2. Plagiarism and Copyright
Citations and Bibliographies: Formatting

APA, MLA, and other bibliography styles have some superficial differences, but they all share the same goal of helping a reader easily track down copies of the sources an author used.

Some of the common features different styles share that you will want to look for include having slightly different entry formats for journal articles, books, web sites, and other resources, including the name and date of the source in the entry, and including the author's name.

Take a look at the following examples and notice some of the similarities and differences among them.

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Books

MLA Style: Book

Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams.
The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2003.

APA Style: Book

Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2003). The craft of research (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Council of Biology Editors: Book

1. Booth WC, Colomb GG, Williams JM. Craft of research.  2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; 2003.

Journal Articles

MLA Style: Journal Article

Bell, Shannon. "Tattooed: A Participant Observer's Exploration of Meaning."
    Journal of American Culture 22.2 (1999): 53.

APA Style: Journal Article

Bell, S. (1999). Tattooed: A participant observer's exploration of meaning.
    Journal of American Culture, 22(2), 53.

Council of Biology Editors: Journal Article

1. Bell S. Tattooed: A Participant Observer's Exploration of Meaning. J. of Am.
    Culture 1999; 22(2): 53.