The Modern Language Association (MLA) Style

Parenthetical citations are used in the body of the paper to indicate the source, which is then listed at the end of the paper in the Works Cited. However, parenthetical citations require page numbers, which electronic sources do not ordinarily have. So you will not need parenthetical citations for your electronic sources. Instead, as you present information, incorporate the author or organization smoothly into your sentence.

Jason P. Mitchell interprets Maggie and Big Daddy as
    "less sympathetic" and Brick as "more compelling"
    —based on Tennessee Williams's comments in an
    interview published in 1955.

The reader of your paper could then turn to the Works Cited where you would have listed the complete reference.

Mitchell, Jason P. "The Artist as Critic: A
    Reconsideration of Brick Pollitt."

    <http://sunset.backbone.olemiss.edu/

    %7Ejmitchel/misphil.htm 23 May 1996.

The American Psychological Association (APA) Style

The APA style requires that the date be given after the author's name when a source is used. Therefore, in parentheses, give the date of original publication or the date you accessed the material if it could have been modified in the meantime.

California State University (1996) reports that "Online
     Distance Learning . . . promises to be a major force
     in the future of education."

Your References page will give this listing:

    California State University. (1996 26 July).

        "California Distance Learning Project."

        <http://www.uol.com/cig-

        shl/dbml.exe?Action=Query&Margin=

        /cftemplate/Partners.dbm&Margin_ID=27/29/96>.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) Style

In the body of your paper, insert a raised number to indicate each source, numbering in sequence as each source is referred to for the first time. Use the same identifying number every time a particular source is referred to later in the paper. The numbered bibliography gives the sources in the order in which they were first cited.

For example, this quotation might be your first use of researched material in your paper:
"These data suggest that a high intake of mercury from
    nonfatty freshwater fish and the consequent
    accumulation of mercury in the body are associated
    with an excess risk of AMI [acute myocardial
    infarction] as well as death from CHD, CVD...."ⁱ

Your References list would begin:

(1)

Salonen, JT, Sepp:anen, K, Nyss:onen K, Korpela H, Kauhanen J, Kantola M, Tuomilelhto J, Esterbauer H, Tatzver F & Salonen R. "Intake of Mercury from fish, lipid peroxidation, and the risk of myocardial infarction and coronary, cardiovascular, and any death in eastern Finnish men." Circ 91(3):645-655 (1955) Abstract <http://www.infoseek.com> (7/1/96).

The Classic Footnote (or Endnote) Style

In this style, you also use raised numbers in the body of your paper, but the numbers refer to a specific note that gives the bibliographical information plus page number--or date with a source from the Internet. With this method, you often can omit a separate bibliography; check with your teacher.
Start numbering consecutively, beginning with the number one after the first presentation of research information. Use a different number for each presentation of information (regardless of whether the source is the same or different). In the body of your paper, it would look like this:

If Morning Ever Comes, Anne Tyler's first novel, was
   written when she was just twenty-two.²

Then, either at the foot of the page where you gave the information (for footnotes) or in a numerically ordered list at the end of the paper (for endnotes), you provide the source of the information for each corresponding number in your paper--like this:

    <http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/read/ladder/tyler.html>
    (15 June 1996).