How to cite sources in an essay? MLA vs APA is confusing

[MileyCross]

I have my first college paper due and I have to cite sources. In high school, we just put the website link at the end. My professor laughed when I did that. Apparently that's not correct.

Now I'm trying to figure out MLA and APA and my brain hurts. Here's what I've learned:

MLA (used in English/humanities):

• In-text citation: (Author Page Number) like (Smith 24)
• Works Cited page at the end
• Author last name, first name. "Article Title." Journal Name, vol. number, year, pages.

APA (used in psychology/education/sciences):

• In-text citation: (Author, Year) like (Smith, 2020)
• References page at the end
• Author last name, first initial. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, volume(issue), pages.

The tools that saved me:

• Zotero (free, collects citations as I browse)
• EasyBib (generates citations but double-check them)
• Purdue OWL (shows examples for every format)

What I do now:
When I find a source I save it immediately with Zotero. When I quote something, I write (Author, Year, p. Page) right away so I don't forget. Before submitting, I check every citation against Purdue OWL.

My first paper got a B+ and my TA wrote "good citations"! Progress!

 

[PatriciaW]

The "save it immediately" advice is the most important thing nobody tells you. I cannot count how many times I've found a perfect quote at 2am, copied it into my document, and then spent HOURS later trying to find where it came from. Now I use Zotero's browser extension — one click and it's saved with all the metadata. Game changer.

Also congrats on the B+ and the TA compliment! That "good citations" comment means they didn't even have to think about your formatting, which means they could focus on your actual argument.