Scholarly Writing Using APA and MLA Styles

1
Scholarly Writing UsingAPA and MLA Styles
Presented byRIT Academic Support Center
2
Thought-provoking Questions

• How many of these questions can you answer
• What is the value of using a style guide when
  writing?
• Why do we use specific writing styles?
• What is the difference between APA and MLA
  styles?
• Where can we find detailed information on
  different styles?

3
Scholarly Writing
Why student assignments, articles for
professional journals, theses, and
dissertations Who scholarly writing is produced
by scholars for other scholars. Purpose add to
the existing body of knowledge with research.
Types results of original research for
review, theoretical, and methodological articles
and case studies
4
Characteristics of Scholarly Writing

• As you write
• Express ideas in a clear and logical manner.
• Persevere with the process.
• Ask for constructive feedback from others.
• Rewrite and continue to refine writing.

5
Good Practices for Scholarly Writing

• Good practices include
• Using appropriate words in the proper context.
• Using grammatically correct sentences.
• Writing in clear and concise paragraphs.
• Using logical transitions.

6
Good Practices for Scholarly Writing(cont.)

• Good practices include
• Writing as if your audience is not familiar with
  your topic or personal writing style.
• Producing a document that is readable and
  understandable by others.

7
Editorial Style
When professors or editors request writing in APA
or MLA Style, they do not mean writing style.
They are referring to the editorial style that
many of the social and behavioral sciences have
adopted to present written material in the field.
8
Editorial Style (cont.)

• Editorial style consists of publisher guidelines
  that ensure clear and consistent presentation of
  written material e.g.
• punctuation and abbreviations
• construction of tables
• selection of headings
• citation of references
• presentation of statistics, and
• other elements that are a part of a manuscript

9
Guidelines

• General guidelines include information on all
  aspects of formatting e.g.
• Paper size
• Spacing, font type and size
• Margins, page numbers
• Italics and underlining
• Title page
• Page numbering

10
Systems of Citations and Reference Formats

• When researchers refer to an APA or MLA style,
  they refer to systems of in-text citations as
  well as Works Cited and Reference formats that
• build their credibility.
• demonstrate accountability to their source
  material.
• protect writers from accusations of plagiarism.

11
Need for Specific Style
Authors who write for a publication follow the
rules of specific styles per the publisher to
avoid inconsistencies among journal articles or
book chapters. For example, without rules of
style, three different manuscripts might use data
base, database, and Database in one issue of a
journal or book. The meaning of the word is the
same however, the variations in style may
distract or confuse readers.
12
Need for Specific Style (cont.)
The need for a consistent style becomes more
apparent when complex material is presented, such
as tables and statistics.
13
When Citing is Not Required

• Common sense and ethics help determine your need
  for documenting sources. For example, sources are
  not needed for
• common knowledge.
• well-known quotations.
• Note Your audience dictates what constitutes
  common knowledge.

14
Discussion Check Your Current Knowledge

• Regarding APA and MLA styles
• What resources do you have?
• Where do you go for up-to-date information on
  these styles?
• How do you identify what is the most reliable
  resources?

15
APA
The American Psychological Association (APA)
guidelines are the most commonly used among the
social sciences, behavioral sciences, and
education, which have adopted the APA format to
present written material in their fields.
16
APA Major Sections

• Major sections of APA include
• Title Page
• Abstract
• Main Body
• References

17
APA In-Text Citation Rules
When paraphrasing an idea from another work, make
reference to the author and year of publication
in your in-text citation e.g. Human beings
have been described as "symbol-using animals"
(Burke, 1966).
18
APA Corresponding Entry in References Page
Your in-text citation will correspond with an
entry in your Works Cited page e.g. Burke,
Kenneth. (1966) Language as symbolic action
Essays on life, literature, and method. Berkeley
U of California P, Boston, MA McGraw Hill.
19
APA Citations of Electronic Sources
Include all information available, including an
issue number in parentheses. Provide a retrieval
date only if the information is likely to be
updated or changed at a later date (e.g., blogs
and wikis) e.g. Author, A. A., Author, B.
B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title
of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number
if available). Retrieved month day, year, (if
necessary) from http//www.someaddress.com/full/ur
l/
20
APA Common Errors

• To minimize the common APA errors
• avoid using bold, oversized, or decorative fonts.
• avoid underlining text.
• use the ampersand () inside parentheses use
  and within text.
• double space all text in the document.

