Stanford
TeachingWriting

Comparing Citation Styles

In this activity, students compare different citation styles, such as MLA, Chicago, APA, and AMA, in order to understand the disciplinary and rhetorical nature of these styles.   

Activity title: Comparing Citation Styles

Author: Lisa Swan

Course: PWR 1, PWR 2, or both

Activity length and schedule: 30-45 minutes; whenever students would benefit from a conversation about citation styles, such as TiC, Research Proposal, or RBA

Activity goals:

  • Compare different citation styles
  • Explore the relationship between different disciplines’ or fields’ goals, research methods, and evidence and the formatting and information included in their in-text citation and reference entry
  • Identify the basic components of citations, in-text citations and reference entries, and how they match each other

Activity details:

In small groups, ask students to compare the different styles presented in the Style Guide Chart. Questions they may discuss:

  • What information is included in the in-text citation of different styles? In the reference entry? How are they formatted?
  • How are the research methods and evidence of different disciplines and fields reflected in their citation styles? Said another way, consider how the research of a historian differs from an education researcher from a physicist? Why do their citation styles differ?  
  • What might you infer about the goals and values of each style? 

Debrief with students as a whole group, gathering their insights and reflections. The goal is to help students see the why behind a citation style. For example, Chicago NB was developed for archival research methods, so the in-text citation is a footnote with the entire reference entry that enables the reader to fully contextualize the quote.

Then review the Rhetoric of Citations handout, explaining the way citations are rhetorical and foundational to research ethics. Provide students with an overview of the two components of all citation styles.

Conclude by having students determine the appropriate citation style for the rhetorical context of their essay.