Ms. Information answers your questions
Everyone is working on final papers with the end of the semester quickly approaching and many students ask how to cite something for their paper, or how to create a bibliography. There are a number of sources that can help you figure this out.
Your first order of business is to determine which style your professor requires. The most popular styles are MLA, APA, and Chicago Style. These are three different styles that a writer uses to guide his or her editorial style, which extends to the bibliography.
- MLA is the style developed by The Modern Language Association as "The style recommended by the association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers"*. MLA style is often used in English and other Humanities. FAQ about MLA style.
- APA style was developed by The American Psychological Association. The expectation to write in APA Style refers "to the editorial style that many of the social and behavioral sciences have adopted to present written material in the field".** FAQ about APA Style.
- Chicago Style or Turabian is not how students who live in this city are expected to write, but rather a style manual that "had its origins in the 1890s as a single sheet of typographic fundamentals drawn up by a University of Chicago Press proofreader".*** Quick Guide Here.
If all of this sounds like nonsense to you, and you've never heard of a 'citation style', you'd better ask your professor which style he or she prefers before completing that bibliography!
You can find copies of all these style guides at the library, and if
you can't find them please ask a librarian for help. We have also put
together a list of resources to help you figure out how to create these
citations, with links to other sites which you can access here.
Many of our article/journal databases provide an option to
automatically create these different styles of citations for an article
you find on that database (although you should double-check these). For
help with this, ask a librarian.
Also, get in touch with The Writing Center at Roosevelt's Downtown campus for more help with your papers.
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue also has excellent resources.
Wishing you luck with your research,
Sincerely,
Ms.Information
Do you have a question for Ms. Information? Ms. Information
welcomes your questions about research, libraries, and how to find all
kinds of information. Submit your question to mhaller [at] roosevelt
[dot] edu.
* "What is MLA Style?." Modern Langauge Association. MLA. 5 Dec. 2007 <http://www.mla.org/style>.
** "APA Style." APA Online. APA. 5 Dec. 2007 <http://apastyle.apa.org/>.
*** "Preface." The Chicago Manual of Style Online. 15th ed. n.d. 5 Dec. 2007 <http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/isbn_0226104036_pref.html>.
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