Citation styles are part of style guides. Style guides are sets of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents, like term papers, essays, newspaper articles, books, and websites. A standard style ensures consistency within documents and across multiple documents, providing convenient structure for both readers and writers.
Citation styles dictate how sources are cited within the text of a document (with parenthetical citations, footnotes, or endnotes), and how those citations are formatted in the document and in the citation list (commonly referred to as a Works Cited page or Bibliography). Most citations, regardless of the style, contain the same pieces of information, such as: article/book title, author information, publisher information, and DOI/link to online resource.
On this LibGuide, you'll find a brief description of the main style guides used at SMUMN: APA, Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), and MLA. If you need more information on any of these guides or how to use them, please contact the library or use the resources linked on this page (in the left column).