Writing & Style Guides

Citation style guides

• APA (5th ed.) | APA (6th ed.) | MLA | Chicago/Turabian
  • Available in HTML and PDF. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.
  • Animated tutorials: APA | MLA
• RefWorks at SFU Library. Choose the Help tab to find the online tutorial.

How to cite

• Images
• 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.
• Legal research materials. Lederman Law Library, Queen's University. Examples of citations for Canadian legal research resources.

Other styles

• Citing for biologists - CSE style T 11 S386 2006
• Citing for engineers - IEEE style
• American Antiquity / Information for Authors & Style Guide
  • Society for American Archaeology (SAA). Scroll down to page 14 to see citation formats.
• Canadian Journal of Communication / Author guidelines
  • Scroll down the page to see citation formats.
• The Harvard system of referencing (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.

Other resources

• 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.
• Copyright FAQs

University reading and writing

• Having trouble developing a thesis for your research essay?  Not sure how to study for your exam?  You can get help with these, and many other questions, at The Student Learning Commons (SLC).  The SLC provides writing and learning support services across the three SFU campuses, including support for students in W, Q, and B courses, international students, English as an Additional Language (EAL) students, college transfer students, graduate students and many others.  Services are provided through workshops, personal consultations, print and online resources, as well as through classroom collaborations with faculty and other instructors.  Visit the SLC today for friendly and knowledgeable assistance with a wide range of academic writing, learning, and study strategies.
• 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.
• Writing annotated bibliographies
• Writing book reviews
• Preparing and submitting your thesis

Tools

• Labour-saving MSWord tricks for essays, papers and reports
  • Find out your skill level with MSWord
  • Use a basic, pre-designed template for both undergrad and grad papers, reports and thesis
• Converting documents to PDF. Free online service from pdfonline.com.
• Link Checker. Check links on your web pages. From W3C.
• TinyURL™. This site converts long URLs into short ones.