How to cite essays appropriately

While preparing academic assignments students will need to gather a lot of information on the topics they are writing on. This information is to be gathered from books, magazines or other reading or viewing material. While copying or reproducing the information you found while conducting the study on your topic, you are expected to mention the source from where you got the information. While you cite an essay, you must ensure that all the sources have been duly and appropriately cited.

There are various formats which are used for academic writing assignments. Each of these documentation formats has their own style of citing essays and other academic assignments. Even though there are many styles of documentation, a few of them are more commonly used for academic documents than the rest.

• MLA style: This style of writing, mainly used for arts and literature subjects, uses in-texts citations as well as a separate bibliographic reference section called the ‘Works Cited’ list. The in-text citations or parenthetical references include the author’s surname and the number of the page on which the information can be found. But as you might have guessed, nobody can trace it back to the book by just knowing the author’s surname and the page number. Hence, the rest of the information on the source is given in a separate page. The partial information given in the in-text citations are only meant to lead the readers to the complete details given in the works cited list.

• APA style: This style also uses parenthetical referencing to cite essays but the information given in the parenthetical references would include the last name of the author and the date of publication. There should also be a separate page for bibliographical listings. This page would be titled ‘references’. While using APA style to cite your essay, remember that footnotes are strictly forbidden for the purpose. Even though footnotes are allowed in APA style for the purpose of giving extra information on any part of the text, it must absolutely not be used for referencing.

• Chicago style: The Chicago style of documentation offers two styles of citing the sources. The scientific style requires in-text citations using the author-date system whereas the humanities style uses footnotes or endnotes for citation purposes. The appropriate one must be determined as per the subject and the type of sources used. In addition to the in-text citations or the notes, there should also be a separate page called bibliographical references which lists out all the details of the sources.

In order to cite essays appropriately, you must have a clear idea of what style is preferred by the documentation format you are using and what all alterations has been asked for by your instructor. Each and every source used for essay writing must be cited as per the instructions given in your guidelines.

If you are not sure of how to cite an essay which has been assigned to you, check with your teacher. But if you do not have enough time to figure out a particular style of citation which you are not familiar with, you must consider getting it done by professionals. Our writers specialize in academic writing and are familiar with all the documentation styles and are always updated on the changes made in the style rules. They can help you with your citations or even prepare an outstanding essay for you, as per your specifications and preferences.