Most, but not always all, of the academic writing you'll be doing in college requires a documentation style. Sometimes, such as in the early assignments in this class, students do not have to cite their sources because they are common sources used by all students. This was the case for the Whitman/Dickinson, Wilde, and Joyce short essays in this class. You did not have to supply page numbers and a "Works Cited" page, because the source or sources was limited and already known by all students and the professor.
In a perfect world, there would be a singular documentation style. But this world isn't perfect, so different disciplines use different systems. While they are all similar in that their main purpose is to verify the accuracy of textual citation, they are slightly different.
Art History as a discipline is wedded to Chicago style (sometimes referred to by its famous editor, Kate Turabian). English and the humanities almost always prefers MLA style (Modern Language Association), and social scientists use a form called APA style. Just to make it more confusing, journalists use something called AP (Associated Press) style.
You might think that it's all basically the same and it doesn't really matter. You would be wrong to think this. It shows a lack of attention to basic detail. The same is true of a paper with blended documentation styles. Find out which system is required and follow it.
Art History = Chicago
Literature/Humanities = MLA
When in doubt, ask your professor.
This brief essay gives a more detailed description of their differences and also provides some useful links.
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