Agent skill

Citation Style Guide

by wentorai in wentorai/research-plugins

APA, MLA, Chicago citation format guide with CSL configuration

MITAuto-check passedResearch & Science

Install Citation Style Guide

skills CLI
$ npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill citation-style-guide -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install wentorai/research-plugins citation-style-guide --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wentorai/research-plugins.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/writing/citation/citation-style-guide .claude/skills/citation-style-guide && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
citation-style-guide
GitHub stars
298
Used in
1 other repo
Token cost
~1.8k tokens
SKILL.md length
277 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
405
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

APA, MLA, Chicago citation format guide with CSL configuration

  • Works in 4 steps: Visit the Zotero Style Repository:… → Search for your target journal or style… → Click to install directly into Zotero → …
  • Tasks that involve Citation management
  • SKILL.md covers Citation Style Overview, APA 7th Edition, MLA 9th Edition and IEEE Style, plus 3 more sections
  • Reaches doi.org and nih.gov

What it does

Citation Style Guide is an agent skill from wentorai/research-plugins. APA, MLA, Chicago citation format guide with CSL configuration

Its SKILL.md is about 1.8k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Research & Science, covering Citation management. It works with Zotero and LaTeX. The repository describes itself as: 350+ academic research skills, MCP configs, and plugins for Research-Claw and AI agents. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Citation management

Example prompts

  • “/citation-style-guide”

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Visit the Zotero Style Repository: zotero.org/styles
  2. Search for your target journal or style (e.g., "Nature", "APA 7th")
  3. Click to install directly into Zotero
  4. In Zotero, go to Settings > Cite > Styles to manage installed styles

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit bf44b3c. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are xml and bibtex).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    Hosts in commands or code, which the agent is likely to contact:

    • doi.org
    • nih.gov
    • purl.org

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Citation Style Guide loads about 1.8k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 21 tokens; SKILL.md has 277 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~21
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.8k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from wentorai/research-plugins at commit bf44b3c, republished under its MIT licence (© wentorai). 277 words, ~1,817 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/citation-style-guide/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
citation-style-guide
description
APA, MLA, Chicago citation format guide with CSL configuration

Citation Style Guide

Master the major citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Vancouver) with examples, reference manager configuration, and CSL customization.

Citation Style Overview

StylePrimary DisciplineIn-Text FormatReference List Name
APA 7thPsychology, social sciences, education(Author, Year)References
MLA 9thHumanities, literature, languages(Author Page)Works Cited
Chicago (Author-Date)Social sciences, natural sciences(Author Year)References
Chicago (Notes-Bib)History, arts, humanitiesFootnotes/endnotesBibliography
IEEEEngineering, computer science[1] numberedReferences
VancouverMedicine, biomedical sciences(1) numberedReferences
HarvardGeneral, UK/Australia universities(Author Year)Reference List
NatureMultidisciplinary sciencesSuperscript numberedReferences

APA 7th Edition

In-Text Citations
One author:     (Smith, 2023)     or   Smith (2023) found that...
Two authors:    (Smith & Jones, 2023)
3+ authors:     (Smith et al., 2023)
Direct quote:   (Smith, 2023, p. 45)
Multiple works: (Jones, 2021; Smith, 2023)
Same author, same year: (Smith, 2023a, 2023b)
Organization:   (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023)
                then subsequent: (WHO, 2023)
Reference List Examples
# Journal article
Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. C. (2023). Title of the article in sentence
    case. Journal Name in Title Case, 45(2), 123-145.
    https://doi.org/10.1234/example

# Book
Williams, R. T. (2022). Title of the book in sentence case (3rd ed.).
    Publisher Name. https://doi.org/10.1234/example

# Chapter in edited book
Chen, L. (2023). Chapter title. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.),
    Book title (pp. 50-75). Publisher. https://doi.org/10.1234/example

# Conference paper
Lee, S., & Park, J. (2023). Paper title. In Proceedings of the 2023
    Conference Name (pp. 100-110). Publisher.
    https://doi.org/10.1234/example

# Webpage
National Institutes of Health. (2023, March 15). Page title.
    https://www.nih.gov/example

# Preprint
Garcia, M. (2023). Title of preprint. arXiv.
    https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.12345

# Dataset
Johnson, K. (2023). Dataset title (Version 2.0) [Data set]. Repository.
    https://doi.org/10.1234/example

MLA 9th Edition

In-Text Citations
One author:     (Smith 45)         or   Smith argues that "..." (45).
Two authors:    (Smith and Jones 45)
3+ authors:     (Smith et al. 45)
No page number: (Smith)
Multiple works: (Smith 45; Jones 67)
Works Cited Examples
# Journal article
Smith, John A., and Beth C. Jones. "Article Title in Title Case."
    Journal Name, vol. 45, no. 2, 2023, pp. 123-45.
    https://doi.org/10.1234/example.

# Book
Williams, Rose T. Title of Book in Italics. 3rd ed., Publisher, 2022.

# Chapter in edited book
Chen, Li. "Chapter Title." Book Title, edited by Amy Editor and
    Bob Editor, Publisher, 2023, pp. 50-75.

# Website
"Page Title." Site Name, Organization, 15 Mar. 2023,
    www.example.com/page.

IEEE Style

In-Text Citations

IEEE uses numbered references in square brackets, in order of first appearance:

As shown in [1], deep learning has achieved...
Several studies [2]-[5] have demonstrated...
Smith et al. [6] proposed...
Reference List Examples
# Journal article
[1] J. A. Smith and B. C. Jones, "Article title in sentence case,"
    J. Name Abbreviated, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 123-145, Feb. 2023,
    doi: 10.1234/example.

