: How are citations formatted in serious non-fiction (proposals)? Just to be clear, I'm not talking about scholarly work of the sort that might be published by a university press. I'm talking about

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I realize this was a long time ago, but I would like to clarify a couple things. APA, MLA and Chicago Manual Style have different purposes and uses that contribute to why they are preferred within specific disciplines. APA's in text citations are preferred in technical disciplines because they emphasize the author and the date (Jay, 2016)Those who are knowledgable within the field are aware of the authors' reputations and the date proves that the research is recent, so the author verifies that they are up to date on the field. The page numbers are less important because frequently what is being referenced are ideas rather than quotations.

MLA has in text citations, not footnotes. They tell you the author and page number. (Jay, 293) or after a repetition of text cited (294). This is because they are the citation style of choice for the humanities in academic papers and the most important aspects are the author and the page number, so a researcher who is trying to follow the historical thread of the research can easily find the reference. Primary source material is considered key and therefore date is inconsequential to relevance.

Chicago Manual Style is a separate citation style from MLA and uses--most commonly--endnotes. Chicago Manual Style is a publishing style for the humanities. It allows the reader to consume the text uninterrupted but provides a means for including a more in depth citation style all around. All the information contained within the bibliography plus the specific page number is used within the initial endnote for a text and then the author name and page number, and finally an IBID, if the second citation is on the same page.

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There are many different formats depending on the type of work being cited, and the standard being used. Common standards are the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA). MLA style is widely used when writing about history and literature. APA is widely used when writing about science and technical subjects (not just psychology).

Here's a reference for MLA style: www2.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm
Here's a reference for APA style: www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/apa_examples.cfm

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