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Communication: Style Manuals and Citation Tools

Basic Style Manuals

Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, 46th ed.
Main Library Reference PN 4783 .A83 2011
An essential tool for all journalists, news editors, and public relations specialists, providing guidelines on spelling, capitalization, grammar, punctuation, and usage, with special sections on business and sports.

The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed.
Main Library Ready Reference  Z 253 .U69 2010
A standard work serving as a "how to" book for both authors and publishers. Offers practical information and advice on all aspects of manuscript preparation and copyediting.

A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 8th ed.
Main Library Ready Reference LB 2369 .T8 2013
Popularly known as "Turabian."  A simplified version of The Chicago Manual of Style (above) intended for use by undergraduates. Presents two basic documentation systems, notes-bibliography style (or simply bibliography style) and parenthetical citations-reference list style (or reference list style). Sample citations based on the 8th edition are available at http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed.
Main Library Ready Reference LB 2369 .G53 2009
"...Provides an authoritative account of MLA [Modern Language Association] documentation style for use in student writing, including simplified guidelines for citing works published on the Web and new recommendations for citing several kinds of works, such as digital files and graphic narratives" (publisher's description).

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed.
Main Library Ready Reference BF 76.7 .P83 2010
"In addition to providing clear guidance on grammar, the mechanics of writing, ...offers an authoritative and easy-to-use reference and citation system and comprehensive coverage of the treatment of numbers, metrication, statistical and mathematical data, tables, and figures for use in writing, reports, or presentations" (publisher's description).

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University hosts a website that provides sample citations for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles; click on the "Research and Citation" link on the left sidebar.

Citation Management Tools

Citation management programs help researchers:

> Collect citations from online sources, including library catalogs and electronic databases;

> Organize references by subject, project, author, or other schemes; and 

> Create bibliographies formatted according to MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian or other widely used citation styles.

The UCF Libraries make available free of charge to current students, faculty, and staff two of the most commonly used citation management programs, RefWorks and EndNote.

There are also several free, open-source citation management programs, chief among them Zotero and Mendeley.