UAEU citation style: APA, MLA and Chicago at UAE University

UAE University (UAEU) leaves the citation style to the course. The UAEU Libraries' bilingual guide, Citation - التوثيق, tells students to ask their professor what a course requires, then gives three examples: APA in education, psychology and the sciences, MLA in the humanities, and Chicago/Turabian in business, history and the fine arts. Its pages were last updated on 12 September 2022.

EdCitation is not affiliated with United Arab Emirates University; this follows its public library guide, checked on 2 October 2026. We also read the library's law guide, the course catalogue, the Graduate Studies Handbook and the master's thesis policy. Our guide to referencing at universities in the Gulf compares UAEU with its neighbours.

This guide is published by EdCitation, and its last sections test EdCitation's free Cite a source and Verify references on sources a UAEU student might cite, quoting what came back, faults and all.

Which citation style does UAE University use?

The style your professor or syllabus names. The library's Citation Basics page groups styles by subject, not by college (United Arab Emirates University Libraries, 2022a), and the course catalogue adds course-level rules:

None of the pages we read ties a style to an entire college; the subject and the course decide. Intermediate Research Methods (PSYC310), for example, has students write research reports to the APA's publication guidelines (United Arab Emirates University, 2026b).

Which editions does the library point to?

The Citation Style Manuals page lists the library's copies (United Arab Emirates University Libraries, 2022b): the APA Publication Manual, seventh edition (2019); The Chicago Manual of Style, fifteenth edition (2003), with a QuickStudy sheet based on the sixteenth; Turabian's A Manual for Writers, eighth edition (2013); and four Arabic books on documentation. No MLA handbook or edition is named.

So APA means APA 7, which EdCitation builds; for Chicago/Turabian, ask which edition and system.

What does the UAEU library citation guide say about building a citation?

That nearly every style needs the author, the title, the date and, for a part of a larger work, that work's title, while the style decides order and punctuation; templates follow for a book, a chapter, an article and a website (United Arab Emirates University Libraries, 2022a).

Errors in the Citation Basics examples

The examples under those templates should not be copied. The journal example begins "merican Arbitration Association", its first letter lost, and puts the placeholder "INSERT-MISSING-URL" where an address belongs; the chapter example matches none of the three styles the page names; the website example gives its author as "Case, Alwx." and prints the year twice. Build each entry from the style's own rules, or from the publisher's record.

Reference managers the library supports

The Citation Tools page lists EndNote Web, RefWorks and Zotero, open to students through their university email (United Arab Emirates University Libraries, 2022c). A free EdCitation account's lists download as RIS or BibTeX; see moving references between EdCitation, Zotero, EndNote and Mendeley.

How do you cite Arabic sources at UAEU?

With the library's Arabic-language page on citing Arabic sources, which sets one pattern for Arabic and English books, articles and theses and puts the full reference in a numbered footnote (United Arab Emirates University Libraries, 2022d). In our translation, the elements run in this order:

The same page sets three working rules:

1. Number each fact or opinion whose source a reader might ask about, as you write it, and enter the full reference in the footnote at once.
2. Restart the numbers on each page, or run them through the paper or a chapter; or gather the references at the end of the work or of each chapter.
3. Cite nothing for your own opinion or for what everyone knows; the page's example is that Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE.

Hijri and Gregorian years, and the English examples

The book examples give both calendars, Hijri first: "(1416هـ 1996م)". The second pairs 1422 AH with 2012, a decade apart (2012 fell mostly in 1433 AH), so take both years from the book's title page. With three or more authors, the page asks for each author's first and last names. The library's law guide repeats the pattern word for word (United Arab Emirates University Libraries, 2024).

The English examples on the page do not follow the pattern it describes, and one ends "INSERT-MISSING-URL": follow the pattern, not those examples. EdCitation does not build this footnote pattern; its six styles are APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver.

For an Arabic source in an English paper, the page is silent. Our guide to citing Arabic sources in English papers shows romanised titles with translations, and Arabic citation styles covers papers written in Arabic.

What is the UAEU thesis format for references?

Whatever the College of Graduate Studies' guidelines and templates set, and those are not public. The Graduate Studies Handbook says a thesis or dissertation must meet every requirement in the "Thesis and Dissertation Preparation Guidelines", and that the College may reject one that does not (United Arab Emirates University College of Graduate Studies, 2023). Policy GP-02 adds that a master's thesis is written in its programme's language of instruction (United Arab Emirates University, 2018).

