MLA v.s APA for Research Methodology e-learning

Read the following table and learn the differences and similarities. Discuss the topic with your friends.

Once you start college and are given your first writing assignments, you may find that it’s not enough to write well. You must also format your papers using a documentation style. MLA and APA are two of the most common styles in academia. How are these documentation styles different, and where will you encounter each one?

APA format is preferred by the American Psychological Association and is typically used in behavioral and social sciences such as psychology, sociology, history, and communication. It’s also used in business courses.

MLA is the style preferred by the Modern Language Association, and it is used most often in the humanities, including literature, art, and theatre. At universities where the administration has decided to adopt just one documentation style across all courses, APA is often the style of choice because it is an effective style for multiple areas of academic study. Many online colleges and universities require students to use APA documentation style.

The good news is that APA and MLA share a number of similarities. An appropriate format for both styles is: double-spaced, with the font Times New Roman sized at 12 points, and one-inch margins all around.

A major focus for both styles is to ensure that your sources -- whether a book you quote from directly or a journal article from which you take an idea -- are clearly credited. In both styles, citing your sources involves two parts. First, you add a citation in parentheses where you use the quote or idea in the body of your text. Second, add a list of references at the end of the document.

There are, of course, some major differences between the two styles, which reflect their different origins.

Since MLA was created for citing books, anthologies, and literary works, where author name and location in the work is important, it requires the author’s last name and the page number in parenthetical citation. Since APA style was created primarily for scientific writing where recent sources are very important, it requires the author’s last name and the publication year, with only a page number if citing a direct quote. The table at the top of this article* outlines some major differences between APA and MLA styles and provides examples of each.

* Different universities may have different requirements.

Written by Anna Lustig and Christina Ganim

Paper Writing E-Learning

Read the following theory and do the Tasks.

CREATIVE PROCESS OF WRITING

A Sign of Human Civilization

Writing is a sign of human civilization (Claiborne, 1990). It makes details of human civilization possible to reconstruct. Writing was invented in order to record activities. People needed tracks and records or various things. It was impossible to rely on a man’s memory for every detail. Writing was a method to keep reliable records. The origin of writing developed through ancient civilization over periods of time where the need for writing evolved.

c.100,000-40,000 B.C.     Modern man evolves physiological capability of speech.

c.30,000 B.C.                  Primitive cave paintings appear in Europe.

c.20,000-6500 B.C.         Notches on animal bones, a forerunner of writing in Africa and elsewhere, indicate beginnings of record keeping.

c.3500-3000 B.C.            Earliest known pictograph writing appears in Sumer.

c.3000 B.C.                    Egyptians use hieroglyphic writing.

c.2800-2600 B.C.            The Sumerian writing system becomes cuneiform.

c.2500 B.C.                    Cuneiform begins to spread throughout the Near East.

c.2300 B.C.                    Indus Valley people use pictorial symbols .

c.2000 B.C.                    Sequential pictographic inscriptions, considered a true system of writing, appear on clay tablets in Crete.

c.1500 B.C.                    Hittites invent their own form of hieroglyphic writing; Chinese develop ideographs.

c.1400 B.C.                    People in the trading port of Ugarit devise an alphabet.

c.1100-900 B.C.              Phoenicians spread precursor of modern alphabet across the sea to Greece.

c.800 B.C.                      Greeks develop concept of modern alphabet, with vowels.

Not-Writing Community

Long periods of war throughout the country discouraged people to write. To survive was the top priority for the people for centuries. Therefore, they had no need for writing. This condition was internalized and shaped the culture of the community. Javanese community, as an example, has stronger oral tradition than written. (See Suwardi Endraswara, 2005) This culture is the first reason for people not to write.

Technical Constraint

Modern linguists define writing as a system of human communication by means of conventional signs that represent language. The sign must be capable of being sent and received, mutually understood, and they must correspond to spoken words. This means that technically writing has more prototypical complicated mechanism compared with oral expression. This is the second reason for people not to write.

The Nature of Writing

Based on various definitions on writing, it can be simply summarized that writing is mainly sharing information. The key word for this is on the word ‘sharing’. For someone to share it means to posses first. People can share something if and only if they have the thing to share. We cannot share ice creams if we do not have the ice creams. We cannot share money if we do not have the money to share. This is one of the reasons for people not to write.

