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First Nations and Aboriginal Peoples: Citation Styles

This guide was created to assist students studying First Nations and Aboriginal Peoples to find authoritative and current materials to use during the research process.

Citation Styles

The American Chemical Society (ACS) developed the ACS style guide to set standards for writing and citing documents relating to chemistry.

Print ACS Guide:

Location Call Number Status
Reference QD8.5 .A25 2006 Library Use Only

The APA (American Psychological Association) style guide is one of the most popular style guides for academic work, commonly used in the field of social sciences in general.  The 7th edition of the APA (American Psychological Association) style guide is available on the first floor of the library.  Students should confirm with their instructor(s) whether they are to use the 6th or 7th edition in the completion of their assignments.

Print APA Guides: 

Location Call Number Status
Reference 6th edition BF76.7 .P83 2010 Library Use Only
Reference 7th edition BF76.7 .P83 2020 Library Use Only
Reference 7th edition BF76.7 .P83 2020 c.2 Library Use Only
Reference 7th edition BF76.7 .P83 2020 c.3 Library Use Only

The American Sociological Association developed the ASA style for academic writing in the field of sociology. ASA style is quite similar to APA style.

Print ASA Guide:

Location Call Number Status
Reference HM569 .A54 2014 Library Use Only

The Chicago Manual of Style, published by the University of Chicago Press, is widely used in publishing. In the academic world, it is used in some social sciences and historical journals. Chicago offers two formats: author-date style and notes and bibliography style.

Print Chicago Guide:

Location Call Number Status
Reference Z253 .U69 2010 Library Use Only
Stacks Z253 .U69 2010 c.2

This style, developed by the Council of Science Editors, is used for scientific writing. Like Chicago, it has several formats to choose from: citation-name, citation-sequence, and name-year.

Print CSE Style Manuals:

Location Call Number Status
Reference T11 .S386 2014 Library Use Only
Stacks T11 .S386 2014 c.2

Harvard referencing, also known as Parenthetical referencing, uses partial in-text citations. This style can be used in the natural and social sciences or arts and humanities.

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a professional organization supporting many branches of engineering, computer science, and information technology. In addition to publishing journals, magazines, and conference proceedings, IEEE also makes many standards for a wide variety of industries.

IEEE citation style includes in-text citations, numbered in square brackets, which refer to the full citation listed in the reference list at the end of the paper. The reference list is organized numerically, not alphabetically.

The MLA Handbook, published by the Modern Language Association, is used in academia in the humanities.

Print MLA Guides:

Location Call Number Status
Reference LB2369 .G53 2016 Library Use Only
Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009 c.2

 

The UNBC Outdoor Recreation & Tourism Management (ORTM) Style Guide is available on the student (S:) drive.

The Anthropology Program at UNBC follows the style format of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), as used in the journal American Antiquity. This is an ‘in text’ citation format.

Citation Management Software

Zotero

Zotero is a free citation management application (supported by Mac, Windows, and Linux) and is the only citation management system supported by the library. For more information, visit the Zotero website.

Endnote Web

The library provides access to Endnote Web free-of-charge for all UNBC students, faculty, and staff. Endnote Web is a personal citation management tool that can save you time and keep your writing organized.

Please note: the Endnote Web service is housed on American servers and subject to the laws of the United States of America. For more information please consult their privacy policy.

Mendeley

Mendeley is a web-based, free-to-everyone (up to 2 GB of online storage) citaiton management tool supported by Mac, Windows, and Linux. It is also available as a mobile app. For more information, visit the Mendeley website.

Refworks

Refworks is no longer provided by the library. Accounts are available at $100 per year. For more information, visit the Refworks website.

Other

Many other citation management tools are available, many for free. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has produced a very nice comparison chart of the popular citation management systems listed above (Endnote, Mendeley, and Zotero). For a very thorough comparison of many free and paid systems, check out Wikipedia.

Why Cite?

When you are quoting or paraphrasing another person's thoughts or ideas, you must cite where those thoughts or ideas have come from. If you do not cite your sources, you are plagiarizing.  Plagiarism is an academic offence at UNBC.  See the Regulations and Policies section of the University Calendar for a description of, and consequences as a result of, this offence.

For tips about how to lessen the chances of plagiarizing, see the Academic Success Centre's information on plagiarism at (under "Referencing/Citations").

Citing sources serves two purposes:

  1. The original author is given credit for his or her thoughts or ideas.
  2. The reader is given the information he or she needs to find an original source in order to get clarification, get more information, or assess the credibility of the source.


Consistency and accuracy are very important when you are citing sources. Pay attention to details: order of elements in the citation, punctuation, spacing, indentation, underlining, and capitalization. All these factors contribute to making the information in the citation clear to the reader.

Remember to proofread!

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