Citation Styles: Home

Citation in Academia

Academic writing starts with a research question and systematically develops a thesis or testable hypothesis, investigates relevant resources, and gathers and analyzes data and arguments. As you consult existing research, it’s essential to integrate evidence into your writing and cite the authors you reference in order to:

• Give credibility to your analysis.
   
• Allow readers to extend their own research by evaluating the cited original source.
   
• Avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is presenting someone else's words or ideas as your own, whether the source is human or AI. UCSB has a strict policy on academic integrity, and students need to be aware of the consequences of plagiarism.

This gude provides descriptions and examples for the most used academic citation styles, along with tutorials to help students understand the ethical considerations behind academic integrity and the foundations of citation in academia. 

Getting Ready to Cite: Best Practices in Taking Notes for Academic Research

Before you begin to incorporate outside evidence into your writing, it's important to be systematic about how you organize your research: 

• Gather resources early in an academic writing project.
   
• Consider creating an annotated bibliography or a literature review--depending on the project--to better understand the context of evidence around a research question. See the literature review research guide for further information.
   
• Format your notes consistently, put quotation marks around quoted text, and record page numbers.
   
• As you read, focus on the author's main arguments and/or gaps in their work and briefly summarize, paraphrase, or directly quote relevant material in your notes.
   
• If you regularly write academic papers, consider learning to use a citation management tool like Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote to organize notes and citations.

About Citing AI

This research guide provides examples for citing AI in the APA, MLA, or Chicago citation styles. For further information about when and why to cite AI, please see the UCSB Office of Teaching & Learning's "How to Cite Artificial Intelligence Contributions" guide.

Do you have a question or suggestion for something you'd like to see on this guide? Do you see something in a video or screenshots that need to be updated? Let us know, contact the Teaching & Learning Department at teaching&learning@library.ucsb.edu.