Citation styles
There are many different guides and styles for citing both printed and electronic sources. This is why there can be no one definitive way to cite a particular source. Remember to check what practice is used in your department. A citation usually includes at least the author(s), date of publication and pages. Most importantly: be systematic!
The styles used in the examples are APA 7th and Chicago 18th. More:
APA:
- Official style guide:
- Blog & quick guide: .
Chicago:
- Official style guide:
- Quick guide: .
Standard format:
(Kaukua, 2015)
Add page numbers if citing a specific part of the source. You can also cite specific chapters, tables etc.
(Tenhunen & Säävälä, 2012, p. 147)
(Atkins & de Paula, 2014, Chapter 3)
If there are three authors or more cite "first author et al.", unless it would create the same citation for multiple sources. In that case, list as many authors as needed to avoid ambiguity. Note that "et al." can't be used to replace just one name.
(Swarr et al., 2011, p. 64)
(Virtanen, Lahtinen, Koskinen, & Nieminen, 2024)
(Virtanen, Lahtinen, Koskinen, & Saarinen, 2024)
If your references have multiple first authors with the same surname, add initials to the in-text citations for clarity. This is done even if the other authors and dates are completely different.
(A.I. Virtanen, 1935)
(B. Virtanen et al., 2005)
For references with the same author/group of authors and date, separate them by including lowercase letters (a,b...) after the year in the alphabetical order of the titles.
(Virtanen, 2024a; Virtanen, 2024b)
For translated works, add both the original publication year and the year of the translation (note! this rule seems to be quite often ignored).
(Bourdieu, 1996/2011, pp. 34–35)
The author can also be an organization. If the author is not mentioned in the publication, the citation in text is the beginning of the title in italics. If there is no publication date, use the notation "n.d."
(Google, 2021)
(Apple tax, 2016)
(Student Union of the Ģֱ, n.d.)
1-20 authors (list all the authors):
Kaukua, J. (2015). Self-awareness in Islamic philosophy: Avicenna and beyond. Cambridge University Press.
Tenhunen, S., & Säävälä, M. (2012). Introduction to India: Culture, politics and development. Anthem Press.
Swarr, T., Hunkeler, D., Klöppfer, W., Pesonen, H.-L., Ciroth, A., Brent, A., & Pagan, R. (2011). Environmental life-cycle costing: A code of practice. SETAC Press.
21+ authors (list 19 authors from the start and the last one):
Viskari, J., Kokko, J., Torpo, L., Kunelius, A.-S., Santtila, M., Kyröläinen, H., llomäki, J., Luomi, A. M., Kivelä, J., Lipponen, H., Hyyppä, O., Välimetsä, P., Huhtala, P., Suihkonen, M., Puustinen, J., Kurkela, M., Nykänen, T., Räsänen, S., lsola, V., . . . Pihlainen, K. (2015). Liikuntakoulutuksen käsikirja 2015. Pääesikunta, Koulutusosasto.
E-books in reference lists and bibliographies are usually cited exactly as printed books. If the e-book has a doi, add it to the reference.
Atkins, P., & de Paula, J. (2014). Atkins' physical chemistry (10th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2011). On television (P. Parkhurst Ferguson, Trans.). Polity. (Original work published 1996)
Mikkonen, S., & Suutari, P. (Eds.). (2016). Music, art and diplomacy: East-West cultural interactions and the Cold War. Ashgate.
Kärnä, E. (2015). Implementing strategy means changes for employees. In F. E. P. Dievernich, K. O. Tokarski, & J. Gong (Eds.), Change management and the human factor: Advances, challenges and contradictions in organizational development (pp. 109–127). Springer International Publishing.
Agbese, M., Halme, E., Mohanani, R., & Abrahamsson, P. (2024). Towards a business case for AI ethics. In S. Hyrynsalmi, J. Münch, K. Smolander & J. Melegati (Eds.), Software Business : 14th International Conference, ICSOB 2023, Lahti, Finland, November 27–29, 2023, Proceedings (pp. 231–246). Springer.
Virtanen, A. (2016). Insights into the agency, positioning and development of professional Finnish language skills of international nursing students. Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies, 10(2), 63–81.
Carlson, E., Wilson, J., Baltazar, M., Duman, D., Peltola, H.-R., Toiviainen, P., & Saarikallio, S. (2021). The role of music in everyday life during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic: A mixed-methods exploratory study. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 647756.
Croucher, S., & Kramer, E. (2016). Cultural fusion theory : An alternative to acculturation. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. Advance online publication.
Dobbs, D. (2016, September). A cure in sight. National Geographic, 230(3), 30–53.
