American Psychological Association & Other Stylistic Guidelines

A short list of style manuals from APA to Turabian.

Various forms of style manuals, such as APA style, have developed over the past hundred years to determine how to best present information for publication or academia. These conventions establish a clear framework that allows students more time to focus on the written work rather than the format in which it is presented.

Proper formatting is an easy way to get higher marks on an essay. Students merely need to know which style manual their teachers have prescribed for their essay and use it to properly format footnotes, endnotes, and the bibliography.

The APA Style Manual

The American Psychological Association Style Manual was first presented in 1929 as a seven-page document created by psychologists, anthropologists and other publishing professionals. Its purpose was to clarify and streamline publication guidelines in the social and behavioural sciences. The latest edition, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, was released in July 2009.

The MLA Style Manual

The Modern Language Association of America published its first style guide in 1985. This manual has been widely used in North America and provides writing and documentation research guidelines for academics in humanities disciplines. An earlier version, called "The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers", was published in the late seventies.

The AMA Manual of Style

The American Medical Association Manual Style appeared in October 1962 as a 68 page guide for in-house staff and authors. This manual is primarily used for scientific journals and has grown steadily over the years to incorporate an international scope that incorporates changes in the scientific publishing field associated with advances in technology and the electronic writing formats.

The Chicago Manual of Style

The Chicago Manual Style was created by a group of proofreaders within the University of Chicago press whose job was to correct typographical errors and stylistic inconsistencies in handwritten manuscripts presented from faculty to university typesetters. This style sheet dates back around the time the University Chicago press first began its operation in 1891. Since this time, the Manual has undergone many revisions to reflect significant changes to the writer's craft such as copyright laws and the advent of personal computers.

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The Turabian Manual of Style

The Turabian Manual Style was written by Kate L. Turabian, the graduate dissertation secretary at the University of Chicago between 1930-1958. Her style guide adapts the Chicago Manual Style for students. Turabian's manual has been widely used in literature, history and the arts as well as in the physical, natural and social sciences.

Students can rest assured that properly formating the five paragraph essay is a matter of following these guidelines to the letter, comma and period. Each style reflects the need for cheap essay writers of all stripes to follow the rules designed to assist the reader to efficiently process information for a wide range of academic disciplines.

An excellent reference resource for both APA and MLA can be found at the Online Essay Writing Service (OEWS) at owl.english.purdue.edu.

Using APA or MLA

The American Psychological Association (APA) and the Modern Language Association (MLA) are professional organizations that dictate documentation styles.

Both the APA and the MLA are comprised of professional members who help to sustain the vision and mission of their organizations. Many people refer to the style handbooks or manuals of these two popular associations for standardized writing guidelines to follow.

APA Style is for the Social Sciences

In 1929, a group of professionals, who were interested in simplifying the rules of scientific writing, developed the APA style. They sought to help writers by developing a basic set of writing guidelines for the behavioral and social sciences. Their dedicated efforts resulted in clear and consistent rules for documenting essays, term papers, journal articles, dissertations, and other forms of academic and professional writing.

Although most people recognize APA style for citation and referencing procedures, its main benefit is increased uniformity of text materials. For example, writers can easily format elements, including title pages, headings, tables, graphs, and figures. Because knowing how to write equates to knowing what to write, scientific writers heed APA style rules to improve the reading comprehension levels of their audiences.

MLA Style is for the Humanities

The MLA was founded in 1883 by professionals and educators who endeavored to form an organization for the advancement of the humanities. Focusing on the English language and literature, the MLA created a systematic technique for writing papers. Since all disciplines have different subjects of concentration, MLA saw the need for standardizing documentation conventions within the liberal arts.

Like the APA, the MLA specifies formatting guidelines for in-text citations to ensure proper documentation of scholarly sources. However, MLA style is also different because it excludes a title page and includes a works cited page, instead of references. MLA style is also concise, easy-to-use, and popular in North America and abroad.

Choosing the Right Style Manual is Easy

Style selection is based on the writer's end product and his or her field. For example, students in technical fields, such as math, science, and engineering, choose APA style for writing purposes devoted to the behavioral and social sciences. Writers, editors, students, and educators can find out more about this style in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition), which is located in libraries, bookstores, and online.

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On the other hand, students in liberal arts courses are more likely to utilize MLA, since they are writing about subjects in the humanities. Professional writers also use the same rationale when selecting proper formats for their text materials. By consulting the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th Edition), writers learn how to not only effectively document their work and do efficient research in online and offline settings.

Avoid Plagiarism: Use APA or MLA Style

One of the best reasons to use APA or MLA style is to avoid plagiarism. Both styles protect the scholarly borrowing of information through extensive in-text citations, referencing, or works citing. People who consistently use either style decrease the likelihood of plagiarizing other literary works. Therefore, APA and MLA styles for scientific and academic writing reinforce the integrity of the educational community.

Sources

American Psychological Association. paid essay writers (accessed April 10, 2010).

Modern Language Association. online essay writer (accessed April 10, 2010).