Citation Format Guides

Different fields and institutions prefer different styles. Ask your instructor or check your assignment guidelines. Generally: APA is used in social sciences, business, and education; MLA in humanities and literature; Chicago in history and some humanities; Harvard in UK universities; Vancouver in medical and scientific fields; IEEE in engineering and computer science; AMA in medical fields.

In-text citations are short references placed within your paper at the point of citation (e.g., "Smith, 2023"). Bibliography/reference entries are complete citations listed at the end of your paper. Each source you cite in-text should have a corresponding entry in your bibliography.

Generally, yes. Cite any source you directly quote, paraphrase, or use ideas from. Common knowledge (widely known facts) and your own original ideas don't need citations. When in doubt, cite the source—it's better to over-cite than under-cite.

Yes! Tools like our citation generators, Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote can help format citations correctly. However, always verify the output—automated tools can make mistakes. Use them as a starting point and double-check the formatting against the official style guide.