Writing
college papers is a large part of a student’s life at any
university. Many students, from high school English classes, are
familiar with the MLA standard for writing papers. However, MLA is
not the only referencing tool used in the academic world. Sometimes,
for college papers, the professor might ask for the student to make
sure that the papers they turn in are APA style papers.
APA style
papers are formatted, cited, and referenced radically differently
than MLA papers. Students are very likely to write college papers
which are both MLA and APA style papers during their academic career.
It is important for students to familiarize themselves with APA style
papers in order to successfully write their own college papers.
Students
struggling to write college papers in APA style can find many
examples of APA style papers online. There are also online tools that
will format the references the student needs for their college papers
in the style used for APA style papers if they provide the
information of their sources. APA style papers are also formatted
differently from MLA papers and the writers of college papers should
be aware of these differences. First of all, APA style papers have a
‘References’ list and not a ‘Work Cited’ list like MLA
papers.
Also, when using APA citing in college papers, the citation
includes the last name of the author, the year the article or source
was published, and then a page number is applicable. APA formatting
focuses on the relevance and how recent the source is depending on
what the student is writing about. Some professors might ask students
to use sources which are only in a certain time frame. Papers which
do not conform to these standards may receive a reduced grade or be
rejected.
