To read: Citation Styles

1. MLA Style

MLA style, short for “Modern Language Association,” is often used in social science, English, literature, and writing courses. This style uses an “author locator” system of citing. What this means is that generally, the name of the author of the source you are quoting, as well as the page number from where the quote is located, is what is included in the citation following the quote.

Here is an example of how to cite a quote within the text in MLA style:

When Scout says, “Well if we came out durin’ the Old Testament it’s too long ago to matter,” she is referring to her confusion as to how society is so capable of dividing different people into different classes (Lee 47).

Note that the parenthetical citation, or “in-text” citation, comes before the ending punctuation mark of the sentence. These in-text citations correspond to a full citation that is located at the end of the paper. In MLA style, this list of full citations is called a “Works Cited” page.

Here is what the matching full citation would be for this in-text citation:

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird.* Harper Collins, 1960. (*Titles for sources are set in title case for MLA style citations)

For the Complete Guide on MLA&Citations, please read here.

2. APA Style

Citing in APA, short for “American Psychological Association,” is very similar to the MLA citation system. This style is used mostly in science and psychology courses. Instead of the page number, however, the date of publication is included with the author’s last name in the in-text citation.

Here is an example of how to cite a quote within the text in APA style:

When Scout says, “Well if we came out durin’ the Old Testament it’s too long ago to matter,” she is referring to her confusion as to how society is so capable of dividing different people into different classes (Lee, 1960).

These in-text citations, like in MLA style, also correspond to a full citation that is located at the end of the paper. In APA style, this list of full citations is called a “References” page.

The corresponding entry in the references page looks a bit different than an entry in a works cited page. Here is what the matching full citation would be for this in-text citation in APA:

Lee, H. (1960). To kill a mockingbird. Philadelphia: Harper Collins. (*Titles for sources are often set in sentence case for APA style citations).

To read more on the Comprehensive Guide to APA Citations and Format, please click here.

3. Chicago Style

This citation style is a bit different from the rest. For detailed information on it, check out the guide on how to cite in Chicago style format.