Similarities and Differences in Referencing of APA and MLA Formats - Report Example

Similarities and Differences in Referencing of APA and MLA Formats Being acknowledged for one’s original ideas that has been used in the writing of another is the main idea behind citing references at the end of a body of work. The author/source of the “borrowed” idea may feel bypassed or even offended if the idea is taken from his work without his consent and without acknowledgement accorded to him. This is the common cause in plagiarism cases. Plagiarism is taking ideas from another and claiming it as one’s own without reference to the original author. Owing to the increasing number of researches and both written and verbal forms, there is a higher likelihood of plagiarism. One way to ensure that original works have been used in a body of work are acknowledged to have contributed to the research is by citing all the references used at the end of the written work. This means that whenever one directly quotes, paraphrases, summarizes an idea from the work of another author, it should be cited in-text as well as included as a complete reference of the source in a bibliography (Wayne State University, 2012). The American Psychological Association or APA is a writing format commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. The Modern Language Association or MLA is another writing format, but it is used for liberal arts and humanities (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012). These are only two of several writing formats that have been developed over the years to give due credit to works of other authors as well as to guide writers in organizing their work. The information given for the source is also made available for other readers who would like to see the project through with success. Citation lists at the end of the body of work enumerates all the sources that have been used in the paper. For both formats, it should be devoted a new page apart from the body of the research. For APA format, it is entitled References, but for MLA format, it is entitled “Works Cited”. All sources from printed materials such as books, journals, and other documents, as well as spoken materials and online materials should be included in the citation list in an alphabetical order of the last names of the authors of sources (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012). In research, gathering the sources includes taking note of the title of the source, the author/s’ name, the publication date, publisher and place of publication. MLA also requires the medium of publication, either if was from a print or a web source or an interview with a resource person. Such basic information are necessary in all writing formats, however, they may be put in different orders. Basic Format (Books): MLA: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. APA: Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. location: Publisher. (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012) For both APA and MLA formats, double-spacing is used and the second line of each referenced item is indented from the left, so it would have a hanging indentation. Author/s’ name: In both APA and MLA, the last name of the author is written first. However, for MLA, the complete first name is typed after the last name while in APA, the initial of the first name of the author will suffice. MLA: Gray, John, Men are from Mars and women are from Venus: A practical guide or improving communication and getting what you want in your relationship. New York: Harper Collins. 1992. Print APA: Gray, J. (1992). Men are from Mars and women are from Venus: A practical guide for improving communication and getting what you want in your relationship. New York: Harper Collins. If there is more than one author, the names of the other authors are added with the same format in APA (surname, initial of first name) separated by a comma or an & if it is the last author mentioned. However, for MLA, from the second name of the other author on to the last of the authors , it is written with first name first followed by the last name. MLA: Dryden, Windy & Rhena Branch, The Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2008. Print. APA: Dryden W. & Branch, R. (2008) The Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Title and Subtitle In APA, only the first word of the title of the article needs to be capitalized. If it has a subtitle after a colon, the first word is capitalized. The title of the main source (ex. Title of book, Name of Journal or Periodical, etc.) should be italicized (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012) and first letter of each word should be capitalized. In MLA, titles of articles are capitalized for each word and inclosed in parenthesis. Similar to APA, the title of the source should be italicized (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012. APA Segal, Z. V. (1988). Appraisal of the self-schema construct in cognitive models of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 103 147-162. MLA Segal, Zindel V. “Appraisal of the Self-Schema Construct in Cognitive Models of Depression”, Psychological Bulletin 103 (1988): 147-162. Print. Publication Details Publication details such as the year it was published as well as the location (city) it was published should be included in books used in a research paper. For APA, both publication year, location and publisher should be included in books. Journal articles only include year of publication. For APA references, year of publication is enclosed in parenthesis following the name of the author, while location and publisher is placed at the end of the reference separated by a colon. MLA references also include the year of publication, location and publisher of books, year of publication of journals and periodicals but in different order from APA. The publication details are placed at the end after the title of the source. In addition, the type of publication (print, web, CD-ROM, interview, etc.) is added to the details of the reference (Purdue Online Writing Lab, 2012). The following examples compare APA and MLA formats in the publications of authored books, edited books, chapter from an edited book and an article from a scholarly journal. Although only the publication details are highlighted to be shown the differences in APA and MLA formats, the whole reference listings show how they should appear in APA and MLA formats respectively. Authored Book: APA: Kohn, A. (1999) Punished by Rewards. Boston: Houghton Mifflin MLA: Kohn, Alfie, Punished by Rewards. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1999. Print. Edited Book: APA Bronte, C. (1998). Jane Eyre. M.Smith (Ed.). Oxford: Oxford UP. MLA: Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Margaret Smith. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. Print. Chapter in an Edited Book APA ONeil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Mens and womens gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer. MLA O’Neil, James & Jean Egan, Mens and womens gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. Ed. Barbara Rubin Wainrib, Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer. 1992. Print. Article in Scholarly Journal APA Duvall, J.N. (1994) The (super) marketplace of images: Television as unmediated mediation in DeLillo’s “White Noise”, Arizona Quarterly 50.3, pp. 127-53. MLA Duvall, John N. "The (Super)Marketplace of Images: Television as Unmediated Mediation in DeLillos White Noise." Arizona Quarterly 50.3 (1994): 127-53. Print. These are the basic referencing guidelines for both APA and MLA writing styles, however, referencing is not limited to these types of publications. Other sources of information used in the research must likewise be cited in the reference list, although they may have different rules depending on the kind of resource. The essential thing is to appropriately acknowledge such sources of information as they all helped build up the research. References Bronte, C. (1998). Jane Eyre. M.Smith (Ed.). Oxford: Oxford UP. Dryden W. & Branch, R. (2008) The Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Duvall, J.N. (1994) The (super) marketplace of images: Television as unmediated mediation in DeLillo’s “White Noise”, Arizona Quarterly 50.3, pp. 127-53. Gray, J. (1992). Men are from Mars and women are from Venus: A practical guide for improving communication and getting what you want in your relationship. New York: Harper Collins. Kohn, A. (1999) Punished by Rewards. Boston: Houghton Mifflin ONeil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Mens and womens gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer. Purdue Online Writing Lab (2012) Retrieved on 26 September 2012 from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/ Segal, Z. V. (1988). Appraisal of the self-schema construct in cognitive models of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 103 147-162. Wayne State University (2012) Reference Tools. Retrieved on 26 September 2012 from http://guides.lib.wayne.edu/content.php?pid=248390&sid=2051643 Read More