When it comes to writing, the academic world follows strict guidelines, beginning with a college essay and progressing to scientific publications. Generally, three citation styles are used in American higher education: APA, MLA, and Chicago. Their main goal is to provide proper citations, avoid plagiarism, and create a system of unified paper structure.

Because the Chicago style is commonly used in history and economics, it is frequently provided alongside an assignment. Only some things about APA vs. MLA are as straightforward for students. They share many similarities and differences because they are so similar. So, how do you choose the best one for your assignment, and what are the critical criteria for each? This article contains all the information you need to master both APA and MLA.

Two of the most common citation styles are APA and MLA. The American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual, currently in its 7th edition, defines APA Style.

MLA style rules can be found in the MLA Handbook, currently in its 9th edition (published by the Modern Language Association). A source citation in either style consists of the following:

• In the text, a brief parenthetical citation
• A complete bibliography is provided at the end of the paper.

Citations, however, look slightly different in each style, with different rules for title capitalization, author names, and date placement. There are also some layout and formatting differences. Download the Word templates to ensure that your paper is appropriately formatted in either style.

MLA Definition

MLA style is a formatting style developed by the Modern Language Association to provide scholars, researchers, and journal publishers working in literature and language with a uniform and consistent way of documenting sources, organizing research papers, and presenting their findings.

The association regularly publishes the most recent edition as a Handbook, which contains instructions on MLA format and specific guidelines for submitting work that complies with the association’s rules and standards.

MLA style recommends guidelines that students and scholars can use in their sources. It focuses on writing mechanics such as punctuation, citation, and documentation. This style is preferred by many schools, colleges, universities, academic departments, and other organizations worldwide. It is mainly used in the humanities, such as English language and literature, cultural studies, literary criticism, and cultural studies, among other things.

APA Definition

The American Psychological Association developed the APA style in 1929, establishing rules for journal articles, publications, and books. The APA publication manual contains the guidelines for the work.

In behavioral sciences and social sciences, the APA style helps authors organize their work while creating a distinct style of references and citations. Psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science are examples of behavioral sciences, whereas social science includes human geography, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, economics, and political science, among others.

Its goal is to provide the reader with a comprehensive text with appropriate headings and a list of works cited and to avoid plagiarism. It helps researchers and scholars communicate facts and information about their projects, ideas, and experiments in a consistent and uniform format.

The paper is divided into four sections:

The title page includes the running head, title, author’s name, and educational institution’s name.

An abstract is a synopsis of your paper that should be between 150 and 250 words long. The word limit can be adjusted based on the situation. It includes the following sections: research topic, research questions and hypotheses, methodology, analysis, and conclusion.

The main body is the essay, which may be divided into sections.

References It includes a list of all the sources consulted and used while writing the paper.

MLA Vs. APA Format

The MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used in Humanities, Literature, and the Arts. The MLA style is used to use citations and to mention paintings, books, and multimedia projects. The American Psychological Association (APA) style is most commonly used for technical writing in engineering and social sciences. The APA citation format is used in scientific journals, technical lab assignments, and analytical writing.

The format of bibliographic citations and in-text citations is one of the key differences between MLA and APA (the author-page format for MLA and the author-date format for APA). There are differences in formatting rules as well.

APA and MLA formatting guidelines are similar in general. Both styles suggest:

• Times New Roman 12 pt font
• 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins double spaced

The main differences between APA and MLA formats involve the title page, running head, and block quoting guidelines.

• Header and title page

A separate cover page is required in APA. It includes the title of your paper, your full name, your institution, and department, the course for which the paper is written, the name of your instructor, and the due date, all centered and double-spaced.

There is no need for a title page in MLA (though your instructor may require you to include one). You replace the title page with a four-line header on the first page.

The header is double-spaced and left-aligned, including your full name, the name of your instructor, the course title or number, and the submission date. The paper’s title is centered on a new line beneath the header.

• Head of a runner

Include a right-aligned page number in APA Style at the top of each page. You should also include an APA running head with a shortened version of your paper’s title (up to 50 characters long), all in capitals and left-aligned, in manuscripts that will be submitted for publication. In student papers, the running head is optional (unless otherwise instructed).

Which is Better, MLA or APA?

Which of the two formatting methods is superior? It all depends on the application scenario! MLA is preferable when working with fictional literature (published in large volumes) because in-text citations refer to the information explicitly by mentioning the specific page. When working with short publications (for example, academic articles that are frequently published online without page numbering), APA in-text citations appear to be more appropriate (they only help identify the work, but importantly, they mention the year, which allows to easily track the chronology of research).

How to Cite Correctly

Here’s how to cite in each of the following formats:

APA format

The American Psychological Association (APA) format citation is a writer’s credit to an article source. Many Canadian universities require students to use this style when citing sources in their written work. Professionals in education, psychology, and science typically use the APA style to credit their sources. Here’s how to cite a source in APA format:

1. Put a comma after the author’s last name.
2. If known, include the author’s first and middle initials, followed by a period.
3. Write an open parenthesis, followed by the year the article was published.
4. After the publication year, place a close parenthesis followed by a period.
5. Put a period after the article title.
6. Italicize the name of the journal that contains the article, followed by a comma.
7. Italicize the volume number, followed by an open parenthesis.
8. After the open parenthesis, include the issue number.
9. Close the parenthesis with a comma.
10. Enter the page range containing the information you’re citing. 205-207, for example.
11. After a period, including the digital object identifier (DOI) or uniform resource locator to complete the citation (URL). A DOI is a one-of-a-kind string of numbers, letters, and symbols that identifies an article, whereas a URL is the web address.
12. The author’s last name and initials are used as templates. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Journal, Volume (Issue), and The range of pages. DOR vs. URL

