APA vs. MLA format - Important tips to know the right format (2023)

What is a citation and citation style?

Contrary to the general way of writing articles, especially if you are writing articles in an academic setting, you must clearly state what materials and opinions your articles refer to. We call the format of this "markup method" "Citation Style".

Due to differences in major disciplines, each discipline has its own academic publishing organization, and these institutions have instituted different onesStandards for citation formatsfor disciplines of this type. Common citation styles are "APA", "MLA", "Chicago", "Harvard", "AMA", "ASA", etc.

The most commonly used by students are the four types, ie.APA-Format, MLA format, "Chicago" and "Harvard".

APA vs. MLA – What are the differences and similarities?

These two styles of writing are similar in that the paper in both styles takes up twice as much space.

• The font style must be "Times New Roman" and the size 12 pt.
• There should be a 1 inch margin on each side.
• The list of sources used is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.

Where there are similarities, there are a number of differences between MLA and APA, which we will detail here:

The MLA style can be understood as a method developed by the "Modern Language Association" to capture materials and format works in the form of scientific documents.

On the other hand, APA style is one of the styles of writing articles, publications, books, newspapers, etc. It was introduced by the American Psychological Association and is mainly used in the social sciences.

When we talk about parts, there are four main parts in APA format, namely:

• cover sheet
• Abstract
• heel body

In contrast, the MLA format contains only two main parts, namely:

• the main text
• the works cited.

APA-Cover vs. MLA-Cover

In MLA style, there is no specific title page, so the title is given on the first page, separated from the title of the work by double-spaced. In this style, the title of the first page is on the left with the author's name, presenter, course, and date, while the right of the other pages contains the author's last name and page number.

In APA format, on the other hand, the title page contains the title, the author's name, and the name of the educational institution. In addition, all pages contain a title at the top of each page, including the title page, which has the page number and the title of the work on the left and right.

The APA guidelines also emphasize the use of headings and sequential page numbers on the front page. The summary starts on a new page.

APA-Papierformat vs. MLA-Papier format

Where there are differences between these two formats, there are also some similarities. In both styles, the presentation of the work is the same, which is followed in both

• 12 point font size and
• Time new roman font
• 1 inch margin on all four sides
• double space
• All paragraphs are intentional
• Appropriate subpoena for crediting resources.

Now, the difference between APA and MLA paper format is that endnotes and footnotes are written in MLA paper format to provide additional information. While the footnotes are not written in APA paper format.

Cita APA x MLA

The APA format refers to the American Psychological Association Publication Guidelines published by theAmerican Psychological Association(APA). It was created in 1929 and has so far been updated to the sixth edition. APA is mainly used in subjects such as psychology, education, and social sciences.

The standard format mainly consists of two parts:

• References in the text
• Bibliography at the end of the text.

The APA format emphasizes the season of publication and doesn't pay much attention to the original author's name. Quotations usually place the year of publication before the author's initials.

MLA is the abbreviation for Modern Language Association. It is the writing guide format developed byAmerican Association for Modern Languages. It is also the most widely used reference format for writing essays in English in American universities. The eighth edition has been published. Compared to APA, CMS and other formats, MLA paper format is stricter and more widely used.

APA vs. MLA-Referenzstil

The style of the citation is the main feature of the APA and MLA formats, since different citations are used in both formats.

The citation is inserted in APA format as follows:

the references are added on the References page, while in MLA format the work cited is added on the Works Cited page.

For hardcover books

To cite hardcover books, information such as author name, book name, year of publication, place of publication, and publisher are added in a different order.

• THE

Here comes the author's last name and the initials of the name. (Release year).Book title in italicsCity, State: Publisher.

Johns, H. (2019).The Developments.New York, NY: Scribner.

• MLA

In this format, the author's last name comes first, then the first name, and then the main title of the work. At the end, to indicate the type of book, are data such as city, publisher, year of publication and edition.

Dickson, Emily.High expectations. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1998. Druck.

for books online

Online book citation differs from hardcover books in that online books also add online sources as web links. The purpose of adding a web link is to make it accessible later.

• THE

Follow the format:

Peter, R. (2020).London, a social history.recovered fromhttp://books.google.com

• MLA

Follow the format for online books:

Binder, New and Johny L. Cohen.The B2B Social Media Book.google books n.p., n.b. Network. December 20, 2021.

