“What is a citation style, anyway?"

“Styles of documentation... When I write my research paper, I know I need to give credit to the sources from which I take information, but why are there so many stupid rules about documentation?”

Because people overcomplicate everything, that’s why. When I was in college, I mostly only needed to use APA, and I hated it. After I graduated, I wanted to be able to write for a living, so I had to learn ALL the documentation styles! As an adult, out of school, I had a different attitude toward it. I had suffered through so many stupid jobs, I really appreciated the chance to type instead of work!

So, I help people with the documentation styles. Every student must expend so much mental and emotional energy in order to accommodate these stupid, trivial particularities of documentation -- while they are supposed to be learning important things! The thing I hate about it, the thing I hate on behalf of the students whom I help, is that totally different parts of your brain need to be activated in order to attend to the pointless details of any given style.

People in psych and business programs often are required to learn APA;

People studying philosophy or theology often need to use either Chicago or Turabian, which are very similar;

People in general college programs, like liberal arts, often are required to use MLA. The details of documentation interrupt the process of learning and stunt creativity.

Documentation, itself, is necessary. For sure. It should be simplified, that’s all. Until it is, though, we are here to help. Sue, Justin, and Sarah all know the different styles, too. Incidentally, we often need to double check everything with a particular school’s documentation guidelines, because the styles even differ from one institution to the next! So, send us your project (along with any submission guidelines from your school), tell us the style that is required, and we’ll help you twist it into shape.

Even if you just have a simple question and don’t need any writing/editing done, run it by us, and we’ll be glad to help.

Kevin Matteson

kevin.matteson@gmail.com