Need help with citations? Learn about citation styles and the NoodleTools citation generator below. Then, visit our Citation Help page for more information. Don't forget, you can always schedule a research appointment or visit us during walk-in hours for assistance.
What is a citation and citation style?
A citation is a way of giving credit to individuals for their creative and intellectual works that you utilized to support your research.
It can also be used to locate particular sources and combat plagiarism. Typically, a citation can include the author's name, date, location of the publishing company, journal title, or DOI (Digital Object Identifer).
A citation style dictates the information necessary for a citation and how the information is ordered, as well as punctuation and other formatting.
Source: University of Pittsburgh Citation Styles
Choose the appropriate citation style
MLA, APA, and Chicago are the most common styles asked for at IVCC.
Check your assignment and ask your instructor if you are not sure which style you should use.
Helpful Hints
Consult a book.
Use your textbook or consult the ones in the Writing Center. The Writing Center and the library have all three manuals. Also consider purchasing a handbook that has not only short guides to the citation styles, but also information about grammar and punctuation.
The Writing Center recommends Diana Hacker's Pocket Style Manual.
Ask your instructor.
If you need to cite a source that these instructions or the manual do not give clear guidance on, ask your instructor for further information.
MLA (Modern Language Association) is the most common style for English, literature, and the fine arts. In these language-focused disciplines, readers are concerned with who said the information and where the exact language can be found, so MLA asks for full names of authors and page numbers of the cited information.
However, articles in these fields are considered useful for a long time after they are written, so MLA does not require dates when referring to a source in a sentence or citation. An article of literary criticism, for example, may still be considered the authoritative source fifty years after its publication.
Source: IVCC Stylebook
More information: IVCC Stylesite
APA (American Psychological Association) is the most common style for the social sciences and health professions. In these disciplines, research is considered objective, so authors are identified by last name and first initials only. Information is also evaluated on its currency, so dates are included in in-text citations. Readers want to know if the writer is using the most up-to-date research.
Source: IVCC Stylebook
More information: IVCC Stylesite
Chicago (The Chicago Manual of Style) is the most common style for many disciplines in the humanities, most notably, history. In these disciplines, readers are concerned with who said the information and where the exact language can be found, so Chicago asks for names of authors and page numbers of the cited information at the minimum.
A notable feature of this style is the use of footnotes rather than parenthetical citations
Source: IVCC Stylebook
More information: IVCC Stylesite
Organizing Your Information
