APA vs. MLA

What’s the Difference?

Overview

• What hasn’t changed

• What has changed

• What APA resources you can use

What hasn’t changed

• What you document

• Where you document

What hasn’t changed

• What you document– Direct quotations

“Quotation marks should be used to indicate the exact words of another” (APA, 2001, p. 349).

What hasn’t changed

• What you document– Direct quotations– Paraphrases

Whenever you express an author’s ideas in your own words, omit quotation marks, but provide parenthetical documentation (APA, 2001).

What hasn’t changed

• What you document– Direct quotations– Paraphrases

• Where you document

What hasn’t changed

• What you document– Direct quotations– Paraphrases

• Where you document– Parenthetical documentation

• At the end of a quotation• At the end of a paraphrase

What hasn’t changed

• What you document– Direct quotations– Paraphrases

• Where you document– Parenthetical documentation

• At the end of a quotation• At the end of a paraphrase

– Page of bibliographic references

What hasn’t changed

• Basic principles:– Give credit where credit is due.

What hasn’t changed

• Basic principles:– Give credit where credit is due.– Provide enough information so you

(or interested readers) can find the original source.

What hasn’t changed

• Basic principles:– Give credit where credit is due.– Provide enough information so you

(or interested readers) so find the original source.– Identify the source in parenthetical documentation,

and provide complete bibliographic information in a separate page at the end.

What has changed

• Cover page• Emphasis on dates• Style for Internet citations• Block quotations• Acknowledging material quoted by the author

you’re citing• Reference list

APA Cover Page

First words of title Page #

TITLESub title

Name

ClassTeacher

Date

Emphasis on dates

In parenthetical citation:“Each time you paraphrase another author (i.e., summarize a passage or rearrange the order of a sentence and change some of the words), you will need to credit the source in the text” (APA, 2001, p. 349).

Emphasis on dates

In text:In an influential article, Terrance, Petitto, Sanders, and Bever (1979) argued that apes in language experiments were not using language spontaneously but were merely imitating their trainers, responding to conscious or unconscious cues.

Emphasis on dates

In reference list entry:Terrace, H. S., Petitto, L. A.,

Sanders, R. J., & Bever, T. G. (1979). Can an ape create a sentence? Science, 206, 891-902.

Emphasis on dates

In reference list entry:Terrace, H. S., Petitto, L. A., Sanders,

R. J., & Bever, T. G. (1979). Can an ape create a sentence? Science, 206, 891-902.

Note: authors are last name, first initial(s)Titles use sentence cap., not title case

(capitalize only the first word, proper nouns, and words after a colon)

Style for Internet citations

Basic format:

Levy, S. (2002, May 27). Great minds, great ideas. Newsweek, 139, 54-58. Retrieved May 29, 2002, from http://www.msnbc.com/news/754336.asp

Style for Internet citations

If site is important:

Chou, L., McClintock, R., Moretti, F., Nix, D. H. (1993). Technology and education: New wine in new bottles: Choosing pasts and imagining educational futures. Retrieved August 24, 2000, from Columbia University, Institute for Learning Technologies Web site: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications /papers/newwine1.html

Style for database citations

Basic format for an EBSCO article:

Holliday, R. E., & Hayes, B. K. (2001). Dissociating automatic and intentional processes in children's eyewitness memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 75(1), 1-5. Retrieved February 21, 2001, from MasterFILE Premier database (A59317972).

Definition of block quotations

In APA style, long quotations are set off:

Display a quotation of 40 or more words in a freestanding block of typewritten lines, and omit the quotation marks. Start such a block quotation on a new line, and indent the block about .5 inch. (APA, 2001, p. 117)

A source within a source

Wright (1999) argues that “the early discharge of patients after surgery is the Trojan Horse of increased privatization in the field of health care” (as cited in Frost & Krahn, 2000, p. 10).

Note: Wright does not appear in Reference List.As cited in gives credit, but allows readers to match parethentical dcumentation to reference list entry.

Reference List

• Use author-date citation system.• Include only the references cited in the paper.• References that others cannot access, such

as personal interviews, are cited parenthetically, but do not appear in the reference list.

APA Resources

• Best use:1. Find a model that matches your

source

2. Imitate the capitalization, punctuation, and order of information

3. Double-check citation against model(remember, EasyBib lies!)

Recommended APA Resources

• www.dianahacker.com/resdoc– APA in-text citations– APA list of references– APA manuscript format– Sample paper: APA style

Recommended APA Resources

• www.dianahacker.com/resdoc• www.apastyle.org• www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html• Google for APA and “EBSCO article”

CAUTION: be sure models are based on 5th edition

• Hamilton Style Guide(available at www.word-crafter.net/CompII)