where to get references for research paper

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Reference Finder by AHelp

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Take your referencing to the next level with our source finder tool.

Should you be in search of a cost-free instrument that can elevate your homework writing tasks, you’ve arrived at the ideal destination. Our source finder for essays and research papers is seamlessly integrated with the largest open-access database brimming with officially published academic materials including books, journals, and article collections. 

With the help of this AI-powered assistant, you will be spared the hassle of sifting through irrelevant web pages manually. Believe us, we know that you don’t have all that time to spend on useless articles. Get to the essence of scholarly research that was specifically neatly compiled into an easily navigable list.

This is precisely why our citation tool is highly favored not just by students, but by a range of researchers in various fields, such as journalists, content creators, speechwriters, and more.

Accelerating Your Writing with Our Reference Tool

We trained our academic source finder to make it extra assistive. Our system is designed to pinpoint the most relevant resources that support, prove, and add depth to your subject from various perspectives. Whether you’re writing already or haven’t begun yet, this tool proves invaluable in expanding your range of resources.

With our source finder for essays and other types of academic writing, you can also unlock a variety of fresh insights at a click’s reach. Just type in your topic and instantly access a large selection of sources we’ve compiled. Every link is readily available and can be easily downloaded, allowing you to curate a personalized library of resources relevant to your field of study.

An All-Inclusive Citation Finder for In-depth Research

Many students spend hours searching for resources relevant to their papers. And even if they find a good online library, they will still spend valuable time just scrolling the pages trying to find relevant information. Yet time is one of the most valuable resources when you do your research. Our tool offers a solution to the problem of losing precious hours. Thanks to its algorithms it locates the thoughts and references you need just in a few seconds. Enter your topic in our search bar, and access any required citation details.

In contrast to generic search engines that often lead to SEO-driven, sales-focused content, our tool provides direct access to a world of academic sources. Libraries remain a viable option for in-depth research, especially if they specialize in your field. But for immediate inspiration and efficiency, our reference finder is indispensable to ensure the timely completion of your work.

Versatile Citation Formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, and More

Finding the right source is just part of the problem. The other issue is that you have to format that book, article, or whatever, both in the text and in the reference list. And, of course, you need to organize everything according to a specific formatting style. 

There are so many requirements for each type of reference though that you can’t possibly keep track of all of them. That would be a real struggle if you had to do everything manually. Thanks to our Reference Finder though, you can save yourself from the formatting hell. Our service provides pre-edited resources, meaning they come arranged according to a specific referencing style. This will save you time and nerves during the writing process, as well as at the stage of editing. 

A Reference Finder Tool for High-Quality, Diverse Sources

Our tool offers greater versatility than standard MLA citation finders focused solely on one format. What sets our citation finder apart is its sophisticated algorithm, which is adept at identifying the most relevant and current materials related to your topic. Use it freely to discover new sources and expand your subject matter.

Is there an AI that finds references?

Yes, there is a variety of online tools and software that can help you find references for academic papers, articles, or other research materials. These AI-powered tools often use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to search through available databases and provide relevant citations or sources based on your query or topic. AHelp’s Reference Finder is one of the brightest examples of online platforms that can help you find sources for any type of research.

What is reference finder?

A reference finder is a tool or software that can locate and cite academic sources, such as journal articles, books, conference papers, and sometimes even videos. It can be a separate application or a feature integrated into research databases, library catalogs, or writing software. Reference finders often provide different search options, for example by keywords, author names, or specific titles to help you find the sources you need for your work.

How do I find a specific reference?

To find a specific reference, you can manually google either the name or the author of the work. However, this method doesn’t always work since it is hard to remember such details about every single entry on your reference list. That’s why you can use special software like EndNote, Zotero, or Reference Finder by AHelp, to quickly and easily find and format needed articles, books, research papers, etc.

How do you identify a reference?

You can identify a reference by looking for key elements such as the author(s) who wrote the work, the title of the work (whether it's an article, book, or chapter), the publication date, the source where the work was published (such as the name of the journal or book), and for journal articles, the volume and issue number. Additionally, for articles and book chapters, you should note the range of pages where the work can be found. If the reference is available online, you may also find a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or a URL.

What website can find references?

Several websites can help you find references for your research. For example, Google Scholar is a freely accessible search engine that indexes scholarly articles, theses, books, and conference papers. PubMed is another free search engine that primarily accesses the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. Scopus is also good, as it is a multidisciplinary database of peer-reviewed literature. However, note that it is subscription-based. If you are looking for a free solution, that can find any source in seconds and then help you format them properly, then AHelp’s Source Finder is the best fit for you.

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• Harvard Referencing Generator

Free Harvard Referencing Generator

Generate accurate Harvard reference lists quickly and for FREE, with MyBib!

🤔 What is a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator is a tool that automatically generates formatted academic references in the Harvard style.

It takes in relevant details about a source -- usually critical information like author names, article titles, publish dates, and URLs -- and adds the correct punctuation and formatting required by the Harvard referencing style.

The generated references can be copied into a reference list or bibliography, and then collectively appended to the end of an academic assignment. This is the standard way to give credit to sources used in the main body of an assignment.

👩‍🎓 Who uses a Harvard Referencing Generator?

Harvard is the main referencing style at colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. It is also very popular in other English-speaking countries such as South Africa, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. University-level students in these countries are most likely to use a Harvard generator to aid them with their undergraduate assignments (and often post-graduate too).

🙌 Why should I use a Harvard Referencing Generator?

A Harvard Referencing Generator solves two problems:

• It provides a way to organise and keep track of the sources referenced in the content of an academic paper.
• It ensures that references are formatted correctly -- inline with the Harvard referencing style -- and it does so considerably faster than writing them out manually.

A well-formatted and broad bibliography can account for up to 20% of the total grade for an undergraduate-level project, and using a generator tool can contribute significantly towards earning them.

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's Harvard Referencing Generator?

Here's how to use our reference generator:

• If citing a book, website, journal, or video: enter the URL or title into the search bar at the top of the page and press the search button.
• Choose the most relevant results from the list of search results.
• Our generator will automatically locate the source details and format them in the correct Harvard format. You can make further changes if required.
• Then either copy the formatted reference directly into your reference list by clicking the 'copy' button, or save it to your MyBib account for later.

MyBib supports the following for Harvard style:

🍏 What other versions of Harvard referencing exist?

There isn't "one true way" to do Harvard referencing, and many universities have their own slightly different guidelines for the style. Our generator can adapt to handle the following list of different Harvard styles:

• Cite Them Right
• Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU)
• University of the West of England (UWE)

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

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How to write your references quickly and easily

• 3 minute read

Table of Contents

Every scientific paper builds on previous research – even if it’s in a new field, related studies will have preceded and informed it. In peer-reviewed articles, authors must give credit to this previous research, through citations and references. Not only does this show clearly where the current research came from, but it also helps readers understand the content of the paper better.

There is no optimum number of references for an academic article but depending on the subject you could be dealing with more than 100 different papers, conference reports, video articles, medical guidelines or any number of other resources.

That’s a lot of content to manage. Before submitting your manuscript, this needs to be checked, cross-references in the text and the list, organized and formatted.

The exact content and format of the citations and references in your paper will depend on the journal you aim to publish in, so the first step is to check the journal’s Guide for Authors before you submit.

There are two main points to pay attention to – consistency and accuracy. When you go through your manuscript to edit or proofread it, look closely at the citations within the text. Are they all the same? For example, if the journal prefers the citations to be in the format (name, year), make sure they’re all the same: (Smith, 2016).

Your citations must also be accurate and complete. Do they match your references list? Each citation should be included in the list, so cross-checking is important. It’s also common for journals to prefer that most, if not all, of the articles listed in your references be cited within the text – after all, these should be studies that contributed to the knowledge underpinning your work, not just your bedtime reading. So go through them carefully, noting any missing references or citations and filling the gaps.

Each journal has its own requirements when it comes to the content and format of references, as well as where and how you should include them in your submission, so double-check before you hit send!

In general, a reference will include authors’ names and initials, the title of the article, name of the journal, volume and issue, date, page numbers and DOI. On ScienceDirect, articles are linked to their original source (if also published on ScienceDirect) or to their Scopus record, so including the DOI can help link to the correct article.

A spotless reference list

Luckily, compiling and editing the references in your scientific manuscript can be easy – and it no longer has to be manual. Management tools like Mendeley can keep track of all your references, letting you share them with your collaborators. With the Word plugin, it’s possible to select the right citation style for the journal you’re submitting to and the tool will format your references automatically.

Like with any other part of your manuscript, it’s important to make sure your reference list has been checked and edited. Elsevier Author Services Language Editing can help, with professional manuscript editing that will help make sure your references don’t hold you back from publication.

