Citation Style Editing

APA Citation

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the standard for social scientific research. The APA manual is more than 900 pages. If you're doing a final edit on your documents, do you know what term to look up when you have a question?

Our APA Manual of Style experts can help finalize the editing and formatting of your projects so that your submission is compelling, clean and coherent.

Coursework in subjects such as psychology, sociology, nursing, medicine and communication typical require APA style. APA is our default format for all projects if a client does not request a specific citation style.

MLA Citation

The MLA Handbook is the premier guide for the Modern Language Association's format instructions for works written in liberal arts and the humanities; i.e., English courses and American studies. MLA style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and using the English language in writing. MLA style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages. When using MLA format, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd edition).

Chicago Style

The Chicago Manual of Style is the standard in the industry for nonfiction and fiction books, magazine articles and trade journals. Book publishers may change some elements of the article or manuscript to conform to house style, but they appreciate receiving your work in Chicago format.

Our Chicago Manual of Style experts can help finalize the editing and formatting of your projects so that your submission is compelling, clean and coherent.

Chicago Style offers two approaches for documenting sources: 1) a citation/sequence system and, 2) a name/year system. Denoted mainly by its use of footnotes or endnotes, The Chicago Manual of Style is a general style guideline for publishing commonly used academically in musicology, history, art history, women's studies and theology.

Turabian Citation

Turabian is derived from A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations developed for the University of Chicago and published by the University of Chicago Press. Turabian focuses on student papers, dissertations and theses. Except for minor differences, it is the same as the more general guide The Chicago Manual of Style. Many journals employing Chicago style accept Turabian formatting.

Turabian contrasts sharply with other guidelines such as MLA style and APA style. The Turabian method originated with the use of footnotes or endnotes instead of in-text citations employed by MLA, APA and Bluebook. In recent editions, Turabian has incorporated guidelines for in-text, parenthetical references.

ASA Citation

The American Sociological Association Style Guide is a widely accepted format for writing that specifies the use of footnotes, in-text citations and references. This easy to use format has fewer formal requirements than MLA and Chicago. ASA is very similar in appearance and function to APA in its requirement of the year of publication as essential information by using “author-date” parenthetical referencing and a Reference section with the date closely following the author(s). ASA also requires footnotes be used only to "cite material of limited availability or to add information presented in a table" (Salinas 2008).

AMA Citation

The American Medical Association Manual of Style guidelines are very similar to the MLA citation guidelines with some specific exceptions. In AMA citations, name notations do not use periods between initials. The family name is first, followed by initials for given name and middle name. Primarily, the medical and biological fields require AMA citation guidelines.

CSE Citation

Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers is produced by The Council of Science Editors (CSE). It offers two approaches for documenting sources: 1) a citation/sequence system and, 2) a name/year system. Inserted at the point of reference, superscripted numbers interact with sequentially numbered entries in a References list located at the end of the book or document. The CSE follow standards of documentation found in National Library of Medicine Recommended Formats for Bibliographic Citation (1991). Mainly the biological sciences use CSE documentation.

Vancouver Citation

The Vancouver Style guidelines (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) follow the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication and the American Medical Association Manual of Style. Vancouver Style uses notational in–text referencing. The Vancouver Style is primarily for publications in medicine, biomedicine, medical technology and allied health sciences.

Harvard Citation

The Harvard Citation Style originated the use of the author-date system—or parenthetical system—that is also in use by APA, MLA and Chicago manuals for referencing. The main advantage of Harvard referencing is that a reader familiar with a field is able to identify a citation without having to check it in the reference list. Another advantage of referencing in Harvard Style is the lack of cumbersome renumbering when changing in-text reference order. However, Harvard referencing requires more space; its rules can be confusing or unclear for non-academic citations, particularly those without a personal author; and the reference system in Harvard Citation Style may be distracting to a general reader, unfamiliar with peer-reviewed journal articles.

Bluebook Citation

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation is the United States most generally used legal citation system. Alternative legal citation style guides include the ALWD Citation Manual and the Maroon book, used by journals published at the University of Chicago Law School. Many state courts have their own citation rules that take precedence over The Bluebook for documents filed with those courts. Some of the local rules are simple modifications to the Bluebook system. Other states’ local rules are very different from The Bluebook and are codify in their own style guides.