March 23

Documentation Styles: MLA and APA

Documentation Style
Definition: A set of rules (agreed on by an
organization of professionals) for giving credit to
sources.
Examples of Documentation Styles: MLA, APA,
Chicago
Future teachers will probably require you to use
MLA or APA to document your sources.

MLA Style
MLA = Modern Language Association

This style is used in English and humanities

classes and in peer-reviewed journals for the
humanities

If you use any other person's words or ideas,

you must give credit to them in two place in your
paper:
1) In an in-text citation
2) In your Works Cited page

MLA In-Text Citation

Whenever you reference a source in your paper,
you need to provide your readers with two pieces
of information.
1) The author's last name (either in a signal
phrase or in the parenthetical reference)
2) The page number of your quote (in the
parenthetical reference)

MLA In-Text Citation 2

Here is a quote and the two pieces of identifying
information that MLA requires. There are two
possible formats for presenting this information
to your reader.
1. Quote: Words are as often used to misdirect
and camouflage as they are to communicate.
2. Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
3. Page number: 45

MLA In-Text Citation Practice

Now you create the in-text citation for the
following source information.
1. Quote: Parents with this philosophy know
there may be things their daughter hides from
them, but they don't take it as a personal insult
or as an indication that their relationship with
their daughter is weak.
2. Author: Wiseman
3. Page number: 54

MLA Works Cited Page

Use the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
resources to help you make your works cited
page!
One Works Cited entry for each source you
reference.
You need to provide several key pieces of
information so that your readers can go find that
source and read it if they want. The information
must be arranged in a special format.
Organize entries alphabetically.
Use hanging indentation.

APA Style
APA = American Psychological Association

This style is used in social science classes and

in peer-reviewed journals for the social sciences

If you use any other person's words or ideas,

you must give credit to them in two place in your
paper:
1) In an in-text citation
2) In your List of References

APA In-Text Citation

Whenever you reference a source in your paper,
you need to provide your readers with two pieces
of information. If it is a print source, you must
provide a third piece of information.
1) The author's last name (either in a signal
phrase or in the parenthetical reference)
2) The year it was published
3) The page number (or paragraph number if
there are no page numbers)

APA In-Text Citation 2

Here is a quote and the two pieces of identifying
information that APA requires. There are two
possible formats for presenting this information
to your reader.
1. Quote: Psychiatry has found a way to
medicalize all human behavior and offer a
pharmaceutical intervention for everything.
2. Author: Plante
3. Year: 2012
4. Paragraph number (no page numbers
available): 3

APA List of References

Go to the Purdue OWL to see rules and samples
One entry for each source you referenced in your
paper.
You need to provide several key pieces of
information so that your readers can go find that
source and read it if they want. The information
must be arranged in a special format.
Organize alphabetically.
Use hanging indentation.