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Citation Styles Playbook
The purpose of this playbook is to help you cite the sources used in your academic research.
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Betty Sue Jessup Library
501 College Drive
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.961.5309
reference@pvcc.edu
Comparison of the MLA and APA styles
| MLA Style | APA Style |
|---|---|
| List of citations is called Works Cited | List of citations is called References |
| Parenthetical citations must include author's last name, and page number(s) if available. Example: (Williams 27). | Parenthetical citations must include author's last name and year of publication. Example: (Williams, 2009). Page numbers, if available, are used only for materials in quotation marks. Use p. for one page and pp. for a range. Example: (Williams, 2009, pp. 2-9). |
| Book titles in italics; capitalizes every important word in title and subtitle. Example: Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival. | Book titles in italics; capitalizes only the first word in the title, the first word in the subtitle, acronyms, and proper nouns. Example: Brewing justice: Fair trade coffee, sustainability, and survival. |
| Article titles in quotation marks: "Coffee Consumption and Cardiovascular Health." Capitalization rules are the same as for book titles. | Journal article titles without quotation marks; capitalization rules are the same as for book titles. Example: Coffee consumption and cardiovascular health. |
| First author listed as last name, first name. Example: Welty, Eudora. Second author listed as first name, last name. Example: Harris, Ellen, and Susan Smith. If more than two authors, list only first author followed by "et al." Example: Kramer, Rebecca, et al. | Authors listed as last name, initial(s). Example: Welty, E. Lists all authors (up to 20); an ampersand (&) precedes the last author. |
| Requires the name of the database an article was retrieved from, and a stable URL to the article. | Does not list the name of the database or the date of access. |
|
If a DOI is available, it is used instead of a URL. Example: https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_AJA-15-0021 Note that you need to use the prefix https:// If there is no DOI, a stable URL (also called a permalink) is required. |
Requires DOI if available. Example: https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_AJA-15-0021 For journal articles without a DOI, a URL is added. The URL points to the page where the pertinent journal volume is. |
| Year of publication is located towards the end of the citation. | Year of publication follows the name(s) of the author(s). |
| Common knowledge information (information almost everyone in the target audience should know), is not cited. | Common knowledge information (information almost everyone in the target audience should know), is not cited. |
| All entries on the Works Cited list must end with a period. | Entries on the References list end with a period, except after a URL or DOI. |
| Visit the MLA style playbook. | Visit the APA style playbook |