LUMS has no house citation style. Its Gad and Birgit Rausing Library publishes no referencing rules of its own: a Style Manuals page links out to APA, MLA, Chicago and CSE guides, and the Library's course guides each link their own set. The style is whatever your course outline or instructor names; APA appears on every list we read.
What LUMS does set, in its plagiarism policy and both 2025–2026 student handbooks, are rules that hold in any style: mark every quotation, cite each borrowing where it happens, list nothing you did not consult, and never invent a citation. EdCitation is not affiliated with Lahore University of Management Sciences; this follows its public documents, checked on 2 October 2026.
EdCitation publishes this guide; near the end, three sources go through its free Cite a source and Verify references, with the results quoted. The HEC's similarity rules are in our guide to referencing and plagiarism rules in Pakistan.
Which citation style does LUMS use?
The one your course sets. LUMS Library (n.d.-b) lists manuals without choosing between them, and each course guide links its own set. We read two Library pages and twelve course guides on 2 October 2026.
| Library page or course guide | Styles it links | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Library, Style Manuals | APA, "MLA 2009", Chicago, CSE | LUMS Library (n.d.-b) |
| Academic Writing (EDU 693) | APA, "MLA 2009", Chicago, CSE | LUMS Library (2026a) |
| Governance System of Pakistan (MGMT-262) | The same four, plus a Harvard generator | LUMS Library (2026c) |
| Writing and Communication (SS 100); Legal Practice I (LAW 280) | OSCOLA and Bluebook first, then APA, Chicago, MLA and a Harvard generator | LUMS Library (2026e, 2026d) |
| Science and engineering: BIO 403/503, EE568, CS 3812 | APA, Harvard, MLA, Bluebook; no Chicago, CSE or IEEE | LUMS Library (2026b, 2025c, 2025b) |
| LUMS Law Journal, for its authors | OSCOLA, in footnotes | Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (n.d.) |
| Any of six styles, from a DOI, ISBN or address | Cite a source, free | EdCitation |
Every APA link goes to Purdue OWL, whose APA guide covers the 7th edition (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-a). No guide we read links IEEE, not even the electrical engineering (EE568) and computer science (CS 3812) guides.
Links that do not lead where they say
On the Style Manuals page, the APA and MLA links open the Purdue OWL home page and the CSE link returns "page not found". The MLA label reads "2009", while the working MLA links on newer guides open OWL's 9th edition guide. On the Experiment Physics Lab-I guide (LUMS Library, 2025a), labels and links have slipped by one: "Harvard Style" opens a Bluebook primer and "NoodleBib" opens Chicago's quick guide.
Students also search for a LUMS writing centre referencing guide. We found none: the Academic Writing guide links to the address of an MGSHSS academic writing lab page, which returned "Page not found" on 2 October 2026.
What are LUMS's own rules for citing sources?
They sit in the LUMS plagiarism policy, Lahore University of Management Sciences (2022), and in the academic dishonesty sections of the handbooks, 25.4 for undergraduates and 19.4 for graduates, which share their wording (Lahore University of Management Sciences, 2025a, 2025b).
| Rule | Where LUMS sets it |
|---|---|
| Cite by your discipline's conventions; finding them out is your job, and your tutor answers doubts | Plagiarism policy |
| Show where a quoted passage comes from by footnote or in-text citation, as well as in the bibliography | Plagiarism policy |
| Put a quotation in quotation marks or indent it, and reference it | Policy; handbooks 25.4.1, 19.4.1 |
| A bibliography entry alone does not cover copied or paraphrased words: cite each instance | Handbooks 25.4.1, 19.4.1 |
| List nothing you did not consult, and nothing your paper does not mention | Policy; handbooks 25.4.4, 19.4.4 |
| Read a work only through another? Say so in the citation | Plagiarism policy |
| Reference material taken from the internet and from lectures | Plagiarism policy |
| Cite your own earlier published work | Plagiarism policy |
| Common knowledge in your discipline needs no citation; when unsure, cite | Policy; Academic Writing guide |
| Fabricating a citation is academic dishonesty | Handbooks 25.4(c), 19.4(c) |
| Note author, title, date, publisher, place and pages as you take notes | Handbooks 25.4.4, 19.4.4 |
| Check that every reference is real before you hand in | Verify references, free |
The footnote examples in the plagiarism policy
The policy's examples are footnotes: the full reference first, "Linebaugh, P., The London Hanged: Crime and Civil Society in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1991), p. 213", then a short form, "Linebaugh, The London Hanged, p. 213". The policy says these follow the system "prescribed by the History Faculty" but should help every discipline, so we read them as a lesson in honest use rather than a LUMS format. EdCitation does not build footnotes; write them from the manual your course names.
Is there a LUMS thesis format for references?
Not a public one that names a style. The graduate handbook says an MS Economics thesis must follow "the approved thesis format of the MGSHSS" (Lahore University of Management Sciences, 2025a), but we found that format on no public page, so ask your supervisor for it, and for the style, at the start.
