1 of 29

Citation Styles

APA, MLA, and Chicago

2 of 29

What do citation styles dictate?

For academic works of writing, a citation style dictates:

the information necessary for a citation, both in text and on the References, Works Cited, Bibliography page, or equivalent
how the information for a citation is ordered, punctuated, and formatted
how the document itself is formatted, including stylistic elements

3 of 29

What are the different citation styles?

There are three categories of citation styles: parenthetical, numerical, and notes. The styles in red are most commonly used at Shippensburg University.

4 of 29

A note on Chicago Style

Chicago has two systems: Author-Date (AD) and Notes-Bibliography (NB).

For help with inserting Chicago style footnotes in MS Word, see this guide.

For Author-Date, the author’s name and year go in the text, similar to APA.
For Notes-Bibliography, there is a superscript in place of a parenthetical citation that correlates with a footnote at the bottom of the page. Each superscript has its own footnote. Number the superscript and corresponding footnote in sequential/logical order (1, 2, 3..).

5 of 29

Purdue Online

Writing Lab

MLA Style Center

APA Style Center

Chicago Style Center

6 of 29

Page Setup

7 of 29

Page Setup: APA

APA setup guide 1

APA setup guide 2

8 of 29

Page Setup: MLA

MLA setup guide 1

MLA setup guide 2

9 of 29

Page Setup: Chicago NB

Chicago setup guide 1

Chicago setup guide 2

10 of 29

Additional Sample Papers

11 of 29

Paper Templates

12 of 29

In-Text Citations

13 of 29

In-text Citation for Paraphrase

Chicago footnote goes here.

Citation Style	At the end of a paraphrase	As apart of the paraphrase
APA	…(Author, year).	…Author (year)...
MLA	…(Author page).	…Author…(page).
Chicago	Author…¹	N/A

14 of 29

Example In-Text Citation for Paraphrase

Chicago footnote goes here.

Citation Style	At the end of a paraphrase	As apart of the paraphrase
APA	…(Jones, 2022).	Jones (2022) agrees that...
MLA	…(Jones 48).	Jones agrees that…(48).
Chicago	Jones agrees that…¹	N/A

15 of 29

In-text Citation for Quotation

There are no changes in MLA or Chicago between a paraphrase and a quotation.

Citation Style	At the end of a quote	As apart of the quote
APA	…(Author, year, page).	…Author (year)...(page).

16 of 29

Example In-Text Citation for Quotation

There are no changes in MLA or Chicago between a paraphrase and a quotation.

Citation Style	At the end of a quote	As apart of the quote
APA	…(Jones, 2022, p. 48).	Jones (2022) agrees that…(p. 48).

17 of 29

Example In-Text Citation with Two Authors

Chicago footnote goes here.

Citation Style	At the end of a paraphrase	As apart of the paraphrase
APA	…(Jones & Petty, 2022).	Jones and Petty (2022) agree that...
MLA	…(Jones and Petty 48).	Jones and Petty agree that…(48).
Chicago	Jones and Petty agree that…¹	N/A

18 of 29

Example In-Text Citation with Three Authors

Chicago footnote goes here.

Citation Style	At the end of a paraphrase	As apart of the paraphrase
APA	…(Jones et al., 2022).	Jones et al. (2022) agree that...
MLA	…(Jones et al. 48).	Jones et al. agree that…(48).
Chicago	Jones, Petty, and Berkman agree that…¹	N/A

19 of 29

Example In-Text Citation with Four Authors

Chicago footnote goes here.

No changes to APA or MLA for four authors

Citation Style	At the end of a paraphrase	As apart of the paraphrase
Chicago	Jones et al. agree that…¹	N/A

20 of 29

21 of 29

Sources List

22 of 29

Sources List Examples

APA Style Reference entry examples
MLA Style Works Cited entry examples
Chicago NB Style Bibliography entry Examples

23 of 29

Information in a Journal Article Citation

Each citation style has similar information, but the place of the information within the citation and the formatting of the citation may vary.

Author

Publication Year

Title of the article

Title of the journal

Volume

Issue

Pages

DOI or Link

Database (only if Database is used to find source)

Publication Month or Season (Chicago only)

Accessed date (MLA only)

24 of 29

Journal Article

APA

Last, First M.,and First M. Last “Title of the Article: Goes Here.” Name of the Periodical, vol. #,no. #,Year, pp. #-#, https://doi.org/xxxx. Accessed Day Month Year.

MLA

Last, First M., First M. Last, and First M. Last. “Title of the Article: Goes Here.” Name of the Periodical volume,no. #, (Month or Season Year): #-#, https://doi.org/xxxx.

Chicago

Last, F. M., Last, F. M., & Last, F. M. (Year). Title of the article: Goes here. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), #-#. https://doi.org/xxxx

25 of 29

Example Journal Article

Keng, S., Lin, C., & Orazem, P. F. (2017). Expanding college access in Taiwan 1978–2014: Effects on graduate quality and income inequality. Journal of Human Capital, 11(1), 9-10. https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

APA

Keng, Shao-Hsun, et al. “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality,”Journal of Human Capital, vol. 11,no. 1, 2017, pp. 9-10, https://doi.org/10.1086/690235. Accessed 4 November 2020.

MLA

Keng, Shao-Hsun, Chun-Hung Lin, and Peter F. Orazem. “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality.” Journal of Human Capital 11,no. 1, (Spring 2017): 9-10, https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

Chicago

26 of 29

Journal Article: Chicago NB

Full Footnote

Shortened

Footnote

Last, First M., First M. Last, and First M. Last. “Title of the Article: Goes Here.” Name of the Periodical volume,no. #, (Month or Season Year): #-#, https://doi.org/xxxx.

Bibliography

First M. Last, First M. Last, and First M. Last, “Title of the Article: Goes Here,” Name of the Periodical volume,no. #, (Month or Season Year): #-#, https://doi.org/xxxx.

Last, Last, and Last, “Shortened Title,” #.

If NO Bibliography is included (which is hardly EVER the case), use a full footnote first, and then shortened footnote thereafter:

If Bibliography is included, only use shortened footnote because info is in the Bib:

27 of 29

Example Journal Article: Chicago NB

Shortened

Note

Bibliography

Keng, Lin, and Orazem, “Expanding College Access,” 9.

Keng, Shao-Hsun, Chun-Hung Lin, and Peter F. Orazem. “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality.” Journal of Human Capital 11,no. 1, (Spring 2017): 9-10, https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

28 of 29

Practice

Cite the following article in all three citation styles. The article is called “Teaching and Researching Genre Knowledge: Toward an Enhanced Theoretical Framework” by Tardy et al. (2020).

29 of 29

Practice

APA: Tardy, C. M., Sommer-Farias, B., & Gevers, J. (2020). Teaching and researching genre knowledge: Toward an enhanced theoretical framework. Written Communication, 37(3), 287-321. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088320916554

MLA: Tardy, Christine M., Bruna Sommer-Farias, and Jeroen Gevers. "Teaching and Researching Genre Knowledge: Toward an Enhanced Theoretical Framework." Written Communication vol. 37, no. 3, 2020, pp. 287-321, https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088320916554. Accessed 20 Feb. 2024.

Chicago: Tardy, Christine M., Bruna Sommer-Farias, and Jeroen Gevers. "Teaching and Researching Genre Knowledge: Toward an Enhanced Theoretical Framework." Written Communication 37, no. 3 (July 2020): 287-321, https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088320916554

.