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Citations identify the source where you originally got your information, whether that is a quote, statistics, or general ideas (See: Why Do We Cite Sources for more details). Citations are used in almost all forms of scholarly communication, such as papers and presentations. Including citations is essential and ethical, as it gives credit to the original author(s) and tells your reader where they can find out more. Almost all assignments will require that you use citations and that you use them properly.
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.
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The Health Sciences uses two main citations styles - APA or AMA. APA is mostly used by Nursing or Rehabilitation Sciences. American Medical Association (AMA) is mostly used by Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmacy. AMA and National Library of Medicine (NLM) are two common types of the Vancouver style. Vancouver does not have a specific style guide but only indicates that students must use numbered-author style. This means that the citation in-text is a number and that the reference list is ordered numerically by which reference appears first in the text. We strongly recommend that students use AMA as it has a clear style guide with lots of examples.
| In-Text Citation Example | AMA 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.
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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. |
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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, p.72). |
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| 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, Music, 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. |
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The Chicago Manual Online |
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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. |
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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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| Book | |
| 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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The Turabian Manual for Writers is a comprehensive guide to research and writing compatible with the Chicago Manual of Style. The Turabian guide walks students through the entire research and writing process, from setting the scope of your study, finding and evaluating sources of information, formulating arguments, writing your paper, and formatting Chicago style citations for Humanities and Social Sciences subjects. |
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Turabian Quick Citation Guide |
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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. |
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MLA Handbook Plus (Trial Access avail until Feb 5, 2022) |
| 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. Literature Online, 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)
Citation or reference managers are apps that can be used to automatically format your references (in almost any style) to include in your assignments by integrating with a word processing program. That means you can change your reference style from APA to MLA to AMA with a click of a button! While you do have to invest some time in learning how to use a citation manager and populate it with your references, it can save you a lot of time when it comes to writing and you can use it throughout your whole academic career. Each tool works differently but the basic idea is that you put your references in – either automatically through a database, by dragging and dropping PDFs, or manually – and then link the citation manager with your assignment to insert formatted citations and a complete bibliography.
| Zotero | Mendeley | EndNote |
| Free; open-source | Free; owned by Elsevier | $159.99 for students |
| Common in arts, humanities, health sciences and sciences | Common in sciences and health sciences | Common in health sciences |
| Great for non-traditional references (e.g., musical scores) | Great for group work | Great for very large sets of references |
| Desktop and web versions | Desktop and web versions | Desktop works best |
| Works with MS Office, LibreOffice, and Google Docs | Works with MS Office | Works with MS Office and LibreOffice |
More detailed information on the differences between the tools and how to use them are found on our Intro to Citation Managers.
Citation/Reference generators are online tools that turn some basic information, such as a URL or journal article title, into a formatted citation that can be inserted into your assignments. The quality of these generators vary, and the quality of the citations vary. For example, generating a citation for a journal article in APA is common and likely to be correct but generating a citation for an out-of-print musical score in Vancouver is uncommon and mistakes are more likely. We encourage you to always check the citations that are generated against a style guide to ensure that it is meeting the requirements for your citation style.
ZoteroBib - a free online citation generator program
