citation style
Reference formatting rules
A citation style is a standardized system for documenting sources in academic and professional writing.
Different fields favor different styles: APA dominates psychology and social sciences, MLA governs humanities, Chicago serves history and publishing, and legal writing uses Bluebook.
Each style specifies how to format in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies: The professor requires APA citation style for all papers.
- APAPsychology organization's format
- ChicagoMajor Illinois metropolis
- IEEEEngineering standards organization
- MLAHumanities citation system
- et alLatin for "and others"
page number · Vancouver · bibliography · Harvard · footnote · ACS · AMA · DOI · hanging indent · reference · endnote · superscript · parenthetical · indentation · sources · publication · italics · works cited
- citationscitations, cite, cited, footnote, footnotes
- bibliographybibliography, annotated bibliography, bibliographers, bibliographies, citations
- academiaprofessors, universities, graduation cap, biology department, professor
- rules & guidelinesmanual, handbook, protocol, guidelines, specification
- Language Standardsstandard language, prescriptivism, proper grammar, proper usage, correctness
- Text Elementsparagraph, heading, subheading, footnote, endnote
citation styleoriginal research
Newly conducted investigation
primary source · quoted passage · firsthand account · independent work · creative output