This guide highlights key differences among three major citation styles: MLA, APA and Chicago. It provides general tips and guidance for each, as well as a side-by-side comparison of sample Reference List or Works Cited entries for various types of sources.
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Author, A. A. (Year of Publication). Title of work: Capitalize first letter of subtitle and Proper Nouns. Publisher. DOI (if it has one)
Basic Format for an Authored Entry or Chapter in Books Books and Ebooks One AuthorWellock, D. (2015). Health and nutrition for dogs and cats: A guide for pet parents. Rowman & Littlefield.
Two AuthorsTerhune, T. R., & Hays, B. A. (2015). Land your dream career in college: The complete guide to success. Rowman & Littlefield.
More Than Two AuthorsLiebman, J. S., Crowley, S., Markquart, A., Rosenberg, L., White, L. G., & Zharkovsky, D. (2014). The wrong Carlos: Anatomy of a wrongful execution. Columbia University Press.
Corporate AuthorSolar Energy International. (2014). Photovoltaics design and installation manual: Renewable energy education for a sustainable future. New Society Press.
No Author Lippincott nursing procedures (8th ed.). (2019). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Editor Zott, L. M. (Ed.). (2015). Women's health: Opposing viewpoints. Greenhaven Press. A Later Edition of a BookCarpenito, L. J. (2017). Nursing care plans: Transitional patient & family centered care (7th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Chapter or Entry within a Book or Ebook An Un-Authored Entry in an Edited BookDefibrillator. (2021). In D. Venes (Ed.), Taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary (24th ed.). F. A. Davis.
Entry in an E-book without Page Numbers (Author is the Publisher) American Academy of Family Physicians (2023). Rheumatoid arthritis. In AAFP conditions A-Z. Authored Chapter in a Edited BookBuchanan, A. (2014). Protective factors in family relationships. In M. M. Merviö (Ed.), Contemporary social issues in East Asian societies: Examining the spectrum of public and private spheres (pp. 76-85). Information Science Reference.
Chapter in an Authored BookUse a narrative description (in addition to the in-text citation) in your paper's text to point your reader to the chapter. Then reference the whole book:
Blumberg, M., & Kust, R. T. (2020). Research skills in language and literature. Wiley. Introduction, Preface, Foreword or AfterwordMast, T. (2007). Introduction. In R. A. Kelly, Energy supply and renewable resources (pp. i-ix). Facts on File.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Publication Date). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy
Magazine Article (In Print or From an NMC Article Database) Fisher, D. (2008, November 24). A brief history of energy boondoggles. Forbes, 82. Magazine Article from the WebSchulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story
Scholarly Journal Article (w/ DOI)O'Connor, D., & Hou, D. (2019). More haste, less speed in replenishing China's groundwater. Nature, 569(7757), 487. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01617-5
Scholarly Journal Article - Print or From Library Database Schimmoller, B. K. (2004). Renewable energy enters commercial era. Power Engineering, 108(4), 28-41. ReviewHaggas, C. (2009, February 15). [Review of the book Clean Energy Nation: Freeing America from the Tyranny of Fossil Fuels by J. McNerney & M. Creek]. Booklist, 22.
Newspaper ArticleWald, M. L. (2009, July 13). Debate on clean energy leads to regional divide. New York Times, pp. 13A.
Referencing an Article from an Article Database: Don't include database information unless the database is the only way to access the article. Most articles from NMC databases will be referenced without the database information. For more information, use this explanation from the APA.
If the journal article without a DOI but a usable URL for any reader (e.g., it is from an online journal that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference.
Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (Date of publication). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. https://www.domain.com/fullURL
If no author is listed, begin with the page Title, followed by date and the rest of the citation:
Title of page [Format description when necessary]. (Date of publication). https://www.domain.com/fullURL
If no publication date is listed, use the abbreviation (n.d.) in place of the date:
Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (n.d.). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. Retrieved from https://www.domain.com/fullURL
If you expect the page's content to change with some frequency, add date accessed :
Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (Date of publication). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. Retrieved Month DD, YYYY from https://www.domain.com/fullURL
Website ExamplesHashmi, M.F., Tariq, M., & Cataletto, M.E. (2023, August 8). Asthma. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430901/
MedlinePlus. (2024, January). Asthma. https://medlineplus.gov/asthma.htmlNational Institute of Mental Health. (2023, April). Anxiety disorders. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
Pulses: Nutritious Seeds for a Sustainable Future [PDF file]. (2016). http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5528e.pdf
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. and world population clock. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/popclock/
Referencing a Source Your Reader Can Access (Student Paper) Arnett, P. (2020). Course outcomes [Lecture notes]. NMC Moodle. https://elearn.nmc.edu/As a student writing an academic paper you aren't expected to get the creator's permission to use the image, but do give credit to the creator for their work. To give credit and to make it simple for your instructor to read, use the same reference to the work under the image and on the references page.
When you refer to the image in the text of your paper, use the standard author and date citation style. APA considers an image a type of figure. Here's an example of how to insert the image in a paper.
Reference Format - Underneath Image and on References Page
Creator. (Date). Title of the work [Format]. Title of Website. URL
Example of a Reference
Perry, M. (2018, May 11). Everything that’s blue is considered sterile! [Photograph]. The Circulating Life. https://thecirculatinglife.com/2018/05/11/orientation-in-surgery/
What To Do When You Image is Created by Someone Other than the Creator of the Source You Found It
When the author or creator of the source you’re using quotes or uses content (like an image) from some other author or creator, you’re using a secondary source
Example of Reference Under Image
Odong, A. (2015, December 7). [Girls playing soccer in Australia]. The Women's Game. https://thewomensgame.com/news/girls-football-participation-hits-all-time-high-483634 Copyright Adam Butler.
In-text citations point the reader to more complete information in the reference list at the end of the paper.
Basic format: use the last name of the author followed by a comma and the publication year enclosed in parentheses: (Smith, 2007).
When doing a direct quote: include the page number should be included, or a pointer to the paragraph or section. If you are paraphrasing the page number is not required.
Signal Phrase: If you refer to the author's name in a sentence you do not have to include the name again as part of your in-text citation, instead include the date after the name and the page number (if there is one) at the end of the quotation or paraphrased section. For example:
Hunt (2011) explains that mother-infant attachment has been a leading topic of developmental research since John Bowlby found that "children raised in institutions were deficient in emotional and personality development" (p. 358).
A Work by Two Authors
Name both authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in parentheses. Examples:
In their research on therapy options, Key and Peel (2015) demonstrated.
(Key & Peele, 2015)
A Work by Three tor More Authors
(Pavia et al., 1993)
If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. APA style calls for capitalizing important words in titles when they are written in the text (but not when they are written in reference lists). Example:
A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using Citations," 2001).
Organization as an Author
If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.
According to the American Psychological Association (2000).
If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.
First citation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017)
Second citation: (CDC, 2017)
Point your reader to the specific location either in the text of the paper, or in the in-text citation, not in the reference. Example: (International Monetary Fund, 2023, para. 4).
