Comparison of Chicago, MLA, and APA Styles, with Examples

Comparison of Chicago/Turabian, MLA, and APA styles

Some Definitions and Examples

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Definitions and General Information:

Types of Works

Publications are works that have been published by a publishing house. Someone's term paper, dissertation, paper presented at a conference, discussion paper, etc., does not constitute a publication in that it has not been published by a publishing house.
Articles are published in journals (or periodicals). The journal is the publication. It contains the article.
Chapters are published in books. The book is the publication. It contains the chapter.
Articles or stories in newspapers. The newspaper is the publication. It contains the article or story.
Nonpublished works. These are perfectly legitimate sources in many cases. They are cited differently from publications, because they have not been published by a publishing house.
Interviews. These are perfectly legitimate. Their citation information includes date and place of interview.
Letters. These are perfectly legitimate. Their citation information includes date and place of author.
Internet: This is a perfectly legitimate source. See information on Electronic Citations.

Endnote

Usually comes at the end of a chapter or at the end of an entire document (e.g., at the end of the book)
Usually is indicated by a superscript¹ or by a number in parentheses (2) or brackets [3]; sometimes the number is italicized [4]

Footnote

Usually is placed at the bottom, or foot, of the page on which the reference occurs
Usually is indicated by a superscript¹ or by a number in parentheses (2) or brackets [3]; sometimes the number is italicized [4]

Parenthetical references

Appear within the text, not separate from the text as is the case with footnotes or endnotes
Usually include author's last name, date of publication, and page number (if there is a direct quote). No "p." or "pp." is used. Example: (Bianco 1999, 6).

The most important details to include, regardless of which format you use

Name of author(s).
Date of publication.
Title of the work.
If the work is an article, provide the title of the article and the title of the journal.
If the work is a chapter, provide the title of the chapter and the title, author(s), and publication information of the book.
For most works other than journal articles, provide place of publication: publishing house at least, city and publishing house at best.

Note: You may interchange italics and underscoring. People always used to use underscoring because it was not possible to type in italics before the days of word processors. Now, technology makes it possible for us to use italics easily. However, depending on the font face and size you use, italics may not be very obvious. For this reason, most sources still recommend using underscoring. As long as I can see your italics, I prefer that you use italics, although underlining is acceptable. This preference may change from instructor to instructor.

Type of Source

Chicago/Turabian Footnote or Endnote Style

MLA Parenthetical Style

APA Style

Book and Chapter in a Book

Footnotes or Endnotes:

Usually the first line is indented one full tab, while subsequent lines are flush to the left. Although not shown here, citations are double spaced.

1. Robert Lynd and Helen Lynd, Middletown: A Study in American Culture (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1929), 67. Notice that in the footnote or endnote style of citations, the authors' first name precedes their last names. Here, where there are two authors with the same last name, each one is listed separately. Ampersands are not used. Commas separate many elements of the citation.

2. Mary Higdon Beech, "The Domestic Realm in the Lives of Hindu Women," in Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah in South Asia, ed. Hanna Papenek and Gail Minault (Delhi: Chanakya, 1982), 115.

3. Lynd and Lynd, 69. Here, for a subsequent entry (see more on this below), only the authors' name and page number is needed.

Bibliography:

This system of footnotes and endnotes uses a Bibliography at the end of the chapter or work. Sources are listed in alphabetical order by authors' last name. The first line is usually flush with the left-hand margin, while subsequent lines of an entry are indented one full tab (not shown here). Entries are single spaced.

Beech, Mary Higdon. "The Domestic Realm in the Lives of Hindu Women in Calcutta." In Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah in South Asia, edited by Hanna Papenek and Gail Minault, 110-38. Delhi: Chanakya, 1982. Notice that in the bibliographical entry, full names are used in this style. All title words are capitalized. The publication information does not appear in parentheses, as it does in the foot or endnote.

Lynd, Robert, and Helen Lynd. Middletown: A Study in American Culture. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1982. Notice here that the first author's name is listed last name first. His first name is always followed by a comma. Additional authors are listed first name first. The date is at the end.

Parentheticals:

(Lynd and Lynd 1929, 67). The primary difference between the MLA parenthetical style and the APA style, to the right, is that ampersands are not used and that there is no comma before the year of publication.

(Beech 1982, 115).

(Preston 69). Notice that in this case, where there is no known year of publication, there is NO COMMA between the author's name and the page number.

Reference List:

The MLA system of parentheticals uses a Reference List, or Works Cited, at the end of each chapter or work. Sources are listed in alphabetical order by authors' last name. The first line is usually flush with the left-hand margin, while subsequent lines of an entry are indented one full tab (not shown here). Entries are single spaced.

Beech, Mary Higdon. 1982. "The Domestic Realm of the Lives of Hindu Women." Separate Worlds: Studies of Purdah in South Asia. Ed. Hanna Papenek and Gail Minault. Delhi: Chanakya, 110-38. Notice that the date is not in parentheses, the author's full name is provided, and ampersands are not used. Basic capitalization and punctuation rules are similar to Chicago/Turabian style.

