Newcastle University

To avoid confusion when using citations, a number of standard styles have evolved for the layout of citations in written work.
Some of these styles (such as the Royal Society of Chemistry style) are subject specific, whereas other, more general styles are also used (such as the Harvard style).

When writing a piece of work, it is important that you find out what citation style is used in the organisation for whom you are writing (called the house style), and to be careful that you stick this style for the whole piece of work.
The style of citation that you use affects the order in which you record the information (and what you record) so that the original sources can be identified.

Because you must always present citations in one format, it is not sufficient to copy the details in any order into your bibliography or footnotes.
Your citations must conform to your chosen style. In almost all situations, correct citation and referencing will form part of the marks you receive for a piece of work. Incorrect citation = lost marks !!

The best way to stick to your chosen citation style is to use a style manual for the type of citation you must use. A number of style manuals are listed in the Resources section.