When writing an academic paper, you need to provide references to all the works you cite. You are responsible for checking the accuracy and completeness of these references. Using a citation or referencing style helps you to acknowledge sources according to the standardized method preferred by your school / discipline. Practice in using a citation style also helps you to interpret the references you find in academic papers in your discipline.
Ask the academic staff at your faculty which citation style you should use. Referencing guidelines for EUR students are often included in skill sheets, writing guides, thesis manuals and course materials on academic writing in the electronic learning environment. Referencing guidelines can also be found on the websites of publishers.
Some of the better known styles are:
- APA by the American Psychological Association
- Chicago Manual of Style [online] by The University of Chicago Press. See the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide
- Harvard (Harvard is a generic term for parenthetical referencing following the author-date citation system)
- MLA by the Modern Language Association of America. A paper edition of the MLA Handbook is available in the Erasmus University Library
- Bluebook (for legal citation in the United States) maintained by a consortium of Law Review Journals and published by the Harvard Law Review Association
- Maroonbook, the University of Chicago Manual of Legal Citation
- Leidraad voor juridische auteurs 2019, Dutch guidelines for legal citation based in part on the Bluebook and Maroonbook maintained by legal publisher Kluwer. Also see Samenvatting Leidraad voor juridische auteurs 2022 and the Leidraad voor juridische auteurs 2022 available in Kluwer Navigator.
- Vancouver is a short name for the style maintained by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) & United States National Library of Medicine (NLM). Details, including fuller citations and explanations, are in Citing Medicine.
A citation style is characterized by consistency in how each reference type (article, chapter, book, etc.) is treated.
