Citation Styles Guides  

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Why cite your sources?

1. Give credit to the ideas, words, and works of others
2. Allow readers to find your sources
3. Avoid plagiarism

A citation style is a standard approach for documenting sources that you quote, consult, or summarize in your research papers. Proper use of citation styles helps you construct effective papers, share knowledge efficiently with others, and avoid plagiarism.

For most styles, you cite your sources in two places:

1) Within your paper - Immediately after using a source, include a parenthetical citation, footnote or endnote.

2) At the end of your paper - Assemble a complete list of your sources. This is known as a "Bibliography," "Reference List" or "Works Cited" section.

Different academic disciplines use different citation styles; your instructor may require you to use a particular style, or may allow you use one of your choosing. Below are online tools to help you get started with the citation styles most commonly used at Frostburg State University.

Research and Documentation Online
Author Diana Hacker categorizes citation styles by discipline and provides current advice for citing in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CBE styles.

MLA Style 2009 Update
An MLA supplement, also written by Diana Hacker.

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)

APA and MLA formatting and style guides including sample title pages, paper formatting and appendices for each style.

UW-Madison's Writing Center Style Sheets
Rules and examples are included here for five different citation styles: APA, APSA, Chicago/Turabian, CBE, and MLA.

Oxford Style
Concise guide to this British style used in Humanities and Fine Arts.

Landmark's Citation Machine
Plug the information from your resource into the interactive web form and click to generate standard MLA and APA citations. Be sure to use the left navigation bar. 

KnightCite Citation Service
Alternative to Landmark's Citation Machine. Generates citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago; updated to include 2009 updates to MLA style. From Calvin College (Michigan)

Offical MLA manual of style:

MLA handbook for writers of research papers. Modern Language Association of America. 2009.

Call Number: Reference | PN147 .G444 2009

Offical APA manual of style:

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association. 2010

Call Number: Reference | BF76.7 .P83 2010

Offical Chicago manual of style:

The Chicago manual of style. University of Chicago Press. 2010.

Call Number: Reference | Z253 .U69 2010

Offical Turabin manual of style:

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers. Kate L. Turabian. 2007

Call Number: Reference | LB2369 .T8 2007

Note: Turabin is derived from Chicago Style and the citation formats are nearly identical.

Zotero is a free Firefox plugin that easily saves citations from CatalogUSMAI and most library databases, as well as sites like Amazon and the New York Times online.

Zotero has a Word plugin that automatically creates bibliographies in the style of your choice.

Only works with Mozilla Firefox Internet browser.