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APSA to MLA converter

Paste APSA references, get MLA. Free, no sign-up.

Paste references written in APSA and get them back in MLA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–date in-text citations become author–page citations, your “References” list becomes “Works Cited” and author names are written as in MLA (first author inverted with full names, the second in normal order). CiteSwap looks each reference up in the open Crossref catalogue, so authors, years and page numbers come from the publisher’s record rather than being rewritten by hand.

APSA vs MLA: the same sources side by side

Each example below was formatted by CiteSwap’s engine, exactly as the converter outputs it.

Journal article

APSA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 2016. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science 354(6317): 1288–92. doi:10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)

MLA

Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. “The Long-Run Poverty and Gender Impacts of Mobile Money.” Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, Dec. 2016, pp. 1288–92, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309.

In-text: (Suri and Jack 1290)

Book

APSA

Achebe, Chinua. 1958. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann.

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

MLA

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Heinemann, 1958.

In-text: (Achebe 1290)

Web page

APSA

World Health Organization. 2023. “Malaria.” https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria (October 1, 2026).

In-text: (World Health Organization 2023, 1290)

MLA

World Health Organization. Malaria. 4 Dec. 2023, https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/malaria.

In-text: (World Health Organization 1290)

Key differences between APSA and MLA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleAPSAMLA
Reference list headingReferencesWorks Cited
In-text citationsauthor and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)author and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290)
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal orderFirst author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack
Many authorsLong author lists are shortened following Chicago’s rulesThree or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”
DateAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.Near the end, after the journal or publisher details
ItalicsJournal and book titlesContainers: journal, website and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name, volume and issue: 354(6317)Full journal name in title case, followed by vol. and no.
Page rangesShortened range after a colon and space, e.g. 354(6317): 1288–92Shortened range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted
List order(same)Alphabetical by first author’s surnameAlphabetical by first author’s surname
Title capitalisation(same)Title caseTitle case
Article titles(same)In quotation marks, title caseIn quotation marks, title case

When to use MLA

MLA is the usual choice for English literature, modern languages and other humanities subjects, where quoting and pinpointing pages matters more than dates. It is published by the Modern Language Association; CiteSwap follows the 9th edition (2021).

APSA is more common in political science, international relations, public policy, while MLA is usual in literature, languages, cultural studies. If your department or journal names a style, always follow it.

APSA to MLA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert APSA citations to MLA?

Paste your APSA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says APSA or Auto-detect and “To” says MLA, then press Convert. You can also paste DOIs, BibTeX or RIS. Copy the result or download it for Word.

How do in-text citations change from APSA to MLA?

APSA uses author and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290). MLA uses author and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290). For the same article and page: APSA gives (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290), MLA gives (Suri and Jack 1290).

What is the reference list called in MLA?

In APSA the list is headed “References”; in MLA it is “Works Cited”. Change the heading when you paste the converted list into your document.

How are author names written in MLA?

MLA: First author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. APSA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. When a reference is matched in Crossref, CiteSwap uses full first names from the publisher’s record, so it can produce either form.

How are DOIs and URLs written in MLA?

MLA: DOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also accepted. APSA: DOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”. The converter rewrites DOIs in MLA format for you.

Is the APSA to MLA converter accurate?

Each reference is matched against the Crossref catalogue (over 150 million records) and only accepted automatically when the title, year and first author agree. Anything uncertain is marked “Needs review” so you can pick the right match, and references that aren’t in the catalogue, like websites or local journals, are parsed from your text and marked so you can check them.