MLA,APA Format Difference With Example

Citation Guide

Citation Basics

Ready to start your journey about citiation. This is the best place to start, learn what a citiation is and how to cite a source. Learn about the ins and out of most popular citation styles.

MLA Format Guide

Organizing and styling your paper in MLA style is not a easy thing to do. Luckily we have all the information that is needed to format your paper properly. Filled with clear guidelines, graphic aids, and samples glores, Our simple guide will make it smiple for you to format your MLA paper.

Difference between MLA and APA format starts with the history of these styles. This one is provided by the Modern Language Association for literary research and scientific works in the field of humanities. Key difference is that MLA is more detailed when it concerns references and citations. It is also most commonly used in present tense of verbs. MLA vs APA have one more significant difference: the first one is focused on names of authors and treats old sources as well as the new studies. The second one, on the contrary, is focused on year of referenced book or publications, preferably the newest and relevant ones.

MLA Standards Include

Double-Spaced Lines
Times New Roman, 12 , 1 inch margin
Bibliography of the cited work
Alphabatical order for authors and alphabatical order of work.
Direct in-text citations have only name and page, without a comma (Slezinger 242); indirect citations have only page (According to Slezinger (242), technologies evolve…);
No extra lines between citiations
Page number with the author's name on the upper right corner
Articles’ titles are taken in quotation marks, every word should be capitalized

Which Format Is Better MLA or APA?

Which one of the following tow format is better? Well it depends on how to use it. When working with the fiction litrature. MLA is more appropriate since in-text citations refer explicitly to the info by mentioning the specific page. By contrast while working with the short publications (e. g. academic articles, ofte published online, without page numbering), APA in text citiation is more preferable, (thy only help identify the work, but importantly, they mention the year, which allows to easily track the chronology of research).

APA standards include:

Double-spaced lines;
Times New Roman 12, one-inch for all margins;
Upper right part of every page has a number + short title of the work;
Footnotes/endnotes are also double-spaced;
In-text citations include author, year of publication, page (Slezinger, 2016, p.6) for direct quotations. Paraphrased idea should include author’s name + year (Slezinger, 2016);
Reference list is composed in bibliographic order;
Alphabetical order for authors and then chronological for works (if there is more than one work of an author);
Authors’ names in references list are given in formula Last name + First Initial + Middle initial (Sloss D.M.);
In periodicals’ titles only the first word is capitalized, no quotation marks;
Title is centered.
Include abstract for long papers.