APA vs MLA: Choosing the Right Citation Style

APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association) are the two citation systems you'll meet first in college. Both cite sources in the text and list them at the end — APA calls it a References list, MLA a Works Cited — but they were built for different disciplines and answer different questions.

When to use which

• APA is standard in psychology, education, nursing, business, and the social sciences. It emphasizes dates, because currency matters in research — in-text citations lead with the year.
• MLA is standard in literature, languages, and the humanities. It emphasizes pages, because the discipline quotes texts and needs to point to the exact page of the quote — in-text citations lead with the page number.
• When in doubt, ask the instructor or check the assignment — using the wrong style is a formatting deduction you can avoid by asking once.

The differences that actually matter

• In-text: APA is (Author, Year, p. 12); MLA is (Author 12). Note the missing year and comma in MLA.
• Reference list title: APA 'References', MLA 'Works Cited'.
• Author names: APA uses initials (Smith, J.); MLA spells out first names (Smith, John).
• Dates: APA puts the year right after the author; MLA puts it near the end.
• Titles: APA uses sentence case for article titles; MLA uses headline case.

One source, two entries

A journal article by Jane Smith published in 2023 looks like this in each system:

• APA: Smith, J. (2023). The title of the article. Journal Name, 12(3), 45–67. https://doi.org/...
• MLA: Smith, Jane. "The Title of the Article." Journal Name, vol. 12, no. 3, 2023, pp. 45–67.

Same source, different emphasis: APA flags the date up front, MLA gives you the author's full name and the volume/pages. Neither is 'right' — each is tuned to what its discipline cares about.