Lynd, Robert, and Helen Lynd. 1929. Middletown: A Study in American Culture. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World. Notice that like the bibliographical entry for footnotes, the authors' names are spelled out and a comma comes after the first author's first name. Ampersands are not used. Capitalization of titles follows the Chicago/Turabian style.

Parentheticals:

(Lynd & Lynd, 1929, 67). Notice that here the two authors' last names are separated by an ampersand. There is a comma before both the date of publication and the page number (if there is a direct quote).

(Beech , 1982, 115).

Reference List Entries:

APA style using parentheticals must have a corresponding Reference List, or Works Cited, at the end of the chapter or work. Sources are listed in alphabetical order by authors' last name. The first line is usually flush with the left-hand margin, while subsequent lines of an entry are indented one full tab (not shown here). Entries are single spaced.

Beech, M.H. (1982). The domestic realm of the lives of Hindu women. In H. Papenek & G. Minault (Eds.), Separate worlds: Studies of purdah in South Asia (pp. 110-38). Delhi: Chanakya. Notice that author's initials are used only. The first word of the subtitle is capitalized (after the colon), but otherwise, titles are not capitalized other than first words and proper nouns. This is also the only place you will see "p." or "pp." to indicate page numbers.

Lynd, R., & Lynd, H. (1929). Middletown: A study in American culture. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World. Notice that there is a comma before the ampersand. This is because it sets the first initial, R, in what is called a "comma pair." Notice that the date is in parentheses right after the authors' name.

Articles

Foot or Endnotes:

10. Louise M. Rosenblatt, "The Transactional Theory: Against Dualisms," College English 54 (1993): 380. Notice that the author's full name is written out with the first name first. A colon, not a comma, precedes the specific page number. The title of the article uses standard title capitalization. The volume number is not italicized.

11. Ibid.: 385. For subsequent entries, the Latin abbreviation "Ibid." (note capital letter and period) is used when the subsequent entry immediately follows the entry to which it refers. In other words, Ibid.: 385 tell us that Note 11. refers to the exact same book by Rosenblatt, but on a different page.

12. Martha J. Bianco and Sy Adler, “The Politics of Implementation: The Corporatist Paradigm Applied to the Implementation of Oregon's Statewide Transportation Planning Rule," Journal of Planning Education and Research 73 (2000): 695.

13. Rosenblatt: 388. Notice that this subsequent footnote reference to the Rosenblatt work does not use "Ibid." because a different work (the Bianco and Adler work) intervened numerically.

14. Bianco and Adler, "Pushing the Envelope": 293. In this case, notice that the shortened form of the title of the article is used. That's because there is more than one article by Bianco and Adler in this paper. To clarify which Bianco and Adler work is being referenced, a shortened version of the title must be included.

Bibliography:

Bianco, Martha J., and Sy Adler. "The Politics of Implementation: The Corporatist Paradigm Applied to the Implementation of Oregon’s Statewide Transportation Planning Rule." Journal of Planning Education and Research 73 (2000): 695-725. Notice that the names are ordered last name first. Other than the first author, whose first name is within a comma pair, authors are listed first name, last name. Ampersands are not used. A colon is used to indicate page numbers.

Rosenblatt, Louise M. "The Transactional Theory: Against Dualisms." College English 55 (1993): 377-86.

Parentheticals:

(Bianco and Adler 2000, 293). Notice that no ampersand is used and there is no comma before the date.

(Rosenblatt 1993, 293).

Works Cited:

Bianco, Martha J., and Sy Adler. "The Politics of Implementation: The Corporatist Paradigm Applied to Implementation of Oregon's Statewide Transportation Planning Rule." Journal of Planning Education and Research 73:4 (2000): 695-725. Note the location of the date (in parentheses) and the colon between the journal volume and issue numbers. There is also a colon after the date and before the page numbers.

Rosenblatt, Louise M. "The Transactional Theory against Dualisms. College English 55 (1993): 377-68.

Parentheticals:

(Bibace & Walsh, 1984, 619). Notice that the ampersand is used and that a comma separates each element within the parenthetical. No "p." or "pp." is used.

(Billingham, 1986, 22).

Reference List Entries:

These should be in alphabetical order by author's las name.

Bibace, A., & Walsh, P. (1984). Piaget revisited. Journal of Social Issues, 37, 618-625. Note: This is a situation in which the page numbering continues through the entire volume for that year. Notice that the volume number is italicized along with the title of the journal article. Notice also that the words within the article's title are not capitalized except for the first word (or any proper names).

Billingham, C. T. (1986). Healthy behaviors for today's toddlers: The basic concepts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(7), 20-24. Note: In this example, page numbering starts over with each new issue. This is Volume 44, Issue 7. Notice that the volume number is italicized, but the issue number is not; also, there is no space before the parentheses containing the issue number. Also notice that the first word of a subtitle after the colon is capitalized.