There are many citation styles that we use to format documents. APA and Harvard are two of them. where APA stands for American Psychological Association and the most important style used to cite information. Both styles are used to acknowledge the sources that have been used in your assignments indirectly. Students mostly face problems in the proper use of citation styles especially, that of APA and Harvard - as there are many differences between them. You can also ask help from online essay writing services like “Essay Writer For Me” for further assistance.
A research paper or an assignment incorporates many sources and information from multiple sources that need acknowledgment in the text (in-text citation) or at the end (reference list). These citations have many advantages like:
· Avoidance from plagiarism
· Signpost for readers to find information
· Brings to originality
· Complements student’s research skills
Here are the fundamental differences between APA and Harvard formatting styles that require thorough familiarization and if you pay undivided heed to these rules then you will not have to avail of an essay writing service such as “EssayWriterForMe” rather you will be doing it for yourself.
APA Style formatting
In-text Citation
APA uses the last name of the online essay writer and publication year i.e. (Brown, 2021). In the case of direct quotations, the page number should also be included. For example Brown, 2021, p.17). However, if the source does not have a page number like e-books, newspapers, etc. then the paragraph number should be included i.e. (Brown, 2021, para. 23). If there are one or two authors then the citation will include both the names i.e. Roy and John, 2020. In the case of three, four, and five authors, in the first citation, the name of all the writers are mentioned i.e. Roy, John, Brown, and Palmer, 2020, and in subsequent text citations, the first author's name is used with et al. i.e. Roy et al. 2020. Whereas in the case of more than five authors, the first writer's name with et al is used i.e. Aeron et al., 202.
References
In reference, the last names of authors are alphabetically and the sequence is followed in this way:
· Name of the author
· Initial of the first name
· Publication date (in brackets)
· Page title
· Place of publication
· Publisher
Furthermore, the citation should be included at the end under the title 'References', center-aligned and doubled spaced. Names of books and newspapers should be italicized.
Harvard Citation format
It is also known as parenthetical references, mostly used in scientific studies.
In-text Citation
It uses the author's last name with date of publication and in case of the direct quote, the page number should also be mentioned i.e. (James 2021, P: 9).
References in Harvard Style
Similarly, it also follows alphabetical order of authors’ names along with:
· Name of essay writer
· Publication year
· Title
· Editor (if any)
· Publishers
· Place of publication
Moreover, citations are mentioned under the title ‘reference list. Make sure the year of publication is not mentioned in parenthesis and the page number is separated by a colon.
In addition, a few of the glaring difference between APA and Harvard Style are:
v Reference/Reference list: In APA style we use ‘Reference’ whereas in Harvard we use ‘Reference list’ as a title under which sources are cited.
v Citation page Number: In APA we follow (Year. page number). On the other hand in Harvard (year, page number)
v Edit Citation: in APA we write Ed(s)’ along with the author's last name and in Harvard style, we write 'edited by' after the name of the editor and subsequent title of work.
v Popular Areas: APA style is used in the United States and Harvard is mostly used in universities of Australia and the UK.
It has been observed that students struggle to implement these rules or at the time use these styles interchangeably. This task appears daunting for them and they hire essay writers instead of doing it by themselves. It is highly advisable to do it by yourself so that frequent exposure would make you fully understand these formatting styles.
