Check out these online style manuals:

APA

MLA

The library also provides examples of citing common types of resources using a variety of citation styles.  Choose the style you're using from the list to view our examples.

Check out the library's general Citations page for information on the basic elements to be included in book and article references, regardless of the citation style you're using.

Reasons to cite a source in a research paper include:

- giving credit for information, materials, and knowledge produced by others

- avoiding plagiarism

- giving other scholars enough information so that they can locate your sources of information

All citation systems require you to do two things: cite your sources as you refer to them throughout your essay, and provide a full list of all sources consulted (called reference list or bibliography) at the end of your paper.

There are two broad types of citation systems:

Parenthetical or In-Text Citation Systems

These systems require you to acknowledge the source of a quotation or concept within the text by placing information about the source in parentheses at the end of the relevant sentence. You then list all your sources in a bibliography (aka reference list or works cited list) at the end of the paper. Citation styles that use this format include: APA, MLA, CSE, Chicago, Turabian (you can use either parenthetical citations or notes with Chicago and Turabian).

Notes Systems

These systems require you to provide your citations in the form of notes rather than embeddeding the information within the sentence itself the way you do in a parenthetical system. Notes may be in the form of footnotes (located at the bottom of each page as they occur) or endnotes (located all together at the end of the document). These systems may or may not require a bibliography (aka reference list or works cited list) at the end of the paper, depending whether the notes have provided full bibliographic information about the source, or an abbreviated version. Citation styles that use this format include: Chicago, Turabian (you can use either parenthetical citations or notes with Chicago and Turabian).

Use Zotero a free online Firefox plugin to help you create a research article library. Organize and tag your library citations/articles and produce bibliographies with a few keystrokes.

Ask A Librarian! Contact a librarian 24/7 by live-chat, email, in-person or phone.

COSAM Librarian
Jeanine Scaramozzino jscaramo@calpoly.edu, 756-5677