Why it’s best to ask a professional when it comes to translation

How to Choose a Journal to Submit an Article

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How to Write References and Cite Sources in a Research Paper

Table of contents

• 1.1 Academic Integrity
• 1.2 Avoiding Plagiarism
• 1.3 Building Credibility
• 1.4 Facilitating Further Research
• 2.1 APA (American Psychological Association)
• 2.2 MLA (Modern Language Association)
• 2.3 Chicago Style
• 2.4 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)
• 3.1 Author(s)
• 3.2 Title of the Source
• 3.3 Publication Date
• 3.4 Publisher
• 3.5 Page Numbers
• 3.6 DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
• 4.1.3 Chicago
• 4.2.1 Citing Multiple Authors
• 4.2.4 Chicago
• 4.3 Page Numbers in In-Text Citations
• 5.1 Formatting and Organizing Your References
• 5.2 Alphabetizing Your References
• 5.3.2 Journal
• 5.3.3 Chapter
• 5.3.4 Conference Paper/Presentation
• 5.3.5 Online Sources
• 6.1 Verify Your Source
• 6.2 Follow the One Style Guide
• 6.3 Verify DOI and URLs
• 6.4 Online Citation Generators
• 6.5 Use University Libraries and Writing Centers
• 7 Leave No Stone Unturned!

Citation is necessary while writing your school essay, a publication, or a Master’s thesis. We all want our efforts to be acknowledged, right? The lack of references and citations can make the source think you are trying to steal their work. Hence, the question is how to go about making references.

Do you want to learn how to cite in a research paper? Then this article is for you, as it contains the details of how to reference when writing a research paper. There is a standard way to do this in educational journals and organizational publications.

Hence, a researcher must understand how to reference their writings or journals. It is another thing to write a journal properly, but crediting the sources is more crucial.

Follow this guide to learn:

• The importance of referencing and citations for your academic works;
• How to cite in APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, and ASA styles;
• Essential guidelines to follow for a published work.

Why Referencing and Citation Matter

Another important question is: What is the need for referencing and citation? The major reason for citations in research paper format is to serve as directional cues for the employed knowledge. When you cite, readers can know that some portions of your content belong to you. Hence, it is easier to identify how recent the information is.

Citation for your paper comes with several advantages. They include:

Academic Integrity

The citation affirms the integrity of your academic writing. In this information age, there are several details, and it can be difficult to authenticate. When you reference, it helps readers understand the necessity of the discussed topic. Referencing certain authors can give more authority to your papers.

Avoiding Plagiarism

Plagiarism refers to the mindless lifting of details from another material without acknowledging the details. For the source, they could believe you are stealing from them. In most countries, copyright infringement is a punishable crime and can make you lose your hard work.

Building Credibility

Credibility is the goal of every academic scholar. There is no better way to gain relevance than by citing sources from other credible ones.

Facilitating Further Research

For other researchers like you, providing citations can serve as other sources for more information. It helps them to know other philosophies about the subject.

Choosing the Right Citation Style

Now that the advantages have been established, the new worry is the choice of the right style. There are several styles with their respective peculiarities. For example, the MLA writing style is common in liberal scientific paper citations. Let’s delve more into MLA formatting for research papers and other styles.

APA (American Psychological Association)

The commonest style used by many scholars is APA formatting , especially if there is no stated style. This approach employs the use of in-text citations to explain the source. It’s the simplest form of citation.

Here is an in-text referencing example:

“Exercise is a good way to recover from ailments.” APA, n.d. (American Psychological Association).

The reference style includes:

• The author’s name;
• The author’s name is in parenthesis to follow the referenced excerpt;
• The publication date.

MLA (Modern Language Association)

MLA-style formation is concise and known for its scientific referencing format. The peculiarity of the MLA citation is its source citation, episode title, and document layout. You have to:

• Include the parenthetical citation;
• Create some spaces away from the left margin;
• Include the author’s or source’s name.

Ensure you capitalize every word when including the names. You can employ professional MLA Citation Generators to make the compilation easier. It is perfect for the citation format of scientific papers.

Chicago Style

Chicago’s style is famous for two things:

• The in-text citation within the paper;
• The reference list is at its end.

It is an author-date approach. Hence, the in-text citation for a research paper has the author’s or source name and publication year.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

This employs the use of numbers. It is chronological as it arranges the citation based on the order of appearance. A click on it takes the reader to the full reference at the end of the paper. To make it easier, you can employ IEEE Citation Maker for a well-curated task. This way, you won’t have to worry about the manual compilation of the IEEE citation style.

This is similar to the author-date approach by Chicago Style. You can:

• Create the quotation;
• Include the parentheses for the author’s name and publication date;
• Add the page number using a colon.

Components of a Citation

Do you want to know how to complete a citation for your professional research paper writing service and research paper? Learn about its components.

The author is also regarded as the source. It is the original writer of the material you are referencing. Sometimes, there may be multiple authors. Do not miss out on anyone while citing a research paper.

Title of the Source

The title of the source is often the name given to the material by the author.

Publication Date

As the name implies, this refers to the date the source was published. Frequently, most writers include it at the start of their material. State the exact month and year of publication, separated with a comma. See example:

“(2016, March 7).”

Including the publisher’s details is only necessary for the full reference. It should be at the end of the paper. It can facilitate further research.

Page Numbers

The page number is necessary, as it helps to easily refer to different sections of the paper.

DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

A DOI is a link to a resource on the internet. The resource can be a book or its chapter. On the other hand, a URL is an address that indicates where the resource can be found. It helps to locate the resource. The use of URLs and DOIs directs readers to the digital identifier of the source.

In-Text Citations

An in-text citation for a research paper is the brief form of the bibliography that you include in the body of the content. It contains the author’s family name and year of publication. It provides enough details to help users know the source in their reference list. Each citation format for research papers is unique.

See citation examples below.

How to Cite Direct Quotations for Each Citation Style

The general rule in referencing is that in-text citations must have a corresponding entry in your reference list. Let’s see how!

There are two types of APA in-text citations:

Parenthetical:

The researchers concluded, “Climate change poses significant challenges for coastal communities” (Johnson & Lee, 2021, p. 78).

In their study on the effects of exercise on mental health, Smith and Johnson (2019) found that regular physical activity was associated with a significant decrease in symptoms of anxiety and depression. According to their research, engaging in exercise three times a week for at least 30 minutes had a positive impact on participants’ overall well-being.

APA in-text citation style employs the source’s name and publication year. A direct quotation will include the page number. Remember, you can generate a citation in a research paper using the APA style via a citation generator.

MLA is known as the scientific style of citation. The uniqueness of MLA Style formatting is the use of a direct quote (in quotes), the Author’s name and page number (in parentheses).

In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch imparts wisdom to his children, saying, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (Lee 30).

For Chicago, you are to include a parenthetical citation, the author’s name, the publication year, and the quote’s page number.

As Adams (2009) argues, “History is a vast early warning system” (53).

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) style typically uses numerical citations in square brackets for in-text citations. It doesn’t rely heavily on direct quotations in the same way as some other citation styles, like APA or MLA. Instead, IEEE generally prefers paraphrasing and citing the source, but direct quotations can be used when necessary. Here’s an example of a direct quotation in IEEE style:

In-Text Citation:

As stated by Smith, “In most cases, the impedance of the transmission line remains relatively constant throughout its length” [1].

Corresponding Reference Entry:

[1] A. Smith, “Transmission Line Impedance Analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Electrical Engineering, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 212-225, 2010.

ASA is different because it contains the author’s name, publication year, and even the page number.

According to Smith (2010), “Social institutions shape our behaviors and interactions in profound ways” (p. 45).

How to Cite Paraphrased Information

While writing a college paper, paraphrasing is important to achieve clarity, but it is ideal to cite the source of the paraphrased information. The proper way to cite paraphrased information is to include a parenthetical citation. The style of referencing for all citation styles doesn’t change, but they should be in parenthesis.

“Strength can be defined in terms of ability and acquired skills, according to (Jack et al. 2023).

Citing Multiple Authors

The technique is different when you are citing a source that has multiple authors. For the first-time citation, you should include the names of all the authors. The subsequent activities to generate a citation in APA should only include the first author’s surname and the proper use of ‘et al.’ However, you should include the surname and initials of all these authors in the full reference. Separate the authors with commas and ampersands before the final name.

Two Authors:

When a source has two authors, include both authors’ names in the in-text citation every time you reference the source. Use an ampersand (&) between the authors’ names, and include the year of publication in parentheses. For example:

(Smith & Johnson, 2020) found that…

Three to Five Authors:

When a source has three to five authors, list all authors in the first in-text citation. Use an ampersand (&) between the last two authors’ names. For subsequent citations of the same source, use only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” and the year. For example:

First citation: (Smith, Johnson, & Williams, 2018)…

Subsequent citations: (Smith et al., 2018)…

Six or More Authors:

When a source has six or more authors, you should use “et al.” in both the first and subsequent in-text citations, along with the year. For example:

(Smith et al., 2019) conducted a study on…

Group Authors:

When citing sources authored by a group, organization, or company, use the full name of the group or organization as the author in the in-text citation. If the abbreviation is well-known, you can use the abbreviation in subsequent citations. For example:

First citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2019)…

Subsequent citations: (APA, 2019)

When a source has two authors, include both authors’ names in the in-text citation, separated by the word “and.” For example:

(Smith and Johnson 45) found that…

Three or More Authors:

When a source has three or more authors, include only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in the in-text citation. For example:

(Smith et al. 72) conducted a study on…

If a source has no identifiable author, use a shortened version of the title in the in-text citation. Enclose the title in double quotation marks or use italics if it’s a longer work (e.g., a book or film). For example:

(“Title of the Source” 28) argues that…

(American Psychological Association 62) states that…

Author-Date System:

In the Author-Date system, when a source has two authors, include both authors’ last names and the publication year in parentheses in the in-text citation, separated by an ampersand (&). For example:

(Smith & Johnson 2020) found that…

When a source has three or more authors, you can use “et al.” after the first author’s name in the in-text citation. For example:

(Smith et al. 2018) conducted a study on…

Notes and Bibliography System:

In the Notes and Bibliography system, when a source has two authors, include both authors’ full names in the note. For example:

John Smith and Jane Johnson, Title of the Work (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number.

