Types of Citation Styles With Professional Written Examples

Citations are necessary for formatting papers and references. Without them, students could not format their papers correctly.

There is more than one type of citation style available; each has its own set of rules on how you should cite sources in your paper.

To help you be a more efficient and successful student, we have compiled this style guide on how to use different citation styles for your research paper. Learning about them is important because they're used in formatting papers according to the right format.

Therefore, continue reading this blog and learn about different citation styles.

What are Citation Styles?

Citation styles are used to cite sources in the research paper. When referring to someone else’s work, it must be properly cited so that your paper does not contain any plagiarized content and remains original.

The citation style's main purpose is to:

• Give credit to someone for their creative and intellectual work.
• Help you locate a particular source.
• Represent the author's effort and the detailed research work.

There are many different citation styles to choose from when writing an assignment. Your professor may suggest one style or require you to use a particular method. Thus, it's best to consult with them before choosing one for your research project.

Moreover, the citation includes the following information such as:

• Author’s name
• Publishing date
• Publication information
• Paper title
• DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

Citation Management Tools

In order to create a high-quality paper, you must have the right tools. The most common are:

• Zotero
• Natbib
• Biblatex
• Latex

With these simple and straightforward tools, you can easily format your bibliography in the paper.

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What are the Different Citation Styles in Research?

There are many citation styles to choose from, and each has its own set of rules. The below table shows different citation styles and types of citations with disciplines.

Citation Style	Discipline	Types of Citation
APA (American Psychological Association)	Psychology, education, social sciences	Parenthetical (author-date)
MLA (Modern Language Association)	Humanities	Parenthetical (author-page number)
Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)	History, humanities, Sciences, Social sciences, humanities	Notes Parenthetical (author-date)
Harvard Citation Style	Economics	Parenthetical (author-date)
Turabian Citation Style	Humanities, Social sciences, Sciences	Notes or author-date
American Medical Association (AMA)	Medicine	Numeric
American Chemical Society (ACS)	Chemistry	Numeric, Author-page number or Notes
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)	Engineering, IT	Numeric
National Library of Medicine (NLM)	Medicine	Numeric
American Political Science Association (APSA)	Political Science	Parenthetical (author-date)

There are many other different citation styles for research papers, depending on the field you're studying. However, choose the citation style according to the discipline and university requirements.

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Citation Style APA

APA citation style is the most common format that researchers and students use. The students prefer to use this style over Chicago and other types of styles because it is easy for them to follow. This citation style uses an author-date system of parenthetical citations.

For a research paper to be APA style format, it must include some major components. These are:

• Title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion
• References
• Table

It is important to remember that you will not include all elements in your academic papers.

Below are some formatting guidelines to help you write a paper in APA format.

• Include the author's name under the paper title.
• In professional papers, the author-date is placed.
• The running head must be written in capital letters.
• Includes the author’s last name and publication year in in-text citation.
• Do not add too much text to the graphs.
• All tables and figures should be numbered.

With these guidelines, you will format your paper accordingly. If you read a comparison of APA vs MLA formats, that will also help you understand their individual requirements better.

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Citation Style MLA

The Modern Language Association (MLA) is a well-known academic literature style developed in the 8th edition. MLA format uses parenthetical citations, making it easy to reference any part of your paper.

The following are some great tips for formatting your paper in the MLA style.

• Use double-spaced throughout the page.
• The title of the page should be in the center.
• Avoid writing the title in italic style.
• The first word in every paragraph should be intended.
• Use a readable font.
• Use quotation marks when writing someone else's words.
• Include the ‘work cited’ page on a separate page.
• Clearly cite sources for journals, articles, books, etc.

When it comes time to write your paper, follow these simple guidelines so that you can have a professional-looking document without any mistakes.

Citation Style Chicago

The Chicago Manual of Style is an invaluable resource for any academician looking to write or publish their work. There are two variations to cite sources in this style:

• Use a parenthetical author-date citation in the text
• Cite sources in a footnote or endnote

Here are some helpful guidelines for formatting papers in Chicago style.

• The page numbers are placed at the top right or bottom center of the page.
• No need for a title page.
• Headings should be capitalized.
• Avoid using numbers when citing sources.
• Avoid writing numbers at the beginning of the sentences.
• Include in-text citations and references carefully.

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Citation Style Harvard

Harvard referencing is a popular style in economics. Different organizations and publications have different guidelines for this.

Harvard style is a great way to cite sources and reference them in your work. You can use this format to cite different kinds of sources like:

• Court cases
• Reports
• Printed books
• Emails
• Interviews
• Artwork
• Webpages
• Blogs
• Press releases
• Lectures, and Presentations

The following are some formatting rules that give you a better idea of formatting the paper in Harvard style.

• List of references arranged alphabetically.
• The title page center-aligned.
• Use a readable font.
• Reference list entry: Author Surname, Initials. (Year Published). Title. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher.
• In-text citations: (Author Surname, Year Published).
• 1-inch margins all around the page.

When you follow these rules, your paper will be excellent and help you impress your teacher.

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Citation Styles Examples

Below are examples of citation styles. Use these if you need help with properly citing your sources in academic work or other types of writing.

You get a complete guide on different citation styles. However, sometimes students don’t have time to format their papers correctly, and they consult writing centers.

You can easily consult EssayWriterNow.com where you can get papers written by native English speakers without any plagiarism.

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