Modern Languages

The Modern Languages department has developed a citation style for students; please see the Department for more information.

Zotero and RefWorks (see the boxes below) are useful tools which you can use to organize and format your citations and bibliography.

For more information about RefWorks or about citing, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Traditional citation styles are based on a Eurocentric view of knowledge, which has traditionally prioritized written, rather than oral, sources of information. Often, researchers citing Elders or Knowledge Keepers have been advised to cite these sources as "personal communications', thus putting traditional knowledge on a footing with an email or brief conversation.

Indigenous scholars have long called for a better way for Indigenous voices and knowledge to be recognized in academia. Indigenous scholar and librarian Lorisia MacLeod  has developed templates for citing Elders and Knowledge Keepers, using both in-text citations and references. She details these templates, and the process by which they were developed, in the article More Than Personal Communication: Citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers. 

To date, templates have been developed in APA style and MLA style.

APA Style Template:

Last name, First initial. Nation/Community. Treaty Territory if applicable. Where they live if applicable. Topic/subject of communication if applicable. personal communication. Month Date, Year.* 

For example: 

Cardinal, D. Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. Personal communication. April 4, 2004.

* Use hanging indent paragraph style: after the first line of each citation, indent 0.5″ from the left margin.

MLA Style Template:

Last name, First name. Nation/Community. Treaty Territory if applicable. City/Community they live in if applicable. Topic/subject of communication if applicable. Date Month Year.* 

For example: 

Cardinal, Delores. Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. 4 April 2004.

* Use hanging indent paragraph style: after the first line of each citation, indent 0.5″ from the left margin.

Zotero is an online application that lets you organize citations for the articles and books you consult, read and cite as part of your research.

You can send citation information about books, articles, and more to your free Zotero account from the library catalogue and databases.

Zotero will also help you format your citations and bibliography while writing your paper.

> For more tips for using Zotero, visit our the Zotero page of our Citation Management guide.

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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. 

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.

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.