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General Information on Styles

General Information on Styles

There are four main styles that the students work with while studying. They are: APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles. Please, pay your attention to the information below.

APA STYLE (American Psychological Association): The Basics

1. When writing in APA style use Times New Roman (12 pt.). All text throughout the paper has to be double-spaced (that also includes titles, headings, quotations, references, etc). The text should be aligned to the left-hand margin, leaving a "ragged" right margin. Indent all paragraphs half-inch (i.e. 1,27 cm).

2. APA style has a specific Title page:

  • The top line of the title page should be left-aligned and display "Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" (condensed in two-three words). The page header (just TITLE OF YOUR PAPER) should appear at the top left of each next page and the page number - at the top right.
  • A few lines below indicate the Full Title of Paper: Centered (however, no more than two lines).
  • Author's name
  • Author's affiliation

3. The title page is followed by the Abstract page (titled "Abstract"). An abstract should be a 150-200 words summary of the research in a concise way.

4.  Body:

  • There are five levels of headings used in APA style:

 

  • Use a signal word to introduce other people's ideas in text. For example:

Johnson concludes, argues, hypothesizes, refers to, compares, etc. or Johnson proved, demonstrated, etc.

  • Eliminate the first person usage and keep to active voice throughout the text. No figurative language allowed. Avoid bias.
  • Cite any specific information, even if put in your own words (paraphrased or consulted). A citation must appear in two places in the work: in the body ("in-text") and in the reference list.

5.      In-text citations:

  • All the major words in the titles of books and articles have to be capitalized. NOTE: in the reference list, only the first word of the title and of the subtitle has to be capitalized.
  • The titles of books, movies, documentaries, albums and other longer works should be italicized or underlined in the paper. For example, Alice in Wonderland; My Fair Lady.
  • The shorter works do not need capitalization; instead, the quotation marks should be put around the titles. The shorter works are articles, titles of songs, or TV series episodes: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
  • When quoting from any source directly, put the last name of the author, year of publication and the page number. Here are the examples of how you can do it:
    • According to Johnson (2011), "The quote itself" (p. 232).
    • Johnson (2011) said that "the quote itself" (p.232); it is very important to know.
    • He said, "The quote itself" (Johnson, 2011, p.232), but he didn't explain the reasons.
    • Johnson (2011) came to the following results:

      The longer quotes (40 words and more) should be placed like this. The quote has to be typed on the new margin. The longer quotation put in this suggested form does not need quotation marks. The text should remain double-spaced.

    • The paraphrased ideas will have the following in-text citation:

      According to Johnson (2011), the paraphrased idea will not have quotation marks.

      The paraphrased idea does not need quotation marks (Johnson, 2011, p.232).

6. Reference List:

  • The lines after the first line of every source has to be one-half-inch indented.
  • Last name, then first name.
  • Put the sources in alphabetical order.
  • All major words in the title of journal have to be capitalized.
  • Capitalize only first letter of the first word of the title and subtitle referencing to articles, books, Web pages.
  • The titles of the longer works (books and journals) need to be italicized.
  • The shorter works (articles, essays) should not be italicized, underlined, or have quotes around the titles.
  • There are different rules to the referencing, which depend on the type of the source.

NOTE! For more details on APA style, please go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/1/

MLA STYLE (Modern Language Association): The Basics

1.      When writing in MLA style use the legible font (usually, Times New Roman or Arial) and set to 12 pt. All text throughout the paper has to be double-spaced. The text should be aligned to the left-hand margin. Indent all paragraphs half-inch.

 

2.      There is NO Title page in MLA style. At the top right of each page put the last name of the author and the page number. However, on the first page, there should be the header at the upper left corner that includes:

  • Name
  • Instructor
  • Course
  • Date (e.g. 1 January 2011)

3.      Put the title on the next line and center it. There are NO italics, underlining or quotation marks in the Title, which is not in all capital letters. (Italics and quotation marks are used to refer to other works in the title (e.g. Love story in "Gone with the Wind").

