Citations

The following are useful tips to remember, which should make citing sources much more efficient.  

Most of the citation styles used in the humanities and theology will present THREE different ways to cite a source:

1. When it appears in your footnotes/endnotes for the first time.

2. When it makes subsequent appearances in your footnotes/endnotes. 

3. When it appears in your bibliography at the conclusion of your paper or thesis.

The same work will appear in different ways in these three contexts.  

Despite the differences between the styles and whether you are citing a work in your notes or in your bibliography, there are certain rules that apply across all the major styles used in the humanities:

• Capitalization: Most of the words in a title tend to be capitalized, including all nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.  Regardless of part of speech, the first and last words of a title are also capitalized.  Articles (e.g. a, the) are almost always lower-case unless they are the first or last words of a title.  Conjunctions (e.g. and, or) and prepositions (e.g. in, through, between) can be either capitalized or in lower-case depending on the style and the context.

• Italics: Italics in a title tend to connote a whole work rather than a piece of a work.  The titles of the following are italicized:
  • Books
  • Journals
  • Newspapers or Magazines
  • Essay Collections

• Quotation Marks: Titles in quotation marks tend to connote a shorter work that is part of a longer work.  Put the titles of the following in quotation marks:
  • Journal Articles
  • Book Chapters
  • Essays
  • Newspaper or Magazine Articles
  • Dissertations or Theses
  • Conference Papers      

Always double-check citations that get generated automatically.

• Make sure you are citing the correct format.
• Make sure to correct for proper capitalization and italicizing according to format.