General Differences between MLA and APA

by Stephen on January 6, 2013 · 24 comments

Many students ask for a list of the main differences between MLA and APA. Please see
below. This list was obtained from Bellevue University’s Writing Center.

The main differences between MLA and APA are as follows:

Type MLA Format APA Format

The date follows the publisher in the The date follows the author and is in
Date:
citation and is not in parentheses. parentheses.
The author’s last name is spelled out
Author’s The author’s full name (first and last) and the first name is reduced to
Name: is spelled out. initials.

Only the first word of the title, the

first word of a subtitle, and any
All major words in the title are proper nouns (like names) are
Capitalization:
capitalized and the title is underlined. capitalized. Everything else is
lowercase. Also, the title is written in
italics.
The source page is called a “Works The source page is called a
Source Page:
Cited”. “References”.
In-Text MLA uses the last name of the author APA uses the last name of the author
Citations: and the page number. and the date.
MLA does not uses commas to
APA does use commas and, if a page
separate the material, or p. pp. before
is mentioned, uses p. and pp.
the page numbers.

Example

MLA:
Klaphake, Elizabeth. My Life as an English Professor. Bellevue,
Nebraska: Bellevue University Press. 1999.

APA:
Klaphake, E. (1999). My life as an English professor. Bellevue,
Nebraska: Bellevue University Press.

Basic Form

APA style dictates that authors are named last name followed by initials; publication year
goes between parentheses, followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case,
meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical title is
run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized.
If a DOI has been assigned to the article that you are using, you should include this after the
page numbers for the article. If no DOI has been assigned and you are accessing the periodical
online, use the URL of the website from which you are retrieving the periodical. 

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year).Title of article.Title of Periodical,

volume number(issue number), pages. http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy 

Article in Journal Paginated by Volume

Journals that are paginated by volume begin with page one in issue one, and continue
numbering issue two where issue one ended, etc.

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles.Journal of

Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Article in Journal Paginated by Issue

Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every issue; therefore, the issue number gets
indicated in parentheses after the volume. The parentheses and issue number are not italicized
or underlined.

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening.The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.

Article in a Magazine

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools.Time, 135, 28-31.

Article in a Newspaper

Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference in APA
style. Single pages take p., e.g., p. B2; multiple pages take pp., e.g., pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-
C4.

Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country
Today, pp. 1A, 2A.

Note: Because of issues with html coding, the listings below using brackets contain spaces
that are not to be used with your listings. Use a space as normal before the brackets, but do
not include a space following the bracket.

Letter to the Editor

Moller, G. (2002, August). Ripples versus rumbles [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American,
287(2), 12.

Basics

Your list of works cited should begin at the end of the paper on a new page with the centered
title, References. Alphabetize the entries in your list by the author's last name, using the letter-
by-letter system (ignore spaces and other punctuation.) Only the initials of the first and middle
names are given. If the author's name is unknown, alphabetize by the title, ignoring any A, An,
or The.

For dates, spell out the names of months in the text of your paper, but abbreviate them in the
list of works cited, except for May, June, and July. Use either the day-month-year style (22
July 1999) or the month-day-year style (July 22, 1999) and be consistent. With the month-
day-year style, be sure to add a comma after the year unless another punctuation mark goes
there.

Underlining or Italics?

When reports were written on typewriters, the names of publications were underlined because
most typewriters had no way to print italics. If you write a bibliography by hand, you should
still underline the names of publications. But, if you use a computer, then publication names
should be in italics as they are below. Always check with your instructor regarding their
preference of using italics or underlining. Our examples use italics.

Hanging Indentation

All APA citations should use hanging indents, that is, the first line of an entry should be flush
left, and the second and subsequent lines should be indented 1/2".

Capitalization, Abbreviation, and Punctuation

The APA guidelines specify using sentence-style capitalization for the titles of books or
articles, so you should capitalize only the first word of a title and subtitle. The exceptions to
this rule would be periodical titles and proper names in a title which should still be
capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number
which, with the title, is also italicized.

If there is more than one author, use an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author. If
there are more than six authors, list only the first one and use et al. for the rest.

Place the date of publication in parentheses immediately after the name of the author. Place a
period after the closing parenthesis. Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles
of shorter works within longer works.

Format Examples
Books
Format:
Author's last name, first initial. (Publication date).Book title.Additional information. City of
publication: Publishing company.

Examples:

Allen, T. (1974).Vanishing wildlife of North America. Washington, D.C.: National

Geographic Society.
Boorstin, D. (1992). The creators: A history of the heroes of the imagination. New York:
Random House.

Nicol, A. M., &Pexman, P. M. (1999).Presenting your findings: A practical guide for

creating tables. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Searles, B., & Last, M. (1979).A reader's guide to science fiction. New York: Facts on File,
Inc.

