In academic writing, you must refer to your sources and cite them correctly. The demands may vary between different studies and fields, so “correctly” in this context is a very broad concept. Some use name/year in parenthesis, others use numbers in parenthesis, some use numbers superscripted, others use name/year in the footnote system.
There are many different citation styles: APA, MLA and Vancouver are just a few. Each academic field has its own preferences, and there is often an academic organisation behind a style. For instance, health studies tend to follow the Vancouver style, while interdisciplinary fields in the humanities or social studies tend to use the APA or Harvard.
If you need help with a specific style, you can find guides or tutorials on the web, but be sure to check the original sources. Below you can get an overview over the styles you can choose from, and which fields of research they belong to. Ask your supervisor, if you are in doubt about which one to choose.
Reference styles
| ABBREVIATION | FIELD | INSTITUTION | TITLE | FORMAT | TYPE |
| ACS | Chemistry | American Chemical Society | ACS Style Guide | E-book | Numerical1, Numerical(1) or Name/year |
| AMA/JAMA | Medicine HEALTH |
American Medical Association | AMA Manual of Style | E-book | Numerical1 |
| APA | Psychology, Int. dic. HUM + SOC.SCIENCE + HEALTH |
American Psychological Association | Publication manual of the American Psychological Association | Book, order in Library Catalogue | Name/year |
| APA Style | Webpage | ||||
| CBE | Biology | Council of Biology Editors Style Manual Committee | CBE Style Manual | Book, order in Library Catalogue | Numerical(1) or Name/year |
| Chicago/ Turabian |
History Law |
University of Chicago | Chicago Manual of Style | E-book | Name/year (footnote) |
| Harvard | Business Int. dic. SOC. SCIENCE + TECH |
Harvard has no officiel institution. Harvard follows the standard DS/ISO 690:2010 w. rules for order and content. Variations in layout are accepted, as long as they are consistent. |
Eks: Complete guide to referencing and avoiding Plagiarism, kap. 6. DS/ISO 690:2010 |
E-book The standard can be requested at SDUB. |
Name/year |
| MLA | HUMANITIES Litterature Language |
Modern Language Association | MLA Handbook | Book, order in Library Catalogue | Name/year |
| MLA Style Center | Webpage | ||||
| NLM | Medicine HEALTH |
National Library of Medicine | Citing Medicine | E-book | Numerical(1) |
| SSF | TECH SCIENCE |
Council of Science Editors | Scientific Style and Format | E-book | Numerical(1) or Name/year |
| Vancouver |
Medicine HEALTH |
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) | Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts | Webpage | Numerical(1) |