APA and MLA are the two styles students meet most often. They cite the same things, author, title, source and date, but arrange them differently because they serve different subjects: APA (American Psychological Association) is built for the social sciences, where when research was done matters; MLA (Modern Language Association) is built for literature and the humanities, where where in the text you found a quote matters.
The same article in both styles
Suri, T., & Jack, W. (2016). The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money. Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah5309
In-text: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290)
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)
And a book:
Adichie, C. N. (2006). Half of a yellow sun. Alfred A. Knopf.
In-text: (Adichie, 2006, p. 112)
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Half of a Yellow Sun. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.
In-text: (Adichie 112)
Side by side
| APA 7 | MLA 9 | |
|---|---|---|
| List heading | References | Works Cited |
| In-text citation | Author and year: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290) | Author and page: (Suri and Jack 1290) |
| Author names | Surname and initials for everyone: Suri, T., & Jack, W. | First author inverted with full names, others in normal order: Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack |
| Many authors | Up to 20 listed | Three or more: first author, et al. |
| Date | Straight after the author: (2016). | Near the end, after the publisher or journal details |
| Article titles | Sentence case, no quotation marks | Title Case, in quotation marks |
| Book titles | Sentence case, italics | Title Case, italics |
| Journal details | Science, 354(6317), 1288–1292 | Science, vol. 354, no. 6317, 2016, pp. 1288–92 |
| Joining two authors | & in the list and in brackets | “and” everywhere |
In-text citations
The biggest everyday difference is in your sentences:
- APA: Mobile money reduced extreme poverty (Suri & Jack, 2016). With a quote: (Suri & Jack, 2016, p. 1290).
- MLA: Mobile money reduced extreme poverty (Suri and Jack 1290). No comma, no “p.”, and no year.
Capital letters
APA uses sentence case for the titles of articles and books (Half of a yellow sun), keeping capitals only for proper nouns. MLA uses Title Case (Half of a Yellow Sun). Both use title case for journal names.
Layout of the paper
Both are double-spaced with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins and a 0.5-inch hanging indent in the reference list. APA student papers have a title page; MLA papers usually start with your name, instructor, course and date at the top left of the first page, and a header with your surname and page number.
Which should you use?
Use the one your lecturer, department or journal names. As a rule of thumb, APA is the norm in psychology, education, business, nursing and the social sciences; MLA in English, literature, languages and cultural studies.