting rules, they all share common principles:

Accuracy: All information must be correct and verifiable
Consistency: Use the same style throughout your paper
Completeness: Include all required elements for each source type
Proper formatting: Follow punctuation, capitalization, and spacing rules

🎯 Which Style Should You Use?

APA (American Psychological Association)

Psychology, Education, Social Sciences, Nursing, Business

MLA (Modern Language Association)

Literature, Languages, Arts, Humanities

Chicago

History, Fine Arts, some Humanities, Publishing

Harvard

Business, Economics, some Sciences (UK universities)

IEEE

Engineering, Computer Science, Technology

🔄 Citation Style Comparison

Compare how the same book citation appears in different styles:

Style	In-Text Citation	Reference Entry
APA	(Smith, 2023)	Smith, J. (2023). Academic writing guide. Oxford University Press.
MLA	(Smith 45)	Smith, John. Academic Writing Guide. Oxford University Press, 2023.
Chicago	(Smith 2023, 45)	Smith, John. Academic Writing Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.
Harvard	(Smith 2023)	Smith, J. (2023) Academic writing guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
IEEE	[1]	[1] J. Smith, Academic Writing Guide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2023.