Third Year • Everything examinable, on printable pages — the definitions, the orders, and the APA/MLA tables
Half of this paper is a single question asked eight different ways: APA or MLA? Learn the comparison table below as a table you can redraw from memory, and you have already secured the largest block of marks on the paper. The second largest block is ORDER — the eight research steps, the nine parts of a paper, the order on a title page, the order inside a reference entry. The third is terms that sound alike: implications vs limitations, results vs discussion, abstract vs introduction, plagiarism vs copyright infringement.
And 20 marks are free. The seminar question is the same task every year: build one APA reference entry from scrambled elements. Rehearse Surname, I. (Year). Title in sentence case (nth ed.). Place: Publisher. until you can write it without thinking.
| Systematic | Structured, organised, clearly defined steps |
| Logical | Reasoning and evidence, not personal opinion |
| Empirical | Observable and measurable data |
| Replicable | Repeatable by others to verify the results |
| By PURPOSE | |
|---|---|
| Basic | Expands theory, no immediate application. How memory works. |
| Applied | Solves a real-world problem. A study schedule to improve concentration. |
| By APPROACH | |
| Qualitative | Words, meanings, experiences. Non-numerical. Descriptive, exploratory. No graphs. |
| Quantitative | Numbers, statistics, tables and graphs. Conclusive. Iterative. |
| Mixed | Both — e.g. a survey plus follow-up interviews. |
| By OBJECTIVE | |
| Descriptive | Describes a phenomenon as it exists — what. |
| Analytical | Examines relationships, explains causes — why. |
| Exploratory | Topic is new or not clearly understood — first time. |
Exam form: he gives six of these scrambled and asks you to order them. Learn the sequence, not the descriptions.
| Question | Open-ended. Explores a topic. What factors influence academic performance? |
| Hypothesis | Testable prediction about a relationship between variables. Students who sleep 7+ hours perform better. |
Questions explore; hypotheses predict and can be tested.
Definition: presenting another person's words or ideas as your own without proper citation.
| TWO TYPES | |
|---|---|
| Intentional | Deliberately copying without citation |
| Unintentional | Carelessness or ignorance of the rules — still plagiarism |
| THREE FORMS | |
| Direct copying | Word-for-word, no quotation marks, no citation |
| Poor paraphrasing | Changes only a few words, keeps the structure and meaning |
| Missing citations | Wording is entirely original but the idea is not credited |
The two unintentional examples he sets: citing in-text but forgetting the quotation marks; and a paraphrase that stays too close to the original even with a full citation.
| Plagiarism | Academic offence. Passing off words or ideas as yours. Cured by citation. |
| Copyright infringement | Legal offence. Unauthorised distribution or reproduction of protected work. Not cured by citation. |
Copyright protects a creative work as soon as it is recorded in tangible form — no registration needed. Under fair use, students may use protected material for education, teaching, scholarship and research with proper documentation.
| Descriptive | The Effects of Exercise on Mental Health |
| Question | Does Music Help Students Concentrate Better? |
| Compound | Main title : colon : subtitle |
| Declarative | Regular Reading Improves Vocabulary Skills |
| Preliminary | Temporary, written at the beginning, may change |
Six title strategies: General + colon + specific phrase • General + prepositional phrase (no colon) • General + specific work • General + colon + type of study • General + colon + question • General + comparison.
3 purposes: relevance to the reader • findings for those short of time • indexing and keywords in databases.
| RESULTS | DISCUSSION |
|---|---|
| WHAT was found | WHAT IT MEANS |
| Report only, no interpretation | Interpret, explain, evaluate |
| Past tense | Present for facts, past for previous studies |
| Report negative results too | Compare with previous research |
| No new literature | No new results |
In APA they are separate sections; in MLA they may be combined.
| Methodology | Past |
| Results | Past |
| Abstract | Present for results, past for procedures |
| Discussion | Present for established facts, past for previous studies |
And the citation styles: APA uses past simple or present perfect (said / has said); MLA uses present simple (says).
| Implications | Look forward — what further practical or theoretical study is needed |
| Limitations | Look inward — small sample, limited access, lack of previous studies, time constraints, limited geographical area, self-reported data |
Admitting limitations increases credibility. Never hide them.
