Using a citation style like APA or MLA is important anytime you are including outside research in your assignment. It gives the writer a clear way to document their research and organize their assignment in a way that everyone can easily understand.
Writing a paper using APA or MLA style simply means the following:
- Your paper will be formatted in a specific way, depending on which style you use -- margins, font size, font style, double-spaced, headers, title page or heading, etc.
- You will have citations in the text of your paper telling the reader where you found your information. A citation is small amount of information enclosed in parentheses, placed right after the sentence(s) using your source, that tells the reader which source you used --> (Smith, 2019) or (Smith 265).
- You will have a list of sources at the end of your paper giving detailed information about each source you cited in the text of your paper. The information (title, author, publisher, etc.) will be typed in a very specific way, depending on which style you use.
