APA vs MLA Citation- Differences Between The Two Referencing Styles

If you closely observe the Internet, you will see that it is filled with queries like ‘What is the difference between APA vs MLA citation. Moreover, they also wonder, "Why is referencing essential?" Well, referencing makes the academic papers legitimate. When you cite sources, you acknowledge the work of others, and you validate your arguments.

Here, we will take a detailed look at APA vs MLA citation examples, so that you are able to differentiate between the two most widely used referencing styles.  

When to Use APA vs MLA in Assignments?

Are you wondering what is the APA vs MLA citation? Then the facts stated below would be quite handy for you.

• APA, is an author-date style of referencing, used for formatting essays and other types of writing.
• MLA, is another standard format for essays, research papers and other forms of assignments. MLA, usually, is an author-page method of citation.

The next thing you must know is when to use APA vs MLA or “In which academic papers are APA and MLA applicable?” If you must know,

• APA citation is predominantly used in disciplines like Nursing, Criminology, Sociology, Business and other domains associated with Social Science. It is by students in countries Down Under and in the USA.
• MLA referencing is used in domains like Philosophy, Politics, Arts, Language, History, Law and other branches of Humanities. It is employed worldwide, especially in the USA.  

Now that you know when to use APA or MLA, let us explore further.

An Analogy between the APA vs MLA Citation Styles

If you abide by the APA format vs MLA format, there are notable differences in your entire academic paper. Have a look at the following table:

	MLA Citation	APA Citation
Bibliography Name	The referencing page is called 'Works Cited'	The referencing page is known as 'Reference List'
Order of Citation	Alphabetical order is maintained both for the authors and works	Chronological or alphabetical order is followed for authors, while Chronological order is maintained for works
Header	· The last name of the student is right-aligned · The page number is right-aligned	· Title is left-aligned · Page Number is right-aligned
First Page	If you are sticking to MLA citation style, there is no Title Page. You just have to mention the following aspects in the upper left corner Ø First and Last Name Ø Professor Ø Class Ø Date Ø Title Ø Text	If you are abiding by  APA citation style, then the first page is the Title Page. Here you must specify: Ø Title Ø Name Ø Academic Institution

Table 1: APA vs MLA- The Differences

Thus, you have an insight into how to format APA vs MLA citation by checking out the above mentioned aspects in the academic papers. In the next section, we will take a look at the APA vs MLA citation examples.

APA vs MLA Citation Formats and Examples

Due to the lack of awareness of the formats, most students are unable to cite their sources as they are unaware of the formats. But, if you go through this section carefully, you will have no more queries regarding this topic. The APA format vs MLA format citation examples are as follows:

1. E-Book

APA

Format: Last name of the author, First name of the author initial. Middle name initial (Year published) Title of the book Publisher. DOI or URL

Example: Armstrong, P., Armstrong, H., Choiniere, J., Feldberg, G., & White, J. P. (2019). Take care: Warning signals for Canada's health system. University of Toronto Press.

MLA

Format: Last name of the author, first name. "Title of the section or chapter." Title of the e-book Edited or translated by First name Last name, vol. number, Publisher, Year of publication, page number, Website URL

Example: Armstrong, Pat, et al. Take care: Warning signals for Canada's health system. University of Toronto Press, 2019.

2. Website

APA

Format: Last name of the author, first initial of the author (Publishing Date) Title of article URL

Example: Barboza, T. (2019, August 29), “Signals and ” https://www.Science&Facts.com.   

MLA

Format: Surname of the author, First name of the author "Title of Article” Title of the website, Name of the Publisher, Date of publication, URL

Example: Barboza, Tricia. “Using Raman Scattering to Increase Nucleotide Signals” Science&Facts, SHM Media, 29 Aug. 2019, www.Science&Facts.com.

3. Journal

APA

Format: Last name of the author, first initial of the author, author's middle initial (date of publishing). Title of the article. Title of the journal Volume (Issue), page number (s). http:// (URL)

Example: Blei, D. M., & Smyth, P. (2017). Science and data science. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(33), 8689-8692.

MLA

Format: Last name of the author, first name of the author. “The Title of the Article” Name of the Journal, vol. no., issue no., date, page range, DOI

Example: Blei, David M., and Padhraic Smyth. "Science and data science." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114.33 (2017): 8689-8692.

4. Video/ Film

APA

Format: Author, A. A. (initials) [Screen Name] (Date when it was Published) Title of Video [Video File] Retrieved from: http://xyz

Example: LetsTalkSports  2017 March 29 Possibly the Biggest Fight in the UFC [MMA] Retrieved from: http://youtu.be/G67UKIc 

MLA

Format:  Last name of the creator, first name. "Title of the video or film" Title of the website, role played by the contributors and their first name and last name, Version, Numbers, Publisher, Date of Publication, URL.  

Example: LetsTalkSports. “Possibly the Biggest Fight in the UFC” Youtube, commentary Graham  Norton, 29 Mar. 2017, youtu.be/G67UKIc

5. Blog Post

APA

Format: Last name of the author, first initial of the author. (Date when it was posted) Title of the blog post, Name of the Blog, URL

Example: Ferguson, A. (2019, January 14) Fake News Circulation and its Prevention, Media17.  https://www.Media17.com/news.  

MLA

Format: Surname of the author, first name of the author. "Title of Post" Blog Name, Publisher (if it is different from the name of the blog), Date of publish, URL (omit //)

Example: Ferguson, Anthony “Fake News Circulation and its Prevention” Media4U 14 Jan. 2019  www.Media17.com/news 

6. Newspapers

APA

Format: Last name of the author, First Initial of the author. Second Initial. (Date of Publish). Article title: Subtitle. Newspaper Title, page range. URL [if viewed online]

Example: Henson, T. (2019, December 5) “Air Pollution is Increasing at an Alarming Rate and Could Prove to Be Detrimental to the Citizens” Lyten Press http://www.lytenpress.com.

MLA

Format: Surname of the author, first name of author, "Title of the article" Title of the Newspaper, First name Last name of any contributors (if available) Version and Numbers (if applicable) Publication date, Location (Page numbers, if available) Title of the database URL

Example: Haake, Frederick “Air Pollution is Increasing at an Alarming Rate and Could Prove to Be Detrimental to the Citizens” Lyten Press 5 Dec. 2019, Newspaper Branch www.lytenpress.com 

Hopefully, you have the answer to your question, "Should I use APA or MLA?” Moreover, you now know how to format the entire paper. It will become easier on your part to write academic papers such as essays, reports, case studies and research papers. In case you have any doubts on APA vs MLA citation, use the referencing tools online. 

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