Guide to Citing Sources

Choose a citation style:  
  APA  
  MLA  
 Geneological 
  Legal
  Scientific  
  Columbia Guide to Online Style 
  IEEE Society Style & Chicago Manual of Style

This page provides links to style sheets for citation styles.

Use the citation style recommended by your professor. If no style is recommended, choose one style and stick to it. Consistency is key, so don't mix styles in a bibliography.

For information on when to cite, why to acknowledge sources, what constitutes plagiarism, see Dartmouth College's Sources website.

The following sources provide assistance and examples of the MLA style.  See Some Examples below for referencing material obtained by searching an aggregated database (such as Infotrac, Proquest, OCLC Firstsearch).

Best STARTING POINT for citation examples:
Citing Sources: MLA Style, Library at Lansing Community College.
http://www.lcc.edu/library/research-help/citation/mlaonline.htm
Use the links to choose the type of source you wish to cite. Use the tabs at the top of the screen to switch from "Online Sources" (such as a journal article in a library database, a podcast, etc.) to "Media Sources" (such as a tv program or dvd) or "Print Sources" (such as books, magazine and journal articles).

MLA Guides:
1.  Gibaldi, Joseph.  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers , 6th ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2003. 
In  Mundt Library with call number: REFERENCE LB2369 .G53 2003
               This handbook is for high school and undergraduate students.
2.  Gibaldi, Joseph.  MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing , 2nd ed. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 1998. 
In Mundt Library with call number: REFERENCE PN147 .G444 1998.
               This manual is for graduate students, scholars, and professional writers.

MLA Website:
MLA Style -- official guide of the Modern Language Association (http://www.mla.org/) 
See: How do I document sources from the World Wide Web in my works-cited list?   
The MLA web site says: " These guidelines on MLA documentation style are the only ones available on the Internet that are authorized by the Modern Language Association of America."

Additional citation examples if needed:

1. Citation Style Guides, Library, Seattle Central Community College.
http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/cclib/Research_Tools/Citation_Style_Guides/
Excellent source of citation examples for MLA, APA, and Chicago styles.

2. Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism: Documentation Guidelines, Duke University Libraries. http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/citing.htm
Excellent source of documentation guidelines for APA (and also MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles).

3.  Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Format, by Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html
Provides examples for citing print, electronic and other types of sources.

4. MLA Style Guide, by the Library, University of Southern Mississippi.
http://www.lib.usm.edu/research/guides/mla.html
Examples for many types of documents, including citing legislation and bills.

5. Citing Government Information Sources Using MLA Style, by University of Nevada, Reno Libraries.
http://www.library.unr.edu/depts/bgic/guides/government/cite.html
Examples show how to cite laws and government documents.

These tools will create a citation for you in MLA style after you fill in a form.

easybib.com    http://www.easybib.com 
Provides automated forms to create citations for various types of items. Be sure to check the results against your MLA style sources to be sure the citations are correctly formatted.  

SOME EXAMPLES for referencing material obtained by searching an aggregated database (such as Infotrac, Proquest, OCLC Firstsearch)...

The Modern Language Association, in How do I document sources from the World Wide Web in my works-cited list?,  gives the following example of a "work from a subscription service."

Koretz, Gene. "Economic Trends: Uh-Oh, Warm Water." Business Week 21 July 1997:22. Electric Lib. Sam Barlow High School Lib., Gresham, OR. 1 Oct. 1997 <http://www.elibrary.com/>.

In the example above, Electric Library is the name of the subscription service.  Note that in addition to the article citation elements, the citation includes the name of the subscription service, the library through which it was accessed, the library's location, the date of access, and the URL for the subscription service.  

The proper name for a database from Infotrac or Proquest would include the subscription service name (for example, EBSCOhost) and the database name (for example, Academic Search Premier).  The citation for a journal article found in the Research Library database of Proquest would include the statement: Research Library. Proquest. Karl E. Mundt Lib., Madison, SD. date viewed <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb>.  For example:

Dervaux, A. "Olanzapine for Violent Schizophrenia and Klinefelter Syndrome." The American Journal of Psychiatry 159.3 (2002): 493+.  Research Library. Proquest.  Karl E. Mundt Lib., Madison, SD. 21 Mar. 2002 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb>.