Brulliard, K. (2016, September 7). Breaking North American birdwatching’s toughest record. The Washington Post, A3.
Arentshorst, H. (2015). Review of the book Freedom’s right. The social foundations of democratic life, by A. Honneth, trans. J. Ganahl. Journal of Social Ontology 1(1), 167–170.
Salokas, T.-P. (2021). Ainutlaatuinen esitys antiikin Rooman satamakaupungista. [Review of the book Ostia, portti Roomaan, by A. Karivieri & M. Meriluoto, Eds.]. Historiallinen aikakauskirja, 119(1), 120–121.
Savolainen, P. (2001). Finding a right way to communicate: Evaluation of communication practices in a multicultural project [Master's thesis, Ģֱ]. JYX Digital Repository.
Böckerman, P., Laine, L. T., Nurminen, M., & Saxell, T. (2020). Information integration, coordination failures, and quality of prescribing (IZA Discussion Papers 13926). IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
European Social Survey, & Ervasti, H. (2015). European social survey 2014: Finnish data (Version 1.0) [Dataset]. Finnish Social Science Data Archive.
Google. (2024, September 16). Google privacy policy.
Apple tax: Irish cabinet to appeal EU Commission ruling. (2016, September 2). BBC News.
Some webpages are meant to be updated. If the previous versions are archived, as in the case of Wikipedia articles, reference the exact version (link from "View history"):
World Wide Web (2025, March 25). Wikipedia.
If the webpage is designed to be updated, and the previous versions are not archived, add a retrieval date.
Student Union of the Ģֱ. (n.d.). Administration. Retrieved 26 March, 2025, from
Häkkinen, T. (2016, January 20). Parliament and the Gulf War in 1991. The History of Parliament.
Sloan, B., & Pelling, J. [Don't Hug me I'm Scared]. (2016, June 19). Don't hug me I'm scared 6 [Video]. YouTube.
ProQuestRefworks. (2013, January 8). RefWorks Write-N-Cite 4: Installing & logging in [Video]. YouTube.
CoE GameCult. (2021, April 29). Monstrosity 21 Keynote: Aino-Kaisa Koistinen [Video]. YouTube.
Credit the channel that uploaded the video as the author. If the people responsible for all the content of the channel are known, you can use their names, and add the channel name in square brackets. If the speaker in the video is not listed as the author, you can credit them in the text narration: “Koistinen describes how it feels to write with a cat on your lap (CoE GameCult, 2021).”
Podcast series:
Ripley, B. & Ward, S. (Hosts). (2023–2024). Seven deadly psychologies [Audio podcast]. BBC.
Podcast episode:
Browne, R. (Host). (2024). Can comedy help you survive the dark Finnish winter? [Audio podcast episode]. All Points North. Yle.
Colbert, S. [@StephenAtHome]. (2016, April 28). Who is David Tennant? Yes. And vice versa. #LSSC. VIDEO: ? [Post]. X.
Ihalainen, P. (2023, May 17). Representative democracy as a contested concept: Parliaments after the French, Russian and digital revolutions [Guest lecture]. 14th Gerald Stourzh Lecture on the History of Human Rights and Democracy, University of Vienna, Austria.
Saresma, T. (2022, August 25). Migration and diversity narratives: an intersectional approach [Webinar]. Ģֱ; FORTHEM.
Recordings and lecture material on closed course platforms, e.g. Moodle: You can cite them as above when you are writing a text for course work. Your readers will be the teachers and students on course, and they have access to the same sources. If you are writing a text that is going to be published for a wider audience, cite these materials only in text as “personal correspondence”, and don't add them to the reference list.
Citations in Chicago style can be either notes or author-date-citations. This guide uses the author-date-system. Bibliographic citations use the same elements whether using notes or author-date-citations, but the order is somewhat different.
Basic author-date-citation:
(Kaukua 2015)
Add page numbers if citing a specific part of the source. You can also cite a chapter, table etc.
(Tenhunen and Säävälä 2012, 147)
(Atkins and de Paula 2014, chapter 3)
If there are three authors or more cite "first author et al.", unless it would create the same citation for multiple sources. In that case, list as many authors as needed to avoid ambiguity.
(Swarr et al. 2011, 64)
(Virtanen, Lahtinen, Koskinen, and Nieminen 2024)
(Virtanen, Lahtinen, Koskinen, and Saarinen 2024)
If the sources have different first author with the same last name, add their initials to the citation.
(A.I. Virtanen 1935)
(B. Virtanen et al. 2005)
Works by the same other in the same year are separated in the alphabetical order of the titles a,b,...
