MLA Style: English And Other Humanities
In English classes and some humanities classes, you will be asked to use the Modern Language Association (MLA) system for documenting sources, which is set forth in the MLA Handbook / Association of America, Modern Language, 8th ed. (New York: MLA, 2016). MLA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of works cited.
APA Style: The Social Sciences
In most social science classes, you will be asked to use the American Psychological Association (APA) system for documenting sources, which is set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, D.C.: APA, 2020). APA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of references.
Chicago Documentation Style
Professors in history and some humanities courses often require footnotes or endnotes based on The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2017). When you use Chicago style notes, you will usually be asked to include a bibliography at the end of your paper.
CSE Style: Biology and Other Sciences
For science courses and publications, you may be asked to use the Council of Science Editors (CSE) system for documenting sources and reporting study results. The eighth edition of Scientific Style and Format (Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2014) is the most recognized, authoritative reference for authors, editors, publishers, students, and translators in all areas of science and related fields.
Turabian Manual
Kate L. Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations presents two basic documentation systems: notes-bibliography style (or simply bibliography style) and author-date style (sometimes called reference list style). These styles are essentially the same as those presented in The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, with slight modifications for the needs of student writers. Bibliography style is used widely in literature, history, and the arts. This style presents bibliographic information in footnotes or endnotes and, usually, a bibliography. The more concise author-date style has long been used in the physical, natural, and social sciences. In this system, sources are briefly cited in parentheses in the text by author’s last name and date of publication. The parenthetical citations are amplified in a list of references, where full bibliographic information is provided.
ASA Style
Compiled by the American Sociological Association (ASA), the ASA Style Guide (Washington, D.C.: ASA, 2019) highlights and features guidelines for the most common situations encountered by authors and editors in the ASA journal publication process. It is designed to serve as the authoritative reference for writing, submitting, editing, and copy editing manuscripts for the ASA journals. In practice, however, the ASA Style Guide also serves a wider community of researchers, writers, and publishers who use it to prepare and present scholarly papers in other sociological and social science venues.
AMA Style
The American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors is a style guide written by the editors of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the Archives Journals. It identifies the writing and citation styles used worldwide in scholarly publications for medicine. The AMA Manual of Style is a crucial guide for everyone involved in medical and scientific writing. It is broadly used and accepted as standard, not only by AMA publications but also by numerous other scientific textbooks, journals, and academia.
AP Stylebook
The Associated Press Stylebook (New York: AP, 2020) is the definitive resource for journalists and writers in other professions. The Stylebook outlines basic rules on grammar, punctuation, usage, and journalistic style, but it also reflects changes in common language, offers guidance on media law, explains the AP’s news values and principles, and helps to navigate the ever-changing world of social media.
Merriam-Webster Online
Merriam-Webster provides a free online dictionary with audio pronunciations, thesaurus, Word of the Day, word games, and other English language resources.
Papercheck Writing Style Guide
In an effort to ensure consistency in the work performed by the editors of Papercheck, the senior editors have agreed upon the standards that are presented in this style guide.