MLA and APA Format
An Overview
PURPOSE
• In text parenthetical citations
direct the reader to the
appropriate MLA or APA entry.
• The purpose for APA or MLA
citations are to enable the reader
to verify your information, or
research the topic further.
Who are these people
anyway?
• APA = American Psychological Association
(Social Sciences)
• MLA = Modern Languages Association
(English and the Humanities)
• CBE = Council of Biology Editors
(Science)
When to Document?
(Both in-text, then at the end as well)
•
•
•
•
•
Summaries, paraphrases, quotes
Obscure or recently discovered facts
Other’s opinions
Other’s field research (polls, surveys)
Quotations or paraphrases from your own
interviews
When NOT to document:
• Common knowledge
• Everyday facts (presidential birth dates,
names of Supreme Court Justices, etc.
• Standard definitions of academic terms
• Your own field research (surveys,
observations)
Works Cited or
Bibliography?
• Works Cited pages are a list of all
works cited within the paper.
• Bibliographies are a list of works
read and consulted whether you
used them or not.
In Text Citations
(Parenthetical Citations)
• APA = (Author’s last name, Date)
(Jenkins 1978)
For quotes, use a pg. # at end:
(Jenkins 1978, p. 53)
• MLA (Author’s last name Page)
(Jenkins 53)
Many instructors may prefer that you use
attributions rather than parenthetical
citations.
Works Cited Entries
• Examples for APA and MLA side by
side.
AUTHOR
Comes FIRST.
Always.
Every Source.
• APA
• Last Name, First
Initial.
• Tolstoy, L.
• MLA
• Last Name, First.
• Tolstoy, Leo.
BOOKS
APA
• Packard, V. (1957)
The hidden
persuaders. New
York: McKay.
MLA
• Packard, Vincent.
The Hidden
Persuaders. New
York: McKay,
1957. 52-55.
Notice, the date’s placement. Notice the use
of capitals and underlining in the title.
PERIODICALS
APA
• Shute, N. (1997,
August 18). Why
do we age? U.S.
News & World
Report, 123, 5557.
MLA
• Shute, Nancy.
“Why Do We Age?”
U.S. News &
World Report 18
Aug. 1997: 55-57.
Notice the capitalization in article title, and the use of
underlining, and the addition of the volume number.
INTERNET WITH AUTHOR
APA
• Rise, S. (1997,
September 7).The
Bulwer fiction home
page. San Jose State
U. Retrieved January
29, 1999 from
http://www.bulwer.c
om
MLA
• Rise, Scott. The
Bulwer Fiction
Home Page. 7
Sept. 1997. San
Jose State U.
Web. 29 Jan. 1999
Notice date of WWW lookup
and style of url adress
INTERNET WITHOUT AUTHOR
APA
• Fetal surgery. (1999,
March). Alliance for
Women’s Health.
Retrieved January
31, 1999 from
http://www.alliance
/fetal.com
MLA
• Fetal Surgery. Mar.
1999. Alliance for
Women’s Health.
Web. 31 January,
1999.
ONLINE JOURNAL
APA
• Herring, S. (1993)
Gender and
democracy in
computer-mediated
communication.
Electronic Journal of
Communication, 3.2.
Retrieved 7
September, 1999
from
http://www.cios.org
MLA
• Herring, Susan.
“Gender and
Democracy in
Computer-mediated
Communication.”
Electronic Journal of
Communications 3.2
(1993). Web. 7 Sept.
1997
…and many others.
The only way to be sure
is to
LOOK IT UP.
…try online tools
• There are some great web sites that will
simply ask you to fill in the information
for the source, and the site will produce
the entry for you!
• CAUTION: On these sites you are only as
good as the information you “input” into
the fields, and the choices you make
about what type of source you have.
BE METICULOUS.
• Your grade depends on it,
and it’s the LAW!