A citation is a way of documenting where an idea, a quote, or a fact in your paper came from.  This quick guide covers three citation styles: MLA, APA, and Turabian. 

← Examples of citations in MLA, APA, and Turabian styles

• give credit to the people whose ideas you used in your research
• anyone reading your paper will have accurate references for future study
• failure to cite your sources constitutes plagiarism

How to Cite Your Sources:

Different disciplines rely on different citation methods. Which should you use? Ask each of your instructors which style they want you to use. If they have no preference, you can use any or follow these guidelines:

• APA: psychology, education, and other social sciences.
• MLA: literature, arts, and humanities.
• Turabian: designed for college students to use with all subjects. This style is particularly popular with history scholars.
• Other Styles: the CBU Writing Center has additional information on other citation styles.

Citing sources you have used in your paper consists of two steps:

1. Citing within the text of your paper with either parenthetical references or footnotes. Here you provide the exact page number for the passage you are citing, so that anyone reading your paper can go back and find the same information you found.

2. Providing a comprehensive list of all the works you have cited. This is called a Works Cited Page, or a Bibliography, depending on which citation style you are using. Items on this list are ordered alphabetically by the author's last name.