TEL courses implement three different citing formats: MLA, APA, and Chicago. Be sure to check your mastery assignment instructions in the “Documents” sections of your Course Home Page to identify which citing format your course will use. For a more in-depth understanding of citing sources, consult your TEL Orientation course under Module 2 → Start Lesson → MLA Formatting, Writing in Psychology (APA Formatting), Chicago Style Formatting, Scientific Style Formatting.
See below for source citation examples for a novel according to each writing style. Depending on the type of resource, the citation itself may get more in-depth, but the general format is relatively similar to the examples provided.
APA guideline: Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
APA example: Heller, J. ( 1961). Catch-22, a Novel. New York: The Modern library
MLA guideline: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
MLA example: Heller, Joseph. Catch-22, a Novel. New York: The Modern Library, 1961.
Chicago guideline: Author last name, first name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Place of publication: Publisher. URL or DOI.
Chicago example: Heller, Joseph. 1961. Catch-22, a Novel. New York: The Modern Library, 1961.
A great way to identify the citation formatting of a specific writing style is by going to Purdue OWL and searching the citation style (MLA, APA, or Chicago) alongside your resource type (book, article, website, etc.). For example, searching “APA electronic resource citation” will bring up instructions for how to format an electronic resource in APA style.
****BEWARE of automatic citation generators. Oftentimes, these generators only provide segments of a citation while leaving important information out, and other times it’s the wrong resource altogether. The best recommendation is to know the general format and use all available information from the resource itself to construct your Work Cited or Reference page.