Listed below are some of the most common areas where paper writing styles may be employed and the rules for using four different methods: Turabian (5th edition; an adaptation of the Chicago Manual of Style [CMS]), MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association), and LSA (Linguistic Society of America).
| turabian 5th | mla | apa | lsa | |
| Page Numbering | firstpage:center bottom;following pages:center toporupper right. | upper right after last name [smith 7] | upper right under short title | upper right |
indent
paragraphs |
6 to 8 spaces | 5 spaces | 5 spaces | 6 spaces |
first
set of quotes |
double quotes | double quotes | double quotes | single quotes |
second set of quotes (quotes within a
quote) |
single quotes | single quotes | single quotes | double quotes |
ellipsis |
3 spaced dots, 4 after sentence | 3 spaced dots, 4 after sentence | 3 spaced dots, 4 after sentence | 3 unspaced dots, 3 after sentence |
type
of reference |
parenthetical: (author year, page). footnotes or endnotes: raised number in text. |
parenthetical: (author page). | parenthetical: (author, year, p. page). | parenthetical: (author year: page). |
bibliography
name |
selected bibliography, works cited, sources consulted | works cited, works consulted | references, bibliography | references |
bibliography
spacing |
single (double between entries) | double | double | double or single (double between entries) |
reverse indent (on the bibliography) |
5 spaces | 5 spaces | 3 spaces | 4 or 5 spaces |
order
of book entry |
parenthetical: author. year.title.city,
state: publish. footnotes: author.title.city, state:
publish, year. |
author.title.city, state: publish, year. | author. (year).title.city, state: publish. | author. year. title. city, state: publish. |
additional works (in bibliography
listings) |
8 underlines | 3 hyphens. | repeat name | 7 underlines |
co-author
name order |
first last | first last | last, initials | first last |
book
titles |
parenthetical:sentence style. footnotes:headline style. |
headline style. | sentence style. | sentence style. |
article
titles |
parenthetical: sentence style. footnotes: headline style. |
headline style. | sentence style | sentence style |
journal
titles |
headline style. | headline style. | headline style. | sentence style |
indention
on long quote |
4 left; 0 right | 10 left; 0 right | 5 left; 0 right | 4 left; 0 right |
spacing
of long quote |
single | double | double | double or single |