Writing & Style Guides

Citation style guides

APA (6th ed.) | APA (animated tutorial)
MLA (7th ed.) | MLA (animated tutorial)
Chicago/Turabian (16th ed.)
RefWorks at SFU Library; choose the Help tab to find the online tutorial.

Hints for writers:
In addition to the guides listed above, librarians can recommend additional resources and often find helpful examples.
Formatting a citation often requires judgement from the writer.
All relevant citation elements for an item can usually be identified in the catalogue or database record in which the item was found. Your citation in turn enables readers to find the item.

Business sources (APA style, 6th ed.)
Government documents, Canadian: APA style | MLA style | Chicago style
Images
Legal research materials. Lederman Law Library, Queen's University. Examples of citations for Canadian legal research resources.
Statistical data (SFU library guide)
- How to Cite Statistics Canada Products. From Statistics Canada. A new online tool that describes how to build a reference when citing any type of Statistics Canada product.

Citing for archaeologists - SAA style (Society for American Archaeology)
- Style Guide for American Antiquity and Latin American Antiquity. Scroll down to page 14 to see citation formats.
Citing for biologists - CSE style by Diana Hacker.
- Sample paper. T11 S386 2006
Citing for chemists - ACS Style
Citing for engineers - IEEE style
Canadian Journal of Communication / Author guidelines
- Scroll down the page to see citation formats.
Harvard style
- This is a generic name for author-date style for citing and referencing. It is not affiliated with Harvard University or with any other institution or authority, therefore some rules have been interpreted slightly differently by different institutions. There are many styles which follow the author-date rules, and one of them is the APA style.
Vancouver citation style. A guide from the Vancouver Community College.

Use the Assignment Calculator to help you break down your writing assignments into a series of manageable steps. All you need to get started is the date your assignment is due.

Quick start University Reading and Writing Guide
Student Learning Commons (SLC).
- Writing and learning support services across the three SFU campuses. Services are provided through workshops, personal consultations, print and online resources, as well as through classroom collaborations with faculty and other instructors.
Writing for university
- Learn or review the strategies and processes involved in academic writing and research, including writing for specific genres or disciplines, drafting your paper, self-editing, and writing at the graduate level.
Writing handouts
- Find quick tips on how to structure your research and essay from this series of two-page handouts provided by the Student Learning Commons.
Preparing and submitting your thesis

How to Write an Annotated Bibliography
Research and documentation online by Diana Hacker
- Citation information and sample papers for MLA, APA, Chicago and CSE styles
Plagiarism - What is plagiarism and how you can avoid it.
- Take the SFU Library interactive tutorial Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism to test yourself and to learn more about plagiarism.
Le plagiat - qu'est-ce que le plagiat et comment l'éviter?
- Inscrivez-vous à la séance interactive de tutorat de SFU "Comprendre et éviter le plagiat" (Understanding and Avoiding Plagiarism) pour évaluer vos connaissances en matière de plagiat.

Last Modified: 2013-03-27