# name of academic formatting style? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453 "2003-11-26T21:05:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/1 "2003-11-26T21:05:05Z")
I’m writing a university history paper, my first one since 2001, and I’ve completely forgotten how to format the footnotes and bibliography. I don’t even know what the style is called. Can someone clue me in so I can google some guidelines? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/2 "2003-11-26T21:11:14Z")
I’m not sure what the standard is in history. You might try Modern Language Association (MLA) style. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/3 "2003-11-26T21:42:17Z")
Chicago style is another popular one. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/4 "2003-11-26T21:48:36Z")
Chicago style is another popular one. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/5 "2003-11-26T21:56:41Z")
The American Psychological Association’s (APA) style guide is another widely used one, and not just in psychology. Maybe the best bet would be to ask the instructor what style to use. > **[APA Style](https://apastyle.apa.org/)** > > The authority on APA Style and the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. Find tutorials, the APA Style Blog, how to format papers in APA Style, and other resources to help you improve your writing, master APA Style, and learn the conventions of... ---
**Author:** ![Anal\_Scurvy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c57346/32.png) [@Anal\_Scurvy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anal_Scurvy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/6 "2003-11-26T22:03:41Z")
MLA is what I was looking for, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/7 "2003-11-26T22:05:32Z")
I’m used to Harvard style, which I’ve encountered several times in philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/8 "2003-11-27T00:08:27Z")
Does anyone happen to know the name of the referencing style generally used in scientific literature? It seems to vary from journal to journal, so maybe there isn’t one – but the style is quite different from the one used in the humanities. ---
**Author:** ![lollipop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/77aa72/32.png) [@lollipop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lollipop)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/9 "2003-11-27T07:07:54Z")
I’m finishing up my M.A. in History. Most History papers are written using the Chicago methods. You can usually get by using elements of style by Turabian, but I honestly think most History professors would have a problem with MLA. I think thats used more in English and Social Sciences. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/10 "2003-11-27T16:45:39Z")
Just in the interests of completeness, legal academics and editors learn to loathe “Bluebook style,” named after the color of the cover of the most common manual of legal citation. ---
**Author:** ![Sinungaling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Sinungaling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinungaling)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-of-academic-formatting-style/215453/11 "2003-11-28T04:07:50Z")
Sorry, **lollipop** , but all of the Social Science classes I’ve had used APA (linguistics, political science, sociology, and geography). Except for anthropology, which has its own style of citation. Yeah, we’re wankers. Anyway, it was my impression that MLA was something for the Humanities. I remember using it for my history papers.