How to Cite Sources - APA, MLA, and Chicago: Your Ultimate Guide

Have you ever started a research project only to get overwhelmed by the tedious task of citing your sources? Don't worry, fellow student! Citations are an important part of academic writing, but the different styles of APA, MLA, and Chicago can be confusing.

What is a Citation?

A citation is a formal way of acknowledging the sources you've used in your academic work. It tells your reader where you found the information and allows them to trace your claims back to the original source. It consists of two parts:

Why Are Citations Important?

Citations are more than just a formality - they serve several crucial purposes:

Citation Formats and Examples of Citation Styles

Citation and reference are two sides of the same coin in academic writing, but they serve different purposes and appear in different places. Here's the breakdown.

How to Cite in APA

APA stands for American Psychological Association. It is most often used in Psychology, Education, Business, Engineering, and some sciences. APA style uses an in-text citation system, which means that you include the author's last name and the publication year in the text of your paper. You then provide a full citation for the source in a reference list at the end of your paper.

A recent study found that social media use can lead to feelings of isolation (Smith & Jones, 2023).

Reference list

The reference list should be a list of all the sources you cited in your paper. It should be double-spaced and organized alphabetically by the author's last name. Each entry should include all the necessary details to identify the source, including:

• Author's last name, first initials.
• Publication year.
• Title of the source (italicized for books and reports, bolded for journals).
• Subtitle of the source (if applicable, italicized).
• Journal title (italicized, followed by a comma and volume number in parentheses).
• Issue number (if applicable, in parentheses after the volume number).
• Page numbers (start and end page, separated by a hyphen).

Smith, A., & Jones, B. (2023). The impact of social media on mental well-being in young adults. Journal of Technology and Psychology, 12(3),245-260.

How to Cite in MLA

MLA format is a style of citing sources that is commonly used in the humanities, such as history, language, literature, and philosophy. It is based on the Modern Language Association's MLA Handbook. MLA began as a style for citing sources in literature and language, but it has since been adopted by other humanities disciplines. Full citations in MLA format are always listed on a Works Cited page.

No punctuation should exist inside the parentheses, and the parentheses should always come before the sentence's final punctuation mark, but after the quotation marks, for direct quotes.

Works Cited or Full MLA Citations

MLA Works Cited entries have a specific format, but it's easy to follow. Here's how to write a full MLA citation:

Author. Title of source. Title of the Container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

The container is where the source comes from, like an anthology, newspaper, or magazine. Not every part of the format is used every time. For example, standalone works don't have a container separate from their title. If you only have the author, title, and publication year, that's enough. But the more information you can add, the better.

Garcia, Rodriguez, and Martinez. "The Positive Effects of Online Communities." Journal of Technology and Society, vol. 17, no. 2, 2022, pp. 78-92.

How Writetone's Citation Generator Can Help:

How to Cite Chicago Style

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is a third commonly used citation style. Chicago style citations are often used in the fields of Fine Arts, Anthropology, and select other sciences and humanities.

CMS style uses a footnote or endnote system, which means that you include footnotes at the bottom of the page or endnotes at the end of your paper. Both footnotes and endnotes provide the full citation for the source you're referencing.

The final list at the end is called a Bibliography, which includes all the sources you cited, regardless of whether they were mentioned in footnotes/endnotes.

In-text Citations

Instead of using parentheses, Chicago in-text citations use superscript numbers placed after punctuation marks (commas, periods, semicolons). These numbers correspond to numbered footnotes or endnotes placed at the bottom of the page (footnotes) or the end of your paper (endnotes).

According to a recent study, social media use can have negative effects on mental health.¹

¹ John Smith,The Upward Spiral: Using Social Media to Promote Well-Being (Chicago: University Press, 2023), 123.

• In the first sentence, the superscript ‘ ¹ ’ indicates a source is being cited.
• At the bottom of the page (or end of the paper), a footnote or endnote with the corresponding number (‘ ¹ ’) provides the full citation details.
• The footnote includes the author's name, title of the source (italicized for books), publisher, city of publication, and year.
• Finally, "123" indicates the specific page number within the book where the information you're referencing is located.

The first in-text citation for a source uses the full footnote format. Subsequent citations to the same source can use a shortened form, including the author's last name and a shortened title (e.g., Smith, Upward Spiral, 125).

Bibliographical Citations

As mentioned earlier, Chicago style uses a bibliography instead of a Works Cited list. Here's how to format bibliography entries:

• The bibliography starts on a new page after your paper's conclusion.
• Entries are double-spaced.
• The first line of each entry is flush left, while subsequent lines are indented (hanging indent).
• Entries are alphabetized by the author's last name (or the first word of the title for non-author sources).

Smith, John. The Upward Spiral: Using Social Media to Promote Well-Being. Chicago: University Press, 2023.

• Book by two or more authors: List authors in the order they appear in the source, separated by commas and "and" before the last author. (e.g., Jones, Michael, and Sarah Miller.)
• Article in a journal: Include the author(s), article title in quotation marks, journal title italicized, volume number, issue number (if applicable), publication year, and page numbers.

Garcia, Rodriguez, "The Positive Effects of Online Communities," Journal of Technology and Society 17, no. 2 (2022): 78-92.

• Website: Include the author/organization (if available), title of the webpage in quotation marks, website title italicized (if applicable), URL in square brackets, and access date.

Khan Academy. "Photosynthesis." Khan Academy, [https://khanacademywebsitelink.com], accessed March 15, 2024.

Conclusion

In conclusion, citing your sources is an essential part of academic writing. It shows that you have done your research and that you are giving credit to the authors of the work you have used. There are three main citation styles: APA, MLA, and Chicago. Each style has its own set of rules, so it is important to choose the style that is required for your assignment. By following the guidelines for your chosen style, you can create accurate and consistent citations that will help you to avoid plagiarism.

Always cite your sources, even if you are only paraphrasing or summarizing someone else's work. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense, and it can have serious consequences.

Be sure to include all of the necessary information in your citations. This includes the author's name, the title of the work, the publication date, and the page number(s).

Check your citations carefully before you submit your paper. Make sure that you have formatted them correctly and that they are all complete.

By following these tips, you can create accurate and consistent citations that will help you to avoid plagiarism and to earn a good grade on your assignment.