4.      Body:

a)     Section Headings:

  • Please, look at the following example of division into sections in essays:

1. Biography

2. First Works

3. Recent Years

  • If the paper needs multiple levels of headings, there are two examples of how it can be achieved (the only thing is that the chosen variant should remain consistent):

Variant 1:

1. Styles

1.1 APA

1.2 MLA

2. Grammar

3. Context

 

Variant 2 (Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/ Here you can find more on MLA style):

Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left

Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left

     Level 3 Heading: centered, bold

     Level 4 Heading: centered, italics

Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left

 

b)        In-text Citations:

  • Ideas and direct quotations are cited in text in the form: (Author page). There is no comma before the page number.
  • Use a signal word to create in-text citations.
  • If the previous sentence clearly refers to the work, the following sentence will just need the page number in parentheses.
  • If a quotation is four lines or more (a block quote), indent it a full inch from the left margin.
  • Capitalize and underline/italicize the titles of books, movies (longer works) longer works.
  • Capitalize and put in quotes the titles of articles and chapters (shorter works).

 

5.      Works Cited:

  • The final page of the paper, titled "Works Cited" (center-aligned title), which lists the sources used to complete the assignment. Hanging indent (indent the second and following lines of the source five spaces) is used for every source.
  • Each word, except for articles, conjunctions and prepositions, has to be capitalized in the articles, books, etc.
  • For larger works (books, magazines) use italics for titles; for shorter works (articles, poems) - the quotation marks.
  • Sources are organized alphabetically by the last name of the author. The first author in the source is given as "last name-first name"; the names of the other writers that follow in the same source are given as "first name-last name". For example:

Johnson, Peter, and John Peterson. Dreams and Reality. Town: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

NOTE! For more information on MLA style, please go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/1/

 

HARVARD STYLE: The Basics

1.      This style is also known as "author-date" style and, thus, reminds APA style, for it also has the author and date used in parentheses, when referring to the original source. NOTE: Acknowledge the source information in two places: in the text of the work and in the reference list.

2.      Header:

  • The header in Harvard style is comprised of the short description of the main title; it also includes the page number.
  • The short title in the header is right-aligned (not left or center as it is in other styles).
  • There are only 5 spaces between the number and the partial title.

3.      Title Page:

  • The TITLE is approximately halfway down the page. It is typed in all capital letters.
  • Then, three lines down the author's name (e.g. by Peter Johnson) should be typed (not in capital letters).
  • The name of the class would be put 4 lines down the name.
  • Next line is the place to type the name of school.
  • The city and state (where the school is located) follows next.
  • The last line is for the date.

4.      In-Text Citations.

  • As it was mentioned before, Harvard style is also referred to as "author-date" style. Therefore, the in-text citations are similar to APA style (the author's name and the date of publication in parenthesis).
  • The quoted information is enclosed in double quotation marks - "".
  • Italics should be applied to the titles of the longer works (books, newspapers, journals, etc.).
  • Use capital letters in the titles of literary works as they should appear normally.
  • Use single quotation marks ' ' with titles of journal articles and book chapters.

 

5.      Reference list/Bibliography:

  • A Reference List is comprised of the books, articles and Web pages; meanwhile, the Bibliography has all the other sources that were advised for further reading.
  • The items are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.
  • Use only initials of the author's first and middle names. No periods and spaces between initials.
  • If the author is unknown, the item is cited by title.
  • Each reference appears on a new line.
  • NO indentation and NO numbering of the references.

 

NOTE: For more information on referencing in Harvard style, and style itself, please, go to http://www.library.uq.edu.au/training/citation/harvard_6.pdf

 

CHICAGO STYLE: The Basics

1. Times New Roman font (12 pt.) is preferable. All text should be double-spaced, except for table titles, figure captions and block quotations that should be single-spaced.

2. Often Chicago papers have a Title Page, where title is centered-aligned. The title is placed several lines down the page (to be more exact, the third of the way down); then, a few lines later the author's name and class information follow.

3. In-text citation in Chicago style is given in the form of footnotes. Footnotes are consecutive, Arabic numerals, which are attached to other people's words or ideas. They may appear at the end of a sentence, a clause, following by any punctuation needed. In addition, the name of the author in footnote is as follows: name and then last name (Peter Johnson). Publishing details of books should be put in brackets. Double quotation marks are used with the titles of the book chapters and journal. When the same source and page is being cited more than two times consecutively, the word "Ibid." is used. It derives from Latin "ibidem" and stands for the phrase "in the same place."

4. A Bibliography at the end of the paper provides the details of the sources cited and consulted:

  • If a bibliographic is longer than one line, the following lines of the entry should be indented by two spaces.
  • Citations in the bibliography:

    a)      In the Bibliography, the name of the first author has the following order: last name and then first name (Johnson, Peter).

    b)     All the sections and elements in the entries are separated not by commas, but periods.

    c)      No brackets are needed for the publishing details.

 

NOTE! For more information, please, go to http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/1300991022_717.pdf

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/