Citation Styles

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Date: January 1, 2019

Differences in Citation Styles

Citation is an important function in decreasing the chances of plagiarism. There are various forms of plagiarism and most of the writers and the readers are aware of the rules and the forms of citation.

In the previous years, it was not a major issue to know about the citation, but with the expansion of the Internet and the increasing rate of plagiarism the copyright laws have made the citation an important part of the formal and the informal writing.

One of the major facts about the citation is the Citation styles which are found in diversity. The differences among the citation styles are based on many factors like the location of the source, the order and the syntax of the references.

There are also different priorities on the basis of which the different citation styles are adopted like on the basis of the date of the publishing, the name of the authors and many other related things.

Importance of Citation Styles

Citation styles are considered very important in writing an article, research paper or the case study. It gives the reader the idea about the authenticity of the material and also tells about the related research links.

The stronger the citation style will be, the stronger will be the impact of arguments. Therefore, it is very necessary for the writers to select the best citation styles. One important thing during writing the article should be in mind that the citation should be for the convenience of the readers and not to divert them. After considering the importance of citation style; there are various styles that have been designed.

Divisions of Citation Styles

There are basically two divisions of citation styles:

1. Documentary-Note Style

For the documentation in the standardized style, the documentary-note style is important. In this citation style, the footnotes and the other forms of citation like the endnotes can be used. The aim of using this citation style is that the reader can easily get the information about the source as well as may not get interrupted during the reading.

2.Parenthetical Style

In this citation style, the sources are given along with the referenced text, like when the quotations are depicted, such method is preferred to be used. It is also known as author-date and sometimes as in-text style.

In this citation style, the footnotes and the endnotes are not used, but it is better to give the link in the bibliography. This method is sometimes disturbing because the reader has to go through the sources even if he does not want.

Selection of Citation Style

Both of the two methods of “citation styles” are widely used and are considered to be very effective but most of the writers sometimes get confused about the selection of the one.

There are many things that need to be considered before the selection of the one citation style but mostly it is preferred that you should consult your instructor.

The factors that you must consider include the subject of the writing, expectations of the readers, the types of the assignment and also on your own preference. There are many other books of the writers and the websites from where you can get further information about the selection of the citation style. You can follow these tips and you can select your citation style but never forget to consider all of the factors.