Most citation styles and guidelines contain the following basic elements:

• Author’s or Creator’s name
• Title of work or document
• Date
• Source (library, institution, or collection which houses the work; title of the database or website)
• Form, Format, or Medium (map, manuscript, website, chart, etc.)
• Access date

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is the preferred formatting and style guidelines for such disciplines as History, Philosophy, and Political Science.

The requirements for primary source citations using the CMS also vary by format, but include many of the basic elements detailed above.

The style handbook from the Modern Language Association (MLA) is the preferred formatting and style guidelines for humanities disciplines such as English, Communications Studies, Liberal Studies, and Modern Languages and Literatures.