As a fact, it is a must to provide a full acknowledgment of the author of a specific article, book, or another type of source that people use in academic writing to avoid plagiarism. Hence, to accomplish such a goal, there are specific standards of formatting in the world. Such standards are different in their nature and follow specific rules of huge organizations. Their purpose is to deliver information to people in the best possible way. Hence, it is all to comfort the reader and make sure that the information reaches its target. Examples of academic writing paper formats include APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago/Turabian, AMA, Vancouver, ASA, IEEE, and RACE, among others.
APA as One of the Hundreds of Paper Formats
Firstly, APA is
MLA – Another Type of Existing Paper Formats
MLA is a short form of the Modern Language Association. What is MLA format is that it is an academic writing format that lacks a separate title page, has in-text citations with no comma between the author’s last name and the page number, and has a “Works Cited” page at the end of the work. MLA is a unique style of paper format as it provides the identification of where writers take the information from. Writers point out the exact place in the source where others can spot it. Such identification is critical when it comes to repeating someone’s investigations or checking works at educational facilities. Such a format appeared to be the most effective among all to tackle plagiarism. That is because students cannot provide fake sources and must actually read what they are mentioning in their text.
The format also relies on various technical features. For example, MLA citation format uses abbreviations heavily to decrease the length of in-text citations, might need additional manuscripts for publications, and might also use footnotes in some cases as there are rules for that too. Moreover, the format has specific requirements for MLA Format Heading that people should know in writing their papers. Such aspects make MLA format one of the most commonly used paper formats as they satisfy various needs in comfortable citing as well as prevent fraud within the academic sphere.
Harvard Referencing Style
Many students confuse Harvard format with APA due to its author-date system. However, it is important to understand that Harvard differs from the APA format in many ways. For example, a title page in Harvard uses Caps, while running heads are different too. Also, in-text citations do not use a comma to separate the author’s last name and year of publication. Additionally, instead of a “References” page – there is a “Reference List.” Various differences make Harvard unique in its features. Its use in various countries and simplicity make it one of the most important paper formats to learn.
Chicago/Turabian Paper Formats Overview
Chicago/Turabian paper format is not only one of the most complicated but also best-looking paper formats. The simplicity of the idea that in-text citations should not ruin the reader’s attention makes Chicago/Turabian unique among other formats. Chicago/Turabian relies on footnotes, endnotes, and “Bibliography,” while all of these features are outside of the actual text. The only thing that appears in the text is a footnote’s number. Also, they are small so that only those who need those sources will recognize them. Such a choice of features made the reading comfortable, while the full acknowledgment of sources still helped to prevent plagiarism.
Chicago/Turabian is more like an MLA paper format. That is because it provides the identification of where the information is. That shows exactly the place of its origin, which is critical.
Chicago/Turabian paper format also has unique title and bibliography pages. The use of a running head is also unique in terms of its utilization separately from a title page. Additionally, the fact that in-text citations shorten after writers use them more than once in a row makes this citation style stand out among others due to its magnificently comfortable nature for readers. Unfortunately, writers pay for a reading comfort of audiences due to the complexity of the format.