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Another crucial component of MLA formatting is in-text citations.
There are a number of different citation formatting systems, but the primary systems in university use today are the American Psychological Association system, which we call APA, and the Modern Language Association system, which we call MLA.
In academic writing, students are often required to conduct research and then use that research in their essays. When they do, they must cite where they found this source material so that readers are able to seek it out and determine for themselves whether or not it actually exists and that it is reliable.
Citation is important because it is the basis of academics. In the academic endeavor, individuals look at evidence and reason about that evidence in their own individual ways. That is, taking what is already known, established, or thought, they use their reasoning power to create new knowledge. In creating this knowledge, they must cite their sources accurately for three main reasons:
First, citing sources is important because the currency of academia is ideas. As a result, academics want to accumulate that currency; they want to get credit for their contributions. When a writer cites ideas, that writer honors those who initiated the ideas.
MLA is generally used in the humanities, foreign languages, English, and literature.
Third, keeping track of sources is important because academics value being able to trace the way ideas develop. Consider the scientist who looks at an experiment described in a new publication, and then decides to perform an experiment to extend the results. At the same time, other scientists are planning experiments to test the findings, to contest the findings, to relate the findings to their own research: all of these "second generation" experiments owe their inspiration to the original idea. If another person reads one of the "second generation" ideas, proper citation will allow that person to explore the original publication to trace the way the idea has developed. In general, scholars must be able to trace how ideas develop in order to consider, think about, and test them accurately. So giving credit to the original source of ideas is the right thing to do, as well as the basis on which academia is built.
Writers generally use APA formatting in fields such as psychology, sociology, criminal justice, health sciences, and education.
MLA allows essays to be formatted in a similar fashion so that papers reflect individuality through writing rather than format. MLA style also facilitates easy access for researchers constructing papers or developing presentations.
Second, keeping track of sources is important because, if you use someone else's idea without giving credit, you violate that person's ownership of the idea. To understand this violation, envision the following scenario: You and your friend are discussing some ideas from class during lunch one day, and you make what you consider to be a particularly insightful observation. During class discussion that afternoon, your friend brings up your observation but neglects to point out that it is yours, not his. The professor beams and compliments your friend on his clear and insightful thinking.
In this scenario, you likely feel that there's something unfair about your friend’s implicit claim that your idea was his or her own. After all, you had been thinking about the idea, perhaps had devoted time to developing it, and you are not getting credit for it. Worse, someone else is. That sense of violation you feel, the sense that something valuable has been stolen from you, suggests why failure to cite sources hurts another person.
In Text:
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In Text:
Reference Page:
Works Cited Page:
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the Journal title, should be italicized
1. Papers are double-spaced
2. Margins are one inch all around.
3. Page numbers must be included and positioned in the upper-right corner of the paper.
4. Page headings are positioned on the upper-right hand corner.
5. Sources must be cited at the end of the paper.
6. Title headings are placed above the introduction.
APA
MLA
Requires a title page
Does not require a title page. The writer's name, instructor's name, course #, and date is placed on the top-left corner of the first page.
Requires an abstract
Does not have an abstract
Block quotations are indented five spaces from the left margin
Block quotations are single spaced and double indented (10 spaces) from the left margin.
In-text citation places the author's last name and page number of the reference in parenthesis.
In-text citation places the author's last name, date of publication, and the page number of the reference in parenthesis.
Bibliography is titled
"Works Cited."
Bibliography is titled "References."