Citation Styles

BOOK

Print Book

• Always include abbreviated state and country of publication.
   
• For works with a translator, follow the guidance for edited books but substitute "Trans." for "Ed." 

Book (print)

One author

[#] A. A. Author, Title of Book in Title Case and Italics. Place of Publication: Publisher, year.

[1] M. Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York, NY, USA: Penguin, 2006.

Book (print)

Two authors with edition number

[#] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, Title of Book in Title Case and Italics, edition number. Place of Publication: Publisher, year.

[2] A. Strindberg and M. Wärn, Islamism: Religion, Radicalization and Resistance, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley and Sons, 2011.

Book (print)

Three authors

[#] A. A. Author, B. B. Author, and C. C. Author, Title of Book in Title Case and Italics. Place of Publication: Publisher, year.

[3] A. H. Cordesman, A. Mausner, and D. Kasten, Winning in Afghanistan: Creating Effective Afghan Security Forces. Washington, DC, USA: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2009.

Book Chapter

• No quotation marks needed for book sections with generic names, such as Introduction, Foreword, Preface, etc.

Book Chapter (in edited book)

One author, two editors

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of chapter in sentence case,” in Title of Book in Title Case and Italics, B. B. Editor and C. C. Editor, Eds. Place of Publication: Publisher, year, pp. starting page of chapter–ending page of chapter.

[1] P. Haynes, “Al-Qaeda, oil dependence, and U.S. foreign policy,” in Energy Security and Global Politics: The Militarization of Resource Management, D. Moran and J. A. Russell, Eds. New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 2009, pp. 62–74.

Book Chapter (in edited book)

Three authors, one editor

[#] A. A. Author, B. B. Author, and C. C. Author, “Title of chapter in sentence case,” in Title of Book in Title Case and Italics, D. D. Editor, Ed. Place of Publication: Publisher, year, pp. starting page of chapter–ending page of chapter.

[2] A. H. Cordesman, A. Mausner, and D. Kasten, Introduction, in Winning in Afghanistan: Creating Effective Afghan Security Forces, J. Smith, Ed. Washington, DC, USA: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2009, pp. 4–5.

Electronic Book

With URL

[#] A. A. Author, Title of Book in Title Case and Italics. Place of Publication: Publisher, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] J. Crabtree and A. Chaplin, Bolivia: Processes of Change. London, England: Zed Books, 2013. [Online]. Available: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ebook-nps/detail.action?docID=1183073

Electronic Book

With book provider

[2] A. Krishnan, War as Business: Technological Change and Military Service Contracting. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2008. [Online]. Kindle edition.

CLASS NOTES, LECTURE, PRESENTATION, WORKSHOP

• Class notes include lecture notes, slides, and any other course-related material published by an instructor.
   
• If class notes are not available to your readers, format as a personal communication using professor's/lecturer's name and "class notes."
   
• Class notes and lectures published to your online course site are considered unpublished.

Class Notes / Lecture

Unpublished

[#] “Title of lecture in sentence case,” class notes for Title of Class in Title Case, Abbreviated Name of Department, Institution, Location of Institution, academic quarter year.

[1] “Formatting a thesis,” class notes for Adventures in Academic Writing, Dept. of Dragon Husbandry, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA, spring 2017.

Class Notes / Lecture (online)

Published

[#] “Title of lecture in sentence case,” class notes for Title of Class in Title Case, Abbreviated Name of Department, Institution, Location of Institution, academic quarter year. [Online]. Available: URL

[2]: B. B. Horse, “Horseshoes and hand grenades: On the joys of approximation.” Lecture at Barnes Event Center, Derby, KY, USA, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://horse.com/

[3] “Python numPy tutorial,” class notes for CS231n: Convolutional Neural Networks for Visual Recognition, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA, spring 2017. [Online]. Available: http://cs231n.github.io/python-numpy-tutorial/

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of speech/presentation/brief in sentence case,” presented at Abbreviated Venue, Location of Presentation, Month and day of Presentation (if available), year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[4] L. Randall, “Unification in warped extra dimensions and bulk holography,” presented at Cavendish Lab., Univ. of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, Jul. 19, 2002. [Online]. Available: http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/events/strings02/avt/randall/

COMPUTER PROGRAM / SOFTWARE

• Citation is required only if the software is not well known.