When a source has three or more authors, list the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in the note. For example:

John Smith et al., Title of the Work (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number.

When a source has two authors, include both authors’ last names in the in-text citation, separated by the word “and.” For example:

(Smith and Johnson 2020) found that…

Three Authors:

When a source has three authors, include all three authors’ last names in the in-text citation, separated by commas. For example:

(Smith, Johnson, and Williams 2018) conducted a study on…

More than Three Authors:

When a source has more than three authors, you should use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” in the in-text citation. For example:

(Smith et al. 2019) conducted a study on…

When a source has two authors, include both authors’ last names in the in-text citation, separated by “and.” For example:

[1] Smith and Johnson found that…

When a source has three or more authors, use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” in the in-text citation. For example:

[2] Smith et al. conducted a study on…

Page Numbers in In-Text Citations

The use of page numbers in in-text citations is more peculiar to APA style. You can use paragraphs as indicated above if the source has no page, as seen in some e-books and websites.

Creating a Reference List or Bibliography

Creating a reference list is one of the most important tips for writing a research paper because it shows the general scheme of paper citation. This part of the content is a step-by-step process you can follow to create your reference list for your research paper.

Formatting and Organizing Your References

Formatting and organizing your references is the first step when you want to create your bibliography. You need to arrange all the full references to the in-text citation in the downward part of your paper. To avoid missing out on any, writing every full reference when you write the in-text citation is advisable.

Alphabetizing Your References

Alphabetizing your references ensures you create your bibliography in an orderly fashion for easy comprehension. Hence, you can do it numerically or alphabetically. The numerical order is dependent on the referencing system you are using, while the alphabetical order uses the author’s name to organize the reference.

Citations for Different Source Types

Different source types have their respective references, even for scientific papers. The commonest sources include books, journals, chapters, presentations, and online (to cite a website).

See how to cite an example for each source below:

Author, Initial. (Year). Book Title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

“Social, M. (2023). The effect of the internet in this modern era . London, England: Ink.”

Author last name, First name. Book Title: Subtitle . Edition, Publisher, Year.

Donaldson, Bruce. Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar . 3rd ed., Routledge, 2017..

Author last name, First name. Book Title: Subtitle . Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year. E-book format.

Donaldson, Bruce. Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar . 3rd ed. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2017.

• N. Last Name, Title , Edition. City: Publisher, 2000.
• Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , 1st ed. New York: Random House, 1969

Quote (Name Date)

Referencing is vital in research (Smith 2020).

Author, Initial. (Year). Article Title. Journal Title. The volume of the Journal (in italics), issue number of journal in round brackets, page range of articles, URL, and first time.

Social, M. (2023). The effect of the internet in this modern era . Digital Technology, 26(8), 22-24. (Insert URL).

Author. Journal title Date, Page. DOI

Ahmed, Sara. “What is Whiteness.” Feminist Theory , vol. 8, no. 2, Aug. 2007, pp. 149–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700107078139.

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume, No. Issue (Month or Season Year): Page range. DOI or URL.

Pickard, Hanna. “What Is Personality Disorder?” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 18, no. 3 (September 2011): 181–84. https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2011.0040.

Author Initial(s) and Surname, “Article title,” Journal Title , volume number, issue number, page range, month, and year of publication.

• Chesum, “Innovations in Catalyzation,” J Adhes Sci Technol , Vol. 7, No. 1., pp. 11–24, July-September 2012.

Author Surname, Author Forename. Year Published. ‘Title’. Publication Title Volume Number (Issue Number): Pages Used. Retrieved October 10, 2013 (http://Website URL).

Sandelowski, Margarete. 1994. ‘Focus On Qualitative Methods. Notes On Transcription’. Research in Nursing \& Health 17(4):312.

Chapter Author’s Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Chapter or article title. Editor First Initial. Second Initial. Editor’s Last Name (Ed.). Book title: Subtitle (edition number, if not the first pages of the chapter). Location of publication: Publisher.

Social, M.O., (2023). Coarctation. In D.S. Moodie (Ed.). Management of heart disease: Indulthood (pp. 142-170). Minneapolis, Minnesota: Cardiotext Publishing.

Name. Book title: Subtitle. Editors. Location of publication: publisher.

Schwartz, Paula. “Redefining Resistance: Women in France.” Behind the Lines: Two World Wars , edited by Margaret R. Higonnet et al., Yale UP, 1987, pp. 141–53.

Author’s Last Name, First Name. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title: Subtitle , edited by Editor first name Last name, Page range. Place of publication: Publisher, Year.

Nussbaum, Martha C. “Legal Reasoning.” In The Cambridge Law , edited by John Tasioulas, 59–77. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Author(s), “Chapter title,” in Book Title, Editor(s), Ed(s). City, Country: Publisher, year, p(p). page(s).

• Saito, A. Jorio, and M. S. Dresselhaus, “Properties of nanographene,” in The Oxford Book of Technology, vol. 2, Materials , A. V. NarlikarEds. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford Univ. Press, 2010, pp. 1–30.

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Year of publication. “Title of Chapter.” Pp. Numbers in Title of Book (italicized), edited by F.I. MI. Last. Location of publisher, state or province postal code or name of country (if a foreign publisher): Publisher’s Name.

Rubin, Avi. 2015. “The Slave: A Drama from the Last Century.” Pp. 87-103 in Society, Culture in Asia: The Modernities , edited by E. R. Toledano: Walter De Gruyter Incorporated.

Conference Paper/Presentation

Last name, initial (Year). Conference paper title. Editor initial, last name (Ed.), Proceedings Book Title . Place of Publication: Publisher.

Winstone, N. & Boud, D. (2017). Supporting students’ engagement: the adoption of practices in the U.K. and Australia. A nnual Conference . Newport, South Wales

Surname, First Name. “Paper Title.” Proceedings Title, Conference Location and Date , edited by Editor Name(s), Publisher, Date of Publication.

Lewis, Jack. “Literature: The Consequences of Loss.” Library Proceedings Conference, Amsterdam, 13–14 June , edited by W. Oldham, LCP Publications, 2015.

Author First Name Last Name, “Title of the Paper” (paper presentation, Conference, Location, Date of conference).

Allison Cloyd, “An Examination of College Students” (paper presentation, EasyBib Conference, New York, NY, July 30, 2014) .

Author initials. Last name, Book Title . City, Country: Publisher, Year.

• P. Hailman, Coding: Man-Made Signals . Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 2008.

Author Surname, Author Forename. Year Published. ‘Title’. P. Pages Used in Publication Title . City: Publisher. Retrieved October 10, 2013 (http://Website URL).

Vargas, Jose. 2014. ‘The End Of Liberty’. Pp. 40-42 in The end . Buenos Aires: Elsevier.

Online Sources

Last Name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). Article title . Site Name. URL

The countdown: A prophecy takedown . (2020, October 19). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54596667

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book . Edition, Publisher, Year of publication.

Smith, Thomas. The Citation Manual for Students: A Guide . 2nd ed., Wiley, 2020.

Author First and Last Name, Title of Book (Place of publication: publisher, year), page number(s).

Albert Einstein, The Meaning of Relativity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1923), 44–45.

Author initials. Last Name, Book Title . City (and state if in the U.S.), Country: Publisher, Year.

• P. Hailman, Redundancy: Man-Made Signals . Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard Univ. Press, 2008.

Last Name, First M. Year. “Title of article.” Title of Journal volume (issue): pages.

DOI/Retrieved Month Day, Year (URL)

Granello, Paul F. 1999. “College Students’ Wellness Due to Social Support.” Journal of Counseling 2(2):110-120.

Doi: 10.1002/j.2161-1882.1999.tb00149.x.

Tips for Accuracy

The goal of citing your paper is because of the advantages stated above. As such, you should not negotiate the accuracy of your citation. Here are the tips you can follow for accurate referencing:

Verify Your Source

Confirm if your source is credible or not. It is easier to verify books, journal articles, and chapters. You should check multiple links to confirm their authenticity.

Follow the One Style Guide

Maintain a single referencing style throughout your paper. It is improper to employ multiple referencing styles. If not specified, you can consider the APA style.

Verify DOI and URLs

DOI and URLs can be tricky and sensitive. A simple error with the punctuation can make them invalid. Hence, verifying every DOI and URL with a click is advisable. Discrediting your citation format for a scientific research paper reference based on an invalid URL is not worth it.

Online Citation Generators

Thanks to the digital age, you don’t have to worry about manually compiling your reference or generating its in-text citation. You can employ online generators to do the rough work for you. In turn, you will have more time to focus on the major content of your research work.

