When you write a term paper or another assignment requiring research, you need to cite the sources that you use (books, articles, website, etc.) and list them in a bibliography.
Failing to properly cite your sources is called plagiarism and is a serious offense. A fun plagiarism tutorial is available from Acadia University.
There are several different sets of rules regarding citations, known as “citation styles”. The three styles in use at Champlain are MLA, APA, and Chicago. Ask your teacher if you’re not sure which style to use for your assignment.
All styles includes rules for formatting the reference or citation that you include at the point in your assignment where you make use of a source, as well as rules for formatting the list of references (often referred to as the bibliography) that comes at the end of your document.
Here are just a few of the differences between the styles:
| Style Name | MLA | APA | Chicago |
| Type of references: | parenthetical (in text) | parenthetical (in text) | footnotes |
| Bibliography is called: | Works Cited | References | Bibliography |
In addition, each style has different rules for formatting the citations and bibliography. All the rules matter, including details like capital letters, commas, and whether initials are used for first names.
Each of these citation styles is based on an entire book. For your convenience, the Library has created summaries of these citation styles. They are available in paper format in the Library or you can download the electronic versions.
To better understand the different parts of a citation, take a look at the guides to the elements of a citation for books and for periodical articles.
Now available: a short video tutorial explaining the basics of citing a book and an article in MLA style:
Videos on APA and Chicago style coming soon!
Tools available to assist with citations:
- Citation Machine – pick a citation style, pick a type of document, then enter the information, and Citation Machine will produce a citation. Please note that you should not put blind faith in an online tool like this; you remain responsible for the resulting citations and should check them carefully to be sure there are no mistakes.
- Zotero – a plug-in that lets you collect sources, organize them, cite them, share them…
- The OWL from Purdue University provides excellent explanation and examples for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.
Any questions about references and bibliographies? Come to the reference desk or ask us online.