[#] Company or A. A. Creator, Place of Publication. Year published. Title of Software in Title Case, ver. xx. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] M. Borenstein, L. Hedges, J. Higgins, and H. Rothstein. Englewood, NJ, USA. 2005. Comprehensive
Meta-Analysis, ver. 2. [Online]. Available: http://www.meta-analysis.com

[#] A. A. Author, B. B. Author, C. C. Author, D. D. Author, and E. E. Author, “Title of article in sentence case,” in Abbreviated Name of Proceedings or Collection in Title Case and Italics, (location is optional), year published. [Online.] doi: or Available: URL

[1] S. Herculano-Houzel, C. E. Collins, P. Wong, J. H. Kass, and R. Lent, “The basic nonuniformity of the cerebral cortex,” in Proc. of the Natl. Acad. of Sci. of the USA, 2008. [Online]. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0805417105

[#] A. A. Author, B. B. Author, and C. C. Author, “Title of chapter in sentence case,” in Abbreviated Name of Proceedings or Collection in Title Case and Italics, (location is optional), year, pp. starting page of chapter–ending page of chapter.

[2] I. Katz, K. Gabayan, and H. Aghajan, “A multi-touch surface using multiple cameras,” in Adv. Conc. for Intell. Vis. Sys.: 9th Intl. Conf., 2007, pp. 133–203.

Paper Presented at Conference

Unpublished

[#] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, “Title of paper in sentence case,” presented at Abbreviated Name of Conference, Location of Conference, Month and day, year.

[3] K. Kirby and J. Stratton, “Van Allen probes: Successful launch campaign and early operations exploring earth’s radiation belts,” presented at the IEEE Aerosp. Conf., Big Sky, MT, USA, Mar. 2, 2013.

Data Set

Published

[#] A. A. Author, Title of Data Set in Title Case, year published. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] R. Suro, Changing Channels and Crisscrossing Culture: A Survey of Latinos on News Media, 2004. [Online]. Available: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2004/04/19/changing-channels-and-crisscrossing-cultures/

Database

Published

[#] Name of Database. Object name xxxxxxx. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL. Accessed Abbreviated Month and day, year.

[2] NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database. Object name IRAS F00400+4059. [Online]. Available: http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/. Accessed Dec. 10, 2012. 

[#] “Title of entry in sentence case,” Title of Reference Work in Title Case and Italics. Accessed date. [Online]. Available: URL

[1] “Metamorphosis,” Merriam-Webster. Accessed July 6, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metamorphosis

[#] Name of Directive in Title Case and Italics, document identification number, Name of Issuing Organization, Place of Publication, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] The Defense Acquisition System, DoD Directive 5000.1, Under Secretary of Defense (AT&L), Washington, DC, USA, 2003. [Online]. Available: http://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/
DD/issuances/dodm/857001m.pdf

[#] Name of Instruction in Title Case and Italics, document identification number, Name of Issuing Organization, Place of Publication, year.

[2] Identification (ID) Cards Required by the Geneva Convention, DoD Instruction 1000.01, Department of Defense, Washington, DC, USA, 2012.

Joint Doctrine

[#] Title of Joint Doctrine in Title Case and Italics, document identification number, Department, Place of Publication, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States, JP-1, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, DC, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/jp1.pdf

[#] Department or Company, Title of fact sheet in sentence case and italics, document identification number, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] Texas Instruments, LM555 timer, SNAS548D, 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm555.pdf

FIELD MANUAL

• Use this format for military regulations.

[1] Sniper Training, FM 23-10, Department of the Army, Washington, DC, USA, 1995. [Online]. Available: http://www.bits.de/NRANEU/others/amd-us-archive/fm_23-10%2894%29.pdf

[1] Transmission Systems for Potatoes, 168th ed., Western Spud Co., Kinston-Slalom, ID, USA, 1972. [Online]. Available: http://www.spud.org/potato/transmission/grease.html

[2] Transmission Systems for Communications, 3rd ed., Western Electric Co., Winston-Salem, NC, USA, 1985, pp. 44–60.

