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Citation Basics

Citation Styles

What are Citation Styles?

Citation styles offer guidelines that help us organize our writing and acknowledge the ideas of others. They ensure that we're properly crediting the sources we use and that others can find this information for themselves. 

Which citation style should I use?

Citation styles can differ among courses and subjects. The citation styles used at Aurora College are generally APA, MLA, or Chicago. Make sure to confirm the citation style required for each of your courses with your instructors. 

Would you like help formatting your sources in the right style? You can visit your campus library or use the library chat to speak with a Librarian!

APA style is an academic writing and reference style used in many different areas of study and work. APA 7th edition is used at Aurora College in the Schools of Health (Nursing, Social work), Business (Office and Business Administration), and the School of Education.

You can learn the basics of APA style by taking all or portions of the Basics of APA style tutorial or Purdue Owl's APA Style Workshop.

Online style guides can be found from The American Psychological Association and Purdue Owl. Each guide has examples of using APA to reference many types of works. In addition, each campus library has an APA 7th edition style guide.

MLA is a style for writing and citing sources from the Modern Language Association. It is commonly used in Arts and Humanities disciplines. At Aurora College it is used in some Developmental Studies classes.

Style guides and examples can be found at Purdue Owl's MLA style guide and the MLA style centre. In addition, you can find style guides at each campus library.

Want to practice your MLA referencing? Try this free online activity from the Excelsior Online Writing Lab.

Citation Management Tools

Why use a citation management tool? There are several reasons. Bibliographic management tools allow you to collect your journal article, book or other documents together in one place and help you create bibliographies in almost any style quickly. They help you keep track of your sources while you work and store your references for future use and reuse. Many also generate citations. Citation generators allow you to enter in information that creates a reference for you.

While each citation management tool provides some unique features, some can help you: 

  • Access and manage sources in one place
  • Import references from library databases and websites (some tools also import references from PDFs!)
  • Automatically generate bibliographies and in-text citations within Microsoft Word (some tools also work with OpenOffice and LibreOffice)
  • Share your collection of sources with others
  • Check the format of your citations

What citation management tool should you use?

Wondering which of tool is right for you? Take a look at this comparison chart from the University of Toronto Library to see which will fit your needs: Citation Software Comparison Table  

Citation Generators

Thinking of using an online citation generator? Remember that no matter which citation generator you use, none of them are perfect, and it is up to you to check the results for accuracy. Refer to your handouts or to the appropriate style manual to determine if your citations are correct. 

Grammarly offers a free online citation generator for several reference styles. While this tool is free, Aurora College students have access to the premium version of Grammarly which can also check your citations!

Bibme supports APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian citation styles. It allows searching for your item and will autofill the information if it finds it. You will need to register to use the service, but it is free.

Citation Machine supports APA, MLA, Turabian or Chicago style citations. You will need to input the information manually to generate the citation.

Knight Cite supports APA, MLA, and Chicago style citations. You will need to input the information manually to generate the citation.

Noodle Tools supports APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian styles. You will need to input the information manually to generate the citation. Citations cannot be saved.

Free citation management tools

Zotero is a free, open source tool that helps you collect, organize, cite and share your research sources. Citations can easily be added by dragging and dropping PDFs of articles into your account. 

Mendeley is free with up to 2GB of storage. Extra storage is available for a fee. Citations can be added by dragging and dropping PDFs of articles into your account. You can use the Mendeley bookmarklet to import citations from databases and websites.

Looking for help using these tools? Contact a Librarian at your campus or through the Library chat!

Referencing Elders and Knowledge Keepers

Please note that the formal MLA and APA style do not have a format for Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers. While we recommend the citation styles in the following tabs, please always follow an Elder or Knowledge Keepers' wishes about how they would like to be acknowledged. Always ensure you ask for and have received permission to write down and share their words and knowledge with others.

Elders and Knowledge Keepers should be cited in-text and in the reference list. Be sure to clarify the preferred name and spelling of the Elder or Knowledge Keepers' name including special characters or syllabics. If they prefer a traditional name, use that in place of the "last name, first name" convention.

Please note that Lorisia MacLeod and the Indigenous Student Centre staff of Norquest College have developed the following citation styles in the spirit of wahkôhtowin and reconciliation. We are grateful to them for sharing their template.

APA Style

In Text:

The in-text citation format should follow the same guidelines as noted in the paraphrase and direct quote tabs: 

Delores Cardinal described the nature of the... (2004). OR The nature of the place was... (Cardinal, 2004).