Use University Libraries and Writing Centers

Libraries and writing centers have extensive collections of cited sources. Since books, publications, and journals are more credible sources, university libraries remain a valid source to increase the credibility of your paper.

Leave No Stone Unturned!

Referencing and citation are the best way to preserve the relevance of your academic paper. It gives it the appropriate credibility for future use. That means another writer can refer to your work over many years, even when the level of advancement may be unmatched. A well-referenced work is evergreen.

One must note that well-oriented research paper citations have a proper format. The options include APA, MLA (citation style for science), Chicago, IEEE, and ASA. If not stated, it is advisable to follow the APA formatting style, as it is the most common. However, stick with formatting while compiling cited sources for a research paper.

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

The top list of academic search engines

1. Google Scholar

4. science.gov, 5. semantic scholar, 6. baidu scholar, get the most out of academic search engines, frequently asked questions about academic search engines, related articles.

Academic search engines have become the number one resource to turn to in order to find research papers and other scholarly sources. While classic academic databases like Web of Science and Scopus are locked behind paywalls, Google Scholar and others can be accessed free of charge. In order to help you get your research done fast, we have compiled the top list of free academic search engines.

Google Scholar is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only lets you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free but also often provides links to full-text PDF files.

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles
• Abstracts: only a snippet of the abstract is available
• Related articles: ✔
• References: ✔
• Cited by: ✔
• Links to full text: ✔
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, RIS, BibTeX

BASE is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany. That is also where its name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles (contains duplicates)
• Abstracts: ✔
• Related articles: ✘
• References: ✘
• Cited by: ✘
• Export formats: RIS, BibTeX

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open-access research papers. For each search result, a link to the full-text PDF or full-text web page is provided.

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles
• Links to full text: ✔ (all articles in CORE are open access)
• Export formats: BibTeX

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need anymore to query all those resources separately!

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles and reports
• Links to full text: ✔ (available for some databases)
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX (available for some databases)

Semantic Scholar is the new kid on the block. Its mission is to provide more relevant and impactful search results using AI-powered algorithms that find hidden connections and links between research topics.

• Coverage: approx. 40 million articles
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX

Although Baidu Scholar's interface is in Chinese, its index contains research papers in English as well as Chinese.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 100 million articles
• Abstracts: only snippets of the abstract are available
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX

RefSeek searches more than one billion documents from academic and organizational websites. Its clean interface makes it especially easy to use for students and new researchers.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 1 billion documents
• Abstracts: only snippets of the article are available
• Export formats: not available

Consider using a reference manager like Paperpile to save, organize, and cite your references. Paperpile integrates with Google Scholar and many popular databases, so you can save references and PDFs directly to your library using the Paperpile buttons:

Google Scholar is an academic search engine, and it is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only let's you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free, but also often provides links to full text PDF file.

Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature developed at the Allen Institute for AI. Sematic Scholar was publicly released in 2015 and uses advances in natural language processing to provide summaries for scholarly papers.

BASE , as its name suggest is an academic search engine. It is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany and that's where it name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open access research papers. For each search result a link to the full text PDF or full text web page is provided.

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need any more to query all those resources separately!

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How to Cite a Research Paper

Last Updated: March 29, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner and by wikiHow staff writer, Jennifer Mueller, JD . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 420,572 times.

When writing a paper for a research project, you may need to cite a research paper you used as a reference. The basic information included in your citation will be the same across all styles. However, the format in which that information is presented is somewhat different depending on whether you're using American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago, or American Medical Association (AMA) style.

Referencing a Research Paper

• In APA style, cite the paper: Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title. Publisher.
• In Chicago style, cite the paper: Last Name, First Name. “Title.” Publisher, Year.
• In MLA style, cite the paper: Last Name, First Name. “Title.” Publisher. Year.

Citation Help

• For example: "Kringle, K., & Frost, J."

• For example: "Kringle, K., & Frost, J. (2012)."
• If the date, or any other information, are not available, use the guide at https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/05/missing-pieces.html .

• For example: "Kringle, K., & Frost, J. (2012). Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer."
• If you found the research paper in a database maintained by a university, corporation, or other organization, include any index number assigned to the paper in parentheses after the title. For example: "Kringle, K., & Frost, J. (2012). Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer. (Report No. 1234)."

• For example: "Kringle, K., & Frost, J. (2012). Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer. (Report No. 1234). Retrieved from Alaska University Library Archives, December 24, 2017."

• For example: "(Kringle & Frost, 2012)."
• If there was no date on the research paper, use the abbreviation n.d. : "(Kringle & Frost, n.d.)."

• For example: "Kringle, Kris, and Jack Frost."

• For example: "Kringle, Kris, and Jack Frost. "Red Noses, Warm Hearts: The Glowing Phenomenon among North Pole Reindeer." Master's thesis."

• For example: "Kringle, Kris, and Jack Frost. "Red Noses, Warm Hearts: The Glowing Phenomenon among North Pole Reindeer." Master's thesis, Alaska University, 2012."

• For example: "Kringle, Kris, and Jack Frost. "Red Noses, Warm Hearts: The Glowing Phenomenon among North Pole Reindeer." Master's thesis, Alaska University, 2012. Accessed at https://www.northpolemedical.com/raising_rudolf."

• Footnotes are essentially the same as the full citation, although the first and last names of the authors aren't inverted.
• For parenthetical citations, Chicago uses the Author-Date format. For example: "(Kringle and Frost 2012)."

• For example: "Kringle, Kris, and Frost, Jack."

• For example: "Kringle, Kris, and Frost, Jack. "Red Noses, Warm Hearts: The Glowing Phenomenon Among North Pole Reindeer.""

• For example, suppose you found the paper in a collection of paper housed in university archives. Your citation might be: "Kringle, Kris, and Frost, Jack. "Red Noses, Warm Hearts: The Glowing Phenomenon Among North Pole Reindeer." Master's Theses 2000-2010. University of Alaska Library Archives. Accessed December 24, 2017."

• For example: "(Kringle & Frost, p. 33)."

• For example: "Kringle K, Frost J."

• For example: "Kringle K, Frost J. Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer."

• For example: "Kringle K, Frost J. Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer. Nat Med. 2012; 18(9): 1429-1433."

• For example, if you're citing a paper presented at a conference, you'd write: "Kringle K, Frost J. Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer. Oral presentation at Arctic Health Association Annual Summit; December, 2017; Nome, Alaska."
• To cite a paper you read online, you'd write: "Kringle K, Frost J. Red noses, warm hearts: The glowing phenomenon among North Pole reindeer. https://www.northpolemedical.com/raising_rudolf"

• For example: "According to Kringle and Frost, these red noses indicate a subspecies of reindeer native to Alaska and Canada that have migrated to the North Pole and mingled with North Pole reindeer. 1 "

Community Q&A

• If you used a manual as a source in your research paper, you'll need to learn how to cite the manual also. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• If you use any figures in your research paper, you'll also need to know the proper way to cite them in MLA, APA, AMA, or Chicago. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ https://askus.library.wwu.edu/faq/116659
• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html
• ↑ https://libanswers.snhu.edu/faq/48009
• ↑ https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://morningside.libguides.com/MLA8/location
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ama_style/index.html

About This Article

To cite a paper APA style, start with the author's last name and first initial, and the year of publication. Then, list the title of the paper, where you found it, and the date that you accessed it. In a paper, use a parenthetical reference with the last name of the author and the publication year. For an MLA citation, list the author's last name and then first name and the title of the paper in quotations. Include where you accessed the paper and the date you retrieved it. In your paper, use a parenthetical reference with the author's last name and the page number. Keep reading for tips on Chicago and AMA citations and exceptions to the citation rules! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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A Beginner’s Guide to Citations, References and Bibliography in Research Papers

As an academician, terms such as citations, references and bibliography might be a part of almost every work-related conversation in your daily life. However, many researchers, especially during the early stages of their academic career, may find it hard to differentiate between citations, references and bibliography in research papers and often find it confusing to implement their usage. If you are amongst them, this article will provide you with some respite. Let us start by first understanding the individual terms better.

Citation in research papers:  A citation appears in the main text of the paper. It is a way of giving credit to the information that you have specifically mentioned in your research paper by leading the reader to the original source of information. You will need to use citation in research papers whenever you are using information to elaborate a particular concept in the paper, either in the introduction or discussion sections or as a way to support your research findings in the results section.

Reference in research papers:  A reference is a detailed description of the source of information that you want to give credit to via a citation. The references in research papers are usually in the form of a list at the end of the paper. The essential difference between citations and references is that citations lead a reader to the source of information, while references provide the reader with detailed information regarding that particular source.

Bibliography in research papers:

A bibliography in research paper is a list of sources that appears at the end of a research paper or an article, and contains information that may or may not be directly mentioned in the research paper. The difference between reference and bibliography in research is that an individual source in the list of references can be linked to an in-text citation, while an individual source in the bibliography may not necessarily be linked to an in-text citation.