For database books

In addition to books in physical format and online versions, various books are available in databases and online publication sites. APA and MLA formats add book links to the main database, providing the reader with the detailed source.

• THE

The rules for citing books from databases in APA format are:

Bloom, H. (2020).American Poets of Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.infobasepublishing.com.

• MLA

The only difference from the MLA format is that the date and URL are included in the web link.

Robert, Harry.101 Tips for Better Education Copyright © 2012. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New York: Ferguson, 2020. Infobase Publishing eBooks. site of the internet. March 16, 2019. http://www.infobasepublishing.com

For websites and blogs

Today's students trust online sources more than print media and prefer digital media as a reference for their research. There is a standard rule for citing online sources such as websites and blogs.

• THE

The website link is added along with the author's name and publication date. The APA style does not add the date the site was accessed.

Calvin, K. (2020, June 29). The negative impact of social networks on communication. Social networks today RSS. Taken from http://socialmediatoday.com

• MLA

The only difference between APA and MLA format is that for online websites and blogs, MLA follows the same format as the other sources. While APA format has different styles for both fonts.

Kalvin, Kevin. "The negative impact of social networks on communication". Social Media Today RSS N.p. June 29, 2020. Web. January 2, 2021.

For printed newspapers

The most common source students use for their work is journal articles. When adding print journals, it is very important to add the correct citations, following the guidelines to ensure all formatting requirements are met.

• THE

The format follows the author's name, publication date, article name, journal name, and volume along with page numbers.

July, WA (2005). Public attitudes towards government agencies. American Journal of Political Science, 38(2), 336-361.

• MLA

With the MLA format, only the order in which the information is added is different, everything else is the same.

July, William A. "Public Attitudes Toward Government Agencies." American Journal of Political Science 38.2 (2005): 336-61. Press.

For online journals

The most common form of academic journals are online journals. The APA and MLA formats use the following structure to cite online journals.

• THE

For online versions, AP adds a link to the parent website's title and Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or Retrieval Date to cite online journals.

Potter, U.G. (nineteen ninety-six). Harassment of women and the Cold War struggle. The Journal of Modern Language, 68(3), 577. doi:10.1086/245343MLA

• MLA

In the MLA format, only the site title and the date of a test are added at the end of the references.

Potter, Uta G. "Female Harassment and the Battle of the Cold War." The Journal of Modern Language 68.3 (1996): 577. JSTOR. Network, January 2, 2013.

For database journals

In addition to print and online journals, students also access their journal articles from journal databases. The APA and MLA formats use different styles to cite journals accessed from the databases as they also cite a link to the database so readers can see complete information on where the journal came from.

• THE

The following appointment format will be followed

David, E. (1932). New trends in American psychological history. The Science News-Letter, 22(605), 306-307. DOI: 10.2307/3907973

• MLA

MLA follows the following format to cite journals from databases

Jacoby, William G. "Public Attitudes to Public Spending." American Journal of Political Science 38.2 (1994): 336-61. JSTOR. Network, April 23, 2010.

APA vs. MLA quote in text

An in-text citation is the form of reference placed in the body of your text. Whenever you come across a great quote and want to incorporate it into your text, you should follow the in-text citation method to avoid plagiarism.

The purpose of the in-text citation is to provide enough information to identify the source of your reference.

• THE

If the research paper is written in the APA style, the author uses theAuthor Date Formatin the case of text quotations in which the surname of the author and the year of publication are given in brackets after the cited text.

• MLA

On the other hand, if the research paper is in MLA format, the text citation is displayed inauthor page format, i.e. the last name of the author and the page number are given after the quoted text.

For a single author

APA and MLA use different methods for the same author.

• THE

The format for individual authors is "(author's last name, publication year, page numbers)". Show specific parts of books and magazines in brackets.

Sheril's theory of evolution is contradictory. (Pedro, 2015, p. 15).”

If the author's name is already mentioned in the sentence, simply give the year (add the page number if necessary) and brackets must also be used. This also applies to many authors.

Peter (2015) argues that Sheril's theory of evolution is contradictory (p. 15).

• MLA

The author's last name along with the page number is added at the end of the sentence.

“Sheril's theory of evolution is contradictory. (Peter 15).”

