COMPARISON BETWEEN APA AND MLA STYLES

APA style is commonly used in social sciences e.g. psychology while MLA is used in

humanities e.g. English, history, speech etc.

Formatting

Both styles recommend use of Times New Romans font size 12, double spacing and 1-inch

margins.

Title page and header

In APA, a separate cover page is required. It lists title of the paper, writer’s full name, name

of institution, all centered and double spaced. In MLA, no title page is required. Instead,

heading is added on the first page, aligned to the left and double spaced. It lists writer’s full

name, instructor’s name, course title and submission date. The paper title is centered on a

new line under heading.

Running head

In MLA, running head is the writer’s last name and the page number, both right aligned. In

APA, it includes the title of the paper, all in capitals and left aligned, and the page number

right aligned

In-text citations

In APA, it includes the author’s last name and the publication year. In MLA, it includes the

author’s last name and the page number.

Order of citations

In APA, citations are done in alphabetical order for authors and chronological order for

works while in MLA, it is alphabetical for both authors and works.

Titles of Articles

In APA style, only first word is capitalized. Quotation marks not needed. In MLA style, all

major words are capitalized. Quotation marks use for all article titles.

Bibliography

APA style refers them as references while MLA style refers as work cited.

Authors name citations

In APA, authors names are listed as last name, first name initial while in MLA are listed as

last name, first name.