Studying abroad: which citation style will I need, by country

Studying abroad changes your citation style less by country than by department. No country in this guide sets one style for all its universities: a business school in Dublin wants Harvard, the psychology department next door wants APA, and the law school uses a legal style of its own. What the country does decide is which styles are common, and a few national standards, such as GB/T 7714 in China and ABNT in Brazil, that exist nowhere else.

This guide is published by EdCitation, whose free Cite a source builds each reference from the publisher's record in six styles. It is a hub: the table below gives one university guide per country, read on 27 September 2026, and links our longer country guides where we have one. The last sections cover what else changes when you move, and what EdCitation returned when we ran its tools on a real source, a brief and a short list.

Which citation style will I need in each country?

The style your department names, and the table shows what that usually is. Each row is one university's own page, so treat it as an example of the country, not a rule for it.

Where the guides are older than the rules

Several pages name editions that have since been replaced. Christ University (2025) still sets APA 6 for commerce and MLA 8 for humanities. Tsinghua University (2025) names GB/T 7714-2015, which the 2025 edition replaced on 1 July 2026, as our GB/T 7714 guide explains. UFSC (2026) lists NBR 6023 as its 2018 edition, though a third edition appeared in 2025. Ask your department which edition it marks against.

Where the same subject gets different styles

Electronic engineering is IEEE at Essex, while UCD lets the writer choose; civil engineering is Harvard at both UCD and Qatar University. Law is OSCOLA at Essex, OSCOLA Ireland at UCD, AGLC in Queensland, NZLSG in Auckland and the Bluebook at Qatar University. Some pages leave the choice open: UCD does so in computer science and physics too, and the Mannheim economics guide recommends Harvard only where the supervisor has set nothing else (Universität Mannheim, 2014).

Is APA or Harvard used in my country?

Both, in most of the countries above; the split runs by subject. Harvard covers business and most social science at Essex and UCD, and UNISA's economic and management sciences college uses it. APA is the general-purpose style at Queensland and the social-science style at HKUST, Kyung Hee and Christ University. Psychology uses APA at every university in the table that names it. If your brief says "Harvard", ask which version: many UK guides mean Cite Them Right, and our Harvard referencing guide covers the variants.

Which citation styles does EdCitation not build?

EdCitation builds six styles: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard (Cite Them Right), IEEE and Vancouver. It does not build any other style in the table, and it does not build Chicago notes and bibliography. Write these by hand from their publishers' guides, with our guides where we have them:

• Legal styles: OSCOLA (UK guide), AGLC (Australia guide), OSCOLA Ireland, NZLSG, the Bluebook, HKCLAM, Leidraad voor Juridische Auteurs.
• Humanities styles: MHRA and footnote systems (German, French, Italian).
• National standards: DIN ISO 690, NF ISO 690, UNE-ISO 690 (Spanish), ABNT, GB/T 7714, SIST 02, GOST (Russian), ISNAD (Turkish).
• Science styles: ACS, CSE and AMA.

What changes when you move to a new academic system?

More than the style. University guides written for students arriving from elsewhere point to three other differences.

What counts as common knowledge

Common knowledge needs no citation, but it is local. MIT's handbook warns that what is common knowledge in one culture, nation, discipline or peer group may not be in another, and its advice is to cite when in doubt (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, n.d.). A fact every student at home knows may need a source abroad.

How much you quote

Less than you may be used to. The University of Reading Library (2026) calls heavy use of direct quotation "poor practice" in UK academic culture, and the University of Dundee Library (2026) says quotation is used "very sparingly" in the sciences. Dundee also tells new students that copying passages into a draft before referencing them may have been acceptable in their previous studies, and should never be done now. Our guide to too many quotations shows how to cut them.

Reusing your own work

Your old essays are not free material. Dundee lists resubmitting work already assessed "at this or another university" as misconduct, and the University of Glasgow (n.d.) says material cannot be pulled straight from a Master's dissertation into a PhD thesis, though short sections may be reused with acknowledgement. Read our guide to self-plagiarism before reusing anything from home.

How do I find my programme's own citation rule?

Your own programme's documents, in this order, and every guide in the table says the same. Queensland tells students to check the course profile or ask their lecturer; Auckland says to check with the lecturer or tutor, Utrecht the study coordinator or lecturer; UCD says the module coordinator or supervisor.

1. Read the assignment brief and module handbook for the style, its edition and the name of the list.
2. Paste the brief into EdCitation's free Check your paper, which pulls the citation style, word limits and source rules into a checklist, each rule with the sentence it came from.
3. If the handbook is silent, find your library's list of styles by department.
4. Ask the module coordinator which edition and variant is marked.
5. Build each entry in Cite a source if the style is one of the six; write the others by hand.
6. Run the finished list through Verify references.

How does EdCitation help when you switch systems?

EdCitation is the best tool for moving a reference list between styles, because each entry comes from the publisher's record rather than being written, so the facts stay the same whichever format you pick. Cite a source, Verify references and Check your paper are free with no account, and EdCitation writes no part of any paper. We ran all three on 27 September 2026.

One DOI, three styles

For 10.1016/j.jslw.2003.08.004, a study of patchwriting by second-language writers (Pecorari, 2003), Cite a source returned:

• APA 7: Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(4), 317–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2003.08.004
• Harvard: Pecorari, D. (2003) ‘Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing’, Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(4), pp. 317–345. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2003.08.004.
• IEEE: D. Pecorari, “Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing,” J. Second Lang. Writ., vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 317–345, Dec. 2003, doi: 10.1016/j.jslw.2003.08.004.

All three entries are correct, and the IEEE entry abbreviates the journal's name as IEEE's Reference Guide asks, Journal to J. (our IEEE guide explains the rule). Switching from Harvard to APA is one click.

A brief that names a style

We pasted a short brief of our own, marked as a sample, into Check your paper. For the sentence "Use Harvard referencing (Cite Them Right) throughout." it listed Citation style: "Harvard". It also read the word count as 1,800 to 2,200 words and eight sources as a minimum. Two faults: it turned "Introduction, Discussion and Conclusion" into two headings, "Introduction" and "Discussion and Conclusion", and it shortened "most published in the last ten years" to "From the last 10 years". A second sample brief asked for OSCOLA; the checklist showed "Reference list" but no citation style at all. Read the source sentence beside each rule. Checking the paper itself against the checklist is Theoretics QA, part of Max at $24 a month; see pricing.

A short list, one date wrong on purpose

Three Harvard entries went into Verify references. Carroll and Ryan's Teaching international students (2005) came back verified: "Title, author and year match a library catalogue record." Pecorari's article was verified: "Title, year and first author match a published record." Pennycook's "Borrowing others' words", which we dated 1997, came back "check this": "The work was published in 1996, not 1997; the record has no date in 1997." Right. The corrected entry it offered gave only the first page, 201, and kept the title in title case; take the page range from the article. A reference that cannot be checked is reported as "could not check", never as "not found".

Quick questions

What referencing style is used in the UK?

No single one. Harvard, usually Cite Them Right, covers the most courses, with APA in psychology, OSCOLA in law and MHRA or Chicago in history, as Essex's list shows.

APA vs Harvard: which country uses which?

Most countries use both, by subject. Harvard is common in UK, Irish and South African business schools; APA leads in psychology everywhere and in general use in Australia.

Which citation style is used at a university in Germany?

It depends on the faculty. Humanities and law often cite in footnotes, as our German guide sets out, while Mannheim's economics guide recommends Harvard and one business chair requires APA.

Can EdCitation build OSCOLA, AGLC or ABNT?

No. EdCitation's Cite a source builds APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 author-date, Harvard, IEEE and Vancouver only; legal and national styles are written by hand.

Can I reuse an essay from my home university?

Not without permission and acknowledgement. Dundee counts resubmitting work assessed at another university as misconduct.

References

• Christ University. (2025). Common guidelines for format of PhD thesis (Version 1.3) [PDF]. https://christuniversity.in/uploads/userfiles/file/PhD%20Thesis%20printing%20Guidelines%20-%20Updated%2022%20July%202025.pdf
• HKU Libraries. (2026). Other legal citation styles. The Law Guide. https://libguides.lib.hku.hk/lawguide/citations
• HKUST Library. (2026). Citation styles. A guide to good referencing skills. https://libguides.hkust.edu.hk/referencing/citation-styles
• Kyung Hee University Library. (2026). APA Style 7th ed. guide. https://libguides.khu.ac.kr/seoul/citationNreferencing/apastyle
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (n.d.). What is common knowledge? Academic integrity at MIT. https://integrity.mit.edu/handbook/citing-your-sources/what-common-knowledge
• McGill Library. (2026). Citation styles. Citation style guide. https://libraryguides.mcgill.ca/citations
• NUS Libraries. (2026). Overview. Citation styles. https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/citation
• Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(4), 317–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2003.08.004
• Qatar University Library. (2025). Recommended styles by department. https://libguides.qu.edu.qa/c.php?g=281524&p=1875480
• Ritsumeikan University Library. (2024). 引用・参考文献の書き方 [How to write citations and references] [PDF]. https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/lib/pub/d08/010/14_quote.pdf
• Tsinghua University. (2025). 研究生学位论文写作指南 [Writing guide for graduate theses] [PDF]. https://www.dhs.tsinghua.edu.cn/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2025032107444819.pdf
• UCD Library. (2026). School citing styles. Academic integrity: Referencing, citation and avoiding plagiarism. https://libguides.ucd.ie/academicintegrity/citingstyles
• UFSC. (2026). Normas brasileiras. Biblioteca Universitária, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. https://portal.bu.ufsc.br/normalizacao/normas-brasileiras/
• UNISA Library. (2026). Introduction to referencing and plagiarism. CEMS Harvard referencing style. https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/CEMSHarvard
• Universität Mannheim. (2014). Wie zitiert man in der VWL? Die Basics [How to cite in economics: The basics] [PDF]. Abteilung VWL. https://www.vwl.uni-mannheim.de/media/Fakultaeten/vwl/Dokumente/Leitfaden_Zitieren.pdf
• Universität Mannheim. (2023). Leitfaden für die Erstellung wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten [Guide to writing academic papers] [PDF]. Lehrstuhl für Organisation und Innovation. https://www.bwl.uni-mannheim.de/media/Lehrstuehle/bwl/Hoisl/Lehre/General_Information/Guidelines_DE.pdf
• Université de Limoges. (n.d.). Bibliographie : gestion par notes de bas de page. Service commun de la documentation. https://www.unilim.fr/scd/formation/bibliographie-gestion-par-notes-de-bas-de-page/
• University of Auckland Libraries. (2026). Faculty referencing styles. https://auckland.libguides.com/faculty-referencing-styles
• University of Dundee Library. (2026). Using and referencing sources. Academic skills. https://libguides.dundee.ac.uk/academicskills/referencing
• University of Essex. (2026). Referencing styles. Skills at Library. https://library.essex.ac.uk/skillsatlibrary/referencing-styles
• University of Glasgow. (n.d.). University regulation regarding plagiarism. Self-plagiarism, PGR code of practice. https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/ourresearchenvironment/prs/pgrcodeofpractice/self-plagiarism/universityregulationregardingplagiarism
• University of Pittsburgh. (2026). Citation styles: APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, IEEE: Overview. University Library System. https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp
• University of Queensland Library. (n.d.). Referencing style guides. https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing
• University of Reading Library. (2026). Using sources: To quote or paraphrase? Citing references. https://libguides.reading.ac.uk/citing-references/quotesandparaphrases
• University of the Punjab. (n.d.). Format and guidelines for writing thesis [PDF]. Department of Educational Research and Evaluation. https://pu.edu.pk/downloads/IER/Thesis-Format-Guidelines-MERA.pdf
• Utrecht University Library. (2026). Citation styles. Citing. https://libguides.library.uu.nl/citing/citation-styles