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MLA to APSA converter

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

Paste references written in MLA and get them back in APSA, ready to copy into Word or Google Docs. The main changes: author–page in-text citations become author–date citations, your “Works Cited” list becomes “References” and author names are written as in APSA (first author inverted with full names, the rest 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.

MLA vs APSA: the same sources side by side

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

Journal article

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)

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)

Book

MLA

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

In-text: (Achebe 1290)

APSA

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

In-text: (Achebe 1958, 1290)

Web page

MLA

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

In-text: (World Health Organization 1290)

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)

Key differences between MLA and APSA

9 of 12 rules differ; they are listed first.

RuleMLAAPSA
Reference list headingWorks CitedReferences
In-text citationsauthor and page number in parentheses with no comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 1290)author and year, with a page number after a comma, e.g. (Suri and Jack 2016, 1290)
Author namesFirst author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William JackFirst author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order
Many authorsThree or more authors: first author followed by “et al.”Long author lists are shortened following Chicago’s rules
DateNear the end, after the journal or publisher detailsAfter the authors, followed by a full stop: 2016.
ItalicsContainers: journal, website and book titlesJournal and book titles
Journal namesFull journal name in title case, followed by vol. and no.Full journal name, volume and issue: 354(6317)
Page rangesShortened range with “pp.”, e.g. pp. 1288–92Shortened range after a colon and space, e.g. 354(6317): 1288–92
DOIs and linksDOI written as https://doi.org/… at the end; URLs without “https://” are also acceptedDOI written as “doi:10.1126/…”
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 APSA

APSA is used in political science and international relations, closely following Chicago author-date. It is published by the American Political Science Association; CiteSwap follows the APSA Style Manual (2018).

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

MLA to APSA: frequently asked questions

How do I convert MLA citations to APSA?

Paste your MLA reference list into the box above (one reference per line, numbered, or separated by blank lines), check that “From” says MLA or Auto-detect and “To” says APSA, 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 MLA to APSA?

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

What is the reference list called in APSA?

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

How are author names written in APSA?

APSA: First author inverted with full names, the rest in normal order. MLA: First author inverted with full names, the second in normal order, e.g. Suri, Tavneet, and William Jack. 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 APSA?

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

Is the MLA to APSA 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.