Reference:

The citation format for the reference list follows the following format:

Last name, First initial., Nation/Community. Treaty Territory if applicable. Where they live if applicable. Topic/subject of communication if applicable. personal communication. Month Date, Year.

For example:

Cardinal, D., Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. personal communication. April 4, 2004.

MLA 9th Edition

In text:

The in-text citation format should be formatted as:

Delores Cardinal described the nature of the... OR The nature of the place was... (Cardinal).

Reference Citation:

The citation format for the reference list follows the following format:

Last name, First name., Nation/Community. Treaty Territory if applicable. City/Community they live in if applicable. Topic/subject of communication if applicable. Date Month Year. 

For Example:

Cardinal, Delores., Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. 4 April 2004.

Citing Generative Artificial Intelligence

Before using genAI in any portion of an assignment you must clarify with your Instructor if this is acceptable. 

If you have used genAI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) in any part of your work you must acknowledge them as a source. While reference styles will differ there are some basic guidelines that should be followed when using AI.

  • AI should not be referenced like a human author or creator. Instead, it is referenced as software or a tool rather than as a personal communication or original work. You must also reference the prompts that you used, either in these sections or as a part of your in-text citation.
  • An explanation of how and how much AI was used is usually expected, often in the form of an appendix, methods, reflection, or other supplement to your assignment. All genAI use should be acknowledged (e.g. brainstorming, editing, data analysis, creating visuals or images).
  • Remember that AI is not a reliable source of information. You are responsible for checking that all of the information you get from AI is accurate.
  • AI is new and constantly changing. As a result, the ways that we reference it may change. Check with the library and your Instructors to find the most recent guidelines for using and citing AI.

In APA 7th edition, GenAI is referenced as software. You must also include the prompts that were used, either in these sections or as a part of your in-text citation (McAdoo, 2024). For images, follow API guidelines but include information about the software and the prompt used to create the image in the description and reference list.

In-text reference template:

(Last Name, First and Middle initial or Name of Group that created the software, Year)

In-text example:

When prompted "how do I cite Copilot in APA 7th edition style?" the genAI tool Copilot stated it should be referenced as software with a url included (Microsoft, 2023).

Reference list template:

Last Name, First and Middle Initial or Name of Group that created the software. (Year). Title of software (Version No.)[Type of software]. Publisher. URL

Reference list example:

Microsoft. (2023). Copilot for Microsoft 365 [Large multimodal model]. https://copilot.microsoft.com/ https://copilot.microsoft.com/ 

Follow API guidelines for referencing images but include information about the software and the prompt used to create the image.

In-text Template (Images)

Figure number (e.g Figure 1, Figure 2)

Title of image

Image

A brief descriptive note about the image

In-text Example (Images)

Figure 1

An AI-generated image of a library book with rainbows coming from the cover

An AI generated picture of a library book with rainbows coming from the cover

Note: Image generated by Canva Magic Studio using the prompt "A library book with rainbows coming out of the cover"

Reference list template

Last Name, First and Middle Initial or Name of Group that created the software. (Year). Title of image or description in brackets [type of image]. Title of sofware (Version No.). [Type of software]. Publisher (if different than creator). URL

Reference list example

Canva. (2023). [A library book with rainbows coming out of the cover] [Digital image]. Canva Magic Studio [Large multimodal model]. Canva.com/magic/

 

References

McAdoo, T. (2024). How to cite ChatGPT. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt

Purdue University. (n.d.). Reference list: Electronic sources. Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation.html

RMIT University. (n.d.). APA 7th edition: Images/tables. https://www.lib.rmit.edu.au/easy-cite/?styleguide=styleguide

In MLA style, the core elements used for MLA referencing can be adapted to cite AI (MLA Style Center). The prompts used must be cited, and can be used in the in-text citation.

In-text template

("Summary of prompt")

In-text example

When asked how Copilot should be cited in MLA 9th edition style, Copilot provided a summary of the MLA's flexible template and examples featuring ChatGPT but did not link to or fully attribute the sources of this information ("How do I cite Copilot").

Work Cited template

"Full text of prompt" prompt. Name of AI tool, version, date used, Company/Publisher, url.

Work Cited example

"How do I cite Copilot in MLA 9th edition" prompt. Copilot for Microsoft 365, Microsoft, 6 June 2025, https://copilot.microsoft.com/ https://copilot.microsoft.com/

 

Work Cited

"How do I cite generative AI in MLA style?" MLA Style Center, 17 March 2023, https://style.mla.org/citing-generative-ai/. Accessed 10th June 2025.