When it comes to writing professionally, there are three standards that you must learn to be on the safe side: MLA, APA, and Chicago Manual of Style.
MLA stands for “Modern Language Association,” and it’s the standard that’s used in most U.S. universities to cite sources in academic articles. It involves understanding how to format the information in your bibliography and how to cite the works that you use in your essays. Many journalists and bloggers use MLA as well because it’s so easy to learn and use.
APA stands for “American Psychological Association,” and it’s the standard used in many science-related fields to format the results of psychological experiments. If you’re going to be writing about psychology or a related field, then you must know how to cite your sources according to this standard. In addition, it’s essential to learn how to reference and format tables and figures in your paper. Since many scientific papers are now published online, having the proper formatting for tables and figures is becoming even more important, especially if you want your work to be read by other scientists.
The Chicago Manual of Style is the most popular writing style guide in the United States. It’s used by journalists, bloggers, and nonprofit organizations who need to ensure that their content is consistent and readable across different platforms. The Chicago Manual of Style is used to format papers, so if you’re going to be submitting any content as a formal piece, then you must know how to follow its instructions. Otherwise, you run the risk of your work being rejected due to poor formatting.
Now, you might be wondering why three separate standards have emerged as popular choices among writers. After all, there’s only one standard that’s been around for longer than all three of these formats — the venerable APA! — and that’s the source of much of their popularity. The answer is that each of these three standards evolved to meet the specific needs of a particular group of people. Let’s take a look at how they each came to be and the groups of people for whom they were designed.
MLA
Let’s start with the most popular one: MLA. What is the Modern Language Association?
The Modern Language Association is a professional organization that sets the standards for language and linguistics in academic writing. Its members are academics from around the world who are actively involved in publishing and teaching in the field. The MLA publishes the “Modern Language News,” a bimonthly magazine that comes out every other month. It also offers a variety of other resources for academics, such as a job-search guide and a professional development site where members can find workshops and conferences on a variety of topics related to their field.
APA
The American Psychological Association has two divisions: the Division 1 – which sets the standards for professional practice in psychology – and Division 2 – which deals with research, publishing, and education. What is the American Psychological Association?
The American Psychological Association is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1902 and currently has more than 171,500 members. It is the largest and most prestigious professional organization in the field of psychology. Any academic or professional who is pursuing a career in psychology should familiarize themselves with the work of the American Psychological Association. In addition, they should also be following the rules set down by the Division 1 – Division of professional practice – for writing about clinical psychology. These rules can be found here: http://www.apa.org/practice
CMS
The Chicago Manual of Style is a practical guide for writers published by the University of Chicago in 1954. The guide came out of a need to bring some order to the field of writing and spelling. Since its founding, the Chicago Manual of Style has become hugely popular because of its practical and common-sense approach. When you’re writing something formal, such as an academic paper or a professional report, then you need to make sure that each part of your work is formatted correctly. The Chicago Manual of Style makes this easy by showing you exactly how to do it. In addition, you can find many examples of papers that were written using the Chicago Manual of Style.
While the Modern Language Association and the American Psychological Association focus on the fields of linguistics and psychology, the Chicago Manual of Style is more mainstream. Its guidelines are easy to learn and the benefits are immediately apparent. If you’re looking for a simple and effective guide to becoming a better writer, then the Chicago Manual of Style is a format worth checking out.