Citation Styles and Tools: Introduction

A citation style determines the format of in-text citations and references, including the information to be provided and its order.

There are many citation styles, such as the American Chemical Society (ACS), the American Psychological Association (APA), the Modern Language Association (MLA), Turabian and more. 

This Citation Styles guide provides an introduction to the following citation styles: MLA, Chicago, American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition, Harvard, IEEE and American Chemical Society (ACS). 

In each tab above, you will find information about these citation styles, along with lists of additional resources provided for each style, where you will find more examples. It contains links to books in the NU Library collection, online referencing style manuals, and other free online resources.  

Why should you reference?

• Refer​encing i​s an important way to demonstrate your academic integrity and honesty:
• provides the link between what you have read and what you have written and allows the reader to find and view sources you have read or cited;
• shows that you have researched and read around your subject area;
• shows that you have considered and evaluated the work of others;
• acknowledges the sources you have used, and, most importantly;
• plagiarism is considered a serious academic offence, and referencing protects you from any charges of copying or plagiarism.

At Nazarbayev University, the Students Code of Conduct defines plagiarism as:

"intentionally or carelessly presenting the work of another as one’s own. It includes submitting an assignment purporting to be the student’s original work which has wholly or in part been created by another person. It also includes the presentation of the work, ideas, representations, or words of another person without customary and proper acknowledgement of sources." 

Visit to following guides for more information: 

• An Introduction to Citing & Referencing - learn why, what and how to cite and reference your sources.
• Avoiding Plagiarism with information on plagiarism and how to avoid it.