Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- citation_standards [2017/10/01 01:07] – nathanairplane
+++ citation_standards [2025/08/11 17:48] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 The following are some tips for doing citations appropriately:
-  * Identify your genre, your audience, and your medium. Look at other similar documents that share those characteristics and notice which citation formats they are using.
+  * Identify your genre, your audience, and your medium. Look at other similar documents that share those characteristics and notice which citation formats they are using. When in doubt, err on the side of more formality and the use of standard citation systems rather than trying to invent your own.
-  * If you're writing an academic paper, notice that different fields tend to use particular style and citation systems, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago. A good way to identify the appropriate one is to go to the websites of major journals in your field and read their submission guidelines.
+  * If you're writing an academic paper or any kind of formal document, notice that different fields tend to use particular style and citation systems, such as APA, MLA, or Chicago. A good way to identify the appropriate one is to go to the websites of major journals in your field and read their submission guidelines.
   * If you're writing a non-academic text, such as a memo, letter, or [[whitepaper]], consider your medium and audience. What kind of citation would be most useful to your ideal reader?
   * Regardless of your citation format, make sure that the reader can ascertain, for a given piece of information, the source from which it came, with enough information that the reader can double-check that source.