To format a block quote in MLA:
Then continue your text on a new line (not indented).
In an APA reference list, journal article citations include only the year of publication, not the exact date, month, or season.
The inclusion of volume and issue numbers makes a more specific date unnecessary.
Interviews you conducted yourself are not included in your reference list, but instead cited in the text as personal communications.
Published or recorded interviews are included in the reference list. Cite them in the usual format of the source type (for example, a newspaper article, website or YouTube video).
In APA Style, all sources that are not retrievable for the reader are cited as personal communications. In other words, if your source is private or inaccessible to the audience of your paper, it’s a personal communication.
Common examples include conversations, emails, messages, letters, and unrecorded interviews or performances.
Both present the exact same information – the only difference is the placement of the year in source citations:
There are also other types of bibliography that work as stand-alone texts, such as an annotated bibliography.
Chicago format doesn’t require you to use any specific font, as long as you choose something readable. A good standard choice is 12 pt Times New Roman.
The best plagiarism checkers of 2019 are:
Each plagiarism checker in this list has been tested to assess how accurately it can detect similarities and to analyze what kind of databases (e.g. websites, scholarly articles, books) your document is compared with. Check out the test results.
In APA, MLA and Chicago Style, when the book’s chapters are written by different authors, you should cite the specific chapter you are referring to.
Single-author books should be cited as a whole, even if you only quote or paraphrase from one chapter.
APA style usually does not require an access date. You never need to include one when citing journal articles, e-books, or other stable online sources.
However, if you are citing a website or online article that’s likely to change over time, it’s a good idea to include an access date. In this case, place the month, day, and year directly after the word “Retrieved”, and before the URL.
The 6th edition of the APA manual requires you to include the publisher’s location when you cite from a print book. The city and state should be included for US-based publishers, the city and country for publishers anywhere else.
If you are following the 7th edition, just write the name of the publisher – no location information is required.
If you’re citing from an edition other than the first (e.g. a 2nd edition or revised edition), the edition is abbreviated in parentheses after the book’s title (e.g. 2nd ed. or rev. ed.).
A statement of purpose is usually more formal, focusing on your academic or professional goals. It shouldn’t include anything that isn’t directly relevant to the application.
A personal statement can often be more creative. It might tell a story that isn’t directly related to the application, but that shows something about your personality, values, and motivations.
However, both types of document have the same overall goal: to demonstrate your potential as a graduate student and show why you’re a great match for the program.
The typical length of a personal statement for graduate school applications is between 500 and 1,000 words.
Different programs have different requirements, so always check if there’s a minimum or maximum length and stick to the guidelines. If there is no recommended word count, aim for no more than 1-2 pages.
If you’re applying to multiple graduate school programs, you should tailor your personal statement to each application.
Some applications provide a prompt or question. In this case, you might have to write a new personal statement from scratch: the most important task is to respond to what you have been asked.
If there’s no prompt or guidelines, you can re-use the same idea for your personal statement – but change the details wherever relevant, making sure to emphasize why you’re applying to this specific program.
If the application also includes other essays, such as a statement of purpose, you might have to revise your personal statement to avoid repeating the same information.
The American Psychological Association anticipates that most people will start using the 7th edition in the spring of 2020 or thereafter.
It’s best to ask your supervisor or check the website of the journal you want to publish in to see which APA guidelines you should follow.
The 7th edition APA Manual, published in October 2019, is the most current edition. However, the 6th edition, published in 2009, is still used by many universities and journals.
Experimental design means planning a set of procedures to investigate a relationship between variables. To design a controlled experiment, you need:
When designing the experiment, you decide:
Experimental design is essential to the internal and external validity of your experiment.
Depending on the number of authors a source has, an APA in-text citation is shortened using “et al.” (meaning “and others”). In this case you only include the first author’s name followed by “et al.”.
Sources with 3-5 authors are written in full the first time and shortened from the second citation onwards. Sources with 6+ authors are always shortened, even the first time.
Always include page numbers in the APA in-text citation when quoting a source. Don’t include page numbers when referring to a work as a whole – for example, an entire book or journal article.
When citing an entire website or online article in APA Style, the in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and year of publication. For example: (Worland & Williams, 2015).
Note that the author can also be an organization. For example: (American Psychological Association, 2019).
Since web pages don’t have page numbers, you don’t include a locator in the in-text citation.
MLA recommends using 12 point Times New Roman since it’s easy to read and installed on every computer. Other standard fonts such as Arial or Georgia are also acceptable. If in doubt, check with your supervisor which font you should be using.
