How Do I Cite Sources for my Academic Paper?

The Iliff School of Theology doesn't have a required citation format for all assignments. Ask your instructor for which citation format they prefer. However, most instructors at Iliff use Chicago style (also called Turabian), which uses footnotes and a bibliography to cite your work. Instructors in the pastoral care discipline often use APA (American Psychological Assocation) Style. MLA style is accepted by some instructors, but it is not preferred. I suggest you learn and implement Chicago style as your go-to.

Chicago Style

General Model for Citing Books in the Chicago Notes and Bibliography System

Footnote or endnote (N):

1. First name Last name, Title of Book (Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication), page number.

 

Corresponding bibliographical entry (B):

Last name, First name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher, Year of publication.

 

Book by one author 

N:

1.  Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (New York: Viking Press, 1958), 128.  

 

B:

Kerouac, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York: Viking Press, 1958.

 

Journals

N:

1. Susan Peck MacDonald, “The Erasure of Language,” College Composition and Communication 58, no. 4 (2007): 619.

B:

MacDonald, Susan Peck. “The Erasure of Language.” College Composition and Communication 58, no. 4 (2007): 585-625.

 

See here for other examples of Chicago style for online journals, lectures, etc. When in doubt, Google it! (e.g., "How do I cite a YouTube video in Chicago style")

 

APA Style

In-text citations: the basics

Reference lists: by author

Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

Note: For "Location," you should always list the city and the state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods (New York, NY).

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Basic Format for Periodical Articles

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Click here for instructions on citing other formats in APA style, including electronic sources. You can Google these as well! (e.g. "how do I cite a lecture in APA format"