Citation and referencing

styles
MLA vs APA

Prepared by : Dr. Sonali Lakhera

Required fields for citation
• Author’s name
• Title of the work.
• Title of the book/journal/newspaper/magazine/anthology if the work
is a part of any of these
• Publisher
• Place of publication
• Publication date
• Pages
Some ways in which MLA and APA are different
MLA APA
Modern Language Association American Psychological Association
Authors/editors Spells out available names. In case of Uses last name and first initial
more than 3 authors , first name is
listed , followed by “et al”
Title Capitalizes Every Important Word Capitalizes first word

Publisher Shortens names Uses full name

Place of Publication Only city is listed lists state abbreviation if city is lesser known

Date Placed at end of citation Placed next to author’s name

Indentation First line in flush with the left margin First line indented and remaining lines in
and the remaining lined are indented flush with the left margin
parenthetical Uses author name and page Uses author name, date, and page number
citation
 Author details
Field MLA APA

Author’s Name Bond, Ruskin Bond, R.

Multiple Authors Bond, Ruskin and Stephen Alter Bond,R., and Alter, S.

Authors/editors Spells out available names. Uses last name and first initial
In case of more than 3 authors , first
name is listed , followed by “et al”
 Documenting a book in print

MLA APA
• Bond, Ruskin. The Blue • Bond, R. (1996). The blue
Umbrella. New Delhi: Rupa, umbrella. New Delhi: Rupa.
1996. Print
 Title of the work
Title. MLA APA

book The Bluest Eye The bluest eye

Work in an anthology Morrison, Toni. “Women in Postcolonial Morrison, T. (1997). Women in

Africa”. Contemporary Feminism. Ed. postcolonial Africa In G. Spivak (Ed.),
Gayatri Spivak. New York: Fort Worth 1997. Contemporary Feminism (pp. 56-66).
56-66. Print Fort Worth, NY.
An article from reference book
MLA APA

Hinduism. (1998). In The new

“Hinduism.” The New Encyclopaedia encyclopeadis: Macropaedia (Vol xx,
Britannica: Macropaedia. 10th ed. pp. xxx-xxx). Chicago.
1998. Print
 In text citation
MLA APA

• Includes Author and page number.

• e.g. • Cites date along with he author
• Living in a fool’s paradise is a great name and the page number.
fun until the result comes e.g.
true.(Scott 67)
• In case of multiple works by the • Living in a fool’s paradise is a
same author, the abbreviation of great fun until the result comes
the work is also listed.
true. (Scott, 1999, p. 67)
e.g.
• Living in a fool’s paradise is a great
fun until the result comes true.
(Scott, Paradise 67)
More than one work by the same author

MLA
• Morrison, Toni. Jazz. New York:
Knopf, 1992. Print.
• ---. Paradise. New York:
Knopf, 1998. Print.
APA
• Morrison, T. (1992). Jazz. New
York, NY: Knopf.
• Morrison, T. (1998).
Paradise. New York, NY: Knopf
An article in a periodical (newspaper or
magazine)
MLA
• Murphy, Brian. “Going for Gold
Can Wait a Day.” St. Paul
Pioneer Press 1 Feb. 2002: A1+.
Print.
• Houppert, Karen. “The Meaning
of Muhammad.” The Nation 4
Feb. 2002: 25-30. Print.
APA
• Murphy, B. (2002, February 1).
Going for gold can wait a day. St.
Paul Pioneer Press, pp. A1, A4.
Houppert, K. (2002, February 4).
The meaning of Muhammad. The
Nation, xx, 25-30.
 An article in a scholarly journal
MLA
• an article in a scholarly journal that
uses continuous pagination:
Winnett, Susan. “Coming Unstrung:
Women, Men, Narrative, and
Principles of Pleasure.” PMLA 105
(1990): 505-518. Print.
• an article in a scholarly journal that
pages each issue separately:
• Barthelme, Frederick.
“Architecture.” Kansas Quarterly
13.3.4 (1981): 77-80. Print.
APA
• an article in a scholarly journal that
uses continuous pagination:
• Winnett, S. (1990). Coming
unstrung: Women, men, narrative,
and principles of pleasure. PMLA,
105, 505-518.
• An article in a scholarly journal that
pages each issue separately:
• Barthelme, F. (1998). Architecture.
Kansas Quaterly, 13 (3-4), 77-80)
Article from an Online periodical
MLA
• Brown, Robert. “Poetry: A Class
Apart.” International Journal for
Poetry, vol. 120 ,issue no. 2,
2001,
www.wordpress.com/article/po
etry. Accessed 7 Jan. 2010.
APA
• Author. (Date of publication). Title
of article. Title of Online Periodical,
volume number(issue no. if
available). Retrieved from
Http:??www.address.com/full/url
• Eg.
• Brown,R. (2001). Poerty: A class
apart. Internationsl Journal for
Poetry, 120. Retrieved from
HTTP://www.wordpress.com/articl
es/poetry
Online Scholarly journal Article : Citing DOIs
(APA)
• Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range.
doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://doi.org/10.0000/0000

• Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An

annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41, 1245-
1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161
Article From an Online Periodical with no DOI
Assigned
• Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved from
http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

• Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human

rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved from
http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html
 Citing an Abstract
• Paterson, P. (2008). How well do young offenders with Asperger
Syndrome cope in custody?: Two prison case studies
[Abstract]. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), 54-58.

• Hendricks, J., Applebaum, R., & Kunkel, S. (2010). A world apart?

Bridging the gap between theory and applied social
gerontology. Gerontologist, 50(3), 284-293. Abstract retrieved from
Abstracts in Social Gerontology database. (Accession No. 50360869)
 Electronic Books

• De Huff, E. W. (n.d.). Taytay’s tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian tales.

Retrieved from
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/taytay.html

• Davis, J. (n.d.). Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available from

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio? inkey=1-9780931686108-0
Chapter/Section of a Web Document or Online
Book Chapter
• Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.
In Title of book or larger document (chapter or section number).
Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

• Engelshcall, R. S. (1997). Module mod_rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine.

In Apache HTTP Server version 1.3 documentation (Apache modules).
Retrieved from
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html
 Kindle Book
• Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from
Amazon.com
Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

• Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved

from Lecture Notes Online Website:
http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/
index.html

• Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the

environment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html
E-mail

• (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

• Not referenced but cited in the main text.