McGill University has no single citation style. McGill Library's Citation Style Guide answers "Which style should I use?" with the course outline or the journal's instructions first, then names five styles by field: APA, Chicago, MLA, Vancouver and IEEE. Law students cite with the McGill Guide, a legal style that is not APA at all.
EdCitation is not affiliated with McGill University; this follows its public library guide, checked on 2 October 2026. Every McGill rule below was read that day on the Library's pages and in its printable QuickGuides. EdCitation publishes this guide, and its last sections quote what the free Cite a source and Verify references returned on McGill's own examples, faults included. For other Canadian campuses, see referencing at Canadian universities.
Which citation style does McGill University use?
The one your course outline names. Where the outline is silent, McGill Library (2026e) gives each style a home, and its subject guides add detail:
| Style | Where McGill's pages say it is used | Page |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Social sciences, health, "some arts & science disciplines"; the Ingram School of Nursing; music education and performance sciences | Citation styles; Nursing guide; Music guide |
| Chicago 18 | The humanities, "especially in history and art history"; history usually in notes and bibliography; musicology and music theory | Citation styles; Canadian History guide; Music guide |
| MLA 9 | The humanities, especially literary disciplines; social sciences and language studies in music | MLA page; Music guide |
| Vancouver (ICMJE) | Health and biomedical sciences | Vancouver page |
| IEEE | Engineering, computer science, physics and technology; music technology and sound engineering | IEEE page; Music guide |
| McGill Guide | Law | Subject-specific resources; law Reference sources |
| ACS, ASA, SAA, Physical Review | Chemistry, sociology, archaeology, physics | Subject-specific resources |
| APA 7, MLA 9, Vancouver, IEEE or Chicago author-date, built from a DOI or address | Any subject that sets one | Cite a source, free |
The French literature department (DLLF) has its own Guide de présentation des travaux, and East Asian studies is pointed to Yale's guide for Chinese, Japanese and Korean sources (McGill Library, 2026j).
Where McGill's pages disagree
The Library's Writing Resources guide, which serves McGill Writing Centre courses, puts APA in "social sciences, education, engineering and business" and Chicago in music (McGill Library, 2025f), while the main guide gives engineering to IEEE. The Music guide splits music four ways by discipline (McGill Library, 2026h). None of these overrides your course outline.
McGill Guide vs APA: what is the difference?
The McGill Guide is the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, a footnote style for legal sources, while APA is an author-date style for the social sciences. McGill Law Journal (n.d.) says its editors released the first edition in 1986, that a new edition appears every four years, and that the 10th edition came out in June 2023, published by Thomson/Carswell, with an online version on WestlawNext Canada. The journal's Citations Committee holds office hours for McGill students, with questions on English and French citation welcome.
The law library describes the guide as bilingual and bijuridical, lists the 10th edition in print and online, and sets beside it the free 2024 Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide, COAL-RJAL, and Lluelles's Quebec guide (McGill Library, 2026f). The main guide's subject page still links the 9th edition, through Westlaw, with the VPN needed off campus (McGill Library, 2026j).
EdCitation does not build the McGill Guide, and it does not build Chicago notes and bibliography. Both are written by hand from their own guides.
What are McGill's APA 7 rules?
McGill's APA 7 is set out in a seven-page APA QuickGuide, adapted from the University of Alberta's (McGill Library, 2025a). Most examples point to a section of the Publication Manual.
In the text
- Author and year: (Smith, 2022) or Smith (2022). A quotation adds the page, (Smith, 2022, p. 49).
- Three or more authors take et al. from the first citation: (Elliot et al., 2024).
- An organisation's abbreviation goes in square brackets the first time, (American Psychological Association [APA], 2024), then (APA, 2024).
- No author: the title takes the author's place.
In the reference list
- "References" bold and centred; entries alphabetical, double-spaced, with a hanging indent.
- Every work in the list is cited in the text, and every citation is in the list.
- DOIs are written as links, https://doi.org/; the APA page says DOIs are "formatted to look like a URL" (McGill Library, 2026a).
- A web page whose author and site share a name drops the site name; no date means n.d.
- Slides or notes behind a login, such as MyCourses, take the address of the login page.
- A video's uploader counts as its author; a social media post gives up to its first 20 words as the title.
Citing AI at McGill
The Library's AI guide gives APA templates for a specific chat (company, date, chat title in italics, "[Generative AI chat]", tool, link) and for a tool, such as "Microsoft. (2025). Copilot [Large language model]." McGill Library (2025b) also advises acknowledging AI use in the methods section. Its own chat example is dated 2025 in the list and 2023 in the text, so match the years yourself. For other styles, see how to cite ChatGPT and AI tools.
