Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects.
Citing Your Sources
Proper citation is an essential aspect of scholarship. Citing properly allows your reader or audience to locate the materials you have used. Most importantly, citations give credit to the authors of quoted or consulted information. Failure to acknowledge sources of information properly may constitute plagiarism. For an explicit definition of plagiarism, see the Boston University Academic Conduct Code.
For detailed instructions on how to cite sources in your paper or project, please consult a style manual listed below. See our Citing Sources guide for additional style manuals.
BU Librarians often recommend 
RefWorks as the best tool to manage citations. Accounts are free for the BU community, and most importantly RefWorks can automatically create a bibliography in hundreds of styles. See our Create Bibliographies guide for other similar tools.
MLA (Modern Language Association) Style
MLA Handbook by Location: Mugar Reference X LB2369 .M52 2021Publication Date: 2021"The ninth edition of the MLA Handbook is a textbook and reference guide that offers student writers and writing instructors guidance on creating works-cited-list entries in MLA style using the template of core elements. It features advice on punctuation, grammar, inclusive language, formatting research papers, and in-text citations."
APA (American Psychological Association) Style
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by Location: Mugar Reference BF76.7 P83 2020
Pickering Reserve BF76.7 .P83 2020Publication Date: 7th edition 2020The official style manual for the APA. The website at http://www.apastyle.org/ offers some interactive tutorials and help with citing electronic sources. The 7th edition is the most recent.
Concise Guide to APA Style: the official APA style guide for students by Location: Mugar Reference X BF76.7 .C66 2020Publication Date: 2019Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition is the official APA Style resource for students. Designed specifically for undergraduate writing, this easy-to-use pocket guide is adapted from the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. It provides complete guidance for new writers on effective, clear, and inclusive scholarly communication and the essentials of formatting papers and other course assignments.
Chicago Style
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition by Location: Mugar Reference Z253 .U69 2017
Music Library Open reserve Z253 .U69 2017Publication Date: 2017This seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style has been prepared with an eye toward how we find, create, and cite information that readers are as likely to access from their pockets as from a bookshelf. It offers updated guidelines on electronic workflows and publication formats, tools for PDF annotation and citation management, web accessibility standards, and effective use of metadata, abstracts, and keywords. The citation chapters reflect the ever-expanding universe of electronic sources--including social media posts and comments, private messages, and app content--and also offer updated guidelines on such issues as DOIs, time stamps, and e-book locators.
