APA 7 vs MLA 9 – What’s the Difference?

Last Updated on: 29th August 2022, 08:14 am

There are many reasons you may have to switch between APA and MLA style. Maybe you did your PhD in English Literature but got hired by a STEM university (congratulations!). Maybe you’re taking both. a science class and a humanities class and one requires APA while the other considers anything but MLA to be blasphemous. Whatever your reason, it’s vital to know the differences between APA vs MLA. If you’re switching styles, here are the most important differences to keep in mind.

Title Page and Header

In APA, provide a separate cover page that has the title of your paper in bold, full name, your college, the course, instructor’s name, and the due date. This information should be centered and double-spaced.

Example:

World Peace Initiatives and Mahatma Gandhi

Samuel Martin

University of Manatoba

History 341

Dr. James Goodson

October 30, 2021

In MLA, you do not have to provide a title page. However, your instructor may require that you provide one. If you need one, provide a header, which is left-aligned and double-spaced, and has your full name, instructor’s name, course title or number, and submission date. Under your header, centered on a new line under your header, provide the title. You do not need to italicize, underline, or bold the title. 

Example:

Samuel Martin

Dr. James Goodson

History 341

October 30, 2012

World Peace Initiatives and Mahatma Gandhi

Running head

In APA, a running head is not required for student papers, unless your instructor requires one. For MLA, you need to provide a right-aligned running head at the top of every page, which has your last name and the page number of each page.

In-text Citations in APA and MLA

Although APA and MLA require parenthetical citations to cite sources in the text, they include different information.

For an APA in-text citation with one author, you will need to provide the author’s last name and the publication year separated by a comma. For an MLA in-text citation with one author, you will need to provide the author’s last name and a page number, with a comma.

Examples:

For an APA in-text citation with two authors, separate their names with an ampersand (&). For MLA, separate their names with “and.” 

Example: 

For APA and MLA, when you have an in-text citation with three or more authors, list the first author followed by “et al.” For APA also list the publication date. For MLA also list the page number.

Examples:

Quotations

For APA and MLA, if you quote a specific passage, you need to provide a page number. If there is no page, then you need to provide a paragraph number.

Example:

In APA, if you have a word-for-word quotation from a source that is 40 words or longer, you need to provide a block quote with the author’s name, publication date, and page number. In MLA, provide a block quote for quotations that are more than three lines of verse or four lines of prose with the author’s name and page number. In both APA and MLA, do not provide quotation marks for the quote, and the in-text citation goes added after the period at the end of the block quote.

Examples:

APA – Increasing international cooperation is a valid approach to creating and maintaining world peace. (Kelsey, 2020, p. 15).

MLA – Increasing international cooperation is a valid approach to creating and maintaining world peace. (Kelsey 15).

Reference List in APA and Works Cited List MLA

In APA and MLA, you need to provide the list of all cited sources on a separate page at the end of your paper. In APA, the heading for this list is “References,” for MLA, the heading is “Works Cited.” 

For APA and MLA organize your sources alphabetically by the first letter of the author’s last name. For APA, provide only the initial of the author’s first name. For MLA, provide the author’s first name. The sources for APA and MLA should be listed in hanging indent format.

For sources from journals, in APA, only capitalize the first words in the title and proper nouns. This called sentence case. In MLA, capitalize all major words, except the articles “a, an, the” and the prepositions “of, out, in.” This is called title case. In MLA, put the title of the source in quotation marks. This is not required in APA. 

For volume and issue number in MLA, use the vol. and no. For APA provide the volume number and put the issue number in parenthesis. In MLA, put the period at the end of all Works Cited sources. In APA, a period is not added if the entry ends in a URL or DOI.

Examples: 

MLA:  Bellamy, Alex. “Taking World Peace Seriously.” Ethics & International Affairs, vol.34, 

no.1, 2020, pp. 87-106.

APA: Bellamy, A. (2020). Taking world peace seriously. Ethics & International Affairs 34(1), 

43 – 45. https://doi.org/10.3947/9361

For books, In APA and MLA, the guidelines for writing the author, date, and title are the same as the guidelines for writing journal sources. 

Examples: 

APA: 

Ray, A., Ray, B. (2014). World peace: The voice of a mountain bird. Inner Light Publishers. 

MLA:

Ray, Amit., Ray, Banani. World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird. Inner Light Publishers, 2014. 

Note: For more information about the differences between MLA and APA, review the new changes for both updated editions at the following websites:

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/apa_changes_7th_edition.html

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_changes_9th_edition.html