It’s understandable how these terms may often be used interchangeably as they are serve the same purpose – namely to give intellectual and creative credit to an original idea that is elaborated in depth in a research paper. One of the easiest ways to understand when to use an in-text citation in research papers, is to check whether the information is an ongoing work of research or if it has been proven to be a ‘fact’ through reproducibility. If the information is a proven fact, you need not specifically add the original source to the list of references but can instead choose to mention it in your bibliography. For instance, if you use a statement such as “The effects of global warming and climate changes on the deterioration of environment have been described in depth”, you need not use an in-text citation, but can choose to mention key sources in the bibliography section. An example of a citation in a research paper would be if you intend to elaborate on the impact of climate change in a particular population and/or a specific geographical location. In this case, you will need to add an in-text citation and mention the correct source in the list of references.

Now that you have understood the basic similarities and differences in these terms, you should also know that every journal follows a particular style and format for these elements. So when working out how to write citations and add references in research papers, be mindful of using the preferred style of your target journal before you submit your research document.

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How to quickly get complete list of citations to all my papers?

I need to get citations (with complete info including authors, journal, date) to all my papers. What's the best way (hopefully without too much manual copy & paste) to do this?

What i so far tried:

Google Scholar seem to give more complete list of papers that cite my paper that it includes papers in non-English language journals etc. But i can't see how to get authors, journal title, volume number etc quickly from the Google Scholar search output.

• publications

• 1 I haven't used it, but this might help: github.com/tonybreyal/Blog-Reference-Functions/blob/master/R/… –  Suresh Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 5:38
• 2 If you are using Google Scholar, you'll have to filter out lots of false positives and edit the reference files for wrong fields (e.g., wrong journal names). Google itself hasn't managed to do it properly yet, so if you know a way to automate this you might want to contact them with an offer. :) –  Federico Poloni Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 7:31
• @DaveClarke I'm sorry, it seems that I misunderstood the question. I'm not a native speaker and it sounded like "citations to [include in]" instead of "citations [pointing] to" (/"citations of"). I deleted my previous comment. –  Piotr Migdal Commented Feb 22, 2013 at 14:50

3 Answers 3

You can use Scopus to do that, but only if you / your institute has access.

Search for an article that you (or someone else) has authored, click on the author name, then click on "citations".

I'm not sure if Scopus deeplinking works, but try this for a direct link.

• 3 but only if you / your institute has access — and you only care about citations in venues that Scopus indexes. –  JeffE Commented Feb 23, 2013 at 0:51

As an alternative to scopus, you can use Web of Science. It's also subscription based though, and your institution may or may not have access.

Go to http://apps.webofknowledge.com , select the tab labelled "Web of Science", and enter your name in the search field for the author. When the results show up, you should see a link labelled "Create citation report" near the top right corner of the results list. Follow that, and in the results table you will see an element "Citing Articles[?] : nnn", where nnn is the number of citing articles. Click on the number, and you are taken to a list of all citing articles from the Web of Science database.

In case the result list after searching for your name has false positives, you can exclude them from the citation report either by setting a year range, or manually excluding them one-by-one.

Harzing's Publish or Perish software is the tool which will probably help you most. It is a Windows application, which allows you to specify queries and then goes to Google Scholar to retrieve and sort the references, citations, etc. Besides computing h-index and a host of other bibliometric indices, it allows you to produce reports from your searches and this is what you seem to be after. Even though running only on Windows, installing Wine emulator to run it is worth the hassle.

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• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

Cite a Website

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in apa.

Once you’ve identified a credible website to use, create a citation and begin building your reference list. Citation Machine citing tools can help you create references for online news articles, government websites, blogs, and many other website! Keeping track of sources as you research and write can help you stay organized and ethical. If you end up not using a source, you can easily delete it from your bibliography. Ready to create a citation? Enter the website’s URL into the search box above. You’ll get a list of results, so you can identify and choose the correct source you want to cite. It’s that easy to begin!

If you’re wondering how to cite a website in APA, use the structure below.

Author Last Name, First initial. (Year, Month Date Published). Title of web page . Name of Website. URL

Example of an APA format website:

Austerlitz, S. (2015, March 3). How long can a spinoff like ‘Better Call Saul’ last? FiveThirtyEight. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-long-can-a-spinoff-like-better-call-saul-last/

Keep in mind that not all information found on a website follows the structure above. Only use the Website format above if your online source does not fit another source category. For example, if you’re looking at a video on YouTube, refer to the ‘YouTube Video’ section. If you’re citing a newspaper article found online, refer to ‘Newspapers Found Online’ section. Again, an APA website citation is strictly for web pages that do not fit better with one of the other categories on this page.

Social media:

When adding the text of a post, keep the original capitalization, spelling, hashtags, emojis (if possible), and links within the text.

Facebook posts:

Structure: Facebook user’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Monday Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of Facebook post [Source type if attached] [Post type]. Facebook. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached]

Post type examples: [Status update], [Video], [Image], [Infographic]

Gomez, S. (2020, February 4). Guys, I’ve been working on this special project for two years and can officially say Rare Beauty is launching in [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/Selena/videos/1340031502835436/

Life at Chegg. (2020, February 7) It breaks our heart that 50% of college students right here in Silicon Valley are hungry. That’s why Chegg has [Images attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/LifeAtChegg/posts/1076718522691591

Twitter posts:

Structure: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [Twitter Handle]. (Year, Month Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of tweet [source type if attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached], [Poll attached]

Example: Edelman, J. [Edelman11]. (2018, April 26). Nine years ago today my life changed forever. New England took a chance on a long shot and I’ve worked [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/989652345922473985

Instagram posts:

APA citation format: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [@Instagram handle]. (Year, Month Day). Up to the first 20 words of caption [Photograph(s) and/or Video(s)]. Instagram. URL

Example: Portman, N. [@natalieportman]. (2019, January 5). Many of my best experiences last year were getting to listen to and learn from so many incredible people through [Videos]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRD-FBB8HI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If this guide hasn’t helped solve all of your referencing questions, or if you’re still feeling the need to type “how to cite a website APA” into Google, then check out our APA citation generator on CitationMachine.com, which can build your references for you!

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What Is Cite This For Me’s APA Citation Generator?

If you are working on a paper in the APA style, you know that formatting APA citations can be a complicated task that requires a lot of patience. Fortunately, referencing has never been so easy. Introducing your new best friend: the Cite This For Me APA citation generator. Using this automated citation machine to create accurate citations allows students to work smarter, leaving them more time to focus on their studies.

The Cite This For Me powerful citation generator fully-formats all of your APA citations in just a click. So if you’re unsure how to accurately create your citations in the APA format, or you need to cite all of your sources in record time, using the Cite This For Me accurate generator will help ensure you don’t lose valuable points on your work unnecessarily.

This guide provides you with everything you need to know to help ensure that your paper reflects all your hard work. Read ahead for tips on how to structure and present your work according to the APA formatting guidelines, how to avoid charges of plagiarism, and how to cite sources both in-text and in your reference list and bibliography.

Popular APA Citation Examples

• Dictionary entry 
• Edited book 
• Image or video online
• PDF or E-book
• Presentation or lecture
• Video, film, or DVD

Why Do I Need to Cite?

Essentially, citing is the crediting of sources used in academic work. When another source contributes to your work you must acknowledge the original author with an accurate reference, unless it is common knowledge (e.g., the Magna Carta was signed in 1215). Failing to cite all of your sources or citing them incorrectly constitutes plagiarism , which is considered a serious academic offense. It is important to remember that information doesn’t just belong to anyone who happens to stumble upon it. If you are caught plagiarizing it is more than likely that you will lose points on your assignment, or even face expulsion from your university.

APA citation format also stipulates that students and researchers should be wary of a type of plagiarism called “self-plagiarism.” This is when you reuse material that you previously wrote for a new writing assignment without signaling to the reader that you have done so by creating an APA format citation for your work. Presenting your own past work as new scholarship is still plagiarism, and could still have serious consequences.

Aside from avoiding plagiarism, attributing your research to its proper source is crucial in ensuring that your work is firmly anchored in academic tradition. Correctly citing your sources validates the statements and conclusions you make in your work by providing supporting evidence. For many students, citing can be a frustrating process, but it’s an excellent way to enhance the quality of your work and inject it with authority.

Imagine if all the stress of referencing simply vanished. Well, Cite This For Me’s APA citation generator is here to help you make that stress disappear – now you can create in-text citations and reference lists in the APA format without all of the usual frustrations of referencing.

What is the APA Citation Style?

The APA citation style is a parenthetical author-date style, meaning that you need to put the author’s last name and the publishing date into parentheses wherever another source is used in the narrative.

The APA format consists of in-text citations and a reference list, along with guidelines for formatting the paper itself. Both the in-text citations and the reference list can be created in the blink of an eye using the Cite This For Me APA reference generator.

Although primarily used by students and researchers studying the social and behavioral sciences, the APA format is used amongst other scientific publications for its editorial efficiency. The Cite This For Me APA citation generator uses an up to date version of the APA format, helping to ensure accuracy whether you are using the APA format generator for university assignments or are preparing research projects for publishing.

Aside from the APA format, there is a plethora of different citation styles out there – the use of which depends on your discipline, university requirements, your professor’s preference, or the publication you are submitting the work to. It is important to make sure that you are using the correct style – so if you’re unsure, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly.

