--- name: citation-style-guide description: "APA, MLA, Chicago citation format guide with CSL configuration" metadata: openclaw: emoji: "📖" category: "writing" subcategory: "citation" keywords: ["citation formatting", "CSL", "citation style", "reference management"] source: "wentor-research-plugins" --- # Citation Style Guide Master the major citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Vancouver) with examples, reference manager configuration, and CSL customization. ## Citation Style Overview | Style | Primary Discipline | In-Text Format | Reference List Name | |-------|-------------------|----------------|-------------------| | APA 7th | Psychology, social sciences, education | (Author, Year) | References | | MLA 9th | Humanities, literature, languages | (Author Page) | Works Cited | | Chicago (Author-Date) | Social sciences, natural sciences | (Author Year) | References | | Chicago (Notes-Bib) | History, arts, humanities | Footnotes/endnotes | Bibliography | | IEEE | Engineering, computer science | [1] numbered | References | | Vancouver | Medicine, biomedical sciences | (1) numbered | References | | Harvard | General, UK/Australia universities | (Author Year) | Reference List | | Nature | Multidisciplinary sciences | Superscript numbered | References | ## APA 7th Edition ### In-Text Citations ``` One author: (Smith, 2023) or Smith (2023) found that... Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2023) 3+ authors: (Smith et al., 2023) Direct quote: (Smith, 2023, p. 45) Multiple works: (Jones, 2021; Smith, 2023) Same author, same year: (Smith, 2023a, 2023b) Organization: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023) then subsequent: (WHO, 2023) ``` ### Reference List Examples ``` # Journal article Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. C. (2023). Title of the article in sentence case. Journal Name in Title Case, 45(2), 123-145. https://doi.org/10.1234/example # Book Williams, R. T. (2022). Title of the book in sentence case (3rd ed.). Publisher Name. https://doi.org/10.1234/example # Chapter in edited book Chen, L. (2023). Chapter title. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Book title (pp. 50-75). Publisher. https://doi.org/10.1234/example # Conference paper Lee, S., & Park, J. (2023). Paper title. In Proceedings of the 2023 Conference Name (pp. 100-110). Publisher. https://doi.org/10.1234/example # Webpage National Institutes of Health. (2023, March 15). Page title. https://www.nih.gov/example # Preprint Garcia, M. (2023). Title of preprint. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.12345 # Dataset Johnson, K. (2023). Dataset title (Version 2.0) [Data set]. Repository. https://doi.org/10.1234/example ``` ## MLA 9th Edition ### In-Text Citations ``` One author: (Smith 45) or Smith argues that "..." (45). Two authors: (Smith and Jones 45) 3+ authors: (Smith et al. 45) No page number: (Smith) Multiple works: (Smith 45; Jones 67) ``` ### Works Cited Examples ``` # Journal article Smith, John A., and Beth C. Jones. "Article Title in Title Case." Journal Name, vol. 45, no. 2, 2023, pp. 123-45. https://doi.org/10.1234/example. # Book Williams, Rose T. Title of Book in Italics. 3rd ed., Publisher, 2022. # Chapter in edited book Chen, Li. "Chapter Title." Book Title, edited by Amy Editor and Bob Editor, Publisher, 2023, pp. 50-75. # Website "Page Title." Site Name, Organization, 15 Mar. 2023, www.example.com/page. ``` ## IEEE Style ### In-Text Citations IEEE uses numbered references in square brackets, in order of first appearance: ``` As shown in [1], deep learning has achieved... Several studies [2]-[5] have demonstrated... Smith et al. [6] proposed... ``` ### Reference List Examples ``` # Journal article [1] J. A. Smith and B. C. Jones, "Article title in sentence case," J. Name Abbreviated, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 123-145, Feb. 2023, doi: 10.1234/example. # Conference paper [2] S. Lee and J. Park, "Paper title," in Proc. Conf. Name, City, Country, 2023, pp. 100-110. # Book [3] R. T. Williams, Book Title in Italics, 3rd ed. City, Country: Publisher, 2022. # Online source [4] Author, "Page title," Website, date. [Online]. Available: https://www.example.com ``` ## Using CSL (Citation Style Language) CSL is the standard format used by Zotero, Mendeley, and other reference managers to define citation styles. Over 10,000 CSL styles are available at github.com/citation-style-language/styles. ### Installing a CSL Style in Zotero 1. Visit the Zotero Style Repository: zotero.org/styles 2. Search for your target journal or style (e.g., "Nature", "APA 7th") 3. Click to install directly into Zotero 4. In Zotero, go to Settings > Cite > Styles to manage installed styles ### CSL Style Structure ```xml ``` ## BibTeX Entry Types For LaTeX users, correct entry types ensure proper formatting: ```bibtex @article{smith2023, author = {Smith, John A. and Jones, Beth C.}, title = {Article Title}, journal = {Journal Name}, year = {2023}, volume = {45}, number = {2}, pages = {123--145}, doi = {10.1234/example} } @inproceedings{lee2023, author = {Lee, Sam and Park, Jin}, title = {Paper Title}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2023 Conference}, year = {2023}, pages = {100--110}, doi = {10.1234/example} } @book{williams2022, author = {Williams, Rose T.}, title = {Book Title}, edition = {3rd}, publisher = {Publisher Name}, year = {2022} } @misc{garcia2023preprint, author = {Garcia, Maria}, title = {Title of Preprint}, year = {2023}, eprint = {2301.12345}, archiveprefix = {arXiv}, primaryclass = {cs.CL} } ``` ## Quick Decision Guide | If your field is... | Use this style | LaTeX bibliography style | |--------------------|---------------|------------------------| | Psychology, education | APA 7th | `apacite` or `biblatex-apa` | | Literature, languages | MLA 9th | `biblatex-mla` | | History, arts | Chicago Notes | `chicago-authordate` | | Engineering, CS (IEEE venues) | IEEE | `IEEEtran` | | Medicine, clinical | Vancouver | `vancouver` | | Natural sciences (Nature group) | Nature | `naturemag` | | Economics | Chicago Author-Date | `chicago-authordate` | | Check specific journal | Journal's author guidelines | See journal website |