At the beginning of the trimester, I worked on a project that was different from the majority of the class. I spent some time learning about the APA writing format and how it is different from MLA format. Firstly, APA means American Psychological Association, which is a format designed specifically for psychology papers. Unlike MLA, APA papers are designed to summarize the findings or observations of a certain psychological study. Each page is organized to focus on a specific topic. The first page is called the title page, which includes the title of the essay, author, class name, and the date it was finished. APA titles are different from MLA papers because they don’t encourage creativity or wit, but aim for a summary of the entire essay. The second page is called an abstract, where the content of the essay is summarized so readers can get a good idea about what they are about to read. After the abstract, the actual essay begins on the very next page and the title is centered at the top of the page. Throughout the essay, each topic is separated by a bolded subheading that is aligned to the left. After the essay itself is completed, it is very necessary to include a reference page, which is also a requirement in the MLA format. Each author must be cited in alphabetical order and double spaced like the rest of the essay. All in all, i think that it was very important to learn about the APA format, considering that I will be entering into my first year of college next year. Considering that MLA is the only essay format that I have known until now, I would have been up for a rude awakening in any of my psychology classes. APA papers are extremely organized and provide a way for readers to quickly skim for basic ideas and understandings. While MLA focuses on answering a single prompt and adding creativity, APA make writers explain their topic from a few different perspectives. APA is direct and gets straight to the point of the paper, which will be very useful in the future.
An example of an APA paper is demonstrated in the file attached here.