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Citation Guides and Style Manuals

Step 1: Choose a Citation Style

Determine the appropriate citation style for your work.

  • If writing a paper for a class, doing a presentation, or writing a thesis or dissertation, ask what style is required.
  • If using software to do a presentation, include references at the bottom of the slide(s) or at the end of the presentation.
  • If submitting work for publication, check the publisher's author guidelines.

Keep in mind the distinction between citations in the body of a paper, which then point to the citations collected at the end of the paper.

Side tabs contain subject specific citation style information.

Step 2: Use a Citation Tool

To format in-text citations and create bibliographies in numerous styles, try ZoteroBib or the citation management softwares supported by Lehigh: Zotero and RefWorks. The latter have steeper learning curves and more capabilities than ZoteroBib.  

ZoteroBib quickly and easily generates automatic citations.  Make sure you distinguish between  "in-text citations" and the full reference list (bibliography). The former point to the latter.   The following Youtube tutorials discuss each:

Add here appropriate RW guide after July 1.

Google Scholar provides a "cite" link for search results, as well as the ability to export citations. Look for similar features in library databases.

Here is an example from Google Scholar. Click on "Cite" in a search result. See first screen below. This brings up the second screen below with the citation in various styles, plus export options.



Step 3: Consult Style Manuals for Verification

Citation generators such as Zotero or automatically generated citations from  Google Scholar, or library databases such as Academic Search Ultimate, do not always produce accurate results. Pay close attention to capitalization, punctuation, and abbreviations. Consider consulting the corresponding style manual for format examples.

Examples of style guides are below. See the side tabs for guides to additional styles.