When researching, a writer must keep track of where they get their information. After all,
There's a lot of crap out there,
And readers want flowers, not fertilizer.
Readers don't go to a work of research hoping what is written is true—they expect it to be true. By citing a credible source, writers show that they know what they are talking about and didn't pull their ideas out of thin air. Some readers will want to know more, and citations give these readers a place to start their own research journey. Conversely, a critic may disagree with the conclusions of the research, and the source citations allow them to fact-check the work. For readers to obtain and review these sources on their own, they need to know four things, regardless of citation style:
WHAT IS IT CALLED? WHO MADE IT? WHEN DID THEY MAKE IT? WHERE CAN I FIND IT?
Once a writer finds this information, they add a source citation for their readers near each fact they pulled from their sources, either by using an in-text citation (where a parenthetical in the text indicates the source) or by using a note-bibliography citation (where footnotes or endnotes connect facts to sources). But how do they decide? It depends on whichever style guide their class, discipline, or publisher uses. There are thousands of citation styles tailored to specific countries and studies, but let's focus on the three most used styles in the United States (MLA, APA, and CMOS) and their three most popular derivatives (NLM, IEEE, and AP):
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Modern Language Association (MLA) style: This style emphasizes the publication history of a text, which makes it ideal for the humanities and their use of "classic" texts. The structure of MLA specifies the number of "containers" a text has. For example, its original author, title, and publication date are the first container; a reprint or edit of the text is a second container; and a conversion to another medium (like online) is a third container. MLA uses in-text citation of evidence. Disciplines that use MLA include literature, film, performing arts, communications, and language studies, including English classes. MLA is the most familiar citation style to high school students, as it falls to the English department to teach students citation, and MLA is their preferred method. Current version: Ninth Edition.
American Psychological Association (APA) style: This style emphasizes the recency of publication and values new sources over old, which makes it ideal for the sciences. The structure of APA puts the year of publication directly after the name of the author in both its source citations and its in-text citations. Disciplines that use APA include education, psychology, economics, political science, geography, business, and linguistics as well as some history courses. The only social science that does not use APA is sociology, which uses a derivative version called ASA. This citation style is most familiar to college students, as all majors incorporate some level of statistical and empirical research. Current version: Seventh Edition. Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS): This style emphasizes clarity and ease of use, which is why it is the most used citation style in works for nonacademic audiences (like books and agency reports) regardless of discipline. Instead of using in-text citation, CMOS (which is sometimes called Turbanian) uses a note-bibliography system where source information is found at the bottom of the page or end of the chapter instead of just the bibliography. The bibliography citations are very similar to MLA but require cities of publication. While every discipline uses CMOS to some degree, a few disciplines use it exclusively, such as anthropology (which calls their version the American Anthropological Association style) and physics (the American Institute of Physics style). Current version: Eighteenth Edition. National Library of Medicine (NLM) style: Also called Vancouver style, as it was adapted from the Canadian healthcare system, researchers in NLM disciplines emphasize simplicity—where the other citation styles use function words and punctuation to clarify parts of citations, NLM strips out everything but what is absolutely necessary, even sometimes at the cost of clarity. As an offshoot of CMOS, NLM uses note-bibliography citations but, unlike CMOS, lists sources in its bibliography by order of appearance in the work. Disciplines that use a version of NLM style include medicine, dentistry, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, pediatrics, gerontology, and mortuary science, though several disciplines frequently refer to NLM style by another name: AMA style, which stands for the American Medical Association. Current version: Second Edition. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) style: "Eye-triple-ee" style is stripped down like NLM but emphasizes unobtrusiveness—i.e., the ability to read smoothly through without needing to stop and think. This is why it is the only major citation style to list given names first and separate its sections with commas, not periods. IEEE is also a derivative of CMOS and uses note-bibliography citations, but it does not use numbers in superscript and instead uses numbers in brackets at the end of a line similar to the in-text citations of MLA and APA. Like NLM, IEEE lists sources in its bibliography by order of appearance in the work and not alphabetically. Disciplines that use IEEE style include construction, engineering, computer science, and telecommunications. Unlike the other major citation styles, their stylebook is a PDF updated every two years instead of a published volume. Current version: 2024/25. Associated Press (AP) style: AP style is used by journalists reporting news in all media, including video and audio, and it emphasizes brevity. AP does not use a bibliography and instead uses "embedded citation," where the source of their information is part of the main text. Here's an example: "According to a 2024 report by Common Sense Media called 'Unpacking Grind Culture in American Teens: Pressure, Burnout, and the Role of Social Media,' there are six significant areas of life where teens are experiencing overwhelming stress." AP Style also diverges greatly from the other styles when it comes to its rules of grammar and usage in its writing—for instance, it forgoes the Oxford comma and quotes all titles, regardless of the type of work. Current version: Fifty-Seventh Edition.
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