Toomer, J. (1988). Cane.Ed. Darwin T. Turner. New York: Norton.

Encyclopedia & Dictionary

Format:
Author's last name, first initial. (Date).Title of Article.Title of Encyclopedia (Volume, pages). City of
publication: Publishing company.

Examples:

Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity.In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-
508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-

Webster.

Pettingill, O. S., Jr. (1980). Falcon and Falconry.World book encyclopedia. (pp. 150-155).
Chicago: World Book.

Tobias, R. (1991). Thurber, James. Encyclopedia americana. (p. 600). New York: Scholastic
Library Publishing.

Magazine & Newspaper Articles

Format:
Author's last name, first initial. (Publication date).Article title.Periodical title, volume number(issue
number if available), inclusive pages.

Note: Do not enclose the title in quotation marks. Put a period after the title. If a periodical includes a
volume number, italicize it and then give the page range (in regular type) without "pp." If the
periodical does not use volume numbers, as in newspapers, use p. or pp. for page numbers.
Note: Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference in APA
style.

Examples:

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles.Journal of

Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools.Time, 135, 28-31.
Kalette, D. (1986, July 21). California town counts town to big quake. USA Today, 9, p. A1.

Kanfer, S. (1986, July 21). Heard any good books lately? Time, 113, 71-72.

Trillin, C. (1993, February 15). Culture shopping.New Yorker, pp. 48-51.

Website or Webpage
Format:
Online periodical:
Author's name. (Date of publication). Title of article.Title of Periodical, volume number, Retrieved
month day, year, from full URL

Online document:
Author's name. (Date of publication). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from full URL

Note: When citing Internet sources, refer to the specific website document. If a document is
undated, use "n.d." (for no date) immediately after the document title. Break a lengthy URL
that goes to another line after a slash or before a period. Continually check your references to
online documents. There is no period following a URL.
Note: If you cannot find some of this information, cite what is available.

Examples:

Devitt, T. (2001, August 2). Lightning injures four at music festival. The Why? Files.
Retrieved January 23, 2002, from http://whyfiles.org/137lightning/index.html

Dove, R. (1998).Lady freedom among us.The Electronic Text Center. Retrieved June 19,
1998, from Alderman Library, University of Virginia website:
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/afam.html

Note: If a document is contained within a large and complex website (such as that for a
university or a government agency), identify the host organization and the relevant program
or department before giving the URL for the document itself. Precede the URL with a colon.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and
well-being.Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved November 20, 2000, from
http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html

GVU's 8th WWW user survey.(n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2000, from

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/usersurveys/survey1997-10/

Health Canada.(2002, February).The safety of genetically modified food crops. Retrieved

March 22, 2005, from http://www.hc-
sc.gc.ca/english/protection/biologics_genetics/gen_mod_foods/genmodebk.html

Hilts, P. J. (1999, February 16). In forecasting their emotions, most people flunk out. New
York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2000, from http://www.nytimes.com
Sample

Sample Bibliography: APA Reference List Format

How to Cite a Book in APA

Use the following template to cite a book using the APA citation format. We also provide
style guides for the MLA, Chicago, and Turabian styles. To have your bibliography or works
cited list automatically made for you, check out our free APA citation generator.

Once you’re finished with your citations, we can also help you with creating an APA title
page.

Citing a book in print

APA format structure:

Author, A.A..(Year of Publication).Title of work. Publisher City , State: Publisher.

APA format example:

Finney, J. (1970). Time and again. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Notes: When citing a book in APA, keep in mind:

 Capitalize the first letter of the first word of the title and any subtitles, as well as the first
letter of any proper nouns.
 The full title of the book, including any subtitles, should be stated and italicized.

Citing an e-book from an e-reader

E-book is short for “electronic book.” It is a digital version of a book that can be read on a
computer, e-reader (Kindle, Nook, etc.), or other electronic device.

APA format structure:

Author, A.A..(Year of Publication).Title of work [E-Reader Version]. Retrieved from

http://xxxx or doi:xxxx

APA format example:

Eggers, D. (2008).The circle [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/

Citing a book found in a database

APA format structure:

Author, A.A..(Year of Publication).Title of work. Retrieved from http://xxxx or doi:xxxx

APA format example:

Sayre, Rebecca K., Devercelli, A.E., Neuman, M.J., & Wodon, Q. (2015). Investment in early
childhood development: Review of the world bank’s recent experience. doi: 10.1596/978-1-
4648-0403-8

Notes: When citing an online book or e-book in APA, keep in mind:

 A DOI (digital object identifier) is an assigned number that helps link content to it’s location
on the Internet. It is therefore important, if one is provided, to use it when creating a
citation. All DOI numbers begin with a 10 and are separated by a slash.