Using a Style Guide

Which Style Guide?

A Writer's Reference (6th ed. 2007), is the recommended style guide for use by classes in English, Psychology & the Humanities. Copies are available for purchase in the college bookstore (use textbook lookup for current prices). Copies are also available for use at the reference and circulation desks at Brown Library.

Main Menu
The main menu is found on the inside of the front cover and on the opposite page. Use it as you would a Table of Contents. On the second page of the Main Menu, you see a reference to MLA papers. Follow the arrow to the red MLA tab. It is behind the blue tab for ESL.

Behind the MLA tab you find a more detailed menu for information about MLA papers.

Index
Use the index at the back of your style guide to find the page where your information is located.

Definitions
The following definitions are from The Little, Brown Handbook, 2004.

• APA Style - A style of documentation used in many of the social sciences, including psychology.
• Chicago Style - A style of documentation used in history, art, and other humanities.
• Citation - In research writing, the way of acknowledging material borrowed from sources. Most systems of citation are basically similar: a number or brief parenthetical reference in the text indicates that particular material is borrowed and directs the reader to information on the source at the end of the work. There are different types of citation style.
• MLA Style - A style of documentation used in the humanities, including English.
• Parenthetical Citation - In the text of a paper, a brief reference, enclosed in parentheses, indicating that material is borrowed and directing the reader to the source of the material.