Complete Citation Guide

Accurate citation is a cornerstone of academic integrity, enabling readers to locate the original sources of ideas, data, and quotations. This guide presents the essential principles of citation, introduces the most widely used styles, and provides practical examples for a variety of source types.

Why Cite?

Credibility: Shows that your arguments are grounded in reliable research.
Attribution: Gives proper credit to the original authors and avoids plagiarism.
Traceability: Allows readers to verify sources and explore them further.
Intellectual honesty: Demonstrates respect for the scholarly conversation.

Major Citation Styles

Different disciplines prefer different formatting conventions. Below is an overview of the most common styles.

APA(7thedition)

Used primarily in psychology, education, and social sciences. Emphasises authordate intext citations and a References list.

MLA(9thedition)

Standard in humanities, especially literature and language arts. Uses authorpage intext citations and a Works Cited page.

Chicago(NotesandBibliography)

Favoured in history and some humanities. Provides footnote/endnote citations plus a bibliography.

Chicago(AuthorDate)

Similar to APA, often used in the physical, natural, and social sciences.

Harvard

Broadly used across many fields; an authordate system very similar to APA.

IEEE

Common in engineering and computer science; uses numbered citations and a reference list.

InText Citation Basics

APA Example

(Smith, 2020, p.45) for a direct quote, or (Smith, 2020) for a paraphrase.

MLA Example

For a quote from page45: (Smith 45). If the author's name appears in the sentence, only the page number is needed: Smith argues that (45).

Chicago (NotesandBibliography)

Insert a superscript number¹ that corresponds to a footnote or endnote. The note includes full citation details on first use.

IEEE Example

Use bracketed numbers that reflect the order of appearance: [1]. The reference list is numbered accordingly.

Tip: Keep the style consistent throughout the paper. Switching between styles (e.g., APA in the body and MLA in the bibliography) is a common cause of errors.

Reference List / Bibliography Formatting

All citations mentioned in the text must appear in a final list. Below are templates for each style.

APA Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book (Edition, if not first). Publisher.Example: Smith, J. L. (2020). Research methods in psychology. Sage.

MLA Journal Article

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol.Volume, no.Issue, Year, pages.Example: Doe, Jane, and John Roe. "Digital Footprints in Modern Advertising." Journal of Marketing, vol.34, no.2, 2021, pp.112128.

Chicago Book (NotesandBibliography)

Bibliography: Author Firstname Lastname, Title of Book (Place of publication: Publisher, Year), page(s).Footnote: Firstname Lastname, Title of Book (Place: Publisher, Year), page.Example Bibliography: Smith, John, History of the Renaissance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019).Example Footnote: John Smith, History of the Renaissance (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019), 45.

IEEE Conference Paper

[Reference number] Author(s), "Title of paper," in Proceedings of the Conference Name, Location, Month Year, pp. xxxx.Example: [3] L. Wang and M. Patel, "Machine learning for traffic prediction," in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Smart Cities, San Diego, CA, Oct. 2022, pp. 120127.

Citing Common Source Types

Source Type	APA (7th)	MLA (9th)	Chicago (NB)
Book	Author, A. A. (Year). Title. Publisher.	Author Lastname, Firstname. Title. Publisher, Year.	Author Firstname Lastname, Title (Place: Publisher, Year).
Journal Article	Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages.	Author Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Journal Title, vol.X, no.Y, Year, pp.pages.	Author Firstname Lastname, "Title of Article," Journal Title volume, no. issue (Year): pages.
Website	Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. URL	Author Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Page." Website Name, Publisher (if different), Date of publication, URL. Accessed Day Month Year.	Author Firstname Lastname, "Title of Page," Website Name, last modified Date, URL.
Video (YouTube)	Uploader. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. Platform. URL	Uploader. "Title of Video." YouTube, uploaded Month Day, Year, URL.	Uploader, "Title of Video," YouTube, video, Month Day, Year, URL.

Quick tip: When a source has no author, start the citation with the title. In APA, move the title to the author position; in MLA, keep the title in place of the author entry.

Helpful Citation Management Tools

Zotero Free, opensource tool that captures citation data from webpages and integrates with Word, Google Docs, and LibreOffice.
Mendeley Offers PDF organization, social networking, and citation plugins for various styles.
EndNote Commercial software with extensive output styles and a robust library system.
Citation Machine / Scribbr Online generators for quick singlecitation formatting (verify accuracy).
Google Docs Citations feature Simple builtin tool for APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Regardless of the tool you choose, always doublecheck the final output against the latest style manual. Automated generators can misinterpret author names, page ranges, or special characters.

Reference Files For Citation Guide

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