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Documentation Styles

The document discusses two common documentation styles - APA and MLA. It provides details on how each style formats citations within texts and references at the end. For APA, sources are cited with parentheses and listed alphabetically at the end. For MLA, sources are cited with parentheses and a full reference is included in a Works Cited section at the end, in alphabetical order by author. Both styles require different formatting for elements like margins, headings, and citations of sources.

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Jaybert Merculio Del Valle
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308 views13 pages

Documentation Styles

The document discusses two common documentation styles - APA and MLA. It provides details on how each style formats citations within texts and references at the end. For APA, sources are cited with parentheses and listed alphabetically at the end. For MLA, sources are cited with parentheses and a full reference is included in a Works Cited section at the end, in alphabetical order by author. Both styles require different formatting for elements like margins, headings, and citations of sources.

Uploaded by

Jaybert Merculio Del Valle
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DOCUMENTATION STYLES

1. APA DOCUMENTATION

2. MLA DOCUMENTATION
BACK

• A documentation style is a standard approach to the


citation of sources that the author of a paper has
consulted, abstracted, or quoted from. It prescribes
methods for citing references within the text, providing a
list of works cited at the end of the paper, and even
formatting headings and margins.
APA Documentation = American Psychological
Association (APA)

• The APA documentation system is commonly used in the


social sciences and education, as well as in fields such as
nursing. It is a parenthetical documentation system;
sources are cited in parentheses within your own
sentences to indicate you have used ideas, information,
and quotations from an outside source. The parenthetical
information points to specific sources in an alphabetized
list of references at the end of your paper.
• Parenthetical citations are citations to original sources that appear in the text
of your paper
• This allows the reader to see immediately the source of your information.
• Researchers place brief parenthetical descriptions to acknowledge which
parts of their paper reference particular sources. Generally, you want to
provide the last name of the author and the specific page numbers of the
source. If such information is already given in the body of the sentence, then
exclude it from the parenthetical citation.
• Place the parenthetical citation where there is a pause in the sentence –
normally before the end of a sentence or a comma. The in-text citation will
differ depending on how much information you provide within the sentence.
• The APA style calls for three kinds of information to be
included in in-text citations.
• The author's last name
• and the work's date of publication must always appear,
and these items must match exactly the corresponding
entry in the references list.
• The third kind of information, the page number, appears
only in a citation to a direct quotation.
• for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).
• General APA Guidelines

• Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x


11") with 1" margins on all sides. You should use a clear font that is highly
readable. APA recommends using 12 pt. Times New Roman font.

• Include a page header (also known as the "running head") at the top of
every page. To create a page header/running head, insert page numbers
flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left using
all capital letters. The running head is a shortened version of your paper's
title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation.
How do you cite website material that has no author,
no year, and no page numbers?
• Because the material does not include page numbers, you can include any of the following in
the text to cite the quotation (from pp. 170–171 of the Publication Manual):

• A paragraph number, if provided; alternatively, you could count paragraphs down from the
beginning of the document.
• An overarching heading plus a paragraph number within that section.
• A short title in quotation marks, in cases in which the heading is too unwieldy to cite in full.

• Because there is no date and no author, your text citation would include the title (or short
title) "n.d." for no date, and paragraph number (e.g., "Heuristic," n.d., para. 1). The entry in
the reference list might look something like this:

• Heuristic. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from


http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/heuristic back
MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA)

• MLA documentation is commonly used in English and


foreign language and literature courses, as well as in
other disciplines in the humanities.
MLA FORMAT
• Use standard size paper (8½ x 11 inches)
• Word-process or type the essay using a standard 12 point font
• Double-space every line of the essay, including all quotations and the Works Cited page
• Indent each paragraph; do not leave an extra space between paragraphs
• Leave adequate margins for tutor comment (at least one inch

• MLA documentation style does not require a title page; however, you do need to include the
following information on the first page of your assignment:

• Your name
• The tutor’s or professor’s name
• The course name and number
• The date you submit the essay

• Place this information on the top left of the page. This should be double-spaced. Double-
space again and centre the title of the essay on the page.
CITING SOURCES
• Every time that you use a quotation from a source, or summarize or paraphrase an idea or a passage
from a research or a primary source, you must acknowledge that source. This acknowledgement is
called a citation. You will include an abbreviated citation in parentheses ( ) in the body of your essay,
which is called a parenthetical citation or an in-text citation, and you will include a full citation in your
Works Cited.

• Each parenthetical citation must provide as much information as necessary for the reader to determine
the author, the source and the location of the original quotation. The parenthetical citation will correlate
with a citation in the Works Cited page that includes the full publication information.

• Whenever you quote, you must introduce your quotations, and you must ensure that the quote does
not result in grammar errors in your sentence. If you need to make any changes to the quote, the
change must be identified using square bracket [ ]. If you omit words from the quote, you must indicate
the omission with three periods, also known as an ellipsis. Leave a space on either side of the ellipsis
but do not space between the periods.
FORMAT FOR CITATION
• Each type of source follows a slightly different format for citation. The following entries describe the general format
for common sources, followed by an example.
• Books

• Author. Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, date of publication. Medium of publication.


• Book with one author

• Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: Penguin, 1999. Print.

• Berger, Yves. Immobile dans le courant du fleuve. Paris: Grasset, 1997. Print.

• (Note: with French titles only the first word is capitalized.)


• Book with more than one author

• Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial
Literatures. London: Routledge, 1989. Print.

• (Note: authors should appear in the order that they are presented on the title page; only the first author’s name is
reversed.)
Sample Works Cited
• The Works Cited should be a separate page, and it should include all of the sources quoted,
paraphrased or summarized in your essay. If you have consulted sources that you have not cited in
your essay, you should rename your page Works Consulted, and include every source you have cited
and consulted.

• The Works Cited page is double spaced, and entries are indented 5 spaces on the second and
subsequent lines.

• All entries are alphabetical by author’s or editor’s name. Do not distinguish between primary and
secondary sources, or by types of sources. The format of the citation indicates the type of source.

• All of the sources used in this Guide to MLA Documentation are included in the following Works Cited.

• Works Cited

• Achebe, Chinua. “An Image of Africa: Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” The Story and Its Writer: An
Introduction to Short Fiction. Compact 4 th ed. Ed. Ann Charters. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 1995.
739-44. Print.
• What's a Bibliography?

• A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have used (whether referenced or not) in the
process of researching your work. In general, a bibliography should include:

• the authors' names


• the titles of the works
• the names and locations of the companies that published your copies of the sources
• the dates your copies were published
• the page numbers of your sources (if they are part of multi-source volumes)

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