MLA format

The MLA style article citation is a writer’s acknowledgment of an article source in the Modern Language Association (MLA) format. When citing another person’s work, language arts, cultural studies, and other humanities professionals may use the MLA style. Here’s how to cite a source in MLA format:

1. Put a comma after the author’s last name.
2. Include the Author’s first name, followed by a period.
3. Insert quotation marks after the article title.
4. Add a period, then quotation marks.
5. In italics, write the journal’s name that contains the article, followed by a comma.
6. Write vol., then the volume number.
7. Insert a comma before no.
8. A comma should follow the issue number.
9. After a comma, write the month and year the article was published in the journal.
10. Write pp., then the page range that contains the information you’re citing.
11. Insert a comma, then the DOI or URL.
12. Put a period at the end of the citation.
13. Author’s surname, author’s first name. “Title of the article.” Name of the journal, vol. The volume number, no. There are several issues: Month and Year, pp. DOI, URL, or page range.

When to Use Different Citation Styles

The citation style you use, whether APA, MLA, Chicago or another, can be determined by several factors. If you’re writing a school assignment, your teacher may direct you to use a specific style. Your English teacher, for example, may instruct you to use the APA style, whereas your history teacher may instruct you to use the Chicago style.

If you’re a professional citing, your style will be determined by your level of expertise. For example, if you’re writing an article about another photographer’s influence, you can cite your sources using the Chicago style. In contrast, you can use the MLA style if an English professor writes an article comparing two authors’ writing styles.

Examples of Citations

Reading examples can help you cite your sources correctly, whether you’re using a specific citation style for the first time or want to review the style. Here are some APA and MLA citation examples:

APA Citation

Here’s an example of an APA-style citation:

Jennifer would like to refer to Maribeth Rauh’s article, The Other Side of Happiness, which she discovered at the following link: http://psychologytomorrow.com/123. The article was published in Psychology Tomorrow on May 7, 2022. The article appeared in the ninth issue of the fourth volume of the online journal. Jennifer wants to refer to the excerpt on pages three and four.

Jennifer’s APA citation example:

Rauh, P. (2022). Happiness on the Other Side. 3-4 in Psychology Tomorrow, 4(9). http://psychologytomorrow.com/123

MLA Citation

Here’s an example of how to cite according to MLA guidelines:

Damien would like to refer to Malic Smith’s article, The Origin of Emotion and Why We Feel What We Feel, which he found at http://whywefeelthisway.com/456. The article was published on February 1, 2021, in the online journal Why We Feel This Way Journal. The article was published in the sixth issue of the online journal’s ninth volume. The excerpt Damien wishes to cite is on the first page.

Damien’s MLA citation example:

“The Evolution of Emotion and Why We Feel the Way We Do.” Why We Feel This Way Journal, vol. 9, no. 6. February 2021, pp. 1, http://whywefeelthisway.com/456.

Citations Examples

Here are some more examples of how our essay writers’ service differs from APA and MLA citation styles.

When Using a Book Citation

Structure your MLA book citation as follows:

• The author’s Last Name, 
• First Name; 
• the Book Title in Italics; 
• the City of Publication, 
• the Name of the Publisher, 
• and the Year of Publication; 
• the Medium of Publication; 
• other citations (if you’re citing multiple books); 
• and any additional information.

Jones, Duncan is an example of an MLA citation. The Pleasure of Letting Go. Penguin Books, Scottsdale, AZ, 1969. Print.

This is how your APA book citation should look:

• The author’s last name,
•  the initials of their first and middle names,
•  the publishing year in parentheses, 
• the title of the book in italics, 
• the city and state where it was published, 
• a colon, and the publisher’s name.

Duncan Jones. D. Jones, The Joy of Letting Go, 1969. Penguin Books, Scottsdale, Arizona.

When Citing an Article, Use the following formula to cite your article in MLA format:

• The author’s last name, 
• first name; 
• the article title in quotation marks; 
• the journal title in italics; 
• the volume; 
• the release number; 
• the date; 
• the page(s); 
• the database name; 
• the doi number (if available – otherwise, use a URL/permalink);
•  the day, month, and year when the article was accessed.

Cite your article in APA format using the following guidelines:

• The author’s last name, 
• first initial, 
• the publication year in parentheses, 
• the article title and subtitle, 
• the journal title in italics, 
• the volume, the release number in parentheses, 
• the page(s), 
• and the doi number.

Which is Better, MLA or APA?

Teachers in elementary and secondary schools prefer to use the MLA format. MLA is more accessible for them to teach because it is designed for something other than advanced subjects that require in-depth scientific research.

Most students will come across APA once they attend college or university because it is advanced and scholarly. The APA style is used for scientific papers, and students use it for topics such as hypothesizing, testing and reporting.

Professionals checking sources at universities and other institutions care whether you use MLA or APA because it speeds up their grading or research process.

Bottom Line

The academic world depends on effective communication. Academics recognize one another based on how well others follow the rules, such as proper citation. This is why it is critical to understand the various formats and styles for citing sources for your claims. The more you understand these styles, the more sophisticated and credible your papers will be, allowing you to pursue more ambitious academic and professional objectives.