Check out the library's general Citations page for information on the basic elements to be included in book and article references, regardless of the citation style you're using.

All citation systems require you to do two things: cite your sources as you refer to them throughout your essay, and provide a full list of all sources consulted (called reference list or bibliography) at the end of your paper.

There are two broad types of citation systems:

Parenthetical or In-Text Citation Systems

These systems require you to acknowledge the source of a quotation or concept within the text by placing information about the source in parentheses at the end of the relevant sentence. You then list all your sources in a bibliography (aka reference list or works cited list) at the end of the paper. Citation styles that use this format include: APA, MLA, CSE, Chicago, Turabian (you can use either parenthetical citations or notes with Chicago and Turabian).

Notes Systems

These systems require you to provide your citations in the form of notes rather than embeddeding the information within the sentence itself the way you do in a parenthetical system. Notes may be in the form of footnotes (located at the bottom of each page as they occur) or endnotes (located all together at the end of the document). These systems may or may not require a bibliography (aka reference list or works cited list) at the end of the paper, depending whether the notes have provided full bibliographic information about the source, or an abbreviated version. Citation styles that use this format include: Chicago, Turabian (you can use either parenthetical citations or notes with Chicago and Turabian).