Which McGill examples should you not copy as printed?
Copy the templates and the rules, not every sample entry. On the pages we read:
- The table lists 3 to 20 authors in full, but the footnote shortens works with "20 or more"; the University of Alberta Libraries (2026) guide it adapts starts shortening at 21.
- Emmons's book carries "Ithaca, NY:" before its publisher, where the guide's other books give none, and is dated 2014; the DOI's record says 2019.
- Montiel's edition reads "(2nd ed)" without a full stop.
- McCavanagh and Cadaret's chapter ends with a proxy3.library.mcgill.ca address in place of https://doi.org/.
- The MLA QuickGuide's three-author row starts "Christopher, Kameron R., et al." but cites "(Kameron et al. 61)" (McGill Library, 2025d).
- The IEEE QuickGuide's Huang, Tan and Xu example carries the DOI of a different paper (McGill Library, 2025c); our run below shows it.
How do you cite at McGill in APA 7? A worked example
Here are four real sources in exactly the QuickGuide's forms: a journal article, a book with an edition, a chapter in an edited book and a Quebec government page. In the text:
Thompson (2014) examines the social, institutional and psychological factors in wildfire incident decisions, and Montiel (2011) covers macroeconomics in emerging markets. McCavanagh and Cadaret (2022) write on safe spaces for LGBTQ+ student–athletes. Quebec's health portal explains how to recognise Lyme disease (Gouvernement du Québec, 2026).
References
Gouvernement du Québec. (2026, March 24). Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. https://www.quebec.ca/en/health/health-issues/a-z/lyme-disease
McCavanagh, T. M., & Cadaret, M. C. (2022). Creating safe spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) student–athletes. In D. P. Rivera, R. L. Abreu, & K. A. Gonzalez (Eds.), Affirming LGBTQ+ students in higher education (pp. 141–159). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000281-009
Montiel, P. J. (2011). Macroeconomics in emerging markets (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511977497
Thompson, M. P. (2014). Social, institutional, and psychological factors affecting wildfire incident decision making. Society & Natural Resources, 27(6), 636–644. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2014.901460
The Quebec page shows "Last update: March 24, 2026" and no person, so the government is the author, and as the site has the same name it is not repeated. The chapter takes https://doi.org/, not the proxy address.
Which EdCitation style is closest, and what do you change by hand?
Four of McGill's five main styles have a match among the six EdCitation builds, and Chicago has its author-date half. The changes below come from our runs.
| McGill style | Start from | Change by hand |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | APA 7 | Articles: nothing. Chapters: add the editors when the record has none. Web pages: enter the organisation and the update date in the form. |
| MLA 9 | MLA 9 | Add the database as a second container, as McGill's JSTOR and EBSCOhost examples do. |
| Vancouver | Vancouver | For an article read online, McGill's template adds "[Internet]", "[cited date]" and "Available from:". |
| IEEE | IEEE | Drop the comma before "and"; compare the journal abbreviation and its capitals with McGill's examples. |
| Chicago author-date | Chicago 18 | Same edition; McGill's QuickGuide covers notes only, so use its Chicago page. |
| Chicago notes and bibliography | Not built | Write notes from McGill's Chicago QuickGuide; EdCitation builds Chicago 18 author-date only. |
| McGill Guide | Not built | Write footnotes from the 10th edition. |
A McGill reference list in five steps
- Find the style in the course outline; EdCitation's free Check your paper reads the assignment's instructions into a checklist, citation style included.
- Find reading in Find sources, which searches about 300 million published works.
- Give Cite a source each DOI, title or address, in the style set.
- Make the changes in the table, using the QuickGuide's template for each kind of source.
- Paste the list into Verify references and settle each "check this" against the source.
What did Cite a source and Verify references return on McGill's examples?
For a McGill list, start in Cite a source. It is the best tool for the job because it does not compose a reference: it looks the source up in the publisher's record (for a web page, the page itself), sets it in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE or Vancouver, and screens it for retraction, free and with no account. On McGill's own journal example, its APA matched the QuickGuide word for word. EdCitation writes no part of a McGill paper: the reading, the argument and every sentence stay with the student, and the tool supplies the record behind each entry. Our runs, on 2 October 2026:
Cite a source on McGill's sources and a Quebec page
- Thompson, DOI 10.1080/08941920.2014.901460. APA returned the QuickGuide's entry exactly, as shown in the worked example.
- Montiel, DOI 10.1017/CBO9780511977497. "Montiel, P. J. (2011). Macroeconomics in emerging markets (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press." with the DOI: the middle initial and the full stop McGill's sample lacks.
