Guides to Common Writing Styles

APA

For a comprehensive guide, see APA Formatting and Style Guide provided by OWL. Note:  To format the guide for printing, click on the icon labeled:  FULL RESOURCE FOR PRINTING on the guide’s page.

For a more concise printable guide containing examples reprinted, with permission, from the Ohio State University Libraries’ Guide for Citing Sources, see APA Style

The latest print edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is available in most of the University Libraries reference collections (call number: BF 76.7.P83).

Chicago

For a printable guide containing examples reprinted, with permission, from the University of Chicago Library’s Citing Resources Chicago Style, see Chicago Style

The latest print edition of The Chicago Manual of Style is available in most of the WMU University Libraries reference collections (call number: Z253 .C57).

MLA

For a comprehensive guide, see MLA Formatting and Style Guide provided by OWL. Note:  To format the guide for printing, click on the icon labeled:  FULL RESOURCE FOR PRINTING on the guide’s page.

For a more concise printable guide containing examples reprinted, with permission, from the Ohio State University Library’s Guide for Citing MLA Style, see MLA Style

The latest print edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers is available in most of the University Libraries reference collections (call number: LB 2369.G53).

Turabian Style

Turabian’s A Manual for Writers: A Brief Guide provided by the University Libraries.

The Turabian manual is a condensed version of the Chicago Manual of Style. The latest print edition of Kate Turabian's A Manual of Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations is available in most of the University Libraries reference collections (call number: LB 2369 .T8).

Discipline-specific guides are also available:

• AAA Style Guide
• Produced by the American Anthropological Association.
• ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors.
• The American Chemical Society's authorized guide. The latest edition is available in Waldo Library Science Reference (call number: QD 8.5 .A25).
• Style Manual for Political Science.
• Produced by the American Political Science Association. The latest edition is available in Waldo Library Reference Desk Coll. (call number: JA86.A52x).
• American Sociological Association Style Guide.
• The ASA Style Guide is designed to aid authors in preparing manuscripts for all ASA journals and publications. The latest edition is available in Waldo Library Reference (call number: HM73.A54x).
• Additional discipline-specific guides are listed in the University Libraries’ Start Your Research Subject Guides

Citation Formatting and Management Tools:

RefWorks is a citation management software that allows WMU users to import citations directly from electronic indexes and create and manage your own bibliographies. Use with Microsoft Word to cite and format references in a variety of writing styles. You will have to set up an individualized account the first time you use RefWorks. An excellent tutorial is available in RefWorks under Help.

Citation Machine is a free Web site that provides software allowing you to create MLA or APA citations for books, journal articles, and a variety of other references. You provide details about titles, author, publisher or journal name, volume, and page numbers. The site then processes the information and provides a formatted citation for use in reference lists. You should double-check the citations the system generates since it occasionally makes a mistake.

Quick Citation Formatting in Databases. Many databases allow you to format citations you have selected into various writing styles. When available, this feature may appear as a command on an individual citation screen, on the search results screen, or when viewing a list of records you have marked.  Look for the wording “cite” or “cite now,” or see if it is an option after clicking on “save, print, email.”