The Library's Academic Writing guide offers similarity reports and plagiarism certificates under the HEC policy, and asks for the complete thesis plus the text of its findings, conclusion and recommendations (LUMS Library, 2026a).
Law is the one place where a LUMS page names a style outright: the LUMS Law Journal asks its authors for OSCOLA footnotes, Times New Roman 12 and double spacing, with word limits that leave footnotes out (Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, n.d.). That is a journal's rule, not a coursework rule, though the law course guides list OSCOLA first too.
What does an APA 7 reference list look like for a LUMS paper?
It follows the Purdue OWL guide the Library links. Two authors are joined by "and" in a sentence and "&" in brackets, and three or more take et al. from the first citation (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-b). The list names up to 20 authors, puts article titles in sentence case and journal titles in headline capitals, and is double spaced with half-inch hanging indents (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-d). The journal and volume are italic, the issue follows in brackets, then the pages and the DOI as a link (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-c). An organisation's web page drops the site name when it repeats the author; an undated page takes n.d. (Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.-e).
Three real sources an economics or policy student might use, first in the text:
La Porta and Shleifer (2014) argue that informality grows out of poverty and that growth comes from formal firms. The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has run its Labour Force Survey since 1963 and has added questions on informality and gig work (Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, 2023). For Pakistan, adding inflation expectations improved inflation forecasts at 6- and 12-month horizons, though not at 3 months (Hussain & Hayat, 2016).
Then under "References":
Hussain, F., & Hayat, Z. (2016). Do inflation expectations matter for inflation forecastability: Evidence from Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 55(3), 211–225. https://doi.org/10.30541/v55i3pp.211-225
La Porta, R., & Shleifer, A. (2014). Informality and development. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.28.3.109
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. (2023, December 6). Labour force statistics. https://www.pbs.gov.pk/labour-force-statistics/
The Bureau's page prints no date; 6 December 2023 is the publication date held in its code. If your instructor accepts only dates a reader can see, write (n.d.).
Which EdCitation style is closest, and what do you change by hand?
EdCitation's APA 7 follows the OWL pattern; the changes below are the ones our runs on 2 October 2026 pointed to. Cite a source builds six styles: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. It does not build CSE, OSCOLA, Bluebook or footnotes.
| A LUMS guide links | Start in EdCitation's | Then by hand |
|---|---|---|
| APA, Purdue OWL's 7th edition | APA 7 | Add a volume and issue the record lacks; enter an agency as a web page's author; check surnames with particles, such as La Porta |
| MLA, labelled "2009" | MLA 9 | Ask which edition your instructor marks; EdCitation builds the 9th only |
| Chicago's quick guide | Chicago 18 author-date | Notes and bibliography, and footnotes like the policy's, are written by hand |
| Harvard, a generator link | Harvard, from Cite Them Right | LUMS states no Harvard rules: ask for an example to copy |
| IEEE, on no LUMS list | IEEE | Use it only when an outline asks for it |
| CSE, OSCOLA, Bluebook | Not built | Write them from the manual linked |
Our guide to names in references across cultures covers particles and Pakistani names.
What did Cite a source and Verify references return?
EdCitation is the right place to start a LUMS reference list because it looks every reference up and never writes one: both handbooks count fabricating a citation as academic dishonesty, and a chatbot's reference shows no record behind it. Cite a source builds each entry from the publisher's record (a DOI, title, PubMed ID, ISBN or web address) in six styles and screens the source for retraction; a web page's details can be corrected first. It is free, with no account. EdCitation never writes any part of a student's paper: it finds, cites and checks sources, and every sentence stays the student's own.
Cite a source on three sources
For DOI 10.1257/jep.28.3.109, APA returned La Porta and Shleifer's entry exactly as above; no source was reported retracted. For 10.30541/v55i3pp.211-225, from The Pakistan Development Review, it returned:
Hussain, F., & Hayat, Z. (2016). Do inflation expectations matter for inflation forecastability: Evidence from Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 211–225. https://doi.org/10.30541/v55i3pp.211-225
The publisher's record holds no volume or issue, so the entry has none. The article's first page prints "55:3"; add 55(3) after the journal's name.
For https://www.pbs.gov.pk/labour-force-statistics/, the details read from the page named no author:
Labour force statistics. (2023, December 6). Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. https://www.pbs.gov.pk/labour-force-statistics/
With the Bureau entered as the author in the form, it became the entry above, the site name dropped as OWL's rule asks. On the Bureau's census page, the entry came back with https://dev.pbs.gov.pk/census/, the address that page gives itself in its code, which does not load; we typed the browser's address into the form. Check the address in every web entry.
Verify references on a short list
We pasted eight entries into Verify references in three short runs. Among the answers:
- La Porta and Shleifer, and Hussain and Hayat, with DOIs: verified, "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
- Both Bureau pages: verified, "The page is at this address, and its title matches."
- Hussain and Hayat dated 2017: "check this", "The work was published in 2016, not 2017; the record has no date in 2017."