(Virtanen 2024a; Virtanen 2024b)
The author can also be an organization. If the author is not mentioned in the publication, the citation in text uses a short form of the title. If there is no publication date, use the notation "n.d." separated from the author by a comma.
(Google 2024)
("Apple tax" 2016)
(Student Union of the Ģֱ, n.d.)
Newspaper articles, websites and social media posts can also be cited in the running text, e.g.
'In the article "Breaking North American Birdwatching’s Toughest Record" published September 7th in The Washington Post . . .'
'In a tweet posted to @StephenAtHome on April 28, 2016, . . .'
In this case the source is not added to the bibliography.
1-6 authors (list all authors):
Kaukua, Jari. 2015. Self-Awareness in Islamic Philosophy: Avicenna and Beyond. Cambridge University Press.
Tenhunen, Sirpa, and Minna Säävälä. 2012. Introduction to India: Culture, Politics and Development. Anthem Press.
7+ authors (list three first et al.):
Swarr, Thomas, David Hunkeler, Walter Klöppfer et al. 2011. Environmental Life-Cycle Costing: A Code of Practice. SETAC Press.
E-books use the same notation to printed books, if the have a fixed layout. E-books with a format that adjust to a reader should mention the format. If the used e-book has a DOI or is freely available online add the URL.
Tenhunen, Sirpa, and Minna Säävälä. 2012. Introduction to India: Culture, Politics and Development. Anthem Press. EPUB.
Kaukua, Jari. 2015. Self-Awareness in Islamic Philosophy: Avicenna and Beyond. Cambridge University Press.
.
Atkins, Peter, and Julio de Paula. 2014. Atkins' Physical Chemistry. 10th ed. Oxford University Press.
Bourdieu, Pierre. 2011. On Television. Translated by Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson. Polity.
Mikkonen, Simo, and Pekka Suutari, eds. 2016. Music, Art and Diplomacy: East-West Cultural Interactions and the Cold War. Ashgate.
Kärnä, Eija. 2015. "Implementing Strategy Means Changes for Employees." In Change Management and the Human Factor: Advances, Challenges and Contradictions in Organizational Development, edited by Frank E. P. Dievernich, Kim Oliver Tokarski, and Jie Gong. Springer. .
Agbese, Mamia, Erika Halme, Rahul Mohanani, and Pekka Abrahamsson. 2024. "Towards a Business Case for AI Ethics." Teoksessa Software Business : 14th International Conference, ICSOB 2023, Lahti, Finland, November 27–29, 2023, Proceedings, edited by Sami Hyrynsalmi, Jürgen Münch, Kari Smolander ja Jorge Melegati. Springer.
Chicago 18th no longer uses page numbers for book chapters. If you need to use them, add the after the editors as in previous editions.
Kärnä, Eija. 2015. "Implementing Strategy Means Changes for Employees." In Change Management and the Human Factor: Advances, Challenges and Contradictions in Organizational Development, edited by Frank E. P. Dievernich, Kim Oliver Tokarski, and Jie Gong, 109–27. Springer. .
Virtanen, Aija. 2016. "Insights into the Agency, Positioning and Development of Professional Finnish Language Skills of International Nursing Students." Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies 10 (2): 63–81. .
Carlson, Emily, Johanna Wilson, Margarida Baltazar et al. 2021. ”The Role of Music in Everyday Life During the First Wave of the Coronavirus Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Exploratory Study”. Frontiers in Psychology 12:647756. .
Croucher, Stephen, and Eric Kramer. 2016. "Cultural Fusion Theory : An Alternative to Acculturation." Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. Published ahead of print September 7. .
Journal articles use page numbers or article numbers whenever they can be found in the publication.
Dobbs, David. 2016. "A Cure in Sight." National Geographic, September.
Brulliard, Karin. 2016. "Breaking North American Birdwatching’s Toughest Record." Washington Post, September 7.
Chicago 18th no longer uses page numbers for magazine or newspaper. If you need to use them, add them after the date as in previous editions.
Dobbs, David. 2016. "A Cure in Sight." National Geographic, September 2016, 30–53.
Arentshorst, Hans. 2015. Review of Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life, by Axel Honneth, trans. Joseph Ganahl. Journal of Social Ontology 1 (1): 167–70. .
Salokas, Tuomo-Paavo. 2021. "Ainutlaatuinen esitys antiikin Rooman satamakaupungista." Review of Ostia, portti Roomaan, eds. Arja Karivieri and Marjo Meriluoto. Historiallinen aikakauskirja, 119 (1), 120–21.
Savolainen, Pinja. 2001. "Finding a Right Way to Communicate: Evaluation of Communication Practices in a Multicultural Project." Master's thesis, Ģֱ. .
