APA vs MLA vs Harvard: Which Citation Style to Use

Published June 20, 2026 | Last updated October 27, 2026

APA vs MLA vs Harvard is a choice you rarely make alone. A citation style is a set of rules for two things: how you mark a source inside your text, and how you list it at the end. The three most common styles solve this in different ways. APA puts the author and year in the text, MLA puts the author and page, and Harvard has no single rulebook at all, because each university publishes its own version^[15]. This guide helps you pick the right style with four questions, then shows you how to format each one with examples taken from the official guides.

In Simple Words

First ask who will read your work. If an instructor, journal or university names a style, use that one and follow its own guide. If nobody does, APA is the usual choice in psychology, nursing, business and the social sciences, MLA in language and literature, and Harvard where your university publishes a Harvard guide. Whatever you pick, use it the same way from the first citation to the last.

Which citation style should you use: APA, MLA or Harvard?

The first question settles most cases. Instructors, journals and universities set the style, so their rule beats any general habit in your field. Figure 1 turns the choice into four questions.

Decision flowchart for choosing a citation style. Question 1: has your instructor, journal or university named a style? Yes: use that style and follow its own guide. No: is your field psychology, nursing, business, communications or another social or behavioural science? Yes: APA 7th edition. No: is your field language, literature or another humanities subject? Yes: MLA 9th edition. No: does your university publish its own Harvard guide? Yes: follow that guide. No: ask your supervisor, then choose one style and apply it consistently. — **Figure 1.** Which citation style do you need? Drawn in R by Editverse from the official APA and MLA pages and two university Harvard guides^[10]^[14]^[15]^[16].

The fields in the flowchart come from the style owners themselves. The APA says its Publication Manual serves researchers, students and educators across the social and behavioural sciences, and lists psychology, nursing, business, communications and engineering^[10]. The MLA describes itself as an organization representing language and literature researchers and teachers, and its MLA Handbook is now in its ninth edition^[14]. Harvard is different: the University of Glasgow guide states that there is no official source document for Harvard style^[15].

Table 1. The three styles at a glance.

Style	Who sets the rules	Current guide	In the text	Where it is common
APA	American Psychological Association	Publication Manual, 7th edition^[10]	Author and year, for example (Luna, 2020)^[3]	Psychology, nursing, business, communications, engineering and related fields^[10]
MLA	Modern Language Association	MLA Handbook, ninth edition^[14]	Author and page, for example (Baron 194)^[11]	Language and literature^[14]
Harvard	No single owner. Each university publishes its own guide^[15]	Varies by university. Check your course handbook^[15]	Author and year, for example (Cormack, 1994)^[16]	Wherever your university publishes a Harvard guide^[15]^[16]

Citations are the last step of a good review. Our guide on how to write a literature review shows how to build a synthesis matrix, and every row of that matrix becomes one entry in your reference list. If your target journal uses a numbered style such as Vancouver, AMA or IEEE, or Chicago, follow its author guidelines instead.

APA vs MLA vs Harvard side by side

All three styles credit the source twice: once in the text and once in a list at the end. Every in-text citation must lead the reader to one entry in that list. What differs is the detail. Table 2 compares the same source cited in the text, using a page number for a direct quotation.

Table 2. The same page cited in the text, by style. Format patterns are from the official APA and MLA pages and the Glasgow and Anglia Ruskin Harvard guides^[3]^[4]^[11]^[15]^[16].

Style	Page in the text	Narrative form	Three or more authors
APA	(Luna, 2020, p. 45)	Luna (2020) says that…	Only the first author plus et al., every time, even on first use^[3]
MLA	(Baron 194), with no comma and no year^[11]	If the author is in your sentence, the brackets hold only the page: (194)^[11]	Uses et al. in parenthetical citations and works-cited entries. The exact rules are in the MLA Handbook, sections 6.3 to 6.30^[11]
Harvard (Glasgow guide)	(Misra, 2019, p.2)^[15]	Misra (2019, p.2) notes that…^[15]	Three or more authors: first author plus et al.^[15]
Harvard (Anglia Ruskin guide)	(Cormack, 1994, p.32)^[16]	Cormack (1994, p.32)…	Four or more authors: first author plus et al.^[16]

Look at the last two rows. Both are called Harvard, yet one switches to “et al.” at three authors and the other at four. That is why Harvard needs a named guide: your marker will check against your university’s version, not against a general idea of Harvard.

Now the reference list. Table 3 shows one journal article, a 2013 paper by Naomi Baron in PMLA, set in each style. The MLA entry is exactly the example printed on the MLA Style Center^[11]. The APA and Harvard entries were built by Editverse from the templates on the APA and university pages, so check them against your own guide before you copy the pattern^[7]^[15]^[16].

Table 3. One journal article in each style (the Baron example).

Style	Reference list entry
APA 7	Baron, N. S. (2013). Redefining reading: The impact of digital communication media. PMLA, 128(1), 193–200. (Add the DOI as a link if the article has one.)
MLA 9	Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200.
Harvard (Glasgow guide)	Baron, N. 2013. Redefining reading: the impact of digital communication media. PMLA. 128(1), pp.193–200.
Harvard (Anglia Ruskin guide)	Baron, N., 2013. Redefining reading: the impact of digital communication media. PMLA, 128(1), pp.193–200.