It is important to note that APA style citation rules are fundamentally an editorial style, not a writing style per se. An editorial style refers to rules and guidelines a publisher uses to ensure that materials in their publications are presented consistently.

The citation generator above will generate your references in APA format as standard, and can show you how to cite APA sources in a few clicks. You can also sign up to Cite This For Me to select from thousands of widely used global college styles, including individual university variations. So, whether your professor prefers that you use the MLA format , or your discipline requires you to adopt the Chicago style citation , your referencing will be supported. Cite This For Me includes citation generators and handy guides for styles such as ASA , AMA or IEEE .

How Do I Create and Format My Citations?

Ever find yourself searching the web for things like “How to cite a website APA?” Then you’re in the right place. When you reference a source within an APA style paper; whether it is using a direct quote, repurposing an image, or simply referring to an idea or theory, you should:

• Insert an in-text citation (the author’s surname and the date of publication within parentheses) straight after a direct quote
• Insert an in-text citation at the end of the sentence where a source has contributed, but was not a direct quote
• If you have already mentioned the author’s name in the sentence, you only need to insert the date immediately after their surname
• Include page numbers within the parentheses (after the date), if referring to a particular page or section of the source
• When citing a source with three to five authors, include all surnames for the first in-text citation, then use the first author’s surname followed by et al. for subsequent citations
• When citing six or more authors – use the first author’s surname followed by et al. for all citations
• If you are mentioning both the year and author in the text, don’t include an additional citation in parentheses – unless you are referring to a particular section of the source, in which case you should cite the page number
• Provide an alphabetical list (ordered by author’s surname) of all sources used, titled ‘References’, on a separate page at the end of the narrative
• Inclusive page numbers for the electronic version of a print source (i.e., a PDF)
• Provide your appendices on a separate page after the reference list
• Use ‘&’ in place of ‘and’ in both in-text citations and full references

Use the Cite This For Me APA citation maker to create citations with ease; this will allow you to add citations to your project, edit on the spot, and export separate in-text citations as well as fully-formatted reference lists.

APA Citation Examples (7th Edition)

Each APA reference must adhere to the rules set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition . The following examples follow guidelines from Chapter 10 of the manual. Here are a few examples for you to get started:

In-text citation APA examples:

• Page specified, author mentioned in text:

Lutz & Huitt (2010, p. 4) argue that “the statistical significance of …”

• Page specified, author not mentioned in text:

The results were consistent throughout the study (Fernández-Manzanal, Rodríguez-Barreiro, & Carrasquer, 2007).

• Six authors:

The study found that … (Sania et al., 2011)

The data presented …. (“How sleep enhances memory retention”, 2015).

Reference list examples:

• Book citation, one author, multiple editions:

Hawking, S. W. (1998). A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes (10th ed.). New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.

• Ebook, online only:

Tyler, G. (n.d.). Evolution in the systems age . Retrieved from http://www.onlineoriginals.com/showitem.asp?itemID=142&action=setvar&vartype=history&varname=bookmark&v1=1&v2=46&v3=2

• Journal article, three authors, with a DOI:

Fernández-Manzanal, R., Rodríguez-Barreiro, L., & Carrasquer, J. (2007). Evaluation of environmental attitudes: Analysis and results of a scale applied to university students. Science Education , 91(6), 988–1009. doi:10.1002/sce.20218

* Note: For more information on the different types of journal article citations that can be made under APA 7, see section 10.1 of the Publication Manual, pp. 316-321.

• How to cite a website in APA:

Veterans Affairs Canada. (2019, February 14). Indigenous people in the Second World War . https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/aborigin

• Online newspaper article:

Smith, D. (2019, October 22). The banner, the rings, the season opener: Champion Raptors return on a night like no other. The Toronto Star . https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/2019/10/22/the-banner-the-rings-the-season-opener-champion-raptors-return-on-a-night-like-no-other.html

• Article from an online news website (HuffPost, MSNBC, Vox, etc.):

Wade, L. (2013, March 6). ‘Sunstone’ crystal from British shipwreck may be vikings’ legendary navigation aid . HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sunstone-british-shipwreck-viking-navigation_n_2818858

• Video, online:

CrashCourse. (2015, April 30). Mars: Crash course astronomy #15 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-88YWx71gE

How Do I Format My Reference List?

Drawing on a range of relevant sources in your work proves that you have read widely around your chosen topic, so it’s a surefire way to impress your reader.

To ensure your reader’s ease of comprehension you must adhere to the style’s formatting guidelines. In APA format, a list of all the sources that have directly contributed to your work should be placed on a new page at the end of the narrative and titled ‘References’ (center align the title), otherwise known as an APA works cited list. The references should all have a hanging indentation – the second and subsequent lines of each reference should start ½ inch from the margin.

You may also be required to provide a full APA bibliography. This is a comprehensive list of all the source material you used to complete the assignment, even if it was not cited in the text. It should include any book, journal, article etc. that you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process in order to get a deeper understanding of the subject at hand.

APA Format Example:

Sound like a lot of work? Although the style guidelines are strict in regard to how references should be formatted, the Cite This For Me APA citation machine can help take the weight off your shoulders by quickly compiling your reference list and bibliography.

APA Style Paper Formatting Guidelines (7th Edition)

When following the APA format guidelines, you must pay attention to presentation details such as font type, line spacing, margins and page headers to ensure your work is easily legible. The information below, as well as further formatting details, can be found in Chapter 2 of the APA 7 Publication Manual .

• 1-inch margins on all sides
• Easily readable font – Times New Roman recommended, 12pt. size
• Double-space the entirety of the paper
• Page numbers in the header, aligned to the right
• Title of the paper in all capitals, 50 characters or less, in the header on each page of the body (the ‘running head’), aligned to the left. Only include a running head if you’re writing a professional paper
• The paper should typically include four major sections – Title Page, Abstract, Main Body and References.
• If infographics (tables, charts) were used in the narrative you should also add Appendices as a separate section at the end of the paper.

APA Title Page

Not all instructors will require a title page, also sometimes called an APA cover page. If they do, include these four parts:

• Title of your paper
• Running head (see above section)
• Author’s/Your name
• Institutional affiliation

The title of your paper should:

• Be centered on the page and use title case (a combination of lower and uppercase letters).
• Not be italicized, bolded, or underlined
• Use a 12-point font
• Be a maximum of 2 lines and not more than 12 words long
• Not include abbreviations

Underneath the title, place the author’s name. If you wrote the paper, put your full name here. There’s no need to include titles or degrees (e.g., Ms., PhD, etc.).

Under the author’s name, place the institutional affiliation. For most students, this would be the name of the school, college or university you are attending. The title, author’s name, and institutional affiliation should all be double spaced. Here’s an example of an APA format title page:

Writing Guidelines

The American Psychological Association also provides some helpful guidelines regarding overall best practices when writing academic and scientific papers. One important thing to be on the lookout for is bias in your writing. For instance, using the word “man” to represent humans as a species is neither scientific nor without potential bias.

Here are some good rules of thumb to help you avoid bias in your paper:

• Always be specific in your writing and avoid generalizations.
• Do not label people or test subjects unnecessarily.
• When writing about participants in your experiment or study, be sure to acknowledge them as such appropriately. Use the term “participants” instead of “subjects.”
• Use active voice instead of passive voice in your writing. For example, “the participants completed the task” vs. “the task was completed by the participants.”
• Always be cautious when discussing topics such as sexual orientation, racial and ethnic identity, disabilities, etc.
• Never change quotations to better serve your own ends or to better fit with your conclusions.

Important Terms for an APA Paper

Have you come across terms such as “abstract” or “appendices” in the manual and been unsure of their meanings? Here are some important terms to know when writing your next APA paper.

• Abstract – A brief and concise summary of your paper’s contents.
• Keywords – A list of significant keywords that the reader should be on the lookout for in your paper.
• Introduction – Generally kicks of the rest of your paper by describing what you’re writing about. In scientific papers, this would outline the problem you are solving and your research strategy.
• References – An APA reference page is the place where you list each source that you have cited via an APA in-text citation within the body of your paper.
• Running Head – Running head is the name of APA headings that are used in research papers. They contain the title of the paper, the page number, and the term “Running head.”

A Brief History of the APA Format

APA stands for American Psychological Association , the scientific organization that assembles the publishing manual of the APA format. The style was developed in 1929 by a group of scientists to standardize scientific writing. It was created in the hopes that it would provide a coherent and professional manner of citing sources for students and researchers in the fields of social and behavioral sciences.

The first publication manual of the APA format was published in pursuit of a neat and efficient research formatting style, mainly for editorial purposes. Although some contemporary scientists argued that having such strict regulations restricted personal writing styles, the format has since become one of the most popular referencing styles. Today it is adopted in term papers, research reports, literature reviews, theoretical articles, case studies etc.

What’s New in the 7th Edition of APA Format?

It is important to note that citation styles and referencing formats change over time as they adapt to new source types and trends in academic publishing. APA format is no different, and in the fall of 2019 released the 7th edition of its Publication Manual.

