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American Studies & Ethnicity *

Citation Styles

The Chicago Manual of Style is the most common citation format used for disciplines in the social sciences and history.

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Other citation styles:

  • MLA  (Modern Language Association) - used most commonly in Humanities (English, Languages, Arts) disciplines
  • APA  (American Psychological Association) - used most commonly in Education, Psychology, Social Work & Health Science disciplines
  • Academic Writer (formerly APA Style CENTRAL) combines learning and teaching tools, writing and content processing technology, and full integration of APA's Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

Citation Tools: Refworks, Endnote, Zotero & Mendeley

REFWORKS - A Web-based bibliography tool that allows you to create your own personal database of sources by importing references from text files or online databases or catalogs.

First time users must sign up for an individual account and select a username and password from a USC computer (if you are off  campus a group code is needed when logging in remotely to your account from non-USC connections.The group code is RWUSC)

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ENDNOTE Web - A Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows users to create their own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases. They can use these references in writing their papers and to automatically format the paper and the bibliography.

First time users should register through Web of Science/Web of Knowledge (requires USC network connection) using an email address for the sign-in name and then follow the rules for the password selection. Users who have previously registered for Web of Knowledge should use that account.

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ZOTERO - A free, open-source program that allows you to collect and organize sources you find online. Zotero can be downloaded as browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari or it can be downloaded as a standalone program that works with Windows, Mac, or Linux systems. For many major databases and websites, the program can tell when a list of books or articles is displayed by showing an icon in the address bar, so citation information can be saved with just a few clicks of the mouse.

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MENDELEY - A free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research.