Citation Help and Annotated Bibliographies
Brett Bodemer, CLA Librarian and Coordinator of Reference
Purpose of this Guide
This guide is intended to provide both general and discipline-specific help pointers for citation and annotated bibliographies. This landing page points to basic citation help, while the navigation pages provide more in-depth guidance regarding annotated bibliographies and citation styles in the various colleges,
And remember, for citation and research questions you can also go get live help on 24/7 Live Chat.
Popular Citation Styles - APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, CSE/CBE, Harvard, IEEE
APA Style
Established by the American Psychological Association. This style is standard for multiple disciplines including many in the Social Sciences. The official APA style site provides robust citation examples and support.
- APA Style Reference ExamplesThe official APA site has perfect examples in APA style, based on the 2019, 8th edition.
- Official APA SiteThis online site provides official guidance for APA grammar, stylistics, and clearly describes how to format in-text citations.
- APA OWL Purdue (online guide)This guide, curated by librarians at Purdue University, provides detailed guidance for APA style.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by Call Number: BF76.7 .P83 2010ISBN: 9781433832161Publication Date: 2019-10-01This provides exhaustive documentation for APA stylistics, grammar and citations. There are print copies on Permanent Reserves and at the Research Help Desk on the 2nd floor.
MLA Style
Citation style established by the Modern Language Association.
MLA Handbook by Call Number: Research Help 2nd Floor LB2369 .G53 2016 (Ref)ISBN: 9781603295628Publication Date: 2021-05-20The ninth edition builds on the MLA's approach to documenting sources using a template of core elements common to most sources, like author, title, and publication date. It allows writers to cite any type of work, from books, e-books, and journal articles in databases to song lyrics, online images, social media posts, and more.
Other Styles
CHICAGO, TURABIAN and CSE/CBE, HARVARD, IEEE
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition by Call Number: RESEARCH HELP 2nd Floor LB2369 .T8 2013ISBN: 9780226494425Publication Date: 2018-04-16Turabian provides a more student-friendly version of Chicago style, and this text provides comprehensive guidance. There are copies on Permanent Reserves and at the Research Help Desk.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition by Call Number: Z253 .U69 2017ISBN: 022628705XPublication Date: 2017-09-05This exhaustive manual covers all aspects of The Chicago Manual of style. There are copies on Permanent and Reserves and at the Research Help Desk.
CSE/CBE refers to the citation format established by the Council of Biology Editors. CBE is the format preferred by writers in Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine, and Physics.
Scientific Style and Format by Call Number: T11 .S386 2006ISBN: 097796650XPublication Date: 2006-04-01Scientific Style and Format is a recognized, authoritative reference for authors, editors, publishers, students, and translators in all areas of science and related fields. It is available in the Main Collection at the Research Help Desk.
- Harvard StyleMendeley provides an online guide to support creation of references according to Harvard Style.
Should I cite a database?
It is rarely helpful to cite a database (because most works are discoverable via more than one database).
APA Style Guidance on Citing Databases
An exception is when the database contains proprietary information that cannot be accessed in another way, such as some of the business resources Cal Poly subscribes to (such as MRI Simmons).
Guidance on how to cite such sources is not as detailed as for other kinds of information, so in some cases you (or your instructor) must choose an approach, with the goal of presenting enough information for the reader to locate your source material.
Example: For MRI Simmons reports, you can follow APA guidelines for a dataset. Examples are linked on this external library page: https://libguides.stthomas.edu/c.php?g=612648&p=4280359
Citation Generators
There are various online tools that will help you generate citations, Some, such as EasyBib and Citation Machine, provide a limited number of citations before asking for some form of payment.
The OWL at Purdue has FREE citation generators for several styles.
WARNING:DO NOT BLINDLY TRUST ANY GENERATORS, AND BE PREPARED TO ADJUST THE CITATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PARTICULAR STYLE, INCLUDING INDENTATION, CAPITALIZATION, ITALICIZATION, AND THE ORDER OF THE CONTENT.
Zotero Citation Management Software
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Zotero
Zotero is a free tool that lets you save, cite and manage just about any format of information. You can create separate folders for your research and, since it is hosted remotely, you can access it anywhere, and create bibliographies in a wide range of citation styles. Zotero is available on all the computers in Kennedy Library. -
Introduction to Zotero (University of Chicago)Here's a helpful, concise 15-minute tutorial on installing, saving articles, and inserting citations in Zotero.
EndNote
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EndNoteCal Poly's Subscription to the Web of Science databases is augmented by the ability to download a version of EndNote which allows you to download, store, and manage your citations. This ITS page exactly details how to download the software.
Mendeley
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MendeleyMendeley is another citation management platform, hosted by the publishing giant Elsevier, but with a free version that offers basic functionality.