The College's formatting workshop, compulsory once for thesis students, explains the templates and links the 2024 versions on its portal (United Arab Emirates University College of Graduate Studies, 2026). The portal asked for a university sign-in, so we could not read which style the templates set. Ask the College or your supervisor, and follow the template; see dissertation formatting and university templates.

Similarity before submission

The handbook expects similarity under 10%, no more than 2% from any one source, and accepts only the library's official iThenticate report (United Arab Emirates University College of Graduate Studies, 2023).

What does a UAEU reference list look like in APA 7?

The library's guide adds no APA rules of its own and its copy is the seventh edition, so follow the APA Style site:

• Three or more authors: the first author and et al. in every citation, the first included (American Psychological Association, 2019).
• An article number: "Article" and the number in place of pages, with the issue number always given and the DOI as a link (American Psychological Association, 2025).
• A government page with no named writer: the agency as author, a "last updated" date that belongs to the content, an italic title, and no retrieval date unless the page is built to change (American Psychological Association, 2026).

In the text:

Thomas et al. (2010) studied eating attitudes and body image concerns among female university students in the UAE, and Burton et al. (2021) report a qualitative study of what helps and hinders physical activity among female Emirati students. The federal government's portal describes how the ministry licenses institutions and accredits programmes (UAE Government, 2026).

Under "References":

Burton, N. W., Barber, B. L., & Khan, A. (2021). A qualitative study of barriers and enablers of physical activity among female Emirati university students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), Article 3380. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073380

Thomas, J., Khan, S., & Abdulrahman, A. A. (2010). Eating attitudes and body image concerns among female university students in the United Arab Emirates. Appetite, 54(3), 595–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.02.008

UAE Government. (2026, March 24). About higher education in the UAE. U.ae. https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/higher-education/About-Higher-education-in-the-UAE

Notes on the three entries

• Thomas: three authors, all in the list, et al. in the text.
• Burton: an article number where the pages would go.
• UAE Government: the page names no agency, so the government it speaks for is the group author; its "Updated on: 24 Mar 2026" line gives the date.

Which EdCitation style is closest, and what do you change by hand?

APA 7 for APA, MLA 9 for MLA and Chicago 18 author-date for Chicago/Turabian, with the hand fixes our 2 October 2026 runs showed. The Arabic footnote pattern and Chicago notes have no match.

Building a UAEU list in six steps

1. Find the style in the syllabus, or ask the professor. EdCitation's free Check your paper turns the assignment brief into a checklist that includes the citation style and quotes the sentence behind each rule.
2. Search Find sources, about 300 million published works, or bring your own DOIs.
3. Give Cite a source the DOI, title, PubMed ID or web address of each source, and choose the style your course uses.
4. For a web page, correct the title, author, site and date in the form.
5. Make the hand changes in the table above.
6. Run the finished list through Verify references; for each "check this", go back to the source itself.

What did EdCitation return on UAEU sources?

For a UAEU list, Cite a source is the best tool to begin with: it looks each source up and never composes an entry. Each entry is taken from the publisher's record, or from the page itself for a website, in any of six styles (APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE, Vancouver), and each source is screened for retraction. An entry built from a record avoids slips like the lost first letter and the placeholder in the library's own samples. It and Verify references are free and need no account. EdCitation never writes any part of a paper, and that is its strength here: the facts of each source come from its record, and every idea and sentence stays the student's. The runs below were made on 2 October 2026 with two DOIs and one government page.

What Cite a source built from two DOIs and a web page

For DOI 10.1016/j.appet.2010.02.008, APA 7 returned the Thomas entry above exactly, with the journal and volume in italics, and the citation "(Thomas et al., 2010)". For 10.3390/ijerph18073380, it returned "Article 3380" in place of pages. Neither source was reported retracted.

From the government page it read only the browser title, with no author or date, so APA gave:

About higher education in the UAE | the official portal of the UAE government. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2026, from https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/higher-education/About-Higher-education-in-the-UAE

The form put it right. With the bare title, "UAE Government" as an organisation author, "U.ae" as the site and 2026-03-24 from the "Updated on" line, APA gave:

UAE Government. (2026, March 24). About Higher education in the UAE. U.ae. https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/higher-education/About-Higher-education-in-the-UAE

The capital H in "Higher" stayed on a second run, so lower it by hand, or type the title in sentence case in the form.

