Why does proofreading at NYU Abu Dhabi need to account for field-specific citation rules?
NYU’s own citation guidance is explicit that the correct style depends on field, not personal preference.
Citation Styles
A literature course typically requires a different citation style than a sciences or social sciences course, and students are told to confirm with their professor, teaching assistant, advisor, or a librarian whenever they are unsure.
Universal Assumptions
A literature review built without accounting for this access pathway sometimes settles for a weaker available source when a stronger one was reachable with enough lead time.
Style Differences
APA, MLA, and Chicago each handle details like image captions, in-text references, and footnotes differently, so a document mixing conventions from more than one style, even unintentionally, reads as inconsistent to anyone reviewing it.
Creative Commons
One detail many students get wrong even when they know the right style: materials available under a Creative Commons license or in the public domain still require citation.
Source Checks
Treating "free to use" as "free to not cite" is a common, avoidable mistake, and a proper proofreading pass checks every source, including images and figures, against this rule.