Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Academic Style Guides
APA style, created by the American Psychological Association, it the writing format you will encounter the most in the sciences. It is a detailed and exacting style. The Publication Manual issued by the APA is the final authority on the style, but here are some additional resources for applying the rules of the style to your work.
Publication Manual (OFFICIAL) 7th Edition of the American Psychological Association by ISBN: 9781433832154Publication Date: 2019-10-01The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition is the style manual of choice for writers, researchers, editors, students, and educators in the social and behavioral sciences, natural sciences, nursing, communications, education, business, engineering, and other fields.
- Purdue OWL APA 7th GuideThe Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers global support through online reference materials and services for creating citations, cover letters, major-specific writing help, and general writing advice. This guide to APA style includes several useful examples of in-text and reference list formatting for citations, general formatting, and more.
- APA Style and Grammar GuidelinesThe style and grammar guidelines pages present information about APA Style as described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition and the Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition. Explore the larger website for video tutorials and recorded webinars, sample papers of several different types, and more.
- APA Style BlogThe APA Style blog is the official companion to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition. It’s run by the APA Style team—a group of style experts who work with APA Style every day. They explore the nuances that may not be entirely clear in the Publication Manual, and respond to comments.
Explore the resources below to help you write in MLA style.
MLA Handbook by ISBN: 9781603293518Publication Date: 2021-04-22The MLA Handbook is published by the Modern Language Association and is the only official, authorized book on MLA style.
- MLA Formatting and Style GuideThe Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers global support through online reference materials and services for creating citations, cover letters, major-specific writing help, and general writing advice. This guide to MLA style includes several useful examples of in-text and reference list formatting for citations, general formatting, and more.
- FAQ about the MLA HandbookAnswers to Frequently Asked Questions about the MLA Handbook.
- MLA Style CenterMLA Style Center, the only authorized Web site on MLA style, provides free resources on research, writing, and documentation.
Explore the resources below to help you write in Chicago style.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition by ISBN: 9780226287058Publication Date: 2017-09-05The Chicago Manual of Style is the official guide to writing in Chicago style.
- Chicago Manual of Style 17th EditionThe Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) offers global support through online reference materials and services for creating citations, cover letters, major-specific writing help, and general writing advice. This guide to Chicago style includes several useful examples of in-text and reference list formatting for citations, general formatting, and more.
- Chicago Manual of Style Q&AAnswers to questions about Chicago Style from The Chicago Style Manual Online.
- Chicago Manual of Style BlogThe Shop Talk Blog of the Chicago Manual of Style. With these pages and posts, the editors and staff of the Manual hope to bring clarity, education, and amusement to anyone who works with words.
Below are other Academic Style Guides you may encounter in your career.
- ACS (American Chemical Society)
- ASA (American Sociological Association)
- Purdue OWL ASA Formatting and Style Guide
Academic Style Guides
An academic style guide provides a set of rules and guidelines for writing in a given discipline. They dictate how a work should look and read so that it's consistent with other work in that field. The most commonly used Academic Style Guides include:
- APA (American Psychological Association): often used by Education, Psychology, and Sciences
- MLA (Modern Language Association): often used in the Humanities
- Chicago: often used in Business, Fine Arts, and History
For more information about Academic Style Guides, check out Purdue OWL's Style Guide Overview.
Resources for writing
Academic Writing
There are many resources available to help with academic writing. Below are a few options worth exploring:
- Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) Guide to Academic Writing
- UMass Amherst Writing Center
- located in the Learning Commons in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library, available to book free appointments
- Harvard College Writing Center Resources
- Boston University Online Resources for Academic Writers
Inclusive Language in Academic Writing
Resources to support the use of inclusive language in academic writing:
- Guidelines on Inclusive Language and Images in Scholarly Communication (Coalition for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications)
- Conscious Language Guide (Conscious Style Guide)
- University of British Columbia Inclusive Language Resources
- National Association of Black Journalists Style Guide (NABJ)
- Freedom for Immigrants Glossary of Immigration Terms
- Cultural Competence Handbook (National Association of Hispanic Journalists)
- Best Practices in Authority Work Relating to Indigenous Nations in the US (Latin American and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Funnel)
- Disability Language Style Guide (National Center on Disability and Journalism)
- How to write about people with disabilities, 9th edition (University of Kansas)
- Media Reference Guide (GLAAD)
Books on Writing & Research
Writing Dissertation and Grant Proposals by Call Number: R853.P75 C48 2014ISBN: 9781466512061Publication Date: 2014-04-28The scientific proposal-writing process can be a daunting experience for graduate students and young researchers. This book covers all aspects of the process, from structure and style to obtaining research grant funding. Organized much like a research proposal, the book covers identifying a research topic, drafting a hypothesis, conducting a literature review, describing methods for data collection and analysis, and presenting the proposal. The final section describes strategies for putting together a winning NIH proposal and responding to reviewer comments.
Successful Grant Writing by Call Number: HV41.2 .G58 2014eb E-BookISBN: 9780826101037Publication Date: 2013-01-01Written for individuals in both academic and practice settings, the guide addresses, step-by-step, the fundamental principles for effectively securing funding. It is the only book to provide grant-writing information that encompasses many disciplines and to focus on building a research career with grant writing as a step-wise process. It provides detailed, time-tested strategies for building an investigative team, highlights the challenges of collaboration, and describes how to determine the expertise needed for a team and the roles of co-investigators. The book addresses the needs of both novice and more experienced researchers.
News & Numbers: A Writer's Guide to Statistics by Call Number: RA407 .C64 2012eb E-BookISBN: 9781444344332Publication Date: 2012News & Numbers focuses on how to evaluate statistical claims in science, health, medicine, and politics. It does so by helping readers answer three key questions about all scientific studies, polls, and other statistical claims: "What can I believe?” “What does it mean?” and "How can I explain it to others?" The text emphasizes clear thinking and common sense approaches for understanding, analyzing and explaining statistics, and terms throughout the book are explained in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language.
Open Scholarship and Scholarly Publishing
Open Scholarship and Scholarly Publishing
When you're ready to publish your research, you might find that the world of scholarly publishing can be challenging to navigate. We have resources here at the Libraries to support your publishing journey. Check out the Libraries' Open Scholarship & Scholarly Publishing research guide to explore a robust collection of resources and explanations of different aspects of scholarly publishing. Also take a look at the other tabs of this box for an introduction to open scholarship and scholarly publishing.
Open Access
What is open access? "By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited." (Budapest Open Access Initiative Definition, 2002).
Check out UMass Amherst's Open Access Policy to learn more about faculty publications and archiving in our institutional repository. Also explore Kennesaw State University's Open Access Hub for additional open access resources and information, including educational presentations on a variety of open access topics.
Scholarly Publishing
There are several factors to consider when deciding where to publish your work. Think. Check. Submit. is an organization that helps researchers identify journals and publishers that are reputable and trusted. They have resources for publishing books and book chapters, as well as articles in journals.
Questions about research metrics? Check out the Metrics Toolkit, a resource to help scholars understand and use metrics across disciplines.
Using a citation manager
Sometimes you need to create a citation on the fly, while other times, your writing will be more complicated and involve citing several items and keeping track of sources. For this type of work, use a citation manager.
- To decide which citation manager to use: Citation Manager Comparison Chart
- The Libraries offer workshops on the different citation managers: Libraries Events Calendar
