Citing Sources Using Library Databases

We make citations and write bibliographic references for the books and articles that we use in our research papers in order to give credit to the authors and to avoid plagiarism. Knowing just how to cite and reference a source can be confusing. Certainly, all the different ways of citing and referencing sources must have been invented to drive you crazy, right?

Actually, there are three main approaches when it comes to citation styles. 

• The first way is in a footnote at the bottom of the page or in an endnote at the end of your paper. This is the traditional humanities style preferred by The Chicago Manual of Style.
  
  
• The second way is parenthetical, within the text of your paper. This is the so-called Harvard system used by both the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA). Each citation is linked to a reference in the reference list, which the MLA calls “Works Cited” and the APA “References.”
  
  
• The third way is by connecting your quotation, paraphrase, or summary directly to a numbered reference in your reference list. This is the citation sequence system used in the sciences and the health sciences by the Council of Science Editors in Scientific Style and Format (CSE) and by the American Medical Association (AMA).

Always double-check the requirements of your citation style using the style manual, or by looking at an online reference source such as our Citing Sources subject guide. This subject guide contains links to many online reference sources for the various citation styles. 

You may have noticed that the ISU OneSearch database has a "Cite" button that will format a reference for you in your selected citation style! Be careful when using this feature, as sometimes errors will occur. 

This video from the ISU Libraries YouTube channel explains how to use the Cite button to copy and paste a reference in your chosen citation style.