What are the Major Research Paper Formats?

A brightly colored soft bound copy of the MLA Handbook sporting dog eared corners and a broken spine rest intimately against the ring bound edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association behind the glass doors of my art deco desk. I have owned several editions of both and can imagine no time in which they will not find a place of distinction beside the classic novels and exemplars of psychological theory that live by their side. However, these reference books haven’t become such welcomed guests that I no longer remember our first introduction years ago in Freshman English and Introduction to Psychology respectively. In those days, these oft used resources were indecipherable misunderstood and much devalued companions. Like most young college students, I wrote my research papers with little confidence and massive amounts of anxiety. It would be years before I understood why I was required to write according to a list of principles.

Many students find the formats for writing scientific research papers confusing. This is partly due to the rigidity of writing formats. However, it is the consistency of the major writing styles that makes them useful to academic fields. Prior to the development of the major research paper formats or styles, there was no consistency in how scientific papers were written. Those researching could not expect to know where to find specific information within a research paper. Each paper had its own unique format that made it necessary for the reader to ready the complete piece to garner an understanding of the information of each scientific study. It was the desire to create an easy of obtaining information that initially guided the establishment of the individual writing styles that we now use in the preparation of research papers and scientific writing.

APA vs. MLA Formats

Today’s students are asked to learn and implement a specific writing style when writing a research paper. The two most frequently used formatting styles are APA, established by the American Psychological Association in 1929, and MLA, developed by the Modern Language Association of American in 1951. Students and professionals writing within the social sciences and the field of education use the APA format. Scholars in the liberal arts and field of literary research use MLA style in preparing their research papers.

Students often find the use of the writing styles confusing because, during their education, they find themselves using more than one style. Asked to learn MLA style to produce their English and philosophy research papers and APA style for writing in the fields of education, sociology, and psychology, they can find it difficult to keep the styles separated in their minds. However, these styles do have some similarities.

Both APA and MLA writing styles are used for academic research papers and both clearly spell out the issue of plagiarism and establish a standardized way of citing the references the writer has used in developing his or her research paper. Both styles provide formatting requirements designed to make a paper easy to read. Both styles indicate the need for appropriate margins (1” required on all sides for both APA and MLA style), text flush against the left margin with an uneven right margin, with an easily readable font (12-pt Times Roman is acceptable in both styles), and spacing to facilitate reading (both indicated that the body of papers should be double-spaced). Each style indicates indenting the beginning of each paragraph from the left margin (APA asks for 5-7 spaces, MLA asks for ½-inch or 5 spaces). Both styles indicated that one space should be left after each sentence. However, each style also acknowledges that some teachers will request their students to leave two spaces after the period.

APA Style

APA style requires that students break their research papers into specific sections. Although this can be confusing for those new to this style, it makes consuming scientific research easier. All scientific articles and academic research papers within the fields of education and the social sciences follow a specific flow designed and set forth by the American Psychological Association. According to this format, a research paper should begin with a title page that identifies the author’s name and the school with which the author is affiliated. This page is followed by an abstract. The abstract provides a brief summary of the paper. The abstract makes researching much easier as an abstract can be read to determine the article’s relevance for one’s own research. Researchers will read many abstracts on topics similar to their personal research, and if the paper in question is closely related to the researcher’s topic, the complete paper needs to be read. Therefore, researchers are highly appreciative to those who write abstracts well. This simple summary allows researchers to save hours that would otherwise be spent reading research that falls outside of their specific area of interest.

After the abstract, the writer will break the rest of the body of the paper into and introduction, a methods section, results, and discussion. The introduction section sets the stage for the scientific study or question. This is where the author presents the problem he or she is seeking to understand. The introduction lays out how the proposed research falls within the field as it stands. It is here that the author establishes his hypotheses and the theoretical implications of the proposed research.

The methods section of a research paper is where the author states in detail how the research encompassed within the paper was done. This section gives the reader all the information necessary to replicate the study described within the piece. This section tells the reader the demographics of the study participants, how they were obtained, and what they experienced in the course of the research study.

