Citing a source means acknowledging where you got a specific quote, fact, graphic, data, or idea from.
A citation is all the information needed to describe a source, such as (but not limited to) the author, title, publisher, page numbers, and publication date. Information in citations follows a specific format or style.
Citation Styles
There are many different citation styles. Which one you use can depend on what subject or discipline you are writing for or on the preference of you professor.
The following links will take you to sites authored by vendors, organizations, and other academic libraries. These links provide in-depth documentation to the most common style formats.
- MLA – (Modern Language Association); often used in English classes. MLA 9th edition Citation Guide from California State University, Dominguez Hills
- APA – (American Psychological Associations); often used in psychology and social sciences classes (political science, sociology, economics); see The Writer’s Handbook and the 7th Edition Style Guide by ECU Libraries.
- Chicago – often used in Humanities (English, Arts, History)
- Turabian – often used History and other Humanities disciplines
- ACS (American Chemical Association); Chemistry
- ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers); see this guide also
- CSE (Council of Science Editors)
- AMA (American Medical Association); see this guide also
- AMA (American Marketing Association)
The library has many of the complete style manuals available in print and can assist you in using them.