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Jim Roth’s Website MLA and APA Research Paper Guidelines MLA (Modern
Language Association) and APA (American Psychological Association) are two
ways of designing, structuring, and presenting research papers. Each of these formats has very specific rules
that dictate the appearance of the paper (spacing, margins) and the proper
use and handling of other people’s property (words and ideas from your
sources). Careful attention to these
guidelines is CRITICAL to avoid accusations of plagiarism (academic theft). MLA guidelines
are used primarily for papers written in humanities courses—English,
Literature, Art, Music. APA guidelines
are used primarily for papers written in social science, technology, medical,
and scientific courses—nursing, education, engineering, etc.). Whenever a course requires you to submit
written assignments, be sure to ask
the instructor at the beginning of the course which format he or she requires
and then dedicate yourself to following that format EXACTLY! (follow it to the period, comma, capital lettering, and
spacing specifications). You may choose
either format for the research paper due in our course. My advice is to
practice the format you will most likely use in upper-division college and
graduate school courses. For MLA—Please browse, read, study the following links and
items: MLA Overview (Formatting
and Style Guide) from the OWL at Purdue University MLA Sample Paper from the
OWL at Purdue University MLA
Sample Paper—the “Orlav Paper”--from the
Bedford/St. Martins Press MLA Quick Reference Guidelines
from our SCC Library For APA—Please browse, read, study the following links and
items: APA Overview (Formatting
and Style Guide) from the OWL at Purdue University APA Sample Paper from the
OWL at Purdue University—the “Angeli Paper” A new APA example from
Bedford Publishing--the "Mirano Paper" An APA Example—demonstrating
the format APA Quick Reference Guidelines
from our SCC Library |