CITATION STYLES & What It Looks Like
There are a handful of citation styles commonly used by Lawrenceville students: MLA, APA, Chicago
(Turabian).* All of them call for similar information and organize it in similar ways. The difference is
primarily formatting. Learning how to use one citation style will make it easy to learn others. Each style
is associated with different disciplines (or areas of study).
* There are thousands of citation styles associated with different journals and publishing companies, but
you don’t need to be concerned with them.
MLA (Modern Languages Association) style is associated with English and some other Humanities : languages,
literature, and the arts.
APA (American Psychological Association) style is associated with the Social Sciences and Sciences.
Chicago is associated primarily with History, but is sometimes used in other humanities and social sciences fields.
Turabian is a variation of Chicago style intended for student writers.
EXAMPLES FOR II Formers
Below are the most common citation’s you will use when writing a paper:
Book (Bibliography version)
Allen, Robert C. British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2009.
Book (Footnote version)
1.Robert C. Allen British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 2009.
Journal Article (Bibliography version)
Tackett, Timothy. "Interpreting the Terror." French Historical Studies 24, no. 4 (Fall 2001): 569-79.
Accessed September 1, 2015.
http://search.ebscohost.com/ogin.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5695650&site=ehost-live.
Journal Article (Footnote version)
1. Timothy Tackett, "Interpreting the Terror," French Historical Studies 24, no. 4 (Fall 2001): 572,
accessed September 1, 2015,
http://search.ebscohost.com/ogin.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=5695650&site=ehost-live.
Website (Bibliography & Footnote version)
“Background Note: China.” United States Department of State. Accessed September 1, 2015.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.html.
Cultural Studies Reader (Bibliography version)
Bergsten, C. Fred. “China: the Balance Sheet” In Cultural Studies Reader, 2-8. Lawrenceville, N.J.:
Lawrenceville School, History Department, 2015.
Cultural Studies Reader (Footnote version)
1. C. Fred Bergsten ,“China: the Balance Sheet” In Cultural Studies Reader, 2-8. Lawrenceville, N.J.:
Lawrenceville School, History Department, 2015.
PRIMARY SOURCES
Sometimes, in your quest for knowledge you will be asked to consult “primary sources.” This is
academic lingo for “first-hand information.” Primary sources are the actual documents or sources on
which interpretation and analysis is based. Things like diaries, letters, government documents,
literature, interviews, meeting minutes, and photographs can all be primary sources. Secondary sources
are ones where someone has interpreted, retold, or analyzed primary sources. Primary sources are the
“evidence” used in secondary sources. Below are the general ways to cite the information that students
find Primary Sources from; in a book (or anthology) or from a website.
BOOK
Author Last Name, First Name. Title. In Title of Collection, edited by Editor First Name Last Name,
translated by Translator First Name Last Name, year. Place of Publication: Publisher, Publication Date.
WEBSITE
Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Text. Title of Website. Accessed Month Day,Year. URL.
There is a second step if there is additional information about the primary source and that is to include
as much of the publication information as possible (this is not always possible).
Example Citations of a Primary Source taken from a Secondary Source
Author of primary source First Name Last Name, Publication information for original source, page
number(s), quoted in Author of secondary source, Publication information for secondary source, page
number(s).
You will not always have all these pieces available to you!!! Some Examples of This:
SPEECH
British Foreign Office, FO371, FO Minute, 30 March 1943, A3068/4/2. Vol 22507, quoted in Bryce
Wood, Dismantling the Good Neighbor Policy, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985), 18.
INTERVIEW
Le Minh Huy, interview by author, personal interview through translator, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, 21
November 2001.
Isaac Bahevis Singer, interview by Harold Flender, in Writers at Work: The “Paris Review” Interviews, ed.
George Phimpton, 5th ser. (New York: Viking Press, 1981), 85.
PUBLIC ADDRESS
Franklin D. Roosevelt, “We Americans Have Cleared Our Decks and Taken Our Battle Stations,” Navy and
Total Defense Day Address, 27 October 1941, in The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, Samuel Rosenman, ed., comp., 1941 Volume: The Call To Battle Stations (New York: Harper
and Brothers, 1950), 439.