The style manual that you use to write a paper is generally assigned by your instructor or dictated by your subject area. Be sure your instructor does not have a preferred style before choosing which one to use.
The most common styles are MLA (Modern Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association). Others include Chicago and Turabian. We will concentrate on MLA and APA since these are the ones most commonly used by our students.
The library has several copies of both the MLA and APA style manuals in the Reference and Reserve collections. Copies are available for a one week checkout on both manuals. The book store also sells copies of both manuals, as well as do numerous online book retailers.
The Academic Center at the University of Houston-Victoria maintains a Documentation Style page , which has quick guides to both the MLA and the APA styles as well as other helpful tips.
There are other online sites that, while not containing the full style manual, do have some types of citations available and others that format the information for you. Here are some resources that we have found:
MLA Style
- Citation Guide for MLA, 7th edition
- The Library has prepared a study guide to reflect changes in the new 7th edition of the MLA Handbook.
- MLA Quick Reference Guide
- From the UHV Academic Center, this guide contains two sections. The first explains MLA documentation in text. The second shows how to format the first page of text and the works cited list for MLA.
- Sources Page for MLA and APA
- This guide from Dartmouth College provides excellent examples of many formats and sources used in research papers and provides examples for citation of each source.
- MLA Style English and other Humanities
- Bedford/St. Martin's "Research and Documentation Online" from Diane Hacker, Prince George's Community College. Examples of in-text citation, list of works cited, information notes, manuscript format and a sample paper.
- MLA Citation Format
- Guides created by Katherine Holmes, Asst. Library Director, Ludcke Library at Lesley College.
- MLA Style Citation Guide
- Great examples and good advice from Seattle Central Community College Library.
APA Style
- APA Quick Reference Guide
- From the UHV Academic Center, this guide contains two sections. The first section explains APA documentation in text. The second section shows how to format the title page, the abstract, the text, and the reference list of an APA paper.
- APA Electronic Format
- Electronic reference recommended by the American Psychological Association.
- APA Style: The Social Sciences
- Bedford/St. Martin's "Research and Documentation Online" from Diane Hacker, Prince George's Community College. Examples of in-text citation, bibliographic entries, manuscript format and a sample paper.
- APA Style Guide
- "Psychology With Style: A Hypertext Writing Guide" - Version 2 by M. Plonsky, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin -Stevens Point.
- APA Citation Format
- Guides created by Katherine Holmes, Asst. Library Director, Ludcke Library at Lesley College.
- APA Style Bibliographic Citations Guide
- Great examples and good advice from Seattle Central Community College Library.
- APA Documentation Style
- From The Writer's Handbook, University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center.
Online Auto-Style Composers
- EasyBib.com
- "EasyBib.com is a website dedicated to helping writers create bibliographies. We realize that at times, looking up all the correct forms of punctuation and order in a bibliography can often be a tedious and timely process. Whether the source may be an encyclopedia, a book with three authors, or an online database, the individual formats can often be confusing. However, at EasyBib.com, you don't need to worry about format and punctuation. Easybib.com adheres to the 5th Edition of MLA Handbook for Writers and Researchers."
- Bib Builder 1.2
- Choose a form, fill it out, and push the button... you will get an individual entry for a "Works Cited" page, which you may then copy and paste into your word processor. The BibBuilder is more like a guide than a full-fledged utility, but you may nevertheless find it helpful.
- Son of Citation Machine
- This site allows you to insert information in forms to electronically generate citations in MLA, APA, Turabian or Chicago styles. The stated purpose of Son of Citation Machine is to be a "web tool designed to assist high school, college, and university students, their teachers, and independent researchers in their effort to respect other people's intellectual properties."