Which citation style to use depends on the discipline and professor for whom you are writing it. The two most popular styles are MLA for humanities courses and APA for the sciences. Many social science courses may use the Chicago/Turabian style. When in doubt ask your professor which style he or she prefers.
Each citation style has a handbook describing the details of writing citations for various types of resources. The library has at least one copy of each handbook on reserve or in the reference collection that can be located by searching the online catalog.
Perkins Library recommends Mendeley and Zotero to create citations in all of the major styles and organize your research. Contact [email protected] for assistance or check out our research guide on how to manage citations using Mendeley and Zotero.
There also are many citation helpers on the internet:
- Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
- Landmarks Citation Machine
- Citation Builder (North Carolina State University Libraries)
- NoodleBib (click on NoodleBib Express for free version)
- EasyBib (free version only helps with MLA style citations)
- The Writing Center at Doane University also has a list of online writing resources