Five entries through Verify references

We pasted the three entries above and two examples from the library's Arabic page, as printed. Verify references answered:

• Thomas and Burton: verified, "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches."
• The UAE Government page: verified, "The page is at this address, and its title matches."
• McKibbin's law journal article: verified, "Title, year and first author match a published record."
• Tabbach's dissertation: "check this", "The work was published in 2002, not 2003; the record has no date in 2003." The record it matched is a 2002 working paper with nearly the same title, not the dissertation, so open the source before changing the year.

Before a thesis draft goes to the supervisor, References from a file (Pro, $8 a month; see pricing) takes the whole document: each reference is looked up and each in-text citation is paired with its entry.

Quick questions

Does UAEU use APA or MLA?

Both, by subject: the UAEU Libraries' guide names APA for education, psychology and the sciences and MLA for the humanities, and says to ask your professor.

Where is the UAEU thesis format guide?

The College of Graduate Studies' Thesis and Dissertation Preparation Guidelines and 2024 templates sit on its portal, behind a university sign-in. The public Graduate Studies Handbook says every thesis must meet them.

How do I cite Arabic sources at UAEU?

Follow the library's Arabic page: author, title, editor or translator, edition, country: publisher, year, in a numbered footnote. For an Arabic source in an English APA paper, which that page does not cover, romanise the title and add a translation, as our guide to citing Arabic sources in English papers shows.

Can EdCitation make Chicago footnotes for a UAEU history paper?

No. EdCitation's Cite a source builds Chicago 18th edition author-date only, among six styles with APA 7, MLA 9, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver. Write notes and a bibliography by hand.

Does EdCitation write any part of my UAEU assignment?

No, by design. EdCitation looks up the record behind each reference and checks your list; the ideas, the argument and the wording of the assignment remain entirely yours.

References

• American Psychological Association. (2019). Author–date citation system. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/author-date
• American Psychological Association. (2025). Journal article references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/journal-article-references
• American Psychological Association. (2026). Webpage on a website references. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/webpage-website-references
• Burton, N. W., Barber, B. L., & Khan, A. (2021). A qualitative study of barriers and enablers of physical activity among female Emirati university students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7), Article 3380. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073380
• Thomas, J., Khan, S., & Abdulrahman, A. A. (2010). Eating attitudes and body image concerns among female university students in the United Arab Emirates. Appetite, 54(3), 595–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.02.008
• UAE Government. (2026, March 24). About higher education in the UAE. U.ae. https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/education/higher-education/About-Higher-education-in-the-UAE
• United Arab Emirates University. (2018). Master's programs (Graduate Studies Policies Manual, Policy GP-02) [PDF]. https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/about/policies/pdf/graduateprograms/2_maste_programs-en.pdf
• United Arab Emirates University. (2026a). [Course descriptions, including Business Writing in English (ESPU240)]. UAEU Catalog. https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/catalog/courses/course_4964.shtml?id=ESPU240
• United Arab Emirates University. (2026b). [Course descriptions, including Intermediate Research Methods (PSYC310)]. UAEU Catalog. https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/catalog/courses/course_4967.shtml?id=PSYC310
• United Arab Emirates University College of Graduate Studies. (2023). Graduate studies handbook 2023–2024 [PDF]. https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/catalog/docs/graduate-student-handbook-2023-2024.pdf
• United Arab Emirates University College of Graduate Studies. (2026). Thesis/dissertation formatting [Workshop page]. https://www.uaeu.ac.ae/en/events/cgs/thesis-dissertation-formatting-25.shtml
• United Arab Emirates University Libraries. (2022a). Citation basics. Citation. https://uaeu.libguides.com/Citation/basics
• United Arab Emirates University Libraries. (2022b). Citation style manuals. Citation. https://uaeu.libguides.com/Citation/StyleManuals
• United Arab Emirates University Libraries. (2022c). Citation tools. Citation. https://uaeu.libguides.com/Citation/Tools
• United Arab Emirates University Libraries. (2022d). Tawthiq al-masadir al-Arabiyya [Citing Arabic sources]. Citation. https://uaeu.libguides.com/c.php?g=1240950&p=9156760
• United Arab Emirates University Libraries. (2024). Kayfiyyat tawthiq al-masadir [How to cite sources]. Legal Research and Writing. https://uaeu.libguides.com/LegalResearchandWriting/LegalResearch6