Why Citation Style Matters

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.

The Quick Answer: Which Style for Which Subject

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.

APA 7th Edition

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.

MLA 9th Edition

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.

Chicago 17th Edition (Notes-Bibliography)

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.

Key Differences at a Glance

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.

How to Know Which Style Your Professor Wants

1. Check the assignment brief first. Most briefs state the required style explicitly.
2. Check the course or department style guide. Many departments publish a preferred citation guide on their website.
3. Look at previous assignments. If feedback praised your citation format, repeat it.
4. Ask your professor directly. A quick email before you start is always better than reformatting twenty citations after submission.

If you are writing a dissertation or thesis, check your institution's graduate handbook — it may override the department preference.

Generate Citations Instantly

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.