The URL is given for the subscription service itself, not the article, because individual permanent URLs linking directly to articles are not often provided by the subscription services. For Proquest, use: http://proquest.umi.com/pdqweb.  For Infotrac, use: http://infotrac.galegroup.com.

The sources listed below provide assistance and examples of the APA style.  [In addition, see Some Examples below for referencing material obtained by searching an aggregated database (such as Infotrac, Proquest, OCLC Firstsearch) and see examples from Winthrop University for citing ERIC documents.]

Best STARTING POINT for citation examples:
Citing Sources: APA Style, Library at Lansing Community College.
http://www.lcc.edu/library/research-help/citation/apaonline.htm
Use the links to choose the type of source you wish to cite. Use the tabs at the top of the screen to switch from "Online Sources" (such as a journal article in a library database, a podcast, etc.) to "Media Sources" (such as a tv program or dvd) or "Print Sources" (such as books, magazine and journal articles).

APA Guide:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed.  Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2001.    
In print in Mundt Library, location is -- REFERENCE : BF76.7 .P83 2001

APA Website:
Electronic Reference Formats Recommended by the American Psychological Association, by APA. http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
APA provides these instructions for Citing Email Communications, Citing a Web Site, Citing Specific Documents on a Web Site, and Citing Articles and Abstracts From Electronic Databases .
Note that revisions in citing electronic formats may be found in: "Electronic Media and URLs" http://apastyle.apa.org/elecmedia.html )

Additional citation examples if needed:

1. APA Documentation Style, University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center. http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html 
Excellent source of documentation guidelines for APA.  Link to "Reference List" for the stylesheet that will help you create your bibliography or to "Parenthetical citations" to see how to cite within the body of your paper.

2. Using APA Format (by Purdue University's Writing Lab).
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html
Includes both textual and electronic examples.

3. APA Publication Manual Crib Sheet, by Russ Dewey, Georgia Southern University. http://www.wooster.edu/psychology/apa-crib.html
Link to sections labeled "In-text References" and "Reference List Formats."

4. APA Style Essentials (by Douglas Degelman, Ph.D., and Martin Lorenzo Harris, Ph.D.
Vanguard University of Southern California).
http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.aspx?doc_id=796
Provides quick view of document formatting using APA style.

5. Citation Style Guides, Library, Seattle Central Community College.
http://dept.sccd.ctc.edu/cclib/Research_Tools/Citation_Style_Guides/
Excellent source of citation examples for MLA, APA, and Chicago styles.

6. Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism: Documentation Guidelines, Duke University Libraries. http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/citing.htm
Excellent source of documentation guidelines for APA (and also MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles).

SOME EXAMPLES for referencing material obtained from Infotrac, Proquest, OCLC Firstsearch, etc. (that is, by searching a library database)...

According to "Electronic References," APA Online, http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html, "When referencing material obtained by searching an aggregated database, follow the format appropriate to the work retrieved and add a retrieval statement that gives the date of retrieval and the proper name of the database."  The APA site provides this example from the 5th edition of its Publication Manual:

Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L. A. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 443-449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsycARTICLES database. 

The proper name for a database from Infotrac or Proquest would include the aggregator name (for example, EBSCOhost) and the database name (for example, Academic Search Premier).  No URL is needed.  Therefore, the citation for a journal article found in the Research Library (the database) of Proquest (the aggregator) would include the statement: Retrieved date, from Proquest Research Library database. For example:

Dervaux, A. (2002). Olanzapine for violent schizophrenia and klinefelter syndrome. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 493-495. Retrieved March 21, 2002, from Proquest Research Library database.

Web sites which provide assistance and examples of legal citation:

1. Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (1997-98 ed.), by Peter W. Martin (Cornell Law School)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/citation/citation.table.html
is an introduction to legal citation that includes examples for citing Cases, Constitutions and Statutes, Regulations, Other Administrative Agency Material, Arbitrations, Rules of Evidence or Procedure, Books Written By Individual Authors, Works or Services Prepared by Publishers or Institutions, Articles and Other Law Journal Writing , and Documents From Earlier Stages of a Case.

