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History

Writing and Citing in History

The main citation styles for History are Chicago, APA and MLA. Before selecting a citation style for your paper, be sure to check what your professor wants you to use.

Use RefWorks (left) to keep track of your citations and generate a bibliography in any style your professor requires. If you need help using RefWorks, feel free to contact your Liaison Librarian.

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Chicago

Chicago style refers to guidelines developed by the University of Chicago Press for documenting sources cited in a paper. The Chicago style includes guidelines for two different systems of citing sources. The first, most often used by humanities disciplines, uses notes (either footnotes or endnotes) which usually point to entries in a bibliography at the end of the paper. The second, most often used in the physical, natural and social sciences, uses author-date citations in the text of the paper, with corresponding entries in a reference list.

For more information, you can consult the Chicago Manual of Style Online or the print Chicago Manual of Style which is available in the Library Reference collection.

You can also find more information, including examples of citations, in our library Help files.

APA

APA Style refers to guidelines developed by the American Psychological Association for authors. The APA style uses an author-date system of citation, in which brief citations within the text direct the reader to the corresponding entries in the reference list at the end of the paper. The entries in this list provide the full publication information for the sources used for the paper, allowing readers to trace these sources for their own use.

For more information, please see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association which is available in the Library Reference collection.

You can also find more information, including examples of citations, in our library Help files.

MLA

MLA style refers to guidelines developed by the Modern Languages Association for documenting sources cited in a paper. The MLA style is widely used in humanities disciplines. It uses a two-part system, in which brief in-text citations point to corresponding entries in a reference list or bibliography at the end of the paper. The entries in the alphabetical reference list provide the complete publication information for each source cited in the paper. This information allows readers to trace sources for their own use.

For more information on MLA Style, see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. The Handbook is available online, and a print copy is available in the Library Reference collection.

You can also find more information, including examples of citations, in our library Help files