Writing and citation styles are used to maintain standards and consistency in scholarly publishing. When writers use the same formatting standards it makes it easier to read, review, and compare literature. Style guides are not just for formatting citations and references. They are used to organize the content for your entire paper. There are three main citations styles used in the Humanities and Social Sciences: APA, Chicago, and MLA. The Health Sciences use AMA and research in the Sciences includes a range of styles depending on the specific discipline. As a student you may be taking courses in multiple subject areas and the differences in styles can be confusing. This page will help you identify the distinguishing features of each style and help you find the guides you need to format your writing. If you need help with citation styles you can arrange to meet with a librarian or a writing tutor.
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APA Style is used for formatting academic writing in the Social Sciences, Education, Nursing, and Business. APA uses an Author-Date method for in-text citations and has specific requirements with regards to title page, headers, the abstract, and subheadings. |
APA Manual Online |
Book or Article | Citation |
(Last Name, Year) | A new period of industrial history emerged in South Wales after the coal stoppage of 1898. The class struggle of the early 20th Century led to the erosion of traditional Welsh social relations and culture. (Evans, 2000). |
(Year) | According to Evans, a new period of industrial history emerged in South Wales after the coal stoppage of 1898. The class struggle of the early 20th Century led to the erosion of traditional Welsh social relations and culture (2000). |
(Last Name, Year, Pages) |
Quotation Example “The six-months’ coal stoppage of 1898 had inaugurated a new era of industrial relations in south Wales. The old centripetal values of Welshness, Nonconformity, class harmony and communal identification were fractured by the new, centrifugal forces of class struggle and industrial conflict” (Evans, 2000, 72). |
Book | |
Last Name, A.A. (Year of Publication). Title of the book:Subtitle of the book. Publisher. | Evans, D. G. (2000). A History of Wales, 1906-2000. University of Wales Press. |
Article | |
Last name, A.A. (Year of Publication). Title of the article: Subtitle of the article. Journal Name Volume(Issue), Pages. doi | Brody, J. (2015). A philological reading of a poem by Dylan Thomas. Philosophy And Literature 39(2), 495–507. https://doi.org/10.1353/phl.2015.0051 |
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Chicago Style is used to format academic writing in subjects such as History and Classics. The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) has two options for citing sources but the Note-Bibliography (NB) method described here is more commonly used. |
The Chicago Manual Online Print Copy of the Chicago Manual Chicago Style - Tips Sheets for Students Citation Examples Handout - Chicago 17th Edition |
Paraphrase Examples A new period of industrial history emerged in South Wales after the coal stoppage of 1898. The class struggle of the early 20th Century led to the erosion of traditional Welsh social relations and culture1. According to Evans, a new period of industrial history emerged in South Wales after the coal stoppage of 1898. The class struggle of the early 20th Century led to the erosion of traditional Welsh social relations and culture1. |
Quotation Example “The six-months’ coal stoppage of 1898 had inaugurated a new era of industrial relations in south Wales. The old centripetal values of Welshness, Nonconformity, class harmony and communal identification were fractured by the new, centrifugal forces of class struggle and industrial conflict”1. |
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Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year. | Evans, D. Gareth. A History of Wales, 1906-2000. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000. |
Article | |
Last name, First Name. "Title of the Article". Journal Name Volume, Issue No. (Year): Pages. doi. | Brody, Jules. "A Philological Reading of a Poem by Dylan Thomas". Philosophy and Literature 39, no. 2 (2015): 495–507. https://doi.org/10.1353/phl.2015.0051. |
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MLA Style is often used to format academic writing in English Literature, Literary Studies, and Cultural Studies. In-text citations in MLA include the author's name and source page number if applicable but not the date of publication. |
MLA Style Centre Online |
Book or Article | Citation |
(Last Name Page) |
Paraphrase Examples A new period of industrial history emerged in South Wales after the coal stoppage of 1898. The class struggle of the early 20th Century led to the erosion of traditional Welsh social relations and culture (Evans 72). |
(Page) | According to Evans, a new period of industrial history emerged in South Wales after the coal stoppage of 1898. The class struggle of the early 20th Century led to the erosion of traditional Welsh social relations and culture (72). |
(Last Name Pages) |
Quotation Example “The six-months’ coal stoppage of 1898 had inaugurated a new era of industrial relations in south Wales. The old centripetal values of Welshness, Nonconformity, class harmony and communal identification were fractured by the new, centrifugal forces of class struggle and industrial conflict” (Evans 72). |
Book | |
Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book, Publisher, Year. | Evans, D. Gareth. A History of Wales, 1906-2000. University of Wales Press, 2000. |
Article | |
Last name, First Name. 'Title of the Article'. Journal Name Volume, Issue, Year, Pages. Database, doi. | Brody, Jules. ‘A Philological Reading of a Poem by Dylan Thomas’. Philosophy and Literature Vol. 39, No. 2, 2015, pp. 495–507, https://doi.org/10.1353/phl.2015.0051. |
The sciences and engineering disciplines do not all follow one citation style nor one writing style format. Some of the science and engineering styles include: American Chemical Society (ACS) style, IEEE (Engineering) style, or the Council of Science editors style. The most common styles used in STEM and their associated disciplines are listed below.
Style | Discipline |
American Chemical Society (ACS) style | Chemistry |
American Mathematical Society Style Guide | Mathematics |
Council of Science Editors | Various science disciplines |
Geological Society of America | Geology |
IEEE Style | Engineering & Computer Science |
Science and technology citation styles of have the following characteristics.
Many science citation styles include abbreviated journal titles. If the style you are using abbreviates journal titles, you need to use an official abbreviation. Check the style guidelines to find out which journal abbreviation list you should use. Some common sites to find journal abbreviations include:
CASSI (for ACS Style)
In your written assignments, when using information from any source, you must provide a citation. There are different styles used to do this. Vancouver, Uniform, and AMA are very similar styles used mostly in the health sciences. They are all based on the Citing Medicine ebook.
In-Text Citation Example | Reference List Example |
Austerity measures in health and social spending in England since 2010 are projected to cost 120 000 lives by 2020.1 |
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In-text citations go in numerical order, so the first in-text citation provided in your assignment should be 1, then 2, and so on. The exception to this rule is when you need to cite the same source multiple times. In that case, you must use the same number each time. The reference list is then placed in this same numerical order. All items which are cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and all items on the reference list must be cited at least once in the text.
Editing when using a numbered citation style can be difficult, especially when you find yourself moving your text in such a way that you need to reorder your citations. During your final edits, check to see if there are any citations that need to be renumbered, and don’t forget to edit your reference list to match the new order.
Many students use citation management software to help them create and manage citations and references. Citation managers can be especially helpful when using a numbered style, because they can automatically reorder your citations and references as you go. On the other hand, citation managers take time to learn to use. It’s up to you to decide if the amount of time invested in learning the software is worth the time saved for your assignments, but remember that once you learn the software you will be able to use it on all of your written assignments.