Pitkänen, Sari, Timo Saarinen, Matti Tuusa, and Henna Harju. 2016. Suorapäätössuosituksia ja kuntoutusohjauksen kehittämistä koskeva arviointitutkimus: Koppi kuntoutuksesta -hankkeen kehittävän arvioinnin loppuraportti. Työpapereita 111. Kela. .
Böckerman, Petri, Liisa T. Laine, Mikko Nurminen, and Tanja Saxell. 2020. "Information Integration, Coordination Failures, and Quality of Prescribing". IZA Discussion Papers 13926. IZA Institute of Labor Economics. .
European Social Survey, and Heikki Ervasti. 2015. "European Social Survey 2014: Finnish Data." Version 1.0, November 17, 2015. Finnish Social Science Data Archive. .
Websites and social media posts can be cited just in the running text, but if needed they can by added to the bibliography. Use the date for publication or last update.
Google. 2016. “Google Privacy Policy.” Updated August 29, 2016. .
"Apple Tax: Irish Cabinet to Appeal EU Commission Ruling." 2016. BBC.com, September 2. .
If the website doesn't have a date of publication or last update, add the access date:
Student Union of the Ģֱ. n.d. "Administration." Accessed June 19, 2025. .
Wikipedia-articles are cited similarly to other websites:
Wikipedia. 2025. "World Wide Web" Updated March 25, 2025. .
Häkkinen, Teemu. 2016. "Parliament and the Gulf War in 1991." The History of Parliament (blog), January 20.
Citations to online videos differ depending on the content. Examples are given for a movie/video art, guide video by an organization and recorded conference presentation.
Sloan, Becky, and Joseph Pelling, dir. 2016. Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 6. June 19, 2016, YouTube, 7:59. .
ProQuestRefworks. 2013. "RefWorks Write-N-Cite 4: Installing & Logging In." January 8, 2013, YouTube, 2:07. .
Koistinen, Aino-Kaisa. 2021. "Monstrosity 21 Keynote: Monstrosity as Playful Practice – Art, Science and Posthuman Knowledge in the ‘Anthropocene’." 17th Annual Tampere University Game Research Lab Spring Seminar April 20-22, 2021. Posted April 29, 2021, YouTube, 20:42. .
Podcast series:
Ripley, Becky, and Sophie Ward, hosts. 2023–2024. Seven Deadly Psychologies (podcast). BBC.
Podcast episode:
Browne, Ronan, host. 2024. All Points North (podcast). "Can comedy help you survive the dark Finnish winter?". Yle, November 21.
Websites and social media posts can be cited just in the running text, but if needed they can by added to the bibliography.
Colbert, Stephen (@StephenAtHome). 2016. "Who is David Tennant? Yes. And vice versa." Twitter (X), April 28. .
Ihalainen, Pasi. 2023. "Representative Democracy as a Contested Concept: Parliaments after the French, Russian and Digital Revolutions." Power Point presentation, 14th Gerald Stourzh Lecture on the History of Human Rights and Democracy, University of Vienna, May 17.
Saresma, Tuija. 2022. "Migration and Diversity Narratives: an Intersectional Approach." Online lecture, Ģֱ; FORTHEM, August 25.
Both the APA and Chicago styles instruct to use common legal referencing practice, which in the United States is based on "The Bluebook" writing guide: All the examples in the APA and Chicago guides are based on the US legal system, so they do not directly translate to those in Finland or other countries.
In Finland, information on citing legal sources can be found, for example, in the writing guidelines of the Lakimies magazine: . Another extensive guideline, which also contains plenty of examples, is the writing instructions of the Police University College: .
The examples below combine APA and Chicago guidelines and Finnish practice. Please note, that when it comes to laws, you usually refer to the current version, and the year of publication is not mentioned. Whereas, there is a publication year for the regulation of the Agency of Education in the second example.
APA:
(ձ쾱äԴǾܲ쾱 404/1961)
ձ쾱äԴǾܲ쾱 404/1961.
(National core curriculum for integration training 2022, 2022)
National Core Curriculum for Integration Training 2022, OPH-649-2022 (2022).
Chicago:
Legal sources are usually cited in running text or in footnotes, and are not listed in the bibliography. The exception are sources that are individual publications. The can be cited like the Opetushallituksen määräys below.
Cite in running text: ձ쾱äԴǾܲ쾱 (404/1961)
(Finnish National Agency for Education 2022)
Finnish National Agency for Education. 2022. National Core Curriculum for Integration Training 2022. Regulation and Guidelines 2022:1a. Finnish National Agency for Education.
What about an image quote? In the you will find instructions on how to use images.
How would I refer to the text created by ChatGPT or another AI tools? or .