Are you curious to know what the differences are between the 7th and 6th edition of APA style? Here are some of the important updates listed in the 7th edition of APA citing:

• The location of the source’s publisher no longer needs to be included in the citation.
• DOIs are formatted as URLs (i.e. https://doi.org/xxx), and no longer require the label “DOI” preceding them in the reference.
• When making an APA website citation, URLs no longer need to be preceded by “Retrieved from.” The exception to this is when you include a date of retrieval, which is optional.
• When making an APA book citation for an ebook, you no longer need to include the device or platform that you read the book on (i.e. “Kindle) is no longer required in the citation.
• There is more flexibility in the 7th edition regarding APA paper format specifications on font.
• The running head in an APA format title page no longer requires the words “Running head,” and instead now only requires a page number and a shortened version of your paper’s title.
• You now need to only use one space after each period in your paper.

Before you switch to the newest version, it is a good idea to confirm with your teacher or instructor that this is the version of the style that they prefer you use.

How do I Create Accurate Citations with the Cite This For Me APA Generator?

Referencing giving you a headache? Let the Cite This For Me APA format generator remove the stress caused by citations by helping to turn in any of your sources into a fully-formatted citation. The generator will create your reference in two parts; an in-text citation and a full reference that is ready to be copied straight into your work.

To unlock the full potential of the APA citation maker, simply login to Cite This For Me multi-platform tool. Use the web platform to add and edit citations, export full projects and individual entries, utilize the add-ons, and save all of your citations in the cloud. Or, you can make use of Cite This For Me for Chrome – the browser extension for Google Chrome that allows you to cite APA sources and instantly create and edit a citation for any online web page, without leaving the one you’re viewing.

Cite This For Me gives students the confidence to achieve their full academic potential by encouraging them to research and cite diverse sources. The APA citation generator can help you cite many different kinds of sources; whether it be a PDF report, podcast, a musical score or many more .

Manage All Your Citations in One Place

Create projects, add notes, cite directly from the browser.

Sign up to Cite This For Me – the ultimate citation management tool.

Section 8.17 of the APA Manual, 7 th edition, provides details on the number of authors to be included in in-text citations. As per this section, any work having 3 or more authors will not be written fully. Instead, the Latin words “et al” meaning “and others” have to be used after writing the first author’s name.

Example In-Text Citation Entry for more than 3 authors:

Almost all suppressed persons end up becoming an oppressed person when the same set of situations is presented in their lives (Camus et al., 1975).

In a rare instance, multiple sets of three or more authors might have the same initial pair or initial author. Under such rare situations, Section 8.18 of the APA manual requires you to write out the names of authors in order to distinguish between such confusing references.

Example In-Text Citation Entries:

Bandopadhyay, Schmidt, Wagner et al. (2000)

Bandopadhyay, Schmidt, Meyer et al. (1975)

Section 2.8 of the APA Manual, 7 th edition, provides details on the running head. A shortened version of the paper’s title (50 characters or fewer, including spaces and punctuation), the running head appears on top of each page so that the readers can connect the paper’s content with the title. While running heads are not required for student papers unless explicitly stated by the organization or instructor, manuscripts for publication absolutely require them.

Running heads should be in all-capital letters, flush left (directly across from the page number, which is flush right), and presented in the page header including the title page. You do not need to use the words, “Running head” because it is implied from its presence in the header.

Comparison of Loan Repayment Between Traditional Lending and Online Lending Models (Heading)

COMPARISON OF LOAN REPAYMENT MODELS (Running Head)

Section 2.3 of the APA Manual, 7 th edition provides details on what should appear in a title page for both professionals and students. While students are advised to follow the guidelines from their respective institutions or instructors, the following elements (from top to bottom) are necessary in the absence of any such information.

• Page number at the right hand side top in the header portion (also to be included in all pages)
• Title of the paper in bold, centered and appearing in the middle
• Author’s name
• Affiliation of the author (this will be the university’s name along with the department’s or division’s name)
• Name of the course (format used in the course materials. For example, PSY101)
• Name of the instructor (check with the instructor for their preference of salutation like Dr., Professor, etc.)
• Due date of the assignment with the month spelled out (June 1, 2021, or 1 June, 2021)

Section 2.3 of the APA Manual, 7 th edition provides details on what should appear on a title page for both professional and student papers. The following elements (from top to bottom) are necessary for the professional version of the title page.

• Running head in capitals at the left-hand side of the header portion (included on every page)
• Page number at the right-hand side of the header portion (included on every page)
• Title of the paper in bold, centered, and on the upper portion of the page (usually three or four lines down from the top)
• Authors’ name(s) in full, including first name, middle initial, and last name
• Affiliation of the authors (the university’s or institution’s name where the work referenced in the paper was conducted and the department’s or division’s name)
• Author Note (below the information listed above, this section provides additional pertinent information about authors along with contact information for those interested)

According to section 9.16 of the APA manual, 7th edition, you only need to add “retrieved from” and a retrieval date in a reference entry for web sources designed to be continuously updated. For example, an online reference entry from a dictionary or encyclopedia, or a social media page. Including a retrieval date signals to readers that the source may differ in content if retrieved on a different date. When including the retrieval date, insert it before the URL or DOI at the end of the entry:

Retrieved January 1, 2022, from https://chegg.com

For web sources with stable URLs or DOIs that do not change, do not include a retrieval date. Only include the URL or DOI. Section 9.5 of the APA manual, 7 th edition provides information on how to format DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) and URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). Both DOIs and URLs are to be presented as hyperlinks (use http:// or https:// as the case may be). Since these are presented as hyperlinks that the readers can use to access the content, it is NOT necessary to have the words, “Retrieved from” or “Accessed from” before a DOI or an URL. However, test the resource to ensure the hyperlink works.

Section 8.11 of the APA Publication Manual , 7 th edition, provides details on parenthetical citations. A parenthetical citation provides the authors’ names and publication date of the source within parentheses along with the cited text. If two authors are present in the source, both authors’ last names should be mentioned in the in-text citation. Their names should be separated by an ampersand (&). The publication date should follow the second surname, separated by a comma.

A parenthetical citation can appear either at the end of the sentence or within the sentence depending on how the sentence is framed. The period or end punctuation appears after the closing parenthesis.

Example parenthetical citation at the end of a sentence:

The reach of fake news is greatly underrated (Rameses & Hudgson, 2021).

If more text appears along with the parenthetical citation, include commas to separate the year and help the reader distinguish the citation from the surrounding text.

Example parenthetical citation with additional text:

The reach of fake news is greatly underrated (see Rameses & Hudgson, 2021, for more detail).

Section 8.11 of the APA Publication Manual , 7 th edition, provides details on narrative citations. A narrative citation provides the authors’ names in running text, and the publication date appears within parentheses immediately after the names. If two authors are present in the source, both authors’ last names should be mentioned in the in-text citation. In narrative citations, the word “and” should be spelled out between the two names.

Example narrative citation with two authors:

Crompton and Williams (2020) noted that gut health is of paramount importance in maintaining mental health.

In some circumstances, the year may also appear within the text along with the authors’ names. In such a scenario, the date should not appear within parentheses.

Example narrative citation with two authors and date:

In 2020, Crompton and Williams broke new ground with their hypothesis that mental health is strongly linked with gut health.

As per Section 2.4 of the APA Publication Manual , 7 th edition, the title of a research paper should summarize the main idea in a succinct manner. While there is no prescribed title length in APA style, authors are advised to keep their titles brief and focused. The manual also provides examples between effective and ineffective titles, including “fluff” words that can be cut from titles and substantive information that should be included in a title to make it relevant to the reader(s).

When the whole book or article is being referenced, there is no need to include a page number. However, when you are referring to a specific page or pages (either in a paraphrase or a direct quote), include the page number(s) in your in-text citation.

If you are referring to information or a quote contained on a single page, add the page number after the author and date, preceded by “p.” If you are citing multiple pages, the page numbers should be preceded by “pp.” and separated by an en-dash.

Example in-text citation with single page number:

(Rayden, 2014, p. 308)

Example in-text citation with page range:

(Rayden, 2014, pp. 308-311)

If there are no page numbers in a work, you can use some other type of locator in in-text citations to help your reader find the information you are citing, like chapter names, headings, or paragraph numbers.

As per Section 8.14 of the APA Publication Manual , 7 th edition, for sources with an unknown author, include the title of the source and year of publication in your in-text citations instead.

If the title of the source is italicized in your reference list, it should also be italicized in your in-text citation. If the title is not in italics in the reference list, it should be in quotation marks in your in-text citation. Titles should be listed in title case (with all important words capitalized) when included in in-text citations.

In-text citation templates:

( Full Name of the Source , year)

(“Full Name of the Source,” year)

In-text citation examples:

( How to Be Awesomely You , 2021)

(“Social Dynamics in US Colleges,” 2018)

If a work’s author is designated as “Anonymous,” use “Anonymous” as the author in in-text citations, as shown below.

(Anonymous, 2020)

As per Section 2.14 of the APA Publication Manual , 7 th edition, an appendix or appendices are included after the references, footnotes, tables, and figures of the paper. In other words, appendices are the last item in your paper. Each appendix should be separately mentioned within the main text (e.g., “see Appendix A”). Appendices are to be self-contained; they should describe the contents and clearly have a label and title.

