How to Select the Correct Citation Style

• Rebecca Cahill
• Published on 11/14/2025

The purpose of research and academic writing is to expand shared knowledge across a variety of subject areas. Proper citation is necessary to support the synthesis of new ideas and those of earlier authors. By identifying sources correctly, the author gives proper credit and avoids plagiarism, while also providing a roadmap for future researchers.

The use of detailed citation styles began in the late 19th century. Each of the thousands of styles are associated with specific fields of research, although there is overlap among the most common styles. In the modern age, it is imperative that authors and researchers follow clear guidelines in citation style to ensure that research is FAIR. The FAIR framework was developed by Mark Wilkinson and contributing authors in 2016 and includes four principles: Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability.

• Findable means that data have unique identifiers and are registered in a searchable resource. 
• Accessible refers to the ability to retrieve a source using the identified information. 
• Interoperable allows for references to other sources. 
• Reusable means that data has clear origins and usage guidelines.

Citation Style Considerations

The most used citation styles include APA, Chicago, Harvard, and MLA. It is critical that you identify the citation style for your research before beginning the writing process. To select the correct style, there are two main considerations: subject area and institution. 

Subject area:

• Humanities and social/natural sciences (Harvard).
• Literature and language (MLA).
• History, sciences, and social sciences (Chicago).
• Social sciences and education (APA).

Institution:

• If you are submitting your work to an institution or journal, it is important to follow their chosen citation style.

Citation Styles and Examples

APA Style

APA (American Psychological Association) uses the ‘author-date’ format for in-text references and has detailed guidelines for formatting tables and graphs. The term ‘References’ is used for sources at the end of the document and all entries use a hanging indent.

Citation	Fogg, B. J. (2019). Tiny habits: The small changes that change everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Structure	Author Surname, Initial(s). (Year). Title. Publisher.

In-text	(Fogg, 2019)
Structure	(Author Surname, Year)

Chicago Style

Chicago (The Chicago Manual of Style) was created for printers and editors. This style uses both notes (endnotes or footnotes) and the ‘author-date’ format for in-text references. You will select one in-text citation format for the entire paper. It is more common to use the ‘author-date’ format with science or social sciences, and endnotes/footnotes for literature. The term ‘Bibliography’ is used for sources at the end of the document and all entries use a hanging indent.

Citation	Fogg, Brian Jeffrey. TINY HABITS: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
Structure	Author Surname, First Name. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

In-text (Notes)	Brian Jeffrey Fogg, TINY HABITS: The Small Changes that Change Everything (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019), 173.
Structure (author-date)	First Name Author Surname, Title. (Place of Publication: Publisher, Year), page number.

In-text	(Fogg 2019)
Structure	(Author Surname Year)

Harvard Style

Harvard (Harvard Referencing Style) uses the ‘author-date’ format for in-text citations. This style is not maintained by Harvard University, but the style was initially popular with faculty. Harvard is similar to APA, and is more often used in the UK and Australia. The term ‘References List’ is used for sources at the end of the document and all entries use a hanging ident.

Citation	Fogg, B.J. (2019) Tiny habits: The small changes that change everything. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Structure	Author Surname, Initial(s). (Year) Title. Place of Publication: Publisher.

In-text	(Fogg, 2019)
Structure	(Author Surname, Year)

MLA Style

MLA (Modern Language Association) uses an in-text citation format based on ‘author-page number’. The term ‘Works Cited’ is used for all sources at the end of the document and all entries use a hanging indent.

Citation	Fogg, Brian Jeffrey. TINY HABITS: The Small Changes That Change Everything. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 31 Dec. 2019.
Structure	Author Surname, Author First Name(s). Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

In-text	(Fogg 173)
Structure	(Author Surname page number)

Capitalization in APA and Harvard: Titles should be written in sentence case, so only capitalize the first word after punctuation. This applies even if the title is all uppercase. Intext Citations: Intext citations are included within research or academic papers as either footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical references. Footnotes and endnotes use numbers in the text to refer the reader to a location at the bottom of the page or end of the paper for information. Parenthetical referencing includes the author and date directly in the text of the paper or article. Using Quotes: When you are including a specific quote, you will need to add the page number(s) to your in-text citations.