If you’re like me and you got to college relying on the EasyBib gods for your MLA Works Cited page, you were probably shaken to your very core when you found out about the other kinds of citations. To make matters worse, some citation styles even have multiple forms. So if citations stress you out too—because all the slots for citation conventions in your brain are filled with mush like mine—here’s two handy infographics showing how to cite a book and an online journal article in Chicago and APA styles that might just get you through!
bookjournal article
Other stuff you should know!
Chicago Style is currently in its 17th edition as of 2017 and is overseen by the University of Chicago Press. This citation style has also been modified for students and is known as Turabian. There are two forms of Chicago Style:
Notes-Bibliography
- primarily used in the humanities
- uses footnotes or end notes (marked with a superscript in the text)
- prioritizes the author
- end text citations called Bibliography
Author-Date
- primarily used in the social, natural, and physical sciences
- uses parenthetical citations that include both author and date with no punctuation between them
- end text citations called Reference List
APA Style gets its name from the American Psychological Association and is in its 6th edition as of 2009. It is primarily used in the social sciences.
- running head, headings, subheadings are common
- uses parenthetical citations containing the author and date separated by a comma
- prioritizes the date
- uses first initials in place of authors’ first names
- author names separated by an “&”
- end text citations called References
- in-text citation of work with three to five authors
- first mention: list all authors
- subsequent mentions: first author followed by “et al.”
- in-text citation of work with six or more authors are always first author followed by “et al.”
Even after creating these infographics to gain more experience with APA and Chicago Author-Date style, I realize I still have some trouble remembering when to use a period or a comma or what parts of a running head to include. I found putting citations into practice a lot harder than just identifying them in writing. But in the midst of my struggles, I gained a valuable insight: although I might never really master any citation style, at least I know some good resources to consult!
References
Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.). In-text citations: Author/authors.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.). Reference list: Author/authors.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.). Reference list: Books.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (n.d.). Reference list: Electronic sources (web publications).
University of Chicago Press. (2017). The Chicago manual of style: The essential guide for
writers, editors, and publishers. (17th ed.). Chicago, IL: Author.