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ENGL 101 - Library Skills Objectives - Maple Woods

Objectives

​​​​​​Students will use citation tools in library databases to cite sources accurately.
Students will select the appropriate citation style for their discipline. 

Objective Video

Citation Style By Discipline

Citation Style Subjects
MLA English, modern languages, humanities
APA Psychology, health care, social sciences
Chicago History, arts, anthropology

Using Database Citation Tools

Common Machine-Generated Errors

MLA

  • Incorrect dates. Dates should be listed as day month year. Ex: 12 Jan. 2021. Month names longer than 4 letters should be abbreviated as follows: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
  • Including https://. Remove https:// from website urls, but keep it for dois.
  • Capitalization errors. When writing titles, capitalize first, last, and major words. Articles, conjunctions, and prepositions should not be capitalized. Fix any titles rendered in ALL CAPS. 
  • Missing containers. Sometimes the database will leave out the publication an article comes from. Check the database record to make sure no elements have been left out. 

APA

  • Capitalization errors. APA titles should only capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Ex: A brief history of Missouri: A monograph. Databases sometimes capitalize too much or render proper nouns in lowercase. 
  • Missing containers. Sometimes the database will leave out the publication an article comes from. Check the database record to make sure no elements have been left out.
  • More than six authors. In APA 7, up to 20 authors should be listed before using an ellipses.