You know why to give credit from Avoiding Plagiarism. A citation style is an agreed format for giving it, so every reader knows where to look. Three styles are common in American schools.
| Style | Current edition | Used mostly in | In the text |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLA (Modern Language Association) | MLA Handbook, 9th edition (2021) | English, literature, languages, the humanities | author and page: (Marsh 42) |
| APA (American Psychological Association) | Publication Manual, 7th edition (2020; released October 2019) | psychology, education, the social sciences | author and date: (Marsh, 2019, p. 42) |
| Chicago (The Chicago Manual of Style) | 18th edition (September 2024) | history, the arts, publishing | numbered notes, with a bibliography (or an author-date system) |
Key idea
MLA 9 (2021) for literature and the humanities; APA 7 (2020) for psychology and the social sciences; Chicago 18 (2024) for history and publishing. Use the style your teacher or publisher asks for, in its current edition, and only one style per paper.
Why it works
Each field cites what its readers care about. Social scientists want to know how recent a study is, so APA puts the date up front. Literature scholars quote page by page, so MLA puts the page in the text. Historians often discuss their sources in notes, so Chicago gives them footnotes.
Worked example: Which style?
A student writes a psychology report on memory. Which style is most likely?
- Psychology is a social science.
- APA is the American Psychological Association’s style.
Answer: APA (7th edition).
Worked example: Which edition?
A website teaches MLA rules “from the 8th edition (2016).” Is that current?
- The current MLA Handbook is the 9th edition, from April 2021.
- Most rules carried over, but some details changed.
Answer: No. Check the rule against MLA 9.
Common mistake
Mixing styles in one paper (an MLA works-cited list with APA dates in the text), or following an older edition’s rules. Check: name your style and edition at the start, and use one guide for it, such as Purdue OWL’s pages, which follow the current editions.
Editions change slowly: MLA 9 came out in 2021, APA 7 in 2019 (dated 2020) and Chicago 18 in 2024. Each style’s official website posts updates between editions.