Citation Guides for Writing Papers
Citation Styles
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What is Citation?
Citation is a way of acknowledging your sources of information through a combination of references and a list of works cited. In academic writing, citation must be done according to a particular style that is deemed appropriate to the field. While there are many such styles, the three most common are APA (American Psychological Association), MLA (Modern Language Association), and Turabian (based on the Chicago Manual of Style). On this page, we provide links to help you understand and use these styles. These links should answer most citation questions, but you may need to consult the fuller treatment found in the "official" printed books, which can be found in the reference section of the Emerson and Luhr libraries and in most public and academic libraries. Note: Style formats change frequently! Always refer to the most recent edition of the style manual you're using before citing your sources.
Individual instructors may have specific requirements for citation style, and nothing on these pages is intended to replace such instructions. Ask your instructor if you are in doubt about a particular requirement. You may also wish to visit the Webster University Writing Center online. Here you will find resources to help you avoid plagiarism, know when to cite a source, find their online style guides and how to submit a paper for review.
Citing Articles From Our Online/Full-text Databases
Citation style was created long before computers and the internet, and figuring out the appropriate style for citing electronic sources has proved to be an ongoing challenge for the creators of standards for citation. If you use one of the library's databases to retrieve the full-text of an article, your cite will need to be a combination of both the periodical and a Web site citation. Since electronic full-text versions of articles are not always identical to the printed periodical, it is important to indicate which version you have seen and where. The records in our online databases contain the information you need to cite a work properly. Click here to find out how to read a citation in a database.
When citing online resources like websites, most style manuals require that you include a URL or Internet address for each item listed in your bibliography. Individual articles you retreive online from a library database (e.g. Ebscohost, Lexis-Nexis Academic, etc.) often contain lengthy URLs which may change each time you access the article. For style manuals, like MLA, which require a URL we suggest you use the much-shorter URL for the database provider's website. The URL for each database can be found on our Alphabetical List of Databases page.
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