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APA vs. MLA

While APA and MLA styles share similarities in their overall goals of promoting accurate citations and preventing plagiarism, there are some key differences in their formatting rules. Both styles require citations within the text that link to full reference list entries at the end. However, APA citations include the author's last name and year, while MLA cites the last name and page number. Reference lists are also formatted slightly differently between the two styles, particularly regarding capitalization of titles and placement of publication dates. Overall, APA style is more commonly used in social sciences and education, while MLA is preferred in humanities fields like literature.

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16 views

APA vs. MLA

While APA and MLA styles share similarities in their overall goals of promoting accurate citations and preventing plagiarism, there are some key differences in their formatting rules. Both styles require citations within the text that link to full reference list entries at the end. However, APA citations include the author's last name and year, while MLA cites the last name and page number. Reference lists are also formatted slightly differently between the two styles, particularly regarding capitalization of titles and placement of publication dates. Overall, APA style is more commonly used in social sciences and education, while MLA is preferred in humanities fields like literature.

Uploaded by

Qsh Sinoro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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vs

what is
apa?
American Psychological Association
APA style is a citation style that is most
commonly used in the social sciences, but
also in education, business, and some
science fields.

Essentially, the APA style is a set of rules


for formatting citations, title pages,
headers, and other aspects of research
papers.
what is
MLa?
Modern Language Association
MLA style is the primary citation style for
humanities fields like literature. It was
developed by the Modern Language
Association of America, an association of
scholars and teachers of language and
literature.
Like APA, MLA style includes rules for how
to format citations and how to structure
research papers.
similarities and
differences
apa and mla
aim to provide guidance
on how to create
accurate citations and
bibliographies. Using these
styles correctly lends
credibility to your
research and helps you to
avoid plagiarism.
Font style should be
The paper needs to be
“Times new roman”,
double-spaced.
with 12 point size.

APA and MLA

There should be a one- The list of sources used is


arranged in an alphabetical
inch margin from each manner, as per the author’s
side. last name.
apa mla

It is used primarily in It is primarily used in


the (social and humanities subjects
behavioral) sciences such as languages,
and in fields related literary studies, and
to education. media studies.
apa style MLa style
APA style is defined in The rules of MLA style
the Publication Manual are found in the MLA
of the American Handbook, currently in
Psychological its 9th edition
Association, currently in (published by the
its 7th edition. Modern Language
Association).
In both styles, a source citation consists of:

A brief A full reference at


parenthetical the end of the
citation in the text paper
APA and MLA
citations also have
similar components
similar components

JOURNAL
BOOK ARTICLE
CITATIONS CITATIONS

WEBSITE
CITATIONS
Book citations
Book citations contain the
author’s name, the title of
the book, the publisher,
and the publication date.
Journal article citations
Journal article citations contain the
author’s name, the title of the work, and
the date, but also include the title of the
journal, the volume and issue number of
the journal, and the page range.
Citations for online journal articles also
include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI).
Website citations
Website citations feature the
author’s name (if one is available),
the title of the website, the date
that it was published or accessed,
and the Uniform Resource Locators
(URL).
However, citations look slightly different in
each style, with different rules for things like

TITLE PLACEMENT OF
CAPITALIZATION THE DATE

AUTHOR NAMES LAYOUT

FORMATTING
APA vs MLA
(in-text citations)
Both MLA and APA use
parenthetical citations to cite
sources in the text. However,
they include slightly different
information.
An APA in-text citation
includes the author’s last
name and the publication
year. If you’re quoting or
paraphrasing a specific
passage, you also add a
page number.
An MLA in-text
citation includes the
author’s last name
and a page number
—no year.
Two Authors

APA Style separates MLA style separates


their names with an their names using
ampersand,

& and
three or more authors

both styles list the


first author followed
by
et al.
EXAMPLE APA MLA

1 author (Taylor, 2018, p. 23) (Taylor 23)

2 authors (Taylor & Kotler, 2018, p. 23) (Taylor and Kotler 23)

3+ authors (Taylor et al., 2018, p. 23) (Taylor et al. 23)


APA MLA
reference work cited
list list
In both APA and MLA styles, you list full
details of all cited sources on a separate page
at the end of your paper.

Reference Works
List Cited
APA MLA
Full surname first, Last name, First
Author then followed by name, and
name initials of first and optional initial of
middle name. the middle name.

Example Santiago, L. Santiago, Lieross S.


APA MLA

Italicized title with Underline or


only the beginning italicized title
word capitalized (but
with all the
Capitalization capitalize after a
colon and exception: content words
of source title
capital for every capitalized or use
proper noun) the title case:
Sapiens: A brief history Sapiens: A Brief History
Example
of humankind of Humankind
APA MLA

No formatting Quotation
for chapters, marks for
chapters,
Formatting of articles, etc.;
titles articles, etc.;
and
and
italics for
italics for
books,
books, journals,
journals, etc.: etc.:
APA MLA

Computer science “Computer


in French Science in French
universities: Early Universities: Early
Formatting of
titles
entrants and Entrants and
Example latecomers. Latecomers.”
Information & Information &
Culture: A Journal Culture: A Journal
of History of History
APA MLA

URLs & No period after Period after the


DOIs the URL or DOI: URL or DOI:

https://doi.org/ https://doi.org/10
Example
10.7560/IC47402 .7560/IC47402.
Thank you!

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