| Feature | APA (7th) | MLA (9th) |
|---|---|---|
| Field | SOCIAL SCIENCES — psychology, education, economics, sociology, political science, linguistics | HUMANITIES — literature, history, philosophy |
| Emphasis | Clarity, structure, the publication date | Authorship and textual analysis; narrative style |
| Title page | REQUIRED | NOT required unless the instructor asks |
| Running head | Required in professional papers (short title in CAPS, top left) | Not used |
| Page numbers | Top right, from the title page | Top right with surname, from the first page (title page not numbered) |
| In-text: direct | (Smith, 2021, p. 78) • pp. 15–17 for a range | (Dickens 1) — no comma, no p. |
| In-text: paraphrase | (Smith, 2021) — page only needed for direct quotes | (Dickens 1) — page always |
| Two authors | (Smith & Jones, 2020) — & in parentheses, and in narrative | (Smith and Jones 15) — always and |
| 3+ authors | (Smith et al., 2020) | (Smith et al. 15) |
| Verb tense | Past simple / present perfect (said, has said) | Present simple (says) |
| Abstract | Required, 80–120 words | Only if required, about 100 words |
| Results section | Required in empirical research; detailed statistics, tables, figures | Usually not required; descriptive, fewer statistics |
| Discussion | Separate major section after Results | Not usually required; may be combined with Results |
| Headings | Formal 5-level system | Minimal or optional |
| Reference page title | References | Works Cited |
| Font & spacing | Both: Times New Roman 12 • double-spaced throughout • 1-inch margins • title centred, not italicised • 0.5-inch hanging indent • alphabetical order | |
| Source | APA | MLA |
|---|---|---|
| Book | Surname, I. (Year). Title in sentence case. Place: Publisher. Turney, C. (2013). 1912: The year the world discovered Antarctica. Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint. | Surname, First Name. Title in Title Case. City: Publisher, Year. Medium. Johnson, Roberta. Gender and Nation in the Spanish Modernist Novel. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2003. Print. |
| Edition | Title (2nd ed.) — in parentheses, immediately after the title Young, M. E., & Long, L. L. (2007). Counseling and therapy for couples (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks-Cole. | Title. 2nd ed. — no parentheses Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. Print. |
| Journal article | Author. (Year). Article title not italicised, sentence case. Journal Title, Vol(Issue), pages. DOI Todd, P., & Binns, J. (2013). Work-life balance: Is it now a problem for management? Gender Work and Organization, 20(3), 219–231. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0432.2011.00564.x | Author. “Title of Article.” Journal vol.issue (Year): pages. Medium. Date of access. Hamilton, Sharon. “Musicology as Propaganda in Victorian Theory and Practice.” Mosaic 31.2 (1998): 35–56. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. |
| Chapter | Author. (Year). Chapter title. In Editor (Ed.), Book Title (pp. xx–xx). Place: Publisher. | Author. “Title of Essay.” Title of Collection. Ed. Editor. City: Publisher, Year. Pages. Medium. |
APA article rules: article title NOT italicised, sentence case • journal title italicised, Title Case • volume italicised • issue in parentheses, no italics, no space after the volume • no pp. before the page range • no full stop after the DOI or URL • if no DOI, give the URL.
APA ordering rules: same author → chronological, oldest first • same author, same year → alphabetical by title with 2013a, 2013b • single author precedes the same author with co-authors, whatever the date • same first author → alphabetical by the second author • no author → start with the title • shorter surname first (Adkins before Adkinson) • if the organisation is also the publisher, write Author • drop Publishing, Company, Inc. from publisher names.
| ITALICS — complete, independent works | QUOTATION MARKS — parts of larger works |
|---|---|
| Books • plays • poems published as books • pamphlets • newspapers • magazines • academic journals • websites • online databases • films • TV and radio series • albums and CDs • dance performances • operas • long musical compositions • works of visual art • ships • aircraft • spacecraft | Articles • essays • short stories • poems inside larger works • chapters of books • pages on websites • individual episodes • songs • lectures and speeches |
In handwriting, underline instead of italicising. • Italicise words discussed as words (Shaw spelled Shakespeare without the final e). • Italicise foreign words — but not complete foreign quotations, foreign titles of short works, proper nouns, or naturalised words (ad hoc, cliché, etc., genre, et al., versus, hubris, laissez-faire, raison d'être). • Italics for emphasis: rarely in academic writing.
Titles inside titles: an italicised title keeps its italics inside a quoted title — “Language and Childbirth in The Awakening”. A quoted title inside a quoted title takes single marks — “Lines after Reading ‘Sailing to Byzantium’”.
Capitalising titles: capitalise nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions. Do not capitalise, in the middle of a title, articles (a, an, the), prepositions (of, in, to, between), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet), or the to of an infinitive.
| Mark | Use it | Do NOT use it |
|---|---|---|
| Comma | Before a coordinating conjunction joining two independent clauses • between three or more items in a series • between coordinate adjectives • around short parenthetical comments • around non-restrictive modifiers • after a long introductory phrase or clause • with contrasting expressions • in Month Day, Year | Between subject and verb • between verb and object • in compound subjects, objects or verbs • between parallel subordinate elements • around restrictive modifiers • in Day Month Year • between month and year, or season and year |
| Semicolon | Between two closely related independent clauses with no coordinating conjunction • before transition words (however, therefore, nevertheless, moreover) • between items in a series that already contain commas | |
| Colon | Before a list that the preceding words announce • before an elaboration • before a formal rule or principle (capitalise the sentence that follows) • before a grammatically independent quotation | Before a list that is grammatically necessary — ❌ The novels include: A, B, and C. • After a verb of saying — that takes a comma |
| Dashes / parentheses | Around interrupting information • around parenthetical material that already contains commas • before a summary of a preceding list | |
| Square brackets | For information inside another set of parentheses — (after Cornelius Jansen [1585–1638]) |
Restrictive vs non-restrictive, the one test: can you delete it without changing who or what is meant? Yes → non-restrictive → commas (Isabel Allende, the Chilean novelist, will appear). No → restrictive → no commas (The Chilean novelist Isabel Allende will appear). Many writers use which for non-restrictive and that for restrictive.
Harmer, J. (2015). The practice of English language teaching (5th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education.