Citation Styles

The purpose of citation is to:

• allow other scholars to locate the work you used in your research 
• avoid academic misconduct.

Different disciplines and different scholarly journals have their own required citation styles. If you are preparing citations for a paper in your course, check with your instructor to be sure you are following the citation style required.

Here is the definition of academic misconduct, aka plagiarism, from UMass Lowell's website:

Academic misconduct is an act in which a student:
(a) Seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of another without authorization or citation;

(b) Uses unauthorized materials or fabricated data in any academic exercise;

(c) Forges or falsifies academic documents or records;

(d) Intentionally impedes or damages the academic work of others;

(e) Engages in conduct aimed at making false representation of a student’s academic performance; or

(f) Assists other students in any of these acts.

Common Elements of  Citations

These are the elements of all citations at their most basic. Remember, part of the point is to allow readers to find your source themselves. These elements are formatted, punctuated, and distributed differently depending on the requirements of your discipline.

Depending on the particular style, you may also need to include page numbers, URL or DOI, date accessed. The formatting of the authors' name will be different, and punctuation is crucial. Placement of punctuation differs from style to style.