In the academic world, one of the major building blocks of research is respect of others' intellectual contributions. Writers demonstrate that respect and thus earn the confidence of their readers by following the rules for using sources.

Throughout the years, various academic disciplines have developed formats for recording those citations. Among the most popular are the American Psychological Association (APA) Author-Date style, the Council of Biology Editors (CBE) Citation-Sequence style, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Citation-Sequence style, and the Modern Language Association (MLA) Author-Page style. Before starting your research, it is a good idea to ask which format is required by your department, your professor, or the journal to which you are submitting your work.

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