*African American Studies: General Research Guide

MLA is likely the most common citation style that you will use in African American Studies classes, but when in doubt, always check with your professor. The MLA Style Center is an excellent resource for learning about the most recent edition, including examples of formatted citations and visual cues for where to find the information needed for them.  Purdue OWL has an excellent MLA Guide available online, that contains information about citations, formatting, and basic style. A print copy of the official handbook is also available at the Research Help desk, in the reference collection.

Because Africana Studies involves interdisciplinary coursework, you may need to use a variety of citation styles; resources for the major citation styles are available below. Give credit where credit is due. By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources.

Need help citing a source? Ask us!