21
APA Common Errors (cont.)

• To minimize the common APA errors
• use lowercase letters in parentheses to identify
  elements in a series e.g., (a), (b), (c).
• use separate paragraphs and Arabic numerals for
  list or steps.

22
APA Best Resources

• For the most comprehensive, up-to-date
  information on APA, use the following sources
• Fifth Edition of the Publication Manual of the
  American Psychological Association (2007)
• http//apastyle.apa.org/
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu
• http//www.rit.edu/studentaffairs/asc/tutoring_wri
  tingcenter.php

23
APA vs. MLA
The table below lists just a few examples of how
APA style differs from MLA.
Topic APA MLA
Title Page Separate title page No separate title page
Quotation Marks Long quotations of 40 or more words are displayed in a double-spaced block of typewritten lines with no quotation marks. Indented five spaces from the left margin. Quotes longer than 4 lines are double indented, single spaced, and only quotation marks used by the author are included.
Parenthetical Citations Authors last name, date of publication, and page number. Authors last name and page number in parentheses
Discipline Behavioral and Social Sciences and Liberal Arts Education, Psychology, Humanities, Theology Natural and Physical Sciences e.g., Biology, Physics, Chemistry.
24
MLA Usages
The Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines
MLA writing style is the most commonly used among
the humanities, liberal arts, and fine arts
disciplines, and therefore, is extremely
valuable to all college students for use in their
general education courses. Based on the
previous slide, opinions vary on these
disciplines, so it is always important to ask
what style is expected.
25
MLA Five-Paragraph Format

• With the five paragraph format, your papers
  contain five main parts
• Introduction
• Claim
• Primary support
• Secondary support
• Conclusion

26
MLA Basic In-Text Citation Rules
Referring to the works of others in your text is
done by parenthetical citation. Following a
quotation from a source or a paraphrase of a
source's ideas, place the author's name followed
by a space and the relevant page number(s)
e.g. Human beings have been described as
"symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).
27
MLA Corresponding Entry in Works Cited Page
Your in-text citation will correspond with an
entry in your Works Cited page e.g. Burke,
Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action Essays on
Life, Literature, and Method. Berkeley U of
California P, 1966.
28
MLA In-Text Multiple Citations
To cite multiple sources in the same
parenthetical reference, separate the citations
by a semi-colon e.g. ...as has been discussed
elsewhere (Burke 3 Dewey 21).
29
MLA Citations of Electronic Sources

• Include as much information available e.g.
• Author and/or editor names
• Name of the database or title of project, book,
  article
• Any version numbers available
• Date of version, revision, or posting
• Publisher information
• Date you accessed the material
• Medium (i.e., electronic)
• Electronic address, printed between carets (lt gt)

30
MLA Changes as of May 2008

• The most notable changes include
• Adding the medium of publication to every entry
  in Works Cited
• Simplifying the format for works-cited entries
  for online sources that do not include the full
  URL
• Including the volume and issue numbers for every
  journal citation
• Using italics instead of underling for titles

31
MLA Best Resources

• For the most comprehensive, up-to-date
  information on MLA, use the following sources
• Sixth Edition of the MLA Handbook of Writers of
  Research Papers (2003)
• http//www.mla.org/style
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu
• http//www.rit.edu/studentaffairs/asc/tutoring_wri
  tingcenter.php

32
Automatic Bibliography Builders

• Some of you may be aware of these sites that
  automatically generate Works Cited and
  Bibliography pages e.g.
• http//www.easybib.com/
• http//www.bibme.org/
• http//www.workscited4u.com/
• Question How can you ensure that these are
  accurate?

33
Activity Check Your Resources

• Use your computers to determine how to create
  in-text citations and Works Cited/References
  citations for the following information
• U.S. Census Bureau information
• Proceedings from a professional organizations
  conference e.g., IEEE, STC, or ASTD
• Audio recording
• Unpublished doctoral dissertation

34
Check Your Understanding

• Describe something you learned (or recall) about
  scholarly writing and using APA and MLA formats
  e.g.
• What is the value of using a style guide when
  writing?
• Why do we use specific writing styles?
• What is the difference between APA and MLA
  styles?
• Where can we find detailed information on
  different styles?

35
Resources

• Contents adapted from the following websites
  (which are excellent resources for further
  study)
• www.apastyle.org/
• http//www.mla.org/style
• http//www.associatedcontent.com/article/61292/for
  matting_a_paper_for_the_modern_language_pg3.html?c
  at4
• http//owl.english.purdue.edu/owl
• Faigley, L. Backpack Writing. New York Custom
  Publishing, 2008.