What are the Different Methods of Research Paper Citation?

Teachers expect students to reference the sources in their research papers. Citation is the process which authors inform readers which information in their papers comes from other sources and where those sources can be found. There are several citation systems for research papers. The American Psychological Association (APA) style, the Modern Language Association (MLA) style, and the Chicago style are the most popular. Turabian and Council of Science Editors (CSE) are two less commonly used research paper citation styles.

To cite sources in APA style, use parentheses within the text. In-text citations are what they’re called. These are the same as the ones listed in the bibliography at the end of the paper. Put the author’s name and the year of publication separated a comma inside a pair of parentheses to cite using APA style. If you’re citing a direct quote, include the page number where the quote appears.

Put the author’s name and the page number between the parentheses to cite in MLA style. The parentheses are always placed after the period but before the end of the sentence in which the material appears. The sources listed in the bibliography at the end of the paper correspond to the in-text citations.

There are two types of research paper citations used in Chicago style. For papers in the sciences, the author-date style is used, while for papers in history, literature, and other humanities, the notes-bibliography style is used. The bibliographies in both styles are the same, but the in-text citations are formatted differently.

In-text citations are numbered in the notes-bibliography style. The citations may be numbered sequentially if the paper is short. If the book is lengthy, each new chapter begins with number one. In Chicago style, an in-text research paper citation looks like this: 1. author, italicized title (place of publication, date of publication), page number The bibliography entry is very similar to the in-text citation.

The author-date method makes in-text citations easier. The author and date are listed between parentheses, followed a comma and the page number. Each source’s full information is listed in the bibliography at the end of the text.

Footnotes or endnotes are used to cite sources in the Turabian style of research paper citation. The referenced information is denoted a superscript number within the text. This number corresponds to a complete bibliographic entry at the bottom of each page or at the conclusion of each chapter. For science papers, the CSE style is most commonly used. The author and date are listed in parentheses with no other punctuation in the in-text citation. At the end, there is a complete bibliography.