Online Learning

Style Guides

There are two purposes of citations in research. The first is to give credit to someone for their work and ideas.  The second is to allow the reader of a research paper to locate the material that was used and see if they interpret the results in the same way.  It is vital that you provide this information in your research.  Not including citations is considered plagiarism.

Citations must be used:

• if you are directly quoting a phrase from a book or journal.
• if you change one or two words.
• if ideas are taken from an article.

A good rule of thumb is – when in doubt, cite it!

Listed below are websites that will help you in formatting your citations. Print copies of the most recent style manuals are available in Young Library’s Reference and Circulating sections.

Style Manuals

These are available in the Reference section and in the Circulating section.

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
The Chicago manual of style
A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers
The SBL handbook of style: for ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and early Christian studies
MLA handbook for writers of research papers

Electronic Helps

APA

• APA Citation Guide (OWL at Purdue)

Chicago Manual of Style/Turabian/Society of Biblical Literature

• Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide (Owl at Purdue)

Modern Language Association

• Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation Guide (Owl at Purdue)

The SBL Handbook of Style

• The SBL handbook of style: for ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and early Christian studie
• Student Supplement to the SBL Handbook of Style

Citation Generators

Citation generators allow you to enter information on the materials you have used and then create a citation for a particular style. Be aware that correct structure and spacing are usually not part of the result.  You should also be sure to check for capitalization.

Using the generators below is a great starting point. Just be sure to go back and check the results with your Professor’s specifications.

ZoteroBib – (See Tutorial- Organizing your Research)
Citation machine
eTurabian
BibMe
Docscite (Use for government document citations)
KnightCite
Style Wizard
Zotero
EasyBib