Ethical and Legal Aspects of Information

Citation Styles and Style Manuals

The citation style you choose may depend on the style your professor prefers or the discipline in which you are doing research. Styles manuals provide guidelines on how to format the elements of your citation, including the order of the elements, punctuation, and spacing. Style manuals may also contain other useful information such as proper page layout, use of quotations, etc.

The following style manuals are the most commonly used citation guides for research. They are all available at the Reference Desk at Kennedy Library:

• APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
• CBE Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers
• Chicago The Chicago Manual of Style
• MLA MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
• Turabian A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

Also available at the Reference Desk are:

• The Columbia Guide to Online Style, 1998.
  A guide to citing academic documents and resources stored electronically; this interdisciplinary template can be applied to a variety of already established style guides.
• Form and Style: Research Papers, Reports, Theses, 10th ed., 1997.
  Provides citation examples for the APA, Chicago, and MLA styles.