Citation Styles: Background and Links to Style Guides
Know Your Assignment!
Your instructor decides which citation style you will use for your research paper. MLA, APA, and other citation styles have different formats to use. The resources linked at the bottom of this page explain what to do. Click here for a video clip on how to generate automatic citations in CU Search, but make sure to check all computer-generated citations for accuracy with the appropriate style guide.
Write and Cite:
Your academic papers must use both in-text citations in your essay paragraphs and full citations at the end. Plagiarism can easily happen if you focus too much on writing without citing. Don't wait until the final draft to add citations. A good habit is to put citations in your rough outline!
In-text Citation vs. Full Citations:
Mentioning the source of information within a paragraph is known as an in-text citation. Any sentence that quotes, summarizes, or paraphrases information from a source must have an in-text citation. Every time you create an in-text citation, you must then provide a corresponding full citation at the end of the paper (in MLA and APA style) or in a footnote. A full citation contains all of the relevant information about the sources formatted according to the style your professor requires.
Skipping in-text citation is a frequent problem for less-experienced writers, so make sure you understand this concept. An in-text citation can be written as part of the flow of the sentence or in parentheses.
Sample in-text citations in MLA style: In these examples, Cooke (find the book here) is the author and the paraphrased information comes from page 7. (MLA always requires page numbers in the in-text citations for books and periodicals).
According to Cooke, disinformation is defined as factually wrong information deliberately spread for a purpose (7).
Cooke defines disinformation as factually wrong information deliberately spread for a purpose (7).
Disinformation is defined as factually wrong information deliberately spread for a purpose (Cooke 7).
Sample in-text citations in APA style: The follow examples cite the same information in the examples above, but in APA format, which requires the year of publication. Including the page number here makes it easier for readers to confirm the information in Cooke's book.
According to Cooke (2018), disinformation is defined as factually wrong information deliberately spread for a purpose (p. 7).
Cooke (2018) defines disinformation as factually wrong information deliberately spread for a purpose (p. 7).
Disinformation is defined as factually wrong information deliberately spread for a purpose (Cooke, 2018, p. 7).
APA Style Resources
MLA Citation Style
IEEE Citation Style
General Help & Other Citation Styles
Citation Formatting Software
Videos