How to format your essay citations according to different style guides

Why do you need to cite your work?

Citations are important to give credit to the sources that you pull from your research. Any time you add a quote or paraphrase a source in your writing, you will need a citation. This serves to prevent accidental plagiarism and add credibility to your work.

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Citation styles exist to keep your list of sources clear and consistent. These styles dictate formatting, punctuation, and the organization of source data such as author, publisher, and title.

When to use a citation style

Depending on your field or industry, you may be required to use one citation style over another. The big three style guides are the:

• APA (American Psychological Association)
• MLA (Modern Language Association)
• Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)

They have subtle differences, tailored towards their respective fields:

• MLA focuses on arts and humanities, and comes in handy for literature and works of art.
• APA is geared towards the social sciences, such as education and psychology, and their corresponding journals.
• Chicago (or Turabian) style helps writers and editors cite historical texts and the written word, and it is commonly used by students.

Key differences in citations

All citations will require the author’s name, title, publisher, the year the work was published, and the city where it was published. Differences include the order in which they are placed:

• MLA emphasizes authorship, so the authors’ names are written in full at the beginning of the citation.
• APA emphasizes the date of publication, since scientific papers and journals are frequently updated.
• Chicago includes two systems within its umbrella: notes and bibliography (NB) and author-date

University websites will often list specific details on how each citation should be formatted, especially to cover multiple disciplines.

Use a citation style tool to easily format your sources

Gone are the days when you manually fill in the blanks. Microsoft 365 offers a handy citation tool that not only covers all the major styles, but also creates a bibliography to insert at the end of your work. Simply click on the Citations & Bibliography group under the References tab, and you can choose from the latest MLS, APA, CMOS, and many more specialized citations. From the Insert Citation button, you can add a new source and enter the data to create a citation in the exact format, quickly and easily.

And since an important component to citing sources is being able to insert footnotes into your text, the same References tab makes it easy to do exactly that under the Footnotes section. Writing an argumentative, narrative or persuasive essay can be challenging enough, so it’s reassuring to know that gathering your research can be made easier with these tools at your disposal. For even more ways to streamline and improve your essays, check out Microsoft 365 Life Hacks for more writing tips.