An Introduction to MLA and APA Documentation

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An Introduction to MLA and APA Documentation
2
Documentation Basics

• Part One

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What is documentation?

• When your teacher states that you must use APA or
  MLA documentation style, he or she is simply
  directing you to use a system that reveals to
  your reader what sources and information you have
  utilized in writing your paper.
• The documentation style also determines certain
  formatting practices in your paper.

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General Paper format rules

• Double space entire paper.
• Use 12 point, Times New Roman font
• Do not bold titles or the bibliography page
  heading
• Set all margins to 1
• New paragraphs should be indented ½ from the
  margin

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Parts of Documentation

• In-text (parenthetical) citation
• Bibliography (Works Cited Page, References)
• The in-text citation acts as a key to your
  bibliography and directs your reader to specific
  sources. The in-text citation includes the
  authors last name (and/or) the title of the work
  so that you can easily locate the complete source
  information in the bibliography.

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In-Text Citations

• You need to give credit to a source any time you
  use information from the source in the following
  ways
• Direct Quotation
• Paraphrase
• Summary

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Types of Quotations

• Block Quotations must be longer than three
  lines, set off from main body of paragraph (like
  a block)
• Integrated Quotations three lines of text or
  fewer, flows seamlessly in the paragraph

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Block Quotation format
No quotation marks
Indented 1 and double spaced
Citation follows the period
Period comes at end of quote
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Integrated quote format
Quote integrated into paragraph
Quotation marks needed
Period follows citation
Quotation mark precedes citation
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Formatting a Paraphrase or Summary

• The suggestion that there is a continuity in the
  linguistic abilities of apes and humans has
  created much controversy. Linguist Noam Chomsky
  has strongly asserted that language is a unique
  human characteristic (Booth, 1990).

The paraphrase or summary is in your own words
and flows smoothly with the paragraph.
Period follows citation.
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Apa vs. mla

• Part Two

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An Example of an APA Title Page

• The header includes the running head (formatted
  as the following Running head TITLE OF ESSAY)
  against the left margin and the page number
  against the right margin.
• The title of the essay, your name, and the
  university name should appear centered, double
  spaced, and on the top half of the page.
• All text should be in 12 pt. Times New Roman font
  and should not be bolded.
• Authors note (optional) contains contact
  information and acknowledgements and should be
  placed at the bottom half of essay.

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MLA Sample First Page

• MLA format does not require a title page.
• On the first page, the student includes a heading
  (name, professor, course number and date). The
  first page heading begins on the first line of
  text (not the header) and is double spaced.
• The title appears centered in plain text after
  the first page heading.
• The header contains only the students last name
  and page number.

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Subsequent Page headers

• MLA

• APA

On each page after the title page, APA requires
that the title appear in all caps on the left and
the page number appears on the right.
MLA format uses the same header (last name
followed by page number in the right corner) for
ever y page
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A quick exercise

• Look at the Bibliography of the APA Model Paper
  and the MLA Model Paper and do the following
  tasks
• List all the similarities do you see.
• List all the differences you see.

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Bibliography Comparison

• Similarities

• Differences

• Entries are double-spaced
• The first line of each entry begins at the
  margin. Subsequent lines display a ½ hanging
  indent.
• Entries are alphabetized by the first word in
  each entry (typically the authors last name)
• The words References and Works Cited are both
  centered, at the top of the page, and in plain
  text.
• The important words in all journal titles and
  book titles are capitalized.

• MLA uses the heading Works Cited while APA
  refers to the page as References.
• In MLA entries the title follows the authors
  name, but in APA, the year (in parentheses)
  follows the authors name.
• Essay titles in MLA are put in quotation marks
  and all important words are capitalized. APA
  capitalizes only the first word of an essays
  title and does not put punctuation marks around
  the title.

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In-Text Citation differences

• Look at the in-text citations below and list the
  similarities and differences

MLA Example Frances Bents, an expert on the
relation between cell phones and
accidents, estimates that between 450 and 1,000
crashes a year have some connection to cell phone
use (Layton C9).
APA Example Obesity can be a devastating problem
from both an individual and a societal
perspective. Obesity puts children at risk for a
number of medical complications, including Type 2
diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and
orthopedic problems (Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation, 2004, p. 1).
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In-text citations

• Similarities

• Differences

• Both reveal the authors name (or the title if
  the source is anonymous)
• Both reveal the page number where the information
  can be found if the source has page numbers listed

• APA lists the year, but MLA does not

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A Helpful Website

• The Online Writing Lab at Purdue
• This website includes accurate guides to both MLA
  and APA format, annotated sample papers, examples
  of different types of works cited entries, and
  detailed information concerning punctuation,
  grammar, and other writing related topics.