APA vs MLA Citation Style
If you are comparing APA and MLA citation styles, it’ll come to your attention that they are
formatted a little differently. The differences aren’t going to jump out at you and say, “Hey look
at me.” While they are subtle, the differences between them come down to what they were
created for.
APA (American Psychological Association) is designed for technical works found in social
sciences. This format makes citing journals and technical reports a breeze. MLA (Modern
Language Association) is for arts and humanities. It helps you to break down citing paintings,
books, and other literature.
While you can write a paper in either format, using the right style can make your life a whole lot
easier. Therefore, it is important to break down the differences of each.
You might notice other little differences between these two styles on the citation page, but these
will vary based on what is being cited. For example, MLA typically includes the publication
date, at or near the end of the citation. In APA, however, you’ll see the publication date after the
author’s name.
When it comes to in-text citing, APA and MLA use a bit different approaches. While MLA
sticks to the author-page format, APA uses an author-date one. Paper, formatted according to
APA includes last name of the author and publication year in parenthesis after the text, which
you want to cite.
MLA formatted paper consist of last name of the author and page number after the cited text.
If two works of the same author are cited, in an APA format you need to list them in a
chronological order, starting with the earliest one. Difference between MLA and APA in this
case is obvious: you need to list entries in an alphabetical order according to the title and use
three hyphens on the place of author’s name after the first time the author was mentioned.
On the page of cited works you need to indent five spaces starting with the second and the
following lines for every source. Every source in an APA format should be indented ½ inch
starting with the second line.
As you see, MLA vs APA citation styles are very similar and it is necessary to distinguish one
from another, because lack of attention may get you into troubles. In case you don’t want to
waste your time and format the page on your own or need some help to get started, you can
always contact professional writers and get quality assistance any time of the day.
Remember, formatting makes up an important part of any assignment, so you should never
neglect it.
The two styles vary in a number of ways, including punctuation, capitalization, and placement of
the date. Also, unlike APA Style, MLA Style includes the format of the source—either “Print” or
“Web”—as an extra piece of “where” information, and it often requires writers to abbreviate
publisher names.
The most substantive difference is that MLA Style requires the name of the database from which
you retrieved the article and the date of retrieval as well; it does not use the DOI. In contrast,
APA Style requires a DOI (when there is one), but doesn’t require the date of access. In most
cases, the name of the database is not used in an APA Style reference.
When is it best to use the APA style? MLA style
As a complete style and guideline for writing, the APA is a valuable tool for writing scientific
papers, laboratory reports, and papers covering topics in the field of psychology, education, and
other social sciences. The APA style allows for in-text citations, direct quotations, and endnotes
and footnotes. It is also enables the author to use the past tense of verbs in the reportage.
The Modern Language Association (MLA) style is the leading style of documentation for literary
research, as well as academic papers in the humanities field.
MLA is usually used in the humanities, like English, history, or drama. APA is normally used in
the social sciences, like psychology, sociology, or social work. While the date a piece of work
was created is important in MLA, it's very important in APA because it is usually related to
science and medicine.
MLA is the style preferred by the Modern Language Association, and it is used most often in the
humanities, including literature, art, and theatre.
Humanities courses are usually asked to style according to MLA guidelines. Students in science
and research fields, meanwhile, are often encouraged to follow the APA guidelines. In college,
the primary reason for using a standardized reference format like the MLA or APA is so that
professional peers, researchers, professors, and other academic readers can easily understand the
syntax and easily check the citations.