Notice what moves. APA puts the year in brackets straight after the author and uses sentence case for the title. MLA puts the date later in the entry and labels the volume and issue as vol. and no.. The two Harvard guides differ on the full stop or comma after the author, and on bold for the volume.

How to format APA, 7th edition

APA is built on one idea: every work has two parts, an in-text citation and a matching reference list entry^[3]. The reference list entry has four elements: the author, the date, the title and the source^[6].

APA in-text citations

Use the author-date system. For one or two authors, name them every time. For three or more, give only the first author plus “et al.” in every citation, including the first^[3]. In a parenthetical citation use an ampersand between two authors. In a narrative citation always write “and”^[3].

Table 4. APA in-text patterns^[3].

Authors	Parenthetical	Narrative
One	(Luna, 2020)	Luna (2020)
Two	(Salas & D’Agostino, 2020)	Salas and D’Agostino (2020)
Three or more	(Martin et al., 2020)	Martin et al. (2020)

For a direct quotation, always give a full citation that includes the page number, or another location such as a paragraph number when there are no pages^[4]. A quotation of 40 words or more becomes a block quotation: start it on a new line, indent the whole block 0.5 inch from the left margin, leave out the quotation marks, and do not add a period after the closing bracket^[4].

APA reference list

Put the label References at the top of a new page, bold and centred. Do not call it Works Cited, Bibliography or Reference List^[5].
Alphabetise by the first word of each entry, usually the first author’s surname. A work with no author is filed by its title^[5].
Apply a 0.5 inch hanging indent to the whole list and double-space it, with no extra space between entries^[5].
Check both ways: every in-text citation needs an entry, and every entry needs at least one citation in the text^[5].

APA reference examples

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185 (journal article)^[7]

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books. (book)^[8]

World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. (webpage with an organisation as author; the page URL follows)^[9]

APA paper format: what changed in the 7th edition

Older guides still repeat two rules that APA 7 no longer requires. Fonts: you are not limited to Times New Roman. APA accepts sans serif fonts such as 12-point Aptos, 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode, and serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia or 10-point Computer Modern. Your word processor’s default font is also acceptable. Use one font throughout, with exceptions for figure text, code and footnotes^[1]. Running head: student papers do not include one unless the instructor or institution asks. Professional papers carry the running head in capitals in the page header on every page, including the title page, and number the title page 1 in the top-right corner^[2].

How to format MLA, 9th edition

MLA keeps the in-text citation as short as possible. It begins with whatever comes first in the works-cited entry, the author’s name or the title, and adds the page or other location marker when you quote or paraphrase a specific part of a work^[11].

MLA in-text examples from the MLA Style Center^[11]

Parenthetical, author and page: Reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (Baron 194).

Author named in your sentence, so only the page: According to Naomi Baron, reading is “just half of literacy. The other half is writing” (194).

Avoid naming the author in both the sentence and the brackets: that is marked as incorrect.

MLA works-cited entries: nine core elements

Each entry is assembled from the MLA core elements in a fixed order^[12]. The first two stand alone. The rest sit in a container, which is the larger whole that holds your source: a short story is the source and the anthology is the container^[12].

Table 5. MLA core elements in order, as shown on the MLA Style Center^[12].

No.	Element	Closing punctuation
1	Author	Full stop
2	Title of source	Full stop
3	Title of container	Comma
4	Contributor	Comma
5	Version	Comma
6	Number	Comma
7	Publisher	Comma
8	Publication date	Comma
9	Location	Full stop

MLA works-cited examples

Baron, Naomi S. “Redefining Reading: The Impact of Digital Communication Media.” PMLA, vol. 128, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 193–200. (journal article)^[11]

Goldman, Anne. “Questions of Transport: Reading Primo Levi Reading Dante.” The Georgia Review, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2010, pp. 69-88. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188. (journal article read in a database: the database is a second container)^[13]

Academic Freedom and Tenure: University System of Georgia. American Association of University Professors, 2021. (organisation as both author and publisher, so the author slot is left empty)^[17]

For an online work, list the author, the title of the work, the title of the website as the container, and the publication details^[13]. The free MLA pages do not set out margins, fonts or spacing for the paper itself. The MLA Style Center points to its formatting chapter on MLA Handbook Plus for that^[18], so take layout rules from the Handbook or from your instructor.

How to format Harvard: why there is no single Harvard

Harvard is a family of author-date styles. The University of Glasgow guide says there is no official source document, that there are different types of Harvard referencing, and that some subjects use a house-style variation set in the course handbook, so students should check their course page for the type required^[15]. The Anglia Ruskin guide adds that some variation in presentation is acceptable if you use it consistently^[16]. Table 6 shows the same pattern in two real guides.

Table 6. Two Harvard guides, compared^[15]^[16].