If the author's name is already mentioned in the sentence, just include the page number.

Peter (2015) argues that Sheril's theory of evolution is contradictory (15).

the authors

Authors' surnames must be arranged in the order of their names in their published articles. If both authors quote in brackets, the character "&" must be added in the middle of the name; if they are not in parentheses, use "e".

A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Pauling & Liu, 2005). Pauling and Liu (2005) discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism.

different authors

• THE

To cite multiple authors in APA format, include each author's last name and publication year, separated by commas and ampersands, at the beginning of the text.

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in corporate marketing (Williams, Smith, & Shaw, 2015).

For all in the text, after the first, add only the first author's name, followed by et al. and release year.

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in corporate marketing to run a successful marketing campaign (Williams et al., 2015).

• MLA

The difference in the MLA format is that it includes the first author's name along with et al. and page number for all beginning and following characters of the text. It does not use the names of all authors in the first text as in the APA style.

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in corporate marketing to run a successful marketing campaign (Williams et al. 50).

For sources without authors

When working with digital media, it is common to find many sources without authors' names, since the sources come from images, films, videos, dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Citing this type of source is frustrating for students as it is very difficult to give an accurate attribution without the author's name.

If so, include the first few words of the article and the year of publication in APA style.

According to new research, artificial intelligence could be the future of human progress ("Genetics and Genes", 2014).

If the title of the study is given in one sentence, only the year of publication is added.

According to the study "Genetics and Genes" (2014), artificial intelligence could be the future of human progress.

In the MLA citation, write the title of the study followed by brackets and quotation marks. If the study title is too long, a shortened version of that name will be used as long as it conveys the same meaning.

“Greenhouse gases are the result of human activities, causing humanity to be more careless of our planet” (“Go Green”).

The same citation method is used for all online sources in both the APA and the MLA. But if there is no information about the author and the date of publication, then just add the title of the article.

Always be very careful when using in-text citation methods.

APA vs. MLA headings and subheadings

Since the MLA format is primarily used by students of literature and social sciences, it does not strictly follow standard headings and subheadings. Research on this topic primarily follows sales patterns. However, there is no hard and fast rule that you cannot use headings and subheadings in MLA citation documents. If someone wants to subdivide their articles in the title, there is a suggested format for doing so:

1. header 1

1.1. subtitle 1

1.2. Subtitle 2

2. title 2

2.1. subtitle 1

2.2. Subtitle 2

This pattern is only provided to give you an idea, of course, you can change and use the pattern according to your learning needs. A requirement was enforced that any headings you use must be consistent throughout the document.

Unlike the MLA format, which does not have a rigid pattern for headings and subheadings, APA follows a standard pattern for headings and subheadings. Because the APA format is used by scholars who use the section title and need to organize their study.

This standard pattern for using APA format headings is:

Level 1 Title

Level 2 Title

Level 3 header

Level 4 header

Tier 5 titles

This structure is strictly followed when using headings in APA-style documents.

APA x MLA-Reference

References are added under the "References" heading at the end of the article in APA style.

References are added under the Works Cited heading in the MLA-style document.

Organize all references and citations in alphabetical order.

APA vs. MLA Bibliography

Adding a bibliography is an option and it is up to the author if they wish to add it to the article. Otherwise, the References and Works Cited sections are considered references and do not need to be separately listed in another section of the bibliography.

However, if a bibliography needs to be added, the same citation structure indicated by the paper citation format is followed.

When to use APA vs. MLA?

Once you know the details of what APA and MLA formats are. Here come the questions. When are these formats used? Which format is best for which type of paper?

The answers to these questions are:

• The APA format is used to write articles in social science and educational fields like sociology, psychology, economics, etc. (suitable for scientists)
• The MLA format is used to write articles in the humanities field, such as B. modern languages, philosophy, history, religion, politics, art, etc. (suitable for humanists)

Depending on the question to be answered with the help of the survey, the type of research work and the approach to the writing process, you can choose one of the two formats.

It is important to note that regardless of the citation format used, it is important to ensure that the citation format is consistent throughout the article. In addition, the format of the bibliography of the article must also match the format cited in the text.

The most important point is to make sure that all the information in the literature is correct, otherwise it can easily be identified as academic plagiarism.

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