- McCavanagh and Cadaret, DOI 10.1037/0000281-009. "In Affirming LGBTQ+ students in higher education (pp. 141–159)": the publisher's record of the chapter names no editors, so add them.
- The Quebec page, by address. First "Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. (n.d.). Gouvernement du Québec. Retrieved October 2, 2026, from" and the address; with the government entered as an organisation and the date as 2026-03-24, APA returned the worked example's entry.
- Longobardo, DOI 10.1017/ajil.2025.4. McGill prints it as an advance online publication with volume 119 only; the record now gives "119(2), 291–298". The title came back with "Occupied Palestinian territory", one capital kept and one lowered: choose one form for both words.
- Huang, Tan and Xu, DOI 10.1109/JSTQE.2022.3170150. IEEE returned "R. Huang, X. Tan, and Q. Xu" and "IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron.", where McGill prints "X. Tan and Q. Xu" and "Sel.".
Verify references on McGill's own entries
We pasted ten of the QuickGuides' examples exactly as printed into Verify references:
- Thompson, Longobardo, Montiel, McCavanagh (despite the proxy address), Hill and Preston, and Veruggio: verified, "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
- Beresford-Kroeger and Kroeger's book: verified, "Title, year and first author match a published record."
- Emmons: "check this", "The DOI and title are right, but the work was published in 2019, not 2014." Take the year from the copyright page of the version you read.
- LeBeuf's RCMP report: "could not check", "The page at this address gave no title to compare. Open it and check it is the page meant." The address now opens a Government of Canada notice that the publication is archived.
- Huang, Tan and Xu as printed: "check this", "The DOI is real, but it belongs to a different article from the one described." It leads to a paper by Spitz and colleagues; the article's own DOI ends 2022.3170150.
Our four worked-example entries all came back verified. Nothing was reported "not found", and none was retracted. To check a whole paper, use References from a file, part of Pro at $8 a month, which checks every reference and matches each in-text citation to the list.
Quick questions
What is the McGill citation style for most courses?
There is none for the whole university. McGill Library names APA 7 for social sciences and health, Chicago for history, MLA for literature, Vancouver for health sciences and IEEE for engineering; the course outline decides.
Is the McGill Guide the same as APA?
No. The McGill Guide is a Canadian legal citation style in footnotes, from the McGill Law Journal; APA 7 is an author-date style. Law courses use the first.
Where is McGill Library's citing help?
The Citation Style Guide on McGill Library's site, with printable QuickGuides for APA, Chicago notes and bibliography, MLA, Vancouver and IEEE, and a Citations Committee to email.
Can EdCitation build McGill APA references?
Yes. EdCitation's Cite a source builds APA 7 from the publisher's record; add missing editors and correct a web page's author and date in the form.
Will EdCitation write part of my McGill paper?
No. EdCitation finds, cites and checks sources; the ideas and the sentences of the paper stay yours.
References
- McGill Law Journal. (n.d.). The Canadian guide to uniform legal citation. https://lawjournal.mcgill.ca/cite-guide/
- McGill Library. (2025a). APA citation style QuickGuide [PDF]. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/ld.php?content_id=37543550
- McGill Library. (2025b). Citing AI. Artificial Intelligence. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/ai/citation
- McGill Library. (2025c). IEEE QuickGuide [PDF]. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/ld.php?content_id=37541954
- McGill Library. (2025d). MLA 9th citation style QuickGuide [PDF]. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/ld.php?content_id=37555817
- McGill Library. (2025e). Vancouver style QuickGuide [PDF]. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/ld.php?content_id=37543223
- McGill Library. (2025f). Which citation style is required? Writing Resources. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/c.php?g=696170&p=4973090
- McGill Library. (2026a). APA (7th edition). Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations/apa
- McGill Library. (2026b). APA 7 citation style. Nursing. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/nursing/apa7citation
- McGill Library. (2026c). Chicago (18th edition). Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations/chicago
- McGill Library. (2026d). Citations. Canadian History. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/canadian-history/citations
- McGill Library. (2026e). Citation styles. Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations
- McGill Library. (2026f). Citation styles. Reference sources (law). https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/c.php?g=358153&p=2418371
- McGill Library. (2026g). IEEE. Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations/ieee
- McGill Library. (2026h). Introduction. Citation guide for music. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citation/MusicCitation
- McGill Library. (2026i). MLA (9th edition). Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations/mla
- McGill Library. (2026j). Subject-specific resources. Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations/other-styles
- McGill Library. (2026k). Vancouver (ICMJE). Citation Style Guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations/vancouver
- University of Alberta Libraries. (2026). Reference list. APA Citation Style (7th Edition). https://guides.library.ualberta.ca/apa-citation-style/reference-list