Subject Guides: Citation Styles: Get Started

Citation Styles

The following citation styles are the most popular and most used at SPU. Click the links below to learn more about citing sources in each style.

AMA
From the American Medical Association. Used at SPU in nutrition & dietetics classes.
APA
This citation style is commonly used by writers and students in the Social Sciences, Business, Nursing, Psychology, and Economics.
APSA
APSA is the citation style used for Political Science.
ASA/ASR
This citation style is primarily used in Sociology.
Chicago
This style has two documentation systems (1) notes and bibliography and (2) author-date.The notes and bibliography style is preferred by many in the humanities, including those in literature, history, and the arts. The author-date system is most often used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences.
CSE
This citation style is most commonly used for the natural and physical sciences.
MLA
This citation style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the Liberal Arts and Humanities.
SBL
This citation style is the one preferred by the School of Theology and Seattle Pacific Seminary. Its default is (1) notes and bibliography (6.1-4, pp. 68-104), but it offers also (2) an author-date and works cited option for "Authors writing in [practical theology and] the social sciences" (6.5, pp. 104-108). It is based on Chicago style. SBL stands for the Society of Biblical Literature.

Citation Management Software

Citation management software are tools for managing all your references. With these products, you can often:

Organize citations into folders by class or topic.
Automatically create formatted references lists.
Use within Word to create formatted in-text citations.
Share citations with others.

Zotero is a freely available, open-source option, and there are many options, such as JabRef, EndNote, and Mendeley.

You can export citations from many databases into citation managers. Just look for an "Export" link, with RIS export working for most systems.

You will need to verify the citation against official style sources (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago), as citations ARE OFTEN formatted incorrectly.

Try one of these tools, or use your own system to keep all your sources organized! The main thing is to find a system that works for you and saves you time.