Plain-English orientations to the citation styles academic writing actually uses. One guide per style, written for the writers who run the editor.
All guides
Each style guide gets its own go-to article. Pick the one you write in, or browse to learn what the others enforce.
Author-date for psychology and the social sciences
Orientation to the 7th edition: who publishes it, the punctuation and usage conventions it enforces, and how its author-date citation system works across in-text references, the reference list, and content notes.
Author-page for the humanities
The Modern Language Association's standard for the humanities. Container-based citation logic, the Works Cited list, and the conventions MLA applies across literary and cultural-studies writing.
Author-date with pinpoint pages and italic et al.
The Cite-Them-Right Harvard variant used across UK higher education. Page numbers in every citation, italicised et al., and the conventions that distinguish it from APA and other Harvard variants.
Both citation systems: Author-Date and Notes-Bibliography
CMOS 18 carries two parallel citation systems on purpose. Author-Date suits the social sciences. Notes-Bibliography suits history and the humanities. This guide covers both, side by side, with examples in each.
The footnote system for history and the humanities
A deeper standalone reference on the Notes-Bibliography variant of CMOS 18. Numbered notes, the first-full-then-shortened citation pattern, and how the bibliography pairs with them.
Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities
The footnote-based system for UK and Commonwealth legal writing. Citing cases, legislation, statutory instruments, books, and journal articles in the form Oxford set as the standard.
Bracketed numbers for engineering and computer science
The numeric citation system used across electrical engineering, computer science, and adjacent technical fields. Bracketed citation numbers, reference list ordering, and the IEEE Editorial Style.
ICMJE numeric citations for clinical writing
The numeric system used across biomedical and clinical literature. Citation numbering, abbreviated journal titles, and the reference list conventions specific to medical writing.
Superscript citations for US medical journals
The American Medical Association style, dominant across US medical journals. Superscript citation numbers, reference list rules, and the editorial conventions AMA enforces in medical publishing.
We use analytics cookies to understand how you use the site and ways we can improve your experience. By accepting this, you consent to RightMyWork’s cookie policy in accordance with the Privacy Policy.