Many researchers and writers in the languages and linguistics come from English studies backgrounds, which use the MLA Style Manual to format works cited pages and parenthetical citations. However, academic and professional writers in the area of language and linguistics must adhere to the LSA Style Sheet in formatting proper references. Although MLA and LSA styles are very similar, significant differences exist that serious linguistic writers must learn.

General Information on LSA Citations

  • Place the bibliography of cited texts at the end of document.
  • Use the heading References at the beginning of the bibliography.
  • Arrange the list of cited text alphabetically by author surname.
  • Arrange multiple works by one author in ascending chronological order.
  • Use lowercase suffixes to distinguish multiple works by one author from the same year.
  • Do not use initials with authors or editors unless initials are already used.
  • Capitalize only the first letter, the first letter after colons, and proper nouns in titles.

Parenthetical Citations

The templates for citing works in the text of the document are:

  • (Author surname publication year:page numbers)
  • (publication year:page numbers)

For example: