Jun 30, 2026
5 min read
Your professor did not choose a citation style arbitrarily. Each style was developed by a professional organisation for a specific academic community — and the differences reflect how each field thinks about knowledge, authorship, and evidence.
Using the wrong citation style, or mixing elements from multiple styles, signals to a marker that you have not engaged seriously with scholarly conventions. Getting it right is a small investment that pays off across every assignment you submit.
| Subject Area | Recommended Style |
|---|---|
| Psychology, Education, Social Sciences, Nursing | APA 7th Edition |
| Literature, Languages, Humanities, Film Studies | MLA 9th Edition |
| History, Philosophy, Fine Arts, Religious Studies | Chicago 17th (Notes-Bibliography) |
| Business, Economics, Law (some jurisdictions) | APA or Chicago — check your institution |
| STEM fields | Often APA, but varies — always check the syllabus |
When in doubt, check your assignment brief or ask your professor. This table covers the most common mappings; exceptions exist.
Who developed it: American Psychological Association.
Who uses it: Psychology, education, nursing, social work, and most social science disciplines.
In-text citation format: Author–date. The author's surname and the publication year appear in parentheses at the point of reference.
Research shows that sleep deprivation affects academic performance (Walker, 2017).
If you quote directly, add a page number: (Walker, 2017, p. 42).
Reference list: All sources are listed alphabetically by author surname at the end of the document under the heading "References."
Book example:
Walker, M. (2017). Why we sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams. Scribner.
Webpage example:
American Psychological Association. (2023, March 15). How to cite a website in APA format. https://www.apa.org/example
Key characteristic: APA emphasises when something was published. The date appears immediately after the author — reflecting the social sciences' focus on how recent a finding is.
Who developed it: Modern Language Association.
Who uses it: Literature, languages, cultural studies, film studies, and most humanities disciplines.
In-text citation format: Author–page. The author's surname and the page number appear in parentheses.
The narrator's unreliability is established in the opening chapter (Fitzgerald 7).
No comma between the author and page number. No "p." before the page number.
Works Cited list: All sources are listed alphabetically at the end of the document under "Works Cited."
Book example:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Scribner, 1925.
Webpage example:
Smith, Jane. "How to Write a Literature Review." The Writing Centre, 10 Jan. 2024, writingcentre.edu/lit-review.
Key characteristic: MLA emphasises location within a text (page numbers). This reflects literary studies' focus on close reading — specific textual evidence matters more than when the text was published.
Who developed it: University of Chicago Press.
Who uses it: History, philosophy, religious studies, fine arts. Also common in book publishing.
In-text citation format: Superscript footnote numbers. A full or shortened citation appears in the footnote at the bottom of the page.
The treaty was signed under considerable duress.¹
Footnote: ¹ Jonathan Hughes, *The American Economy* (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1987), 214.
Subsequent references to the same source use a shortened form: ² Hughes, *American Economy*, 218.
Bibliography: A full list of sources appears at the end of the paper, similar to APA's References.
Book example (bibliography):
Hughes, Jonathan. The American Economy. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1987.
Webpage example (bibliography):
Jones, Alice. "The Role of Trade Routes." History Today, January 12, 2024. https://www.historytoday.com/example.
Key characteristic: Chicago's footnote system allows for commentary within citations — historians often use footnotes to engage with sources directly, not merely cite them.
| Feature | APA 7th | MLA 9th | Chicago 17th |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-text format | (Author, Year) | (Author Page) | Footnote¹ |
| Date placement | Immediately after author | End of Works Cited entry | In footnote/bibliography |
| Book title formatting | Italics | Italics | Italics |
| Reference list name | References | Works Cited | Bibliography |
| Publisher location | Omitted (7th ed.) | Omitted | Included |
| Page abbreviation | p. / pp. | None | p. / pp. |
This table covers the core in-text pattern for each style — for the edge cases that come up in every real paper (multiple authors, no listed author, quoting vs. paraphrasing, naming the author in your own sentence), see our in-text citation deep dive covering APA and MLA specifically.
If you are writing a dissertation or thesis, check your institution's graduate handbook — it may override the department preference.
Knowing the style is half the battle. Formatting each citation correctly — especially for less common source types — takes time and attention to detail.
The Citation Generator on EduSupport supports APA, MLA, and Chicago formats for webpages, books, journal articles, and videos. Enter the source details once and get a correctly formatted citation in seconds — no style guide memorisation required.
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