For a parenthetical in-text citation in APA style, the basic elements needed are the author’s last name (or the group author’s name) and the publication year. For parenthetical citations, format this information by inputting it in parentheses.

For a narrative in-text citation, include the information in the running text. Usually, this means you include the author’s last name followed by the year in parentheses. However, if needed, you may include both the author’s last name and the year in the running text.

For audio, visual, or audiovisual works, replace the author’s last name with a director’s last name (for a film), an uploader’s last name (for YouTube), the artist’s name (for an artwork), and so on.

As per section 2 of the APA 7 manual, papers require the following elements presented in the order below. Since the required elements differ depending on whether your paper is a professional or student paper, there are two lists to distinguish the differences. Sections like Figures, Tables, and Appendices may not be relevant to your paper, so you may exclude those.

Professional Papers*

• Title Page (with title, author(s), affiliations, and an author note)
• Page Headers including a running head and page numbers
• Reference List
• Keywords (optional)
• Footnotes (optional)
• Tables (optional)
• Figures (optional)
• Appendices (optional)
• Supplemental Materials (optional)

*Always refer to the professional journal’s instructions or submission guidelines.

Student Papers

• Page Numbers

An APA reference list comprises the publication details of the studies that specifically quote or support the ideas and concepts presented in a paper. Cite sources in the text, with a narrative or parenthetical citation, and include corresponding reference entries in the reference list.

An APA bibliography is similar to a reference list because it also includes full reference entries for sources cited in the text. However, they also include other sources that support or give background for further research related to the listed source.

An APA annotated bibliography includes short annotations below the reference entry in a separate paragraph(s). Annotations summarize and/or describe a source in detail.

Both the 6 th and 7 th editions of APA style are available on the Cite This For Me citation generator .

For a webpage/website, journal article, or book, you’ll need 1-2 pieces of basic publication information. For example:

• Website : URL, page title, etc.
• Journal article : Article title, DOI number, author(s), etc.
• Book : Book title, author, date published, etc.

Using those pieces of information, you can search for the source in the Cite This For Me APA citation generator and it will help you to create a citation.

Other source types (newspaper article, video, government document, etc.) will provide a form on which you provide all source information. Using that information, the citation generator will create a properly formatted APA citation for you.

The Berry Library and the Commonwealth Honors Program are closed today due to HVAC issues. It is anticipated that the other departments located in the Learning Commons and the Feeley Atrium will operate as normally scheduled.

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Tools for getting started.

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The following  electronic resources  are useful for getting background information on topics of interest.

CQ Researcher  

Once CQ Press opens click on CQ Researcher.  Browse by topic or conduct a search for a broad term.  The results should give you related issues to consider focusing your research on, and you can link to reports on these issues that include overviews, outlook, chronology, maps/graphs, etc.  Comprehensive, unbiased reporting and analysis of issues in America since 1923.

Gale eBooks

Included in its "Medical" section, this database provides us with the Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders.

Oxford Bibliographies  - Psychology

The guides feature a selective list of bibliographic citations supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult. Each topic has a unique editorial commentary to show how the cited sources are interrelated. The citations promote discoverability as they link out to the sources via your library collection or through Google books and more. All articles receive multiple peer reviews and editorial board vetting 

Oxford Reference Collection

Provides the following reference resources: A Dictionary of Psychology ; The Oxford Companion to the Mind; Dictionary of the Social Sciences .  Click on "Subjects & Books" for a complete listing. 

Sage Reference Online

Includes reference titles covering the following subjects: Aging & Gerontology;  Counseling & Psychotherapy;  Family Studies;  Gender & Sexuality Studies;  Health & Social Welfare;  Psychology; Social Issues; a nd more.

Opposing Viewpoints

Search or try browsing a topic.  You'll get a list of related subjects and subdivisions of the topic that include links to resources in the database.

Assignment Calculators/Planners & Understanding Your Assignment

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• The Research Paper Planner from UCLA Libraries
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• Understanding your assignment from The Writing Center at UNC

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• Citing sources

Citation Styles Guide | Examples for All Major Styles

Published on June 24, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on November 7, 2022.

A citation style is a set of guidelines on how to cite sources in your academic writing . You always need a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize a source to avoid plagiarism . How you present these citations depends on the style you follow. Scribbr’s citation generator can help!

Different styles are set by different universities, academic associations, and publishers, often published in an official handbook with in-depth instructions and examples.

There are many different citation styles, but they typically use one of three basic approaches: parenthetical citations , numerical citations, or note citations.

Parenthetical citations

• Chicago (Turabian) author-date

CSE name-year

Numerical citations

CSE citation-name or citation-sequence

Note citations

• Chicago (Turabian) notes and bibliography

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Table of contents

Types of citation: parenthetical, note, numerical, which citation style should i use, parenthetical citation styles, numerical citation styles, note citation styles, frequently asked questions about citation styles.

The clearest identifying characteristic of any citation style is how the citations in the text are presented. There are three main approaches:

• Parenthetical citations: You include identifying details of the source in parentheses in the text—usually the author’s last name and the publication date, plus a page number if relevant ( author-date ). Sometimes the publication date is omitted ( author-page ).
• Numerical citations: You include a number in brackets or in superscript, which corresponds to an entry in your numbered reference list.
• Note citations: You include a full citation in a footnote or endnote, which is indicated in the text with a superscript number or symbol.

Citation styles also differ in terms of how you format the reference list or bibliography entries themselves (e.g., capitalization, order of information, use of italics). And many style guides also provide guidance on more general issues like text formatting, punctuation, and numbers.

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In most cases, your university, department, or instructor will tell you which citation style you need to follow in your writing. If you’re not sure, it’s best to consult your institution’s guidelines or ask someone. If you’re submitting to a journal, they will usually require a specific style.

Sometimes, the choice of citation style may be left up to you. In those cases, you can base your decision on which citation styles are commonly used in your field. Try reading other articles from your discipline to see how they cite their sources, or consult the table below.

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) recommends citing your sources using Chicago author-date style . AAA style doesn’t have its own separate rules. This style is used in the field of anthropology.

APA Style is defined by the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . It was designed for use in psychology, but today it’s widely used across various disciplines, especially in the social sciences.

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The citation style of the American Political Science Association (APSA) is used mainly in the field of political science.

The citation style of the American Sociological Association (ASA) is used primarily in the discipline of sociology.

Chicago author-date

Chicago author-date style is one of the two citation styles presented in the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition). It’s used mainly in the sciences and social sciences.

The citation style of the Council of Science Editors (CSE) is used in various scientific disciplines. It includes multiple options for citing your sources, including the name-year system.

Harvard style is often used in the field of economics. It is also very widely used across disciplines in UK universities. There are various versions of Harvard style defined by different universities—it’s not a style with one definitive style guide.

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MLA style is the official style of the Modern Language Association, defined in the MLA Handbook (9th edition). It’s widely used across various humanities disciplines. Unlike most parenthetical citation styles, it’s author-page rather than author-date.

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) provides guidelines for a citation style using numbers in superscript or italics in the text, corresponding to entries in a numbered reference list at the end. It is used in chemistry.

The American Medical Association ( AMA ) provides guidelines for a numerical citation style using superscript numbers in the text, which correspond to entries in a numbered reference list. It is used in the field of medicine.

CSE style includes multiple options for citing your sources, including the citation-name and citation-sequence systems. Your references are listed alphabetically in the citation-name system; in the citation-sequence system, they appear in the order in which you cited them.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE ) provides guidelines for citing your sources with IEEE in-text citations that consist of numbers enclosed in brackets, corresponding to entries in a numbered reference list. This style is used in various engineering and IT disciplines.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) citation style is defined in Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (2nd edition).

Vancouver style is also used in various medical disciplines. As with Harvard style, a lot of institutions and publications have their own versions of Vancouver—it doesn’t have one fixed style guide.

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the main style guide for legal citations in the US. It’s widely used in law, and also when legal materials need to be cited in other disciplines.

Chicago notes and bibliography

Chicago notes and bibliography is one of the two citation styles presented in the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition). It’s used mainly in the humanities.

The Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities ( OSCOLA ) is the main legal citation style in the UK (similar to Bluebook for the US).

There are many different citation styles used across different academic disciplines, but they fall into three basic approaches to citation:

• Parenthetical citations : Including identifying details of the source in parentheses —usually the author’s last name and the publication date, plus a page number if available ( author-date ). The publication date is occasionally omitted ( author-page ).
• Numerical citations: Including a number in brackets or superscript, corresponding to an entry in your numbered reference list.
• Note citations: Including a full citation in a footnote or endnote , which is indicated in the text with a superscript number or symbol.

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

A scientific citation style is a system of source citation that is used in scientific disciplines. Some commonly used scientific citation styles are:

• Chicago author-date , CSE , and Harvard , used across various sciences
• ACS , used in chemistry
• AMA , NLM , and Vancouver , used in medicine and related disciplines
• AAA , APA , and ASA , commonly used in the social sciences

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

MLA Style  is the second most used citation style (after APA ). It is mainly used by students and researchers in humanities fields such as literature, languages, and philosophy.

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Caulfield, J. (2022, November 07). Citation Styles Guide | Examples for All Major Styles. Scribbr. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/citation-styles/

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