The results are discussed next. This section of the research paper explains the findings the researcher got. This is where you are going to see data collected in the course of the study and the statistical analysis of this data. All significant findings, regardless of whether they support the author’s hypotheses, are reported here. The author also discloses in this section any relevant results that my not have proven statistically significant.

The discussion section is the final part of the body of the APA style research paper. It is here that the author evaluates the findings in relationship to the hypotheses and the body of literature. This is where the author interprets the findings for the reader and draws any inferences or conclusions as they relate to the overall theory or body of research presented early in the paper. Here the author puts the research findings in relationship to the information that came before his/her research study. This is also where the author discusses how this research adds to the overall understanding of an idea and makes suggestions for further study.

MLA Style

Readers will note, that MLA style does not provide this type of structure for the paper itself. However, once the writer has completed his paper, both styles offer guidance on how the author should list reference material. Those using MLA style will not provide a title page. Rather, the author of an MLA style research paper will place their name, the teacher’s name, the course name or number, and the date in the upper left corner each on its own line. This information will be double spaced and followed by the centered title of the paper. The author will begin the paper directly below the centered title.

Once the body of the paper is completed, the author will turn his/her attention to the references in the APA paper or the “Works Cited” in the MLA paper. Regardless of how the reference material is referred to, the author needs to be sure that all material referred to in the paper are cited at the end of the paper. Researchers will find extensive explanation of how each style expects the material referred to within the paper to be formatted in the respective style manual.

Citing References in APA and MLA

Both APA and MLA styles provide guidance both in citing materials within the text, so that the reader knows where the information originated while reading, and at the end of the paper, so that the reader can locate the referred to material for further reading on the topic. Those using APA style will make in text citations by noting the last name of the author of the source being referred to and the year of publication. In text citations within an APA style research paper will look like (Author, year). In text citations made in MLA style research papers require that the writer provide the last name of the author and the page where the information was found in parenthesis following the information. For example, MLA citations will end with (Author, page number). It is important that those writing research papers understand that these citations are necessary to avoid plagiarism. Both writing styles take the concept of plagiarism very seriously, as should all writers of research papers. Indeed, writers will find a complete chapter on plagiarism in either handbook.

All referenced works must be cited at the end of a research paper. Exactly how this is to be done will depend upon the style you are using. Reference material is identified at the end of an MLA research paper in the “Works Cited.” Reference material is identified at the end of an APA research paper in the “References” section.

The basic format for an MLA reference is to provide the author’s name with the last name first, followed by a period, the article title in quotes followed by the book title underlined, followed by a period, and the publisher, publication date, followed by a period, and the pages referred to, ended in a period. So, the MLA citation within the works cited will look like: author last name, author first name. “Article title.” Book Title. Publisher, date of publication. Pages referred to. Writers should always refer to their style handbook for specifics as there are specific ways to reference everything from a verbal interview to an electronic article. Note, information contained in the “Works Cited,” will generally be alphabetized using the author’s last name.

The basic format for APA references is to provide the author’s name with the last name first, by the first and middle initials, followed by a period, followed by the article title, followed by a period, followed by the journal name in italics, followed by a comma, followed by the volume of the journal, followed by the issue number is there is one in parentheses, followed by a comma, followed by the pages where the article is found in the journal, and ended in a period. For example, a reference would look like: Last name, I. I. (year of publication). Article Title. Journal Name, Volume # (Issue#), pages in journal. The references, just like the “Works Cited” are arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name. Writers will want to refer to their APA handbook for specifics as there are specific ways to reference all types of information one may use within a research paper.

Although there are specific differences between MLA and APA research writing styles, they are both fairly easy to use once the writer understands the purpose behind their formation. Those using APA style to produce research papers have the added support of a specific format for the body of their scientific research projects. These two major formatting styles share many elements, and both were developed to contribute to the furtherance of understanding by providing writers will a standardized way of presenting and consuming presented information. Although it is always advisable to refer to your style handbook for specifics, this paper contains the basic information for identifying which style one should consider using for a specific type of research endeavor and the basics of each of these two styles.