Research Subject Guides: Advanced Writing in the Disciplines (AWD) : Citations and Bibliographies

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Citation Guide (NU Library)
This Research Help Guide will help you learn about different citation styles and get help with citation management software for large research projects.

Citation Management Software

Use citation management software to help you collect and manage your references, import citations for articles and books from databases and the library catalog, and auto-format citations and bibliographies in your papers. The Library supports four programs: EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, and Zotero.

Comparison chart for citation management software
Compares EndNote X9, RefWorks, Zotero, and Mendeley Desktop.

EndNote
Helps you manage your bibliography and citations, and is installed onto the computer of your choice. You store your citations offline on your computer, and use a Microsoft Word or Mac Pages plugin to automatically create bibliographies.
RefWorks
Helps you manage your bibliography and citations, and can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet. You store your citations on the RefWorks website, and use a Microsoft Word plugin to automatically create bibliographies.
Mendeley
A free software that will help you manage your research, annotate PDFs, and format citations. It has both a cloud-based and desktop component. There are also free mobile apps available for both iOS and Android.
Zotero
A research toolbar for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari (or available as a standalone program) to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. Save a citation of whatever you're viewing on the web to create your own collection of research in one personalized library.

Why do you need to cite?

To give credit to the person or people who created the idea.
To enable your readers to locate the sources you are engaging with, so they can read and evaluate them as well.
To illustrate which person, people, and/or sources you are conversing with.
To avoid plagiarism.

More citation styles

Three of our popular citation manuals are listed below--also see Frequently Used Styles on our Citation Guide.

APA

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) by American Psychological Association
Call Number: Snell Reference BF76.7 .P83 2020
ISBN: 9781433832161
Publication Date: 2019-10-01

APA reference list Checklist

Chicago

The Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) by University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff
Call Number: Snell Library Reference Stacks Z253 .U69 2017
ISBN: 9780226287058
Publication Date: 2017-09-05

Chicago bibliography/reference list checklist

MLA

MLA Handbook by The Modern Language Association of America
Call Number: Snell Library Research Help Desk LB2369 .G53 2016
ISBN: 9781603292627
Publication Date: 2016-04-01

MLA works cited list checklist

Advanced Writing in the Disciplines (AWD) : Citations and Bibliographies

Need a Citation Manager?

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Citation Management Software

Why do you need to cite?

More citation styles

APA

Chicago

MLA