Citation Guidelines  

This guide summarizes the three styles used by most Appalachian State instructors.

• Modern Language Association (MLA) style is used by most English and humanities classes;
• American Psychological Association (APA) style is used by many psychology and social science classes;
• Chicago (Chicago or Turabian) style.
• It also provides information on various Citation Management tools

If there are other style guides you need to reference. Conduct a title or subject search in the ASU library catalog to find if we have access to these additional style guides.

When you write a research paper, you will start by reading the research that other have done before you. In you paper you will mention (or "cite") the sources you have consulted. At the end of the paper you will include a bibliography or works cited section, an alphabetical list of citations that contain all the information that readers and/or your instructor will need to locate these resources. 

What is a citation?

A citation describes a book, journal article, website, or other published item and gives credit to the originator of an idea. Appropriate use of citations prevents instances of plagiarism. In addition a citation enables the reader of the work to retrieve the item you have referenced. Citations should reflect all of the information a person would need to locate a particular source (e.g. author's name, title of work, publication title, volume & issue number, web address, etc)

What are in-text citations?

In-text citations consist of just enough information to correspond to a source's full citation in a Works Cited list. In-text citations often require a page number (or numbers) showing exactly where the relevant information was found in the original source material.

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of citations for all of the relevant resources a person has consulted during his or her research.

What is a work cited list?

A works cited list presents citations for those sources referenced in a paper, presentation or other composition.

The University Writing Center (UWC) offers free services to students, faculty, and staff of Appalachian State University.

Room 008 (lower level) Belk Library & Information Commons

Phone: 262-3144

Many of the library's online databases include tools to help you format your citations. You should always double-check the results you get, as the citations often need some clean-up.