There are several citations to choose from. Here are the most common methods used in humanities disciplines. 

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (8th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) covers a variety of topics from manuscript preparation and publication to grammar, usage, and documentation and has been lovingly called the “editors’ bible.” This methods is frequently referred to as Chicago/Turabian. to as The material in this resource focuses primarily on one of the two CMS documentation styles: the Notes-Bibliography System (NB), which is used by those in literature, history, and the arts. This methods is frequently requested for longer publications like books. 

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within education, psychology, and science fields. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, (6th ed., 2nd printing).

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) covers a variety of topics from manuscript preparation and publication to grammar, usage, and documentation and has been lovingly called the “editors’ bible.” The material in this resource focuses primarily on one of the two CMS documentation styles: the Author-Date System (NB), which is used by those in information science, business, and other social sciences. It is also a preferred method for article publishing, regardless of the discipline. When a specific citation formula is not provide for a resource in Author-Date, default to CMS NB formula and rearrange the date so that it follows the author.

The APSA (American Political Science Association) manual remains the standard style guide in the Political Science discipline upon which students, junior faculty members, and well-established scholars authoring manuscripts, as well as editors, copyeditors, and proofreaders, can rely. APSA style, in most instances, follows guidelines set forth in the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition (CMS). Throughout this companion website, CMS citation numbers are included in parentheses, when appropriate, to refer readers to specific sections of CMS’s 17th edition. The 2018 revision broadens the scope of the manual, by including style requirements for all four APSA membership-wide academic journals: American Political Science Review (APSR), PS: Political Science & Politics (PS), Perspectives on Politics (PoP), and the Journal of Political Science Education (JPSE), as well as 24 APSA organized section journals. The 2018 revision also embraces a decade’s worth of changes to the academic publishing world. A few of these changes include: manuscript tracking systems, online-only publications, open-access journals, social media, active-citation techniques, data archives, government research funding requirements, and more. While this manual can and should be used as an umbrella guide, authors are responsible for reviewing and following the specific requirements laid out by each journal prior to submission. Individual style requirements for each journal can be found on the APSA website.

RefWorks is a web-based research manager that allows you to create your own personal database of citations and documents for both academic and personal use. With RefWorks you can:

• Easily export references from electronic databases, the UNT library catalog, text files, websites and more into your account

• Quickly create reference lists for papers and projects in the citation style of your choice

• Store, read and annotate files.

Want to learn more about RefWorks? Visit this guide on RefWorks!

See the Basic RefWorks Handout below and the RefWorks video tutorials to get started with your account.

The Perdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides some excellent tips on avoiding plagiarism, but if you are unsure, always ask your professor!