Journal Article (online)

With Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

DOI preferred

[#] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, “Title of article in sentence case,” Abbreviated Title of Journal in Title Case and Italics, vol. xxx, no. xxx, pp. starting page of article–ending page of article, Abbreviated Month and year published. [Online]. doi:

[1]: G. Sanico and M. Kakinaka, “Terrorism and deterrence policy with transnational support,” Def. & Peace Econ., vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 153–167, Apr. 2008. [Online]. doi:10.1080/10242690701505419

Journal Article (online)

From a subscription database

[2] W. W. Newmann, “Reorganizing for national security and homeland security,” Pub. Admin. Rev., vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 126–137, Sep. 2002. [Online]. Available: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1540-6210.62.s1.22/abstract

Journal Article (online)

From an online journal

[3] N. Catrantzos, “No dark corners: A different answer to insider threats,” Homeland Sec. Aff., vol. 6, no. 2, May 2010. [Online]. Available: https://www.hsaj.org/articles/83

Journal Article (print)

[#] A. A. Author and B. B. Author, “Title of article in sentence case,” Abbreviated Title of Journal in Title Case and Italics, vol. xxx, no. xxx, pp. starting page of article–ending page of article, Abbreviated Month and day published, year.

[4] W. Q. Wang and H. Shao, “High altitude platform multichannel SAR for wide-area and staring imaging,” Aerosp. and Electron. Syst., vol. 29, no. 25, pp. 12–17, Mar. 26, 2014.

Legislative Document

[#] Legislative body. xxx Congress, Session. (year, Abbreviated Month and day). Number of Bill or Resolution, Title of document in Title Case and Italics. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] U.S. House. 102nd Congress, 1st Session. (1991, Jan. 11). H. Con. Res. 1, Sense of the Congress on Approval of Military Action. [Online]. Available: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:H.CON.RES.1.IH

Public Law 

Published in the U.S. Statutes at Large

[#] Title of Act in Title Case, Public Law number, Stat. section. Year published. doi: or [Online]. Available: URL

[2] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101–336 § 2, 104 Stat. 328. 1991. [Online]. Available: http://library.clerk.house.gov/reference-files/PPL_101_336_
AmericansWithDisabilities.pdf

Public Law

Published in the U.S. Code

[#] Title of Act in Title Case, U.S.C. section xxx. Year published. 

[3] Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101. 1991.

[#] Google. “Title of map in sentence case.” [Online]. Available: URL. Accessed Month and day, year.

[1] Google. “Monterey Bay.” [Online]. Available:
https://www.google.com/maps/
place/Monterey+Bay/@36.7896106,-122.0843052,11z/data=
!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x808e0ccfc5859dfd:0x124654a608855d43!8m2!3d36.8007413!4d-121.947311. Accessed Jul. 6, 2017.

[#] A. A. Author, "Title of memorandum in sentence case,"  official memorandum, Name of Issuing Organization, Place of Publication, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] T. M. Takai, "Adoption of the national information exchange model within the Department of Defense," official memorandum, Department of Defense, Washington, DC, USA, 2013. [Online]. Available: http://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/2013-03-28%20Adoption%20of%20the%20NIEM%20within%20the%20DoD.pdf

Newspaper Article (online)

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of article in sentence case,” Title of Newspaper in Title Case and Italics, Abbreviated Month and day, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] L. Linguine, “Animal fat shampoos for achieving angel hair,” Knife and Spork Semi-Weekly, Jul. 15, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.chickenyodeling.com/dfjgp98y4t34_pherg899h.html/

Newspaper Article (print)

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of article in sentence case,” Title of Newspaper in Title Case and Italics, Abbreviated Month and day, year.

[2] J. Stulberg, “The art of creating crossword puzzles,” The New York Times, Jul. 15, 2016.

PATENT 

• If more than one date, use the year of issuance.

[#] A. A. Rightsholder, “Title of patent in sentence case,” U.S. Patent xxxxxxx, Abbreviated Month and day of issuance, year of issuance. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] A. G. Bell, “Improvement in telegraphy,” U.S. Patent 174465, Mar. 7, 1876. [Online]. Available: https://www.google.com/patents/US174465

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION, INTERVIEW, EMAIL

• Personal communication is material obtained directly from a person, organization, or other source that your typical readers will be unable to access.
   
• A source should be cited as a personal communication when there is no direct, reliable path for your readers to retrieve the information. Examples include phone calls, conversations, letters, emails, files attached to an email (presentation slides, data sets, internal documents), documents posted to a listserv or internal server, or any unpublished source to which your readers have no access.

[#] A. A. Interlocutor, private communication or interview or email, Abbreviated Month of communication year.

[1] R. Ajanlekoko, private communication, Sep. 2009.

[2] L. Chukwuemeka, interview, Sep. 2009.

[3] J. Jojo, email, Sep. 2009.

REPORT

• An official report is freestanding and should have publisher and/or copyright information. If it is not freestanding, then format it as a webpage.

