In the world of academia, sharing of knowledge plays a key role in development of a given area of knowledge. For instance, a researcher will look for information from existing researches in order to develop his thesis. As a result, referencing is an integral part of academia. Consequently, this paper seeks to shed light on how to utilize Internet resources in research and what to look for when researching and also show comparison between MLA and APA formatting.
APA formatting is highly used in referencing works cited in social science. In APA, the research work should be written in an essay form that is comprised of four main sections namely; the title page, abstract, main body and references. The title page must consist of the title of the paper, the name of the person who wrote it and the institution in which the writer is a student.
Since the abstract seeks to explain the contents of the paper, it should contain the major points within the body. Then the main body of the research work should follow suit. It should contain a brief introduction, body and conclusion. Finally references should be provided in order to form a reference list and can also be used to build the in-text reference (Stolley par. 4).
Other than APA, one can also opt to use MLA as his referencing style. The two styles are different. The following are some of the differences between MLA and APA. MLA (Modern Language Association) does not use headings and subheadings in their essays while APA (American Psychological Association) has several levels of headings and subheadings.
When it comes to in-text citations, MLA uses signal phrase i.e. authors name then page number in brackets. For example; According to Charles Darwin, the world is evolving at alarming rate (50).
Alternatively there can be no signal phrase with author name and page number in brackets (Rusell, Brizee & Angeli 24). For example; it is seen that, “the world is evolving at an alarming rate” (Darwin 50). On the other hand APA uses signal phrase with author name then date in brackets i.e. Darwin (1998), noted that the world is evolving at an alarming rate or alternatively use of phrase with direct quote i.e. Darwin (1998) has indicated how “world has evolved at an alarming rate” (p.50).
Another difference is block quotation where in MLA, the block quotations are used when the quotation is more than four lines long in the original text while in APA block quotations are used when quotation is more than forty words. Also it is worth to note that in MLA formatting both names of the author(s) are written in full starting with the last name and then the first name separated by a coma while in APA the author last name is written in full but the first name is designated with initials.
In MLA, the sources that are used to cite the research work are known as the works cited while in APA the very sources used to cite the research work are known as the reference list. However it should be noted that different articles have different formatting therefore it depends on the choice of the writer whether to use APA or MLA (UC Berkley Teaching Library Internet Workshops).
A number of factors should be considered when utilizing Internet resources. First, one should always analyze the topic and search with a focused vision and this involves creating tools that would help in the process of searching. Such tools include directories and search engines.
Second, it involves evaluating the web pages in order to ensure quality and authenticity of the research work. Third, the author should determine the style sheets for citing resources (i.e. MLA or APA). This should put into consideration both print and electronic. Last but not least an individual is expected to make a glossary of web and internet.
When using Internet resources for research work, one should always open a new tab when searching for a different article. This is important because it makes it easier for the referencing work and also helps in avoidance of repetition of facts in the essay. An individual is expected to look for the bibliography of the research topic in order to obtain the reference list that will also be used in citation of the in-text (Stolley par. 7).
Works Cited
Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli. “MLA Formatting and Style
Guide.” The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 4 Apr. 2010. Web.
Stolley, Karl. “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” The OWL at Purdue. 10 May 2006. Purdue University Writing Lab. 28 January 2011.
UC Berkley-Teaching Library Internet Workshops. Tutorial Table of Contents, 2005. Web.