APA vs MLA: The Key Differences, With the Same Sources Cited Both Ways
Dr. Rajni Garg
Executive Lead, Research & Content Strategy
6 min read
APA is an author-date style used mostly in the social sciences, education and nursing, while MLA is an author-page style used mostly in the humanities, such as literature, languages and the arts. In practice, APA puts the year right after the author’s name, and MLA leaves the year out of in-text citations and points readers to a page number instead.
Use whichever your instructor, department or journal asks for. This page compares the two in one table, then cites the same four sources, a journal article, a book, a website and a YouTube video, in both styles, so you can see exactly what changes.
TL;DR
APA 7: (Author, Year), a “References” list, initials for first names and sentence-case titles.
MLA 9: (Author Page), a “Works Cited” list, full first names and title-case titles.
APA puts the date near the start of each entry. MLA puts it near the end.
APA papers have a title page. MLA papers usually start with a short header on the first page.
APA vs MLA: key differences
Every rule below is checked against APA Style (7th edition) and the MLA Style Center (9th edition).
Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 |
|---|---|---|
Citation system | Author-date | Author-page |
In-text citation for a quote | (Kahneman, 2011, p. 20) | (Kahneman 20) |
Name of the list | References | Works Cited |
Author names | Last name and initials: Kahneman, D. | Last name and full first name: Kahneman, Daniel. |
Three or more authors | First author plus “et al.” in every in-text citation, but up to 20 names in the reference | First author plus “et al.” in both the in-text citation and the works-cited entry |
Date | After the author, in parentheses: (2017, November 7) | Near the end, day month year: 7 Nov. 2017 |
Article and video titles | Sentence case, no quotation marks (videos in italics) | Title case, in quotation marks |
Book and journal titles | Italics. Books in sentence case, journals in title case | Italics, title case |
DOIs and URLs | DOIs as https://doi.org/, URLs in full | DOIs as https://doi.org/, URLs usually without https:// |
First page | A separate title page | No title page; a header with your name, instructor, course and date |
Headings | Five set levels | No set number of levels, just descending prominence |
The APA author-date page covers the “et al.” rule, and its reference list page says not to use the label “Works Cited.” MLA applies “et al.” to works with more than two authors.
The same four sources cited both ways
1. A journal article with five authors
APA: Head, M. L., Holman, L., Lanfear, R., Kahn, A. T., & Jennions, M. D. (2015). The extent and consequences of p-hacking in science. PLOS Biology, 13(3), Article e1002106. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106
In-text: (Head et al., 2015)
MLA: Head, Megan L., et al. “The Extent and Consequences of P-Hacking in Science.” PLOS Biology, vol. 13, no. 3, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002106.
In-text: (Head et al.)
APA lists all five authors and writes the article number as “Article e1002106,” as its journal article examples do. MLA keeps only the first author, labels the volume and issue, and gives the DOI in the same https://doi.org/ form. The article has no page numbers, so the MLA in-text citation has none.
2. A book
APA: Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
In-text, quoting page 20: (Kahneman, 2011, p. 20)
MLA: Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
In-text, quoting page 20: (Kahneman 20)
The year moves from second place in APA to last place in MLA, and MLA drops both the comma and the “p.” in its in-text citation.
3. A web page by an organization
APA: World Health Organization. (2026, September 11). Depressive disorder (depression). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
In-text: (World Health Organization, 2026)
MLA: “Depressive Disorder (Depression).” World Health Organization, 11 Sept. 2026, www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression.
In-text: (“Depressive Disorder”)
The two styles handle an organization that also runs the website in different ways. APA keeps the organization as the author and, as its web page examples explain, drops the site name to avoid repeating it. MLA starts with the title instead and names the website as the container.
4. A YouTube video
APA: National Geographic. (2017, November 7). Coral reefs 101 | National Geographic [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiULxLLP32s
In-text: (National Geographic, 2017)
MLA: “Coral Reefs 101 | National Geographic.” YouTube, uploaded by National Geographic, 7 Nov. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiULxLLP32s.
In-text: (“Coral Reefs 101”)
APA treats the uploading channel as the author. MLA puts the channel in an “uploaded by” slot after the site, following the MLA Style Center’s uploader guidance, and starts with the title because no single creator is named.
How are References and Works Cited set up?
The two lists look more alike than the entries inside them. Both are alphabetical and both use hanging indents, so the first line of each entry sits at the margin and the rest are indented. APA’s reference list guidance adds the specifics: center the label “References” in bold, alphabetize by the first word of each entry (usually the first author’s last name) and use a 0.5-inch hanging indent. The MLA Style Center says hanging indention is still the preferred way to separate works-cited entries.
Watch the first word of each entry when you switch. The WHO page files under W in APA, where the organization is the author, but under D in MLA, where the entry starts with its title, “Depressive Disorder.”
Which one should you use?
Start with what you have been told. Your instructor, department or the journal you are submitting to sets the style, and that overrides any rule of thumb. If nobody has said, use the field as your guide: APA for psychology, education, nursing, business and most social sciences, and MLA for English, languages, literature and cultural studies.
Two other styles come up often. Chicago is common in history and some humanities, with a notes-and-bibliography version and an author-date version. Harvard is a family of author-date styles with no single official manual, so check which version your school uses. Our guide to choosing a citation style covers these and 20 more.
How do you set up a paper in each style?
An APA 7 student paper opens with a title page showing the title, your name, your school, the course, the instructor, the due date and the page number. Our APA title page guide shows the layout. Student papers do not need a running head unless your instructor asks for one.
An MLA paper usually has no title page. Instead, the first page starts with a short heading listing your name, your instructor’s name, the course and the date, followed by the title, centered. Each page carries your last name and the page number in the top right corner.
What are the most common mistakes when switching?
Adding a year or a comma to MLA in-text citations. MLA is (Kahneman 20), not (Kahneman, 2011, p. 20).
Keeping full first names in APA, or initials in MLA.
Forgetting to switch capitals. APA article and book titles are in sentence case, while MLA uses title case throughout.
Leaving the quotation marks off MLA article titles, or adding them in APA.
Using the wrong list label. APA says to call it “References,” not “Works Cited.”
Listing every author in MLA. For three or more, MLA gives only the first author plus “et al.”
Can a citation generator switch styles for you?
Yes, and it saves a lot of retyping. The AnswerThis APA 7 citation generator builds references from source metadata or details you enter, and our MLA 9 citation generator works from a DOI, PMID, ISBN, public URL or YouTube link, or from manual details. Each browser gets three free sources across all our citation pages, and switching a finished citation to the other style costs nothing extra. Check each result against the examples above before you submit.
FAQs
Can I mix APA and MLA in one paper?
No. Pick the style you have been asked for and use it for every citation, the list at the end and the page layout.
Do both styles use page numbers in citations?
Yes, but differently. APA requires a page number when you quote and encourages one when you paraphrase. MLA gives the page number whenever the source has one.
Why does MLA leave the year out of in-text citations?
MLA’s system is built around the page you are discussing rather than the date, which suits papers that quote and analyze specific passages. The date still appears in the works-cited entry.
Which style do nursing, psychology and English students use?
Nursing and psychology students usually use APA, and English students usually use MLA. Your course guide has the final say.
Should I still use APA 6 or MLA 8?
Only if your instructor or journal asks for it. Otherwise use APA 7 and MLA 9, the current editions. Our generators keep the older editions as separate options for that case.
When you have your sources ready, run them through the APA 7 citation generator or the MLA 9 citation generator, then compare the output with the four examples on this page.
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