- La Porta and Shleifer listed again as "Porta, R. L.": "check this", "This is the same work as entry 1. A reference list gives each work once." Run alone, though, "Porta, R. L." came back verified, the misplaced particle unflagged: check such surnames yourself.
With the whole paper uploaded, Verify references also matches every in-text citation to the list and every entry back to the text, catching the uncited sources the handbooks rule out. References from a file, in Pro at $8 a month, keeps each paper in My papers so the next check shows what you fixed; Theoretics QA, in Max at $24 a month, judges a paper against its own assignment and rewrites nothing (see pricing).
How do you build a LUMS reference list, step by step?
- Find the style in the course outline, or ask; EdCitation's free Check your paper reads the instructions into a checklist, citation style included, each rule beside the sentence it came from.
- While reading, note the details the handbooks list, and save sources to a free EdCitation account, whose list downloads as RIS or as BibTeX, the format JabRef uses (LUMS Library, n.d.-a).
- Build each entry in Cite a source from its DOI, ISBN or address, in the style set.
- Make the changes in the table above, correcting a web page's author and address in the form.
- Put every quotation in quotation marks or indent it, and cite each borrowing where it happens.
- Paste the list into Verify references, settle every "check this", and delete any entry your paper never cites.
Quick questions
Does LUMS use APA or Harvard referencing?
Neither is required across LUMS. APA appears on every Library list we read, Harvard only as a generator link on some course guides; the course outline or instructor decides.
Is there a LUMS writing centre guide to referencing?
We found none. The Academic Writing guide links to an MGSHSS academic writing lab page that no longer loads; the Library's guides and the plagiarism policy are the official sources.
Which citation style do LUMS law courses use?
The law course guides list OSCOLA and Bluebook first, and the LUMS Law Journal requires OSCOLA footnotes. EdCitation builds neither; write them from the manual.
What does the LUMS plagiarism policy say about references?
Cite by your discipline's conventions, show the source of each quotation by footnote or in-text citation, list only works you consulted, and say when you read a work through another.
Can EdCitation write my LUMS references or paper?
It never writes any part of a paper. EdCitation's Cite a source builds each reference from the publisher's record and Verify references checks the list; every sentence you hand in is yours.
References
- Hussain, F., & Hayat, Z. (2016). Do inflation expectations matter for inflation forecastability: Evidence from Pakistan. The Pakistan Development Review, 55(3), 211–225. https://doi.org/10.30541/v55i3pp.211-225
- Lahore University of Management Sciences. (2022). LUMS plagiarism policy [PDF]. https://orientation.lums.edu.pk/lums_plagiarism_policy_2022.pdf
- Lahore University of Management Sciences. (2025a). Graduate student handbook 2025–2026 [PDF]. https://sbasse.lums.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2025-08/Graduate%20Student%20Handbook%202025-2026.pdf
- Lahore University of Management Sciences. (2025b). Undergraduate student handbook 2025–2026 [PDF]. https://sbasse.lums.edu.pk/sites/default/files/2025-10/Undergraduate%20Student%20Handbook%202025-2026.pdf
- La Porta, R., & Shleifer, A. (2014). Informality and development. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.28.3.109
- LUMS Library. (n.d.-a). Citation tools. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://library.lums.edu.pk/citation-tools-library
- LUMS Library. (n.d.-b). Style manuals. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://library.lums.edu.pk/style-manuals-library
- LUMS Library. (2025a). Experiment Physics Lab-I: Citing source & style manuals [Library guide]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=706419&p=5016445
- LUMS Library. (2025b). Introduction to blockchain technologies and applications: Citing source & style manuals [Library guide, CS 3812]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=948965&p=6878691
- LUMS Library. (2025c). Remote sensing of the environment: Citing source & style manuals [Library guide, EE568]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=957645&p=6950001
- LUMS Library. (2026a). Academic writing [Library guide, EDU 693]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/aw
- LUMS Library. (2026b). Critical thinking, scientific writing and ethics: Citing source & style manuals [Library guide, BIO 403/503]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=986338&p=7193240
- LUMS Library. (2026c). Governance system of Pakistan: Citing sources [Library guide, MGMT-262]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=963074&p=6995150
- LUMS Library. (2026d). Legal practice I: Legal writing & research methods: Citation management [Library guide, LAW 280]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=979287&p=7130715
- LUMS Library. (2026e). Writing and communication: Citing sources [Library guide, SS 100]. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://libguides.lums.edu.pk/c.php?g=974738&p=7097661
- Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. (2023, December 6). Labour force statistics. https://www.pbs.gov.pk/labour-force-statistics/
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-a). APA formatting and style guide (7th edition). Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/index.html
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-b). In-text citations: Author/authors. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-c). Reference list: Articles in periodicals. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_articles_in_periodicals.html
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-d). Reference list: Basic rules. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_basic_rules.html
- Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.-e). Reference list: Electronic sources. Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
- Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law. (n.d.). LUMS Law Journal. Lahore University of Management Sciences. https://sahsol.lums.edu.pk/law-journal