Referencing Your Academic Essay? Know the 3 Popular Styles Here

Different Referencing Styles Under One Roof: Choose the One for Your Academic Essay

10 Apr 2020 3647 views 10 minutes

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Your academic essay seems to be a tough task to accomplish. Not because of the information or the structure, but the referencing style that is to be used.

See, caught you.!

This is one thing that troubles not only the undergrads but students from all the domains of the academic world. So, to help you through your troubles, the academic essay writing help experts have listed here the three most popular referencing styles that you can choose from according to your discipline.

We’ll be covering APA, MLA, and Chicago referencing styles here. To do so, we’ll first split the sections to the smaller ones.

1. Cover Page
2. Header
3. Content
4. In-Text Citations
5. Reference List

The point of difference in the three lies in the Disciplines, In-text citations, headers, and references. So, before we move to points of differences, let’s cover the similar points.

1. The Cover Page

The cover page or the title page of all your university assignments is the window to the basic information of the topic you’ve worked on. It includes your name, roll number, subject, title, and other details.

The easy way to prepare a perfect cover page is,

Writing the Basic Information

• Your name (without the title or degree)
• The title of your assignment (within 12 words)
• The name of the institution
• Details of the other author (if teamwork)

Formatting the Information

• Font Style: Times New Roman
• Font Size: 12
• Spacing: Double Space the Information

Placing the Information

• Halfway Through the Page
• In the Centre of the Page

2. The Content

As we move forward, the next section is the main body of your school or college essay. Make sure you stick to the guidelines so that you do not miss a single point there. Read the guidelines several times and proceed in the manner that it reflects in your work.

The Title

• Boldface the Main Head and Centralize It
• Double Line Spacing Between the Title and Paragraph

The Paragraphs

• Indent the First Sentence.
• Ragged Left Margin
• Double-Space the Text

The Subheads

• Boldface and Add from Left Size
• For Further Subheads, Don’t Bold. Italicize Instead.

American Psychological Association, is used for behavioral and social sciences and is currently working in its 6th edition.

Let’s check how to mention the headers and other details in your essay writing in APA Style.

The Header

This is the running head and the page numbers that are on the top of the pages of your college essay. When working on these, make sure you stick to the basic rules mentioned here.

• Font Style: Times New Roman
• Font Size: 12
• Leave One-Inch Margin from the Top of the Page
• In Running Head Includes

1. Gist of the Title

• Should Be Short and Precise
• Capitalize
• Less Than 50 Characters
• Top-Left Corner

2. Page Number

• Start with Title Page
• Arabic Format
• Top-Right Corner

The In-Text Citations

In-text citations are the major point of difference in all the referencing styles. You can use in-text citation either as, narrative in-text citation or parenthetical citation.

Now that you have the relevant data, here are two ways in which you can use them:

1.Narrative In-Text Citation

Here the author is the speaker itself. Thus, if you use the name of the author in the content, then this citation is used.

It is mentioned in the following way

Author’s name (year of publication)... text... (page number)

2.Parenthetical Citation

There are times when you do not mention the name of the author, instead move forward with only using the work. In such case, you need to use this style of citation.

Here’s how you can do it

Text... (Author’s name, year of publication, p. page number)

From Expert’s Desk

Each source that you have reached to, for your university essay writing needs to be addressed with the following information.

• The Author’s Name
• The Co-Author’s Name (if any)
• The Page Number
• The Year of Publication

The Reference List

Uff...

Everything needs its own space...

Chicago referencing, also called the Chicago Manual Style, is used in subjects of business, history, and fine arts. Currently, the 17th version of the style is used.

The Header

The header of the Chicago style essays consists only of the page number on the top left corner of the page in Arabic style.

The Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes

Just like the APA referencing style, it is also done in both the manners., i.e, narrative or parenthetical.

1.Narrative

Format: Author name... sentence...number
Example: Roy found out that environmental development is mainly to...

2.Parenthetical

Format: Sentence...number
Example: Many studies have found that E-commerce is beneficial for both small and large-scale businesses.

Easy.!

Sorry Not Actually...

Depending on the source that you reach to for the information, here’s how you need to refer to different sources.

Endnotes

• The Title of the Page Is “Notes.”
• Write in Times New Roman, Font Size Being 10.
• Each Entry Needs to Be Single Spaced.
• Each Endnote Needs to Be Indented.
• Format Similar to Footnotes.

Here’s a Sample

Woah...

They Need to Know It All...

The Modern Language Association of America, MLA is used for the referencing of subjects in the humanities field, such as psychology, education, or other sciences oriented. Let’s check how to use this style in your essay writing task, to get the A+ grade.

The Header

When writing the header in your academic essay in MLA style, you need to notice that it doesn’t consist the title or the university detail rather it has your last name.

Cool.!

So, what your academic essay includes is,

• Last Name
• Page Number

To make sure that the header is pitch-perfect, you must remember the points mentioned here:

• Distance Must Be One-Half Inch
• Place at Top Right Margin
• Capitalize Last Name

Warning: Do not start with page, pg., p., etc, in front of the page number.

The Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes

• Indicate the information with an Arabic number superscript.
• Used when multiple pieces of research show the same findings.
• Place your superscript after the punctuation.

Format: running sentence...number.

Example: Many sociologists have found that the study of sociology will improve the society.

Endnotes

Similar to the one used in Chicago style, it is a new page that includes the list of sources where the information has been taken from.

The Cited Works

As in other referencing styles, we have reference pages titled the same, for MLA referencing style, we title the page “Works Cited.” The information we use in our college essays is to be written in the following format.

• Each entry should be left-aligned.
• Indent second and subsequent lines.
• Put a period at the end of each reference.
• Arrange the information in alphabetical order.

Here’s how to do it.

And Summing It All...

This would look like a long read, but trust us, it is definitely not that tough. All you need to do is concentrate on your work, know the right referencing style and know the unique points that would make your work easy. Bookmark this write-up and if you think referencing is still something you can’t do, just reach to us, and avail cheap essay writing services from the experts.

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