# Conference paper
[2] S. Lee and J. Park, "Paper title," in Proc. Conf. Name,
    City, Country, 2023, pp. 100-110.

# Book
[3] R. T. Williams, Book Title in Italics, 3rd ed. City, Country:
    Publisher, 2022.

# Online source
[4] Author, "Page title," Website, date. [Online]. Available:
    https://www.example.com

Using CSL (Citation Style Language)

CSL is the standard format used by Zotero, Mendeley, and other reference managers to define citation styles. Over 10,000 CSL styles are available at github.com/citation-style-language/styles.

Installing a CSL Style in Zotero
  1. Visit the Zotero Style Repository: zotero.org/styles
  2. Search for your target journal or style (e.g., "Nature", "APA 7th")
  3. Click to install directly into Zotero
  4. In Zotero, go to Settings > Cite > Styles to manage installed styles
CSL Style Structure
xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<style xmlns="http://purl.org/net/xbiblio/csl" class="in-text" version="1.0">
  <info>
    <title>Custom Style</title>
    <id>http://www.example.com/custom-style</id>
  </info>

  <!-- How in-text citations appear -->
  <citation>
    <sort>
      <key variable="author"/>
      <key variable="issued"/>
    </sort>
    <layout prefix="(" suffix=")" delimiter="; ">
      <group delimiter=", ">
        <names variable="author">
          <name form="short" and="symbol"/>
        </names>
        <date variable="issued" form="text" date-parts="year"/>
      </group>
    </layout>
  </citation>

  <!-- How the bibliography/reference list appears -->
  <bibliography>
    <sort>
      <key variable="author"/>
      <key variable="issued"/>
    </sort>
    <layout>
      <!-- Define reference formatting here -->
    </layout>
  </bibliography>
</style>

BibTeX Entry Types

For LaTeX users, correct entry types ensure proper formatting:

bibtex
@article{smith2023,
  author  = {Smith, John A. and Jones, Beth C.},
  title   = {Article Title},
  journal = {Journal Name},
  year    = {2023},
  volume  = {45},
  number  = {2},
  pages   = {123--145},
  doi     = {10.1234/example}
}

@inproceedings{lee2023,
  author    = {Lee, Sam and Park, Jin},
  title     = {Paper Title},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2023 Conference},
  year      = {2023},
  pages     = {100--110},
  doi       = {10.1234/example}
}

@book{williams2022,
  author    = {Williams, Rose T.},
  title     = {Book Title},
  edition   = {3rd},
  publisher = {Publisher Name},
  year      = {2022}
}

@misc{garcia2023preprint,
  author = {Garcia, Maria},
  title  = {Title of Preprint},
  year   = {2023},
  eprint = {2301.12345},
  archiveprefix = {arXiv},
  primaryclass  = {cs.CL}
}

Quick Decision Guide

If your field is...Use this styleLaTeX bibliography style
Psychology, educationAPA 7thapacite or biblatex-apa
Literature, languagesMLA 9thbiblatex-mla
History, artsChicago Noteschicago-authordate
Engineering, CS (IEEE venues)IEEEIEEEtran
Medicine, clinicalVancouvervancouver
Natural sciences (Nature group)Naturenaturemag
EconomicsChicago Author-Datechicago-authordate
Check specific journalJournal's author guidelinesSee journal website

© wentorai, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/writing/citation/citation-style-guide of wentorai/research-plugins.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit bf44b3c

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in wentorai/research-plugins, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

Compare with similar skills

Citation Style Guide next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Citation Style Guide compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Citation Style Guide this skillwentorai/research-plugins2981 repos~1.8kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Zoterocongcongwang0122/zotero-skill200—~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Bib Search Citationbahayonghang/academic-writing-skills500—~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Zotero Taxonomy Curatorganzoth/zotero-taxonomy-curator160—~2.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
CLI Anything ZoteroPiaoyangGuohai1/cli-anything-zotero138—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Reference VerifierYuan1z0825/nature-skills47k2 repos~1.4kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Questions about Citation Style Guide

What does Citation Style Guide do?

APA, MLA, Chicago citation format guide with CSL configuration. Citation Style Guide is an agent skill from wentorai/research-plugins.

When should I use Citation Style Guide?

Citation Style Guide fits situations like: tasks that involve Citation management.

How do I install Citation Style Guide in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill citation-style-guide -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/writing/citation/citation-style-guide in wentorai/research-plugins) into .claude/skills/citation-style-guide in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Citation Style Guide in Codex?

Run `npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill citation-style-guide -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/writing/citation/citation-style-guide in wentorai/research-plugins) into .agents/skills/citation-style-guide in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Citation Style Guide in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add wentorai/research-plugins --skill citation-style-guide -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/citation-style-guide, .gemini/skills/citation-style-guide, .github/skills/citation-style-guide and .opencode/skills/citation-style-guide in your project.

What does Citation Style Guide need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Citation Style Guide is instructions for the agent only.

Does Citation Style Guide access the network?

SKILL.md names 3 domains. In commands or code: doi.org, nih.gov and purl.org; the agent is likely to contact these when it follows the instructions. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Citation Style Guide safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Citation Style Guide use?

Citation Style Guide is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Citation Style Guide use?

About 1.8k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 7.3k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Citation Style Guide?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Citation Style Guide: Zotero (congcongwang0122/zotero-skill, 200 stars), Bib Search Citation (bahayonghang/academic-writing-skills, 500 stars), Zotero Taxonomy Curator (ganzoth/zotero-taxonomy-curator, 160 stars) and CLI Anything Zotero (PiaoyangGuohai1/cli-anything-zotero, 138 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Citation Style Guide?

wentorai (a GitHub user) maintains it in wentorai/research-plugins, which has 298 GitHub stars. The repository holds 405 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 19, 2026.

Source: wentorai/research-plugins on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.