2. For help interpreting legal citations, see
Parts of a Legal Citation
http://www2.wku.edu/www/library/dlps/leglcite.htm
and
Reading Legal Citations
http://www.photo.net/philg/litigation/reading-cites.html

3. Uncle Sam - Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications
(by Government Publications Department, Regional Depository Library, The University of Memphis)
http://www.lib.memphis.edu/gpo/citeweb.htm
Provides examples "based on the Chicago/Turabian standard bibliographic style and not reference-list form. You may need to modify the citation to conform to the manual/form you are required to use."

4. MLA Style Guide, by the Library, University of Southern Mississippi.
http://www.lib.usm.edu/research/guides/mla.html
Examples for many types of documents, including citing legislation and bills.

5. Citing Government Information Sources Using MLA Style, by University of Nevada, Reno Libraries.
http://www.library.unr.edu/depts/bgic/guides/government/cite.html
Examples show how to cite laws and government documents.

 

Biology: CBE/CSE

The documentation style common in biology has been that of the CBE, the Council of Biology Editors.   However, the Council of Biology Editors is now known as the Council of Science Editors (CSE). See the following sources for information about the CSE style.

1. Council of Science Editors. 2006. Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 7th ed. Location in Library: Reference T 11 .S386 2006
     Very little style information is provided on the web by CSE. Some help in citing online material was provided in preview material for 7th edition of Scientific Style and Format.

The link below provides sample citations to help you with the CSE style (7th edition). 

2. CSE Citation Style Examples, Karl E. Mundt Library, Dakota State University
http://www.departments.dsu.edu/library/sctc303/cse.htm

Chemistry: ACS

Chemists typically use the documentation style of the American Chemical Society (ACS).  The following sources provide help and examples.

1. Dodd, Janet S. The ACS style guide: A manual for authors and editors, 2^nd ed.  Washington, D.C.:  American Chemical Society, 1997.
    Location in Library:  Reference QD8.5 .A25

2. ACS Books Reference Style Guidelines, American Chemical Society
http://pubs.acs.org/books/references.shtml
Provides very brief summary by ACS.

4. ACS Guidelines for Documenting Sources, Chemistry/Ohiolink Resource Explorer (CORE), Youngstown State University
http://iws.ohiolink.edu/chemistry/info/acs.html 
Brief guide.

4. American Chemical Society (ACS) Citation Style for Internet Sources
Judy Lichtman, Reference Librarian , Penn State Lehigh Valley
http://www.an.psu.edu/jkl1/chem/citing.html

Physics: AIP

The AIP (American Institute of Physics) documentation style is commonly used in physics.  The following sources will help you use this style.

1. American Institute of Physics.  AIP Style Manual, 4th ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1990.
http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style.html

Columbia Guide to Online Style, by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor
(Columbia UP, 1998).
Read web page called "Basic CGOS Style."  The book "presents a guide to locating, translating, and using the elements of citation for both a humanities style (i.e., MLA and Chicago) and a scientific style (APA and CBE) for electronically-accessed sources."  From the Introduction: "Working as an interdisciplinary template that can be applied to a variety of already established style guides such as APA, Chicago, and MLA, it offers advice that can be adapted to whichever style a particular discipline, instructor, colleague, journal, editor, or publisher has selected" (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/index.html). 

IEEE Society Style Guide. Intended as a complement to the primary reference guides (Chicago Manual of Style and The Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences ). See contents of style guide at: http://standards.ieee.org/guides/style/index.html

The Chicago Manual of Style.  15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Available on first floor of Library: REFERENCE Z253 .U69 2003

Web site that provides assistance and examples for citing genealogical sources:

ProGenealogists Common Internet and Electronic Citations - cut and paste stylesheets for census images and indexes and other genealogical material in Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, Ancestral File online database, International Genealogical Index, Ellis Island Passenger List database, etc.