A citation or referencing style is a standardised way of referencing research you use in your academic work. In English papers, Chicago B (Author-Date) is commonly used.
Check with your lecturer, tutor or supervisor if you are unsure which style to follow:
An author-date style with in-text citations and an alphabetical References list. This is one of two Chicago styles, and no to be confused with Chicago A, which uses footnotes and a bibliography.
Scroll down this Resources page to find links to the English and Linguistics programme guidelines on referencing and citation, as well as an essay template.
Referencing the ideas and research you use in your essays is a vital part of all academic work because it:
Referencing is an important part of acting with academic integrity, which OU requires from all its students and staff, and a handy side effect of referencing properly is that you avoid plagiarism.
Check out the resources below to find out more about academic integrity, the whys and wherefores of referencing, and some more about plagiarism and how to avoid it:
An interactive online tutorial from the UO Library that explains when, how and what you should cite in your assignments .
Citation Generators automatically format reference details you provide into a specific citation style. These are great time-savers, but they are only as good as the data you put in (they won't fix spelign erroars like this one for example)!
This helps you build a bibliography instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software.
Reference managers are apps that help you gather and store, organise and annotate, and then cite and share the books, chapters, articles and other stuff you use in your study and research. Check out the options available here:
Use this subject guide to learn why to use a reference manager and how to choose the best one for you.