If you’re not familiar with the MLA Style citation guidelines it’s best to use the Scribbr MLA Citation Generator. An MLA citation can be automatically generated with just a URL, DOI or ISBN. It’s simple, fast and accurate.
The MLA Handbook, published in 2016, is currently in its 8th edition. This article on MLA format follows the latest guidelines in this style guide.
There are many different routes to becoming a professional proofreader or editor. The necessary qualifications depend on the field – to be an academic or scientific proofreader, for example, you will need at least a university degree in a relevant subject.
For most proofreading jobs, experience and demonstrated skills are more important than specific qualifications. Often your skills will be tested as part of the application process.
To learn practical proofreading skills, you can choose to take a course with a professional organization such as the Society for Editors and Proofreaders. Alternatively, you can apply to companies that offer specialized on-the-job training programmes, such as the Scribbr Academy.
The cost of proofreading depends on the type and length of text, the turnaround time, and the level of services required. Most proofreading companies charge per word or page, while freelancers sometimes charge an hourly rate.
For proofreading alone, which involves only basic corrections of typos and formatting mistakes, you might pay as little as $0.01 per word, but in many cases, your text will also require some level of editing, which costs slightly more.
It’s often possible to purchase combined proofreading and editing services and calculate the price in advance based on your requirements.
Editing and proofreading are different steps in the process of revising a text.
Editing comes first, and can involve major changes to content, structure and language. The first stages of editing are often done by authors themselves, while a professional editor makes the final improvements to grammar and style (for example, by improving sentence structure and word choice).
Proofreading is the final stage of checking a text before it is published or shared. It focuses on correcting minor errors and inconsistencies (for example, in punctuation and capitalization). Proofreaders often also check for formatting issues, especially in print publishing.
Whether you’re publishing a blog, submitting a research paper, or even just writing an important email, there are a few techniques you can use to make sure it’s error-free:
If you want to be confident that an important text is error-free, it might be worth choosing a professional proofreading service instead.
Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys, and statistical tests).
Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project. It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.
In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section.
In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation, you will probably include a methodology section, where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.
Common examples of primary sources include interview transcripts, photographs, novels, paintings, films, historical documents, and official statistics.
Anything you directly analyze or use as first-hand evidence can be a primary source, including qualitative or quantitative data that you collected yourself.
Common examples of secondary sources include academic books, journal articles, reviews, essays, and textbooks.
Anything that summarizes, evaluates or interprets primary sources can be a secondary source. If a source gives you an overview of background information or presents another researcher’s ideas on your topic, it is probably a secondary source.
In a scientific paper, the methodology always comes after the introduction and before the results, discussion and conclusion. The same basic structure also applies to a thesis, dissertation, or research proposal.
Depending on the length and type of document, you might also include a literature review or theoretical framework before the methodology.
To determine if a source is primary or secondary, ask yourself:
Some types of source are nearly always primary: works of art and literature, raw statistical data, official documents and records, and personal communications (e.g. letters, interviews). If you use one of these in your research, it is probably a primary source.
Always make sure to properly cite your sources to avoid plagiarism.
Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.
Quantitative methods generally require a larger sample size, allowing you to test a hypothesis by systematically collecting and analyzing data.
Qualitative methods are often more flexible, allowing you to explore ideas, concepts, and experiences in depth. However, they can’t be used to make statistical generalizations about large groups.
A fictional movie is usually a primary source. A documentary can be either primary or secondary depending on the context.
If you are directly analyzing some aspect of the movie itself – for example, the cinematography, narrative techniques, or social context – the movie is a primary source.
If you use the movie for background information or analysis about your topic – for example, to learn about a historical event or a scientific discovery – the movie is a secondary source.
Whether it’s primary or secondary, always properly cite the movie in the citation style you are using. Learn how to create an MLA movie citation or an APA movie citation.
Articles in newspapers and magazines can be primary or secondary depending on the focus of your research.
In historical studies, old articles are used as primary sources that give direct evidence about the time period. In social and communication studies, articles are used as primary sources to analyze language and social relations (for example, by conducting content analysis or discourse analysis).
If you are not analyzing the article itself, but only using it for background information or facts about your topic, then the article is a secondary source.
A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population. Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.
Statistical sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population. There are various sampling methods you can use to ensure that your sample is representative of the population as a whole.
Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something:
If you are doing experimental research, you also have to consider the internal and external validity of your experiment.
Internal validity is the degree of confidence that the causal relationship you are testing is not influenced by other factors or variables.
External validity is the extent to which your results can be generalized to other contexts.
The validity of your experiment depends on your experimental design.
Yes, page numbers are included on all pages, including the title page, table of contents and reference page. To insert page numbers in Microsoft Word, click ‘Insert’ and then ‘Page number’.
