Each academic discipline uses a different citation style because each has a different priority for information. Because of these different priorities, the information within a citation will be in a different order, and sometimes in a different format (i.e. foot or end note v. a parenthetical in-text citation) depending on the formatting style.
If you need a style other than APA, Chicago, or MLA, visit this page on Citation Styles, or try our Ask a Librarian service.
For more information on comparing APA, MLA, and Chicago take a look at this handy Citation Style Chart from OWL Purdue.
Citations should be formatted as a "hanging indent", which means that all lines are indented except the first. It looks like this:
Author(s). “Title of Article.” Name of Periodical, vol. ##, no. ##, date published, pp. ##-##. Database Name, DOI.
Below are links to instructions on how to create a hanging indent in Microsoft Word and Google Docs
What are the differences?
Style: | APA | Chicago | MLA |
Who usually uses it: | Social Sciences, Nursing & Health, miscellaneous other departments. | History, Art, Philosophy, and anyone who is going to use a lot of different types of outside information. | English and other languages (it stands for Modern Language Association) |
What they pride themselves on: | Thoroughness, avoiding bias (one way they do this is by avoiding first names). | Flexibility (you can cite almost any kind of source in Chicago) | Simplicity (they try not to make you include any more information than is necessary |
What is important: | Date and authority | Ease of reading and authority | Authority |
What you need to know for in-text & other formatting: | Always include a date with the author(s); Running heads can be a little tricky (especially in Google Docs); the list at the end is called References | Notes are not very different from bibliography entries (once you have made one, creating the other is simple); the list at the end is called Bibliography | The list at the end is called Works Cited |
I'm ready to choose: | APA Citation Style | Chicago Citation Style | MLA Citation Style |
In-text citations are meant to lead your reader to the source in the list at the end. What stays the same for all styles?
Tips from the Librarians:
(Source: http://library.brockport.edu/citing)