Citation Style Guides

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A style guide is a document that sets out the standards for writing and formatting documents. In academic writing, papers – and in particular, citations – must be styled according to the rules in a specific style guide. The accepted style guide varies by discipline, and by course (so make sure to check with your instructor if you're applying this to an assignment).

Use this page to find some of the more commonly used style guides. We link to web resources for the style guide, and to the actual books in our collection.

Jump to

• APA Style
• AMA Style
• ASA Style
• Chicago Manual of Style
• IEEE Style
• Indigenous Style
• Legal Style Guides
• MLA Handbook
• Scientific Style: Council of Science Editors
• Other Guides

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APA (American Psychological Association) Style Guide

preferred style in psychology and many [OWL- Purdue University]

• APA Style [OWL - Purdue University]
• Publication manual of the American Psychological Association [BF76.7 .P83]
• APA style guide to electronic references [PN 171 .F56 A63]
• Citing images in APA style [SFU Library]
• Citing Canadian Government Documents - APA Style [SFU]
• Citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers and choose the correct tab (please note this is not part of formal APA Style) from UBC Library

AMA Style (American Medical Association)

the style guide published by the American Medical Association, which is a style that is adopted by some medical and scientific communities and publications.

• AMA Style [OWL - Purdue University]
• AMA Manual of Style [R 119 .A533 2007]

ASA Style (American Sociological Association)

preferred style for sociology

• ASA Style [OWL - Purdue University]
• American Sociological Association Style Guide [HM586 .A54]

Chicago Style Guide

preferred style for history and other disciplines in the humanities

• Chicago Manual of Style [OWL - Purdue University]
• Chicago Manual of Style [Online version of the 17th edition, access through the library catalogue]
• Chicago Manual of Style [Print version of the 17th edition - reference copy for in-library use only. Call number: Z253 .U69]
• Citing images in Chicago style [SFU Library]

IEEE Style: Engineering

Preferred style for Engineering.

• IEEE Style [OWL- Purdue University]
• The IEEE guide to writing in the engineering and technical fields [T11 .W75]

Indigenous Style

please note that you should inform your Professor if you choose to use this style

• Elements of Indigenous Style [PN 147 .Y68 2018]
• Templates For Citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers in APA or MLA Styles, see those sections.

Legal Style Guides

Preferred styles for Law. [for further information see Law Library]

• Bluebook Citation for Legal Materials [OWL- Purdue University] [KF 245 .U54 – Law Library]
• Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation – aka The McGill Guide [KF245 .P761 – Law Library]

MLA (Modern Language Association) Handbook

preferred style for languages, literature and the humanities. to buy a copy: MLA Handbook 9th ed. (2021).

• MLA Style Center [Modern Language Association] ('Citing Sources')
• MLA Formatting & Style Guide [OWL- Purdue University]
• MLA handbook for writers of research papers (7th ed.) (general) [LB 2369 .G53 2009] 
• MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing (3rd ed.) (advanced) [PN147.G444 2008]
• Citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers and choose the correct tab (please note this is not part of formal MLA Style) from Norquest Library

Scientific style and format: Council of Science Editors

Preferred styles for Biology and other Sciences

• Council of Science Editors citation style [University of Wisconsin-Madison]
• Scientific style and format: the CBE manual for authors, editors, and publishers [T11 .S386]

Other Guides

• How to Cite Statistics Canada Products [Statistics Canada]
• A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (Turabian) [LB2369 .T82]
• The American Chemical Society style guide : a manual for authors and editors [QD8.5 .A25]
• Geowriting : a guide to writing, editing, and printing in earth science [QE48.85 .G46]
• AMA (American Management Association) handbook of business writing [HF 5726 .A485]