Reference
A reference gives the readers details about the source you referred to in the text. It tells them as much as possible about the source. References are listed at the end of the text.

Citation
A citation tells the readers where the information you mentioned in the text came from. You cite or refer to the source of information as you write the text (use author’s last name and year of publication).

Stylebooks Used in MCPS
The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition (www.chicagomanualofstyle.org). This is used for general documents and correspondence.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (http://www.apastyle.org/manual/index.aspx). This is used in technical and research documents and reports.

The AP Stylebook(http://www.apstylebook.com). This is used for newsletter and news releases.

Identify the type of documentation you are working on and use the appropriate style guide to make your final product conform to a consistent body of work.

 

Style for Unpublished Works
Hickson, R. (October 2005a). Secondary reading interventions: Corrective reading at Earle B. Wood Middle School and Rockville High School. Unpublished paper, Montgomery County Public Schools.

Hickson, R. (October 2005b). Secondary reading interventions: Read 180. Unpublished paper, Montgomery County Public Schools.

 

Zotero: Online Help for Collecting, Managing, and Citing Your Sources
For those who use citations and references in much of their work, Zotero is a very useful tool that you can install and use to gather your information as you work. Go to http://www.zotero.org/ and start exploring this tool, which is spearheaded by George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media (CHNM).

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources.

Warning
Always check your work after using citation software such as Zotero. Citation software is useful when you want to get your work in the general style format you need to create bibliographies and reference lists and end notes. However, in order to ensure accuracy—make sure that entries are correctly interpreted and that there are no typos—you still need to conduct a manual review.

Remember to always budget time to double-check and tweak your final work against the appropriate style manual.