Creative Process of Writing

Creative process of writing proceeds through a natural mechanism. This mechanism is labeled ‘natural’ since it happens naturally to everyone who wants to write. People who want to write will undergo this mechanism automatically:

1.     Step One: Formulating information.

2.     Step Two: Proposing Questions.

3.     Step Three: Listing Possible Questions.

4.     Step Four: Composing the writing.

Step One: Formulating information

What happens in mind when people are going to start writing? To be more precise, what question do people have when they are about to start writing? Normal people will start from this general question: ‘What am I going to write?’ And, what is the possible answer for the question? It can be love, friends, pets, watching TV, etc. It is natural that all answers of the question will be a noun phrase. People usually call this noun phrase a topic.

After having a topic for their writing, what do you think they will do? People will immediately start writing after that. This is the third reason for people not to write. This is due to the nature of writing. Writing is simply sharing information. People are able to share information if they have the information first. And, a topic is not yet information. It is obvious that people will get stuck to write when they only have a topic. This is what usually happens to people in general when they start writing.

This point is the most crucial one since the natural mechanism turns out to be contradictory with the nature of writing. The natural mechanism triggers a noun phrase to occur whereas the nature of writing requires information i.e. a sentence. This is why people need to do Step One. Instead of a topic which is always a noun phrase, people should first develop the topic into a sentence. This sentence is what people call a topic sentence or the main story of the writing. When people have got a sentence it means that they have got information to share.

Step Two: Proposing questions.

Based on the nature of writing that is sharing information, a writer needs to share information that the readers want to get. Sharing information will fail when none shares the information since sharing means mutually understanding. It is thus important to know what the readers really want.

To know what the readers really want to get is simple that is by asking questions. Asking questions is the natural mechanism of our brain to search for detail information. Let see what happens to us when we get information like ‘SBY is sick’. What will we do to it? Automatically, we then propose questions like ‘Is he really?’, ‘What does he suffer from?’ ‘When did it happen?’ ‘Is he hospitalized?’ etc. This mechanism is actually for the sake of clarity as a survival tactic of the people. The frequently asked questions commonly deal with who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.

Step Three: Listing possible answers.

Based on the questions that the writer has in mind, he will know what questions the readers have in their mind. It is due to the fact that normal people will have similar mechanism towards certain information they get. From the questions, the next step the writer needs to proceed is providing possible answer to the questions. The writer needs to do brainstorming and listing the possible answers on a piece of paper. It is worth nothing that the lists should be in the forms of complete sentences. This is important since the sentences in the list will be the main material for the writer to compose the writing.

Step Four: Composing the writing.

To compose writing, people should follow the writing format consisting of three parts: introduction, content and closing. In the introduction, people should write general statements i.e. sentences build from one of the two elements of T.S. ended with paraphrased problems.

In the contents, people write the answers of the questions they have in Step 2. The answers to who, what, when, and where may form a descriptive writing, the answers to why  and how maight be a agumentative one. In principle, the more questions people explore, the better.

In the closing, people are supposed to write the main story (rewritten TS), hopes, and suggestions.

Refferences:

Paltridge, Brian & Sue Starfield, (2007), Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language, Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX 14 RN

Stevensson, Voctor, (1983), Words, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc., 135 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10020

Stuttard, Marie, (1994), The Power of Speech, David batemean Ltd., 32-34 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland, New Zealand.

A. Task One. Write a comprehensive writing based on the following tips.

The following tips helped improve spoken English.

1.     Don’t worry about making mistakes because you will make mistakes as a learner.

2.     Be patient. This isn’t a one day process.

3.     Learn certain phrases that can be used in multiple situations.

4.     Learn how to greet someone properly.

5.     Talk slowly and carefully. Don’t rush through your sentences.

6.     Restrict yourself to simple sentences until you gain confidence.

7.     Watch out for your pronunciation. Many online tools will tell you how to pronounce a word correctly. Check one of them out when you’re in doubt.

8.     Carefully observe how proficient speakers of the language pronounce words and frame their sentences.

9.     Ask your friends, relatives and anyone you can to point out your mistakes and correct them.

10.  Speak to them in English only. Practice is a must.

11.  Record yourself reading one article aloud every day. Focus on pronunciation, speed, clarity and emphasis.

12.  Many online sites offer you the opportunity to voice chat with another user. This is an effective way to practice.

13.  Learn at least one new word every day and use it as a part of your conversation with people. By the end of the week, you should know seven words really well.

14.  Learn new words everyday

15.  Read at least one article of your choice aloud every day.

16.  Watch English movies with subtitles.

17.  Watch English shows.

18.  Read books and magazines.

19.  Keep a pocket dictionary handy for any word you may need to know the meaning of.

20.  When you hear a new word, try to find its usage and its antonyms.

B. Submit your writing at least on Wednesday 16 October 2019.