In professional and scholarly pursuits, professors and practitioners within their respective disciplines often deduct points – credibility, even – if written information presented them is not organized according to the clear standards of a designated style. Although professors in academic fields often indicate to their pupils which style is expected, anyone writing for academic or professional purposes is well advised to have clarity on this matter before submitting written contributions.
Style encompasses guidelines for all written content – including (but not limited to) format, tone, grammar, punctuation and documentation. Three commonly proscribed styles in American academia are MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association) and Chicago (University of Chicago Press).
MLA (Modern Language Association)
The style of choice for most humanities studies, especially language and literature, MLA is distinguished by its concise means of documentation. www.mla.org. Because literature exists in a time continuum and psychological and scientific research is a product of the age, the technology and other information, this difference is important.
APA (American Psychological Association)
A common template for scientific writing that has been adjusted slightly from other styles to serve the sciences and social sciences. Keynote features of APA are their means of documentation and use of an abstract in the beginning of an article which gives an overview of the research presented. www.apastyle.org
The Chicago Manual of Style
For editorial and journalistic writing, The Chicago Manual of Style provides the commonplace reference. Chicago is also used as a guide for referencing academic work within published work and can be used as a reference for web publishing and citing. www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
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