APA, MLA, and Chicago styles are some of most commonly used source citation styles, and they are easier than they look! 

APA Style

The American Psychological Association (APA) Style is the format used in Psychology and many other Social Sciences. This style covers both the structure of the paper and the proper format for citations. Generally, APA format includes a title page, abstract, body, subsections, tables, figures, and references. Parenthetical in-text citations of sources contain the author and the year as follows: (Smith, 2024). APA references should have a dedicated Reference Page at the end of your essay, using the same format of your essay, alphabetized, double spaces, with hanging indents. References generally follow this basic structure:

Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal italicized, Volume number italicized (Issue number), Page numbers. DOI.

Visit the OWL guide on APA style for more details, or the APA Essay Template for visual learning.

MLA Style

Modern Language Association (MLA) style is often used in English, Literature, and Writing courses. Parenthetical in-text citations include the author's last name and page number: (Smith, 19). For larger quotes, MLA style requires block quotations indented a half inch and introduced as well as cited. All in-text citations must be supported with a bibliographic reference at the end of the essay. MLA uses a "container" based citation style that specifies the author, title, journal/website, publisher, publication date, and location.

Visit the OWL guide to MLA formatting for more details.

Chicago Style

Chicago style is generally used in History. It has two formats: notes and bibliography format, and author-date format. Which you use depends on your instructor. It can be easier to read and allows shortened footnotes once a reference has been cited. A full essay template can be used for visual learning.