Rule	University of Glasgow (Leeds Harvard)	Anglia Ruskin University
In the text	(Misra, 2019, p.2)	(Cormack, 1994, p.32)
Several sources at once	One set of brackets, in date order, separated by semicolons	Chronological order, earliest first, separated by semicolons
Et al.	Three or more authors	Four or more authors; two or three authors are all named, with “and” before the last
Journal article	Woolf, A. 2017. On the nature of the Picts. The Scottish Historical Review. 96(2), pp.214–17.	Boughton, J.M., 2002. The Bretton Woods proposal: a brief look. Political Science Quarterly, 42(6), p.564.
Book	Clemens, R. and Graham, T. 2008. An introduction to manuscript studies. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.	Baron, D.P., 2008. Business and the organisation. Chester: Pearson.

The practical rule is simple. Find the Harvard guide your university or department names, follow its examples exactly, and ask your supervisor if the course handbook is silent. Do not mix examples from two different guides in one document.

Seven citation mistakes that cost marks

Table 7. Common slips and the fix, each tied to an official rule.

Mistake	Fix
Using old APA rules: Times New Roman only, or a running head on a student paper	APA 7 allows several fonts, and student papers have no running head unless requested^[1]^[2]
Writing “&” in an APA narrative citation	Always spell out “and” in narrative citations: Salas and D’Agostino (2020)^[3]
Naming the author in the sentence and again in MLA brackets	Give only the page when the author is in your sentence: (194)^[11]
Treating Harvard as one style	Follow the Harvard guide your university names, and check the course handbook^[15]
A reference list entry that is never cited in the text	Cross-check both ways: every citation has an entry and every entry has a citation^[5]
A direct quotation with no page or location	Add the page, or a paragraph number if there are no pages^[4]. MLA also asks for a location marker when the work has one^[11]
Mixing examples from two guides in one document	Pick one guide and apply it consistently from start to finish^[16]

Check before you submit

The style was named by your instructor, journal or university, or you chose it using the flowchart in Figure 1.
You are following the current edition: APA 7th or MLA ninth, or the named Harvard guide.
Every citation in the text matches one entry in the list, and every entry is cited.
Direct quotations carry a page or location marker.
The list has the right title and order: References for APA, works cited for MLA, and your guide’s rule for Harvard.
Hanging indents and spacing follow your style, and the fonts match its rules.
Author names, years, titles, volumes and DOIs agree between the text and the list.

Frequently asked questions

Which citation style should I use if nobody tells me?

Use the style that is standard in your field: APA for psychology, nursing, business and the social sciences, MLA for language and literature, and a named university Harvard guide where your institution publishes one^[10]^[14]^[15]. Then use it consistently.

Is Harvard the same as APA?

No. Both put the author and year in the text, but APA is one published standard, the Publication Manual, 7th edition, while Harvard has no official source document and varies by university^[10]^[15]. Small details also differ, such as the space in “p. 45” and the number of authors before et al.^[3]^[15]^[16].

How many authors go before et al. in APA?

Three or more. Give the first author’s name plus et al. in every citation, even the first one^[3].

Does APA 7 require Times New Roman and a running head?

No to both for student work. APA accepts several fonts, including Aptos, Calibri, Arial and Georgia, and student papers have no running head unless an instructor or institution requests it^[1]^[2].

What if my journal uses a numbered style such as Vancouver or AMA?

Follow the journal’s author guidelines. APA, MLA and Harvard are author-based styles, and a journal that asks for numbered citations overrides them. Our guide to handling and citing references covers the wider workflow.

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Conclusion

The right answer to APA vs MLA vs Harvard starts with the person who will mark or review your work. If they name a style, follow that guide to the letter. If they do not, choose by field: APA for the social and behavioural sciences, MLA for language and literature, and a named university guide for Harvard. Then check the details that change between guides, such as the form of the in-text citation, the point where et al. begins, and the title and order of the reference list. All sources were checked on 27 October 2026.

References

APA Style. Font. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/font. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Title page setup. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/title-page. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Author-date citation system. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/author-date. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Quotations. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Reference list. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/reference-list. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Reference elements and basic principles. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/basic-principles. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Journal article references. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/journal-article-references. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Book references. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. Webpage on a website references. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/webpage-website-references. Accessed 27 October 2026.
APA Style. About APA Style (7th edition Publication Manual). American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/about-apa-style. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Modern Language Association. In-text citations: an overview. MLA Style Center, 1 April 2021. https://style.mla.org/in-text-citations-overview/. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Modern Language Association. Works cited: a quick guide. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited/works-cited-a-quick-guide/. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Modern Language Association. How to cite an online work. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/works-cited/citations-by-format/online-works/. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Modern Language Association. About the MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/about-the-mla-style-center/. Accessed 27 October 2026.
University of Glasgow Library. Harvard referencing style (Leeds). https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/library/referencing/harvard/. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Anglia Ruskin University Library. Harvard referencing guide. https://library.aru.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Modern Language Association. A closer look at MLA style. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/closer-look-at-mla-style/. Accessed 27 October 2026.
Modern Language Association. Formatting papers. MLA Style Center. https://style.mla.org/formatting-papers/. Accessed 27 October 2026.