Quick Reference: Which Format for Which Field?
📚 APA (7th Edition)
Psychology, Education, Nursing, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, STEM
📖 MLA (9th Edition)
Literature, Humanities, Arts, Language Studies, Film Studies
🏛️ Chicago (17th Edition)
History, Art History, Religious Studies, Communication, Political Science
⚙️ IEEE
Engineering, Computer Science, Electronics, Information Technology
APA 7th Edition — The Science Standard
APA (American Psychological Association) format uses an Author-Date citation system: in-text citations appear as (Singh, 2023) or Singh (2023) found that.... The reference list at the end is alphabetically ordered by author's last name.
Example — Journal Article:
Key APA rules: Use hanging indents in reference list. Include DOI for all journal articles. Use "pp." for book chapters. Abbreviate "et al." for 3+ authors after first citation. Most Indian universities require APA for research papers in science, education, and management.
MLA 9th Edition — The Humanities Standard
MLA (Modern Language Association) uses Author-Page citations: (Rushdie 47). The reference list is called "Works Cited" and is ordered alphabetically. MLA 9th edition introduced "containers" — the platform or publication that hosts the work.
Example — Book:
Key MLA rules: Italicise titles of books, journals, films. Use quotation marks for articles and chapters. Include the medium of access for online sources. MLA is standard for English literature and humanities departments in Indian colleges and universities.
Chicago Style — The Historian's Format
Chicago comes in two variants. Notes-Bibliography (humanities): uses footnotes or endnotes for in-text citations plus a bibliography. Author-Date (social sciences): similar to APA. Notes-Bibliography is more common in history and religious studies.
Example — Footnote (Notes-Bibliography):
Key Chicago rules: Footnotes use full citation for first reference, short form (Author, Short Title, page) thereafter. Bibliography entries are alphabetical. Used by leading Indian history journals and departments.
IEEE — The Engineer's Format
IEEE uses numbered references in square brackets: [1], [2]. Numbers appear in order of first citation in the text. The reference list at the end is numbered (not alphabetical). IEEE is the standard for IIT, NIT, and engineering college research papers.
Example — Journal Article:
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | APA | MLA | Chicago | IEEE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-text style | Author, Year | Author, Page | Footnote number | Number [1] |
| Reference list order | Alphabetical | Alphabetical | Alphabetical | Order of citation |
| Journal title format | Italic | Italic | Italic | Abbreviated, italic |
| Author format | Last, F. | Last, First | Last, First | F. Last |
| DOI required? | ✅ Yes | ✅ If available | If available | ✅ Yes |
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