In advanced academic writing, it is essential to properly cite your sources to ensure the credibility of your content. Especially when adding statistics, facts, quotes, or intellectual ideas of some other writer or author, it is always important to credit your target source. Failure to add proper citations of your sources is marked as plagiarism which is counted as a criminal act in academic writing.
To avoid plagiarism in your content, one must have a basic understanding of properly citing their sources. However, with multiple types of referencing available in academic writing, it is difficult to master every citation style. Especially for beginners, who can find citing sources as an overwhelming task. Luckily, there are multiple online platforms available where you can pay for essay and get your document formatted in the desired citation style. They have their expert team ready to provide you with professionally formatted academic content.
However, it is better to master the technique of citing sources yourself, to write more fluently and conveniently. A basic familiarity with academic formatting not only saves your time but keeps you from the hassle of hiring someone to do it for you.
When it comes to citations, there are multiple format types with varying editions, meaning that either the style evolved overtime or varies according to the content type and length. APA (American Psychological Association) and MLA (Modern Language Association) are two of the most commonly employed citation styles essay writer. In the following section, we have introduced you with an overview of two commonly used formats in academic writing.
APA Citation Style
The key components of an APA (American Psychological Association) include:
1- Font Style (Times New Roman, Size 12)
2- Spacing (double-spaced)
3- Indents (Half-inch indent for the first line of the paragraph, hanging indents for the References added)
4- Cover Page (Title of the paper, Name of the Author, Name of Institution with Center alignment placed at the center of the page)
5- Header (Running Head, which is a shortened title of the paper takes the top-left corner with page number placed at the top-right)
6- Title and Headings (The main title is center aligned in standard font size and style without being bold. However, the first level headings are bold and aligned center followed by second-level headings which are bold and flushed to the left side of the page)
7- In-Text Citations (A basic in-text format for APA includes the last name of the author followed by the year of publication)
8- References (The very last page of the paper has a detailed reference list, with all the in-text citations fully referenced followed by complete name/names of the author/authors followed by source title, Journal Title, Publication, etc., all depending upon the type of the source.
These are some of the basics for APA formatting tips. As you keep on complicating your document by adding charts, images, graphs, the APA referencing on these components also applies. To avoid the trouble of keeping up with manual citations, it is better to use some citation software. For example, when I write my essay I take the aid of a good citation software using which I can automatically generate in-text citations as well as end-citations. It is easy to use and convenient to keep your citations organized.
MLA Citation Style
Moving to MLA referencing style, some key components include:
1- Font Style (Times New Roman, Size 12)
2- Spacing (double-spaced)
3- Indents (Half-inch indent for the first line of the paragraph, hanging indents for the References added)
4- Cover Page (Cover page is absent in MLA style. However, the Name of the Author, Name of Instructor, the Course title, and Date is placed at the beginning of the essay and flushed to the left.)
5- Header (Header for MLA is simple with the Last name of the author and page number placed at the top-right corner in the header section.)
6- Title and Headings (The main title is center aligned in standard font size and style without being bold. However, the first level headings are bold and aligned left followed by second-level headings which are italicized to the left side of the page)
7- In-Text Citations (A basic in-text format for APA includes the last name of the author followed by the page number of the source)
8- Works Cited (The very last page of the paper has a detailed list of works cited, with format varying according to the type of the source.
Here you go with a basic overview of two commonly used citation formats in academic essay writing service. These are some of the basics which you need to learn. Once you can master these key components, learning the rest will surely be a piece of cake.
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