Page numbers should be right aligned in the header (top of the page). Don’t forget to set the font to Times New Roman, size 12.
APA is a publication manual widely used by professionals, researchers and students in the fields of education, psychology, business and behavioral and social sciences.
Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in before applying APA format.
There are many guidelines and exceptions when citing sources in APA format. The easiest and most effective way of citing in APA format is by using Scribbr’s free APA Citation Generator. This is how it works:
The easiest way to set up APA format in Word is to download Scribbr’s APA format Word template. This will make sure that:
In addition, you’ll have an easy-to-follow structure with examples and useful links to more information.
To quote poetry in MLA style, introduce the quote and use quotation marks as you would for any other source quotation.
If the quote includes line breaks, mark these using a forward slash with a space on either side. Use two slashes to indicate a stanza break.
If the quote is longer than three lines, set them off from the main text as an MLA block quote. Reproduce the line breaks, punctuation and formatting of the original.
The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends the use of Times New Roman, size 12.
The same font and font size is used for the throughout the whole document, including the running head, page numbers, headings and the reference page.
Only use line numbers in an MLA in-text citation if the lines are numbered in the original source. If so, write “lines” in the first citation of the poem, and only the numbers in subsequent citations.
If there are no line numbers in the source, you can use page numbers instead. If the poem appears on only one page of a book (or on a website), don’t include a number in the citation.
Page numbers should be included in your Chicago in-text citations when:
When you’re referring to the overall argument or general content of a source, it’s unnecessary to include page numbers.
In the list of Works Cited, start with the poet’s name and the poem’s title in quotation marks. The rest of the citation depends on where the poem was published.
If you read the poem in a book or anthology, follow the format of an MLA book chapter citation. If you accessed the poem online, follow the format of an MLA website citation.
An MLA in-text citation should always include the author’s last name, either in the introductory text or in parentheses after a quote.
If line numbers or page numbers are included in the original source, add these to the citation.
If you are discussing multiple poems by the same author, make sure to also mention the title of the poem (shortened if necessary). The title goes in quotation marks.
When a source has four or more authors, your in-text citation or footnote should give only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”). This makes your citations more concise.
In your bibliography or reference list, when a source has more than 10 authors, list the first seven followed by “et al.”
If your text includes a Chicago style bibliography, you only ever need to use short notes. Each short note must correspond to a bibliography entry.
If you do not include a bibliography, your first citation of each source should be a full note, while all subsequent citations should be short notes.
In Chicago author-date style, your text must include a reference list. It appears at the end of your paper and gives full details of every source you cited.
In notes and bibliography style, you use Chicago style footnotes to cite sources; a bibliography is optional but recommended. If you don’t include one, be sure to use a full note for the first citation of each source.
Footnotes appear at the bottom of the relevant page. Endnotes appear in a list at the end of the text, just before the bibliography.
Chicago note citations follow the exact same format whether they appear in footnotes or endnotes.
In MLA style, if you quote more than four lines from a source, use MLA block quote formatting.
If you are quoting poetry, use block quote formatting for any quote longer than three lines.
Turabian style is a version of Chicago style designed specifically for students and researchers. It follows most Chicago conventions, but also adds extra guidelines for formatting research papers, theses and dissertations.
More information can be found in A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian, now in its ninth edition.
In your reference list entry for a journal article or other online source, APA currently recommends writing the full DOI address that gives access to the article. For example:
https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126
The old guidelines were to present DOIs by writing “doi:” followed by the numerical string. For example:
doi:10.1037/rev0000126
If you’re following the 6th edition, this format is still accepted, as long as it’s used consistently.
Scribbr is specialized in editing study related documents. We check:
At Scribbr, we are committed to protecting your personal information. That’s why our employees and editors follow specific guidelines to ensure the confidentiality of your work:
Both the original and edited versions of your document are saved on our secure server for 12 months. After this period, the files are automatically deleted. However, you can manually delete your files at any time via your user profile.
Tip: If you still have concerns about confidential information in your document, you can take additional measures to anonymize this data. We advise you to do the following:
As a policy, we do not sign NDAs. Every NDA is complex and unique, and our legal team does not have the capacity to review each individual contract we receive.
However, we take extensive measures to protect the confidentiality of your documents. You can learn more about how we handle confidential information on our privacy policy page.
Yes, our editors also work during the weekends and holidays.
Because we have many editors available, we can check your thesis 24 hours per day and 7 days per week, all year round.
If you choose a 72 hour deadline and upload your thesis on a Thursday evening, you’ll have your thesis back by Sunday evening!