Technical Report (online)

With author

[#] A. A. Author. “Title of technical report in sentence case,” Abbrev. Name of Company, Place of Publication, Rep. xxxxxxx, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] S. V. Effendi and X. Vilhjálmsson. “The absorption rate of potatoes in salmonella,” Vet. Stud., Madison, WI, USA, Rep. 17-59, 2009. [Online]. Available: https://vetstud/donteatthosefries.html

Technical Report (online)

With agency as publisher

[#] Agency Name, “Title of technical report in sentence case,” Place of Publication, Rep. xxxxxxx, year. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[2] National Toxicology Program, “Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (CASRN 15625-89-5) in F344/N rats and B6C3F1/N mice (Topical Application Studies),” Washington, DC, USA, Rep. TR-576, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/results/pubs/longterm/reports/longterm/tr500580
?/listedreports/tr576/index.html

Technical Report (print)

[#] A. A. Author. “Title of technical report in sentence case,” Abbrev. name of company, Place of Publication, Rep. xxxxxxx, year.

[3] K. A. Abdulatipov and F. Ramazonov. “The absorption rate of E. coli in cats,” Vet. Stud., Madison, WI, USA, Rep. 17-59, 2012.

Think Tank Report / White Paper

List of Think Tanks, U.S. and Globally 

SECONDARY SOURCE

• Only use secondary sources when the primary source is unavailable. How to cite secondary sources.

[#] List the secondary source that quotes or discusses the material you are referring to (cite using the appropriate format for the source type—book, journal article, etc.)

In your text: See example.

[1] I. A. M. Nicholson, Inventing Personality: Gordon Allport and the Science of Selfhood. Washington, DC, USA: American Psychological Association, 2003.

In your text: We can see this principle at work in the following passage from Allport’s diary, quoted in [1].

Thesis / Dissertation

From an institutional archive such as the NPS Archive: Calhoun

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of thesis/dissertation in sentence case,” M.S. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation, Abbreviated Department, Abbreviated Institution, Location of Institution, year published. [Online]. doi: or Available: URL

[1] T. D. Moon, “Rising dragon: Infrastructure development and Chinese influence in Vietnam,” M.S. thesis, Dept. of Natl. Sec. Aff., NPS, Monterey, CA, USA, 2009. [Online]. Available: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4694

Thesis / Dissertation (print)

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of thesis/dissertation in sentence case,” M.S. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation, Abbreviated Department, Abbreviated Institution, Location of Institution, year published. 

[2] J. Rivera, “Software system architecture modeling methodology for naval gun weapon systems,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. of Comp. Sci., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, USA, 2010.

[#] A. A. Author, “Title of article in sentence case,” unpublished.

[1] R. Briscoe, “Egocentric spatial representation in action and perception,” unpublished.

• Title of website rarely includes ".com"—for example, BBC online is "BBC," not "BBC.com."
   
• Italicize newspaper names, not names of news organizations—for example, The New York Times, not Reuters or CNN.

Webpage

Author and publication date given

[#] A. A. Author, “Title, section, or page name in sentence case,” Name of Website in Title Case, full date of publication or modification. [Online]. Available: URL

[1] R. Roth, “75 years ago, the Doolittle Raid changed history,” CNN, April 18, 2017. [Online]. Available: http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/us/75th-anniversary-doolittle-raid/index.html

Webpage

No author given

Organization as author

[#] Name of Website in Title Case. “Title, section, or page name in sentence case,” full date of publication or modification. [Online]. Available: URL

[2] Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Forging papers to sell fake art,” April 6, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/forging-papers-to-sell-fake-art

Webpage

No author or date given

[#] Name of Website in Title Case. “Title, section, or page name in sentence case.” Accessed date. [Online]. Available: URL

[3] Department of Defense. “About the Department of Defense (DoD).” Accessed April 18, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.defense.gov/About/

Webpage

Jane's example

[#] “Title, section, or page name in sentence case,” Jane’s by IHS Markit, Full date of publication or modification. [Online]. Available: URL

[4] “Mali: Executive summary,” Jane’s by IHS Markit, May 31, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://janes.ihs.com.libproxy.nps.edu/NorthAfrica/Display/1303746

WIKIPEDIA

• Wikipedia is not normally an accepted source in academia; please ask your instructor or advisor.

[#] “Title of entry in sentence case,” Wikipedia in Italics. Accessed date. [Online]. Available: URL

[1] “Psychology,” Wikipedia. Accessed May 17, 2011. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology