1. Mixing Citation Styles Within One Paper
Starting a paper in APA and slipping into MLA-style page-only citations (often from copy-pasting between assignments) is one of the most common — and most heavily penalized — errors. Fix: pick one style before you start drafting and run a final pass checking every single in-text citation and reference entry against that one style's rules.
2. Missing In-Text Citations for Paraphrased Information
Students often cite direct quotations carefully but forget that paraphrased ideas — information rewritten in your own words — still require a citation. Only your own original analysis and widely known common knowledge are exempt. Fix: if the idea came from a source, even reworded, it needs a citation.
3. Incorrect "et al." Usage
"Et al." rules differ by style and even by context within the same style — APA uses it in-text after three or more authors but lists up to 20 authors in the full reference; MLA uses it after three or more authors in both contexts. Fix: check your specific style's threshold for both the in-text citation and the reference entry separately — they're not always the same number.
4. Wrong Capitalization in Titles
APA uses sentence case for article and chapter titles (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized) but Title Case for journal and book titles. MLA and Chicago use Title Case for nearly everything. Mixing these up is one of the most common small formatting errors. Fix: double-check your style's specific capitalization rule for each title type — don't assume one rule applies everywhere.
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Try Bibloq Free →5. Missing DOI or URL
Current style editions (APA 7, MLA 9) expect a DOI or stable URL for online and electronic sources whenever one is available. Omitting it, or formatting it inconsistently, is an easy fix that's often overlooked. Fix: always include the DOI when one exists; use the full clickable form (https://doi.org/10.xxxx) unless your style specifies otherwise.
6. Inconsistent Reference List Ordering
Author-date reference lists must be strictly alphabetical by first author's surname; numeric reference lists must be ordered by first appearance in the text. Mixing these up — alphabetizing a Vancouver reference list, for example — is a structural error that affects the whole document. Fix: confirm which ordering rule your style uses (see our guide on numeric vs. author-date citations) before compiling your final list.
7. Over-Citing or Under-Citing
Citing every single sentence, even ones expressing your own analysis, makes a paper read as derivative. Citing too rarely — one citation per paragraph regardless of how many distinct claims are made — under-supports your argument. Fix: cite at the level of the individual claim, not the paragraph; cite your own synthesis and analysis sparingly, since those don't need a source.
8. Citing a Source Not in the Reference List (or Vice Versa)
Every in-text citation must correspond to a reference list entry, and every reference list entry must be cited somewhere in the text. Mismatches — a "phantom" citation with no matching reference, or an unused reference padding the list — are flagged quickly by careful graders. Fix: do a final cross-check pass: highlight every in-text citation, then confirm each has a matching reference entry, and vice versa.
9. Wrong Page Number Format
Forgetting "p." for a single page or "pp." for a page range in styles that require it (or including it in styles that don't), or using a hyphen instead of an en dash in page ranges, are small but consistent formatting deductions. Fix: check your specific style's exact convention — this detail varies more between styles than students expect.
10. Citing a Secondary Source as if It Were Primary
If a source you're reading quotes or summarizes another source, and you cite that original source directly without having read it yourself, you're misrepresenting your research. Fix: use "as cited in" framing (APA) or the equivalent in your style to indicate you encountered the original source through an intermediary — most styles have a specific format for this exact situation.
Final Pre-Submission Checklist
- One style used consistently throughout, including punctuation details
- Every paraphrase and quotation has an in-text citation
- "Et al." thresholds checked separately for in-text and reference list
- Title capitalization matches your style's specific rule
- DOIs/URLs present and consistently formatted
- Reference list ordering matches your style's system (alphabetical or sequential)
- Every in-text citation has a matching reference entry, and vice versa
Frequently Asked Questions
Which of these mistakes costs the most points typically?
Mixing citation styles within one paper tends to be penalized most heavily, since it suggests a lack of attention to the assignment's basic requirements rather than a single isolated slip.
Can citation software eliminate all of these mistakes?
Tools like Bibloq eliminate the formatting-level mistakes (capitalization, punctuation, DOI format, ordering) automatically. They can't catch content-level issues like missing a citation for a paraphrase you forgot to flag — that still requires a careful read-through.
Catch Formatting Errors Before You Submit
Bibloq builds correctly formatted citations every time — eliminating the mechanical mistakes on this list entirely.
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