MLA vs APA: the real formatting differences (2026)

If your syllabus says "MLA" or "APA" and you are not sure what actually changes, you are not alone. The two styles share most of their page setup, so the differences that cost points are concentrated in a few specific places: the first page, the header, how you cite inside the text, and what the sources page is called. Here is the practical version, without the jargon.

The short answer

MLA 9th edition is used mostly in English, literature, languages, and the humanities. It has no title page, cites sources as (Author Page), and calls the sources list Works Cited.

APA 7th edition is used mostly in psychology, nursing, education, business, and the social sciences. It has a separate title page, cites sources as (Author, Year), and calls the sources list References.

Everything else, 1-inch margins, double spacing, a legible font, and hanging indents on the sources page, is essentially the same. That shared structure is why a paper can be moved from one style to the other in minutes: most of the layout does not change at all.

Which one do you use?

Use whichever your instructor or department requires. As a rough guide:

• MLA: English, comparative literature, foreign languages, philosophy, art, and other humanities courses.
• APA: psychology, nursing and health sciences, education, sociology, communications, and business.

Some Chicago- or Harvard-style courses exist too, but MLA and APA cover the large majority of undergraduate writing.

What is actually the same

Before the differences, it helps to know what you do not have to change. In both MLA 9 and APA 7 student papers:

• Margins are 1 inch on all four sides.
• The whole paper is double-spaced, including the sources list.
• You use one legible font throughout (Times New Roman 12 is the common default).
• The first line of each paragraph is indented 0.5 inches.
• The sources page uses a hanging indent: first line flush left, the rest indented 0.5 inches.
• Page numbers sit in the top-right corner.

So most "reformatting" between the two is not really formatting at all. The differences are focused.

What is different

Title page vs first-page heading

This is the most visible difference.

• MLA has no title page. On page 1, you put a heading block in the top-left, flush left and double-spaced: your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date (written day-month-year, like 15 July 2026). Below that, your title is centered in plain title case, no bold, italics, underline, or quotation marks. Then the body begins.
• APA uses a separate title page. The title appears bold and centered in the upper half, followed by your name, institution, course, instructor, and due date, each centered.

The header

• MLA: your last name and the page number appear in the top-right of every page, for example Smith 3.
• APA: student papers show only the page number in the top-right. There is no running head (that is a professional-paper feature in APA 7).

In-text citations

• MLA is author-page with no comma: (Smith 42). If you name the author in your sentence, you cite just the page: (42). There is no year in the parentheses.
• APA is author-date: (Smith, 2020), and you add a page number for direct quotes: (Smith, 2020, p. 14).

This is the difference graders catch fastest, because it appears on nearly every page.

Works Cited vs References

• MLA calls the list Works Cited. Entries follow MLA's core-elements order and are alphabetized by author's last name.
• APA calls it References, and entries are author-date: Author, A. A. (Year). Title.

Both are on a new page, centered title, double-spaced, with hanging indents. Titling the page wrong ("References" on an MLA paper, or "Works Cited" on an APA one) is a classic, avoidable slip.

Headings

• MLA prescribes no formal heading system. Short essays often use none; if a longer paper needs headings, you just keep them consistent.
• APA defines five heading levels with specific formatting for each, used in order.

A quick side-by-side

Element	MLA 9	APA 7 (student)
Common fields	English, humanities, languages	Psychology, nursing, education, business
Title page	None; first-page heading block	Separate title page
Header	Last name + page number	Page number only
In-text citation	(Smith 42)	(Smith, 2020)
Sources list	Works Cited	References
Headings	No fixed system	Five defined levels
Margins / spacing / font	1 in / double / legible	1 in / double / legible
Hanging indents	Yes	Yes

Moving a paper from one style to the other

Because the page setup is shared, switching styles is mostly a handful of edits: swap the title page for a first-page heading block (or the reverse), update the header, change your in-text citations between author-page and author-date, and rename and reorder the sources list. The margins, spacing, font, indents, and hanging indents usually stay exactly as they are.

Format either one without the busywork

The tedious part of both styles is the same: getting the structural formatting consistent across the whole document, margins, double spacing, the right header, first-line indents, and hanging indents on every sources entry. That is precisely what Veermat does. Upload your finished .docx and it applies the layout for the style you need, without changing a word of your writing or inventing any citations.

• Formatting an MLA paper? Use the free MLA format checker, or grab the printable MLA 9 checklist.
• Working in APA? Use the APA format checker, the printable APA 7 checklist, or read the full APA 7 formatting guide.

Whichever your course requires, get the words right first, then let the formatting be the quick part.