hi I’m Katie Doran smarthinking comm and today we’re learning how to write a better college paper in this next segment we’ll talk about a reference page footnotes and other formatting issues once you’ve completed your essay you’ll have to make sure that you focus on the citation style it’s important to properly cite and format the essay according to the citation style you’re using for this we’re only going to focus on MLA and APA though there are other citation styles students should make sure to check with the professor to see which one should be used in MLA one way to cite is with footnotes or with in-text citations with footnotes a lot of times will be a subscript number in the text and a citation at the end of the page with parenthetical citation there’s a full citation in the document and on a work cited page these are two examples of MLA in-text citations for the first one the citation appears at the end of the sentence in the second one it’s the introduction to the sentence when using MLA format there are a few key things to remember the heading should always be double-spaced the title should always be centered and there should always be a header on each page that says your last name and the page number your header will also need to be a half an inch from the top the text should be double-spaced and you should intend long quotations with a one-inch margin there should also be a one-inch margin on all sides of your paper on an MLA works cited page we’re excited to be centered with no other formatting remember to include your header again with the last name and page number also use a hanging indent and alphabetize all entries double spacing between all the lines there’s specific format when using each citation style remember to visit the website because these are subject to change and you’ll want to be using the most up-to-date version in APA format you can use footnotes and in-text citations as well similar to MLA format in APA you’ll put a subscript for your footnote in the text and at the end of the manuscript have the entire citation with in-text citations you’ll have the full citation right in the text and a reference page at the end for APA make sure to number footnotes in the order that they appear in the essay these are two examples of different ways to make footnotes in the first example there’s a full in-text citation in the second example there’s only the date of the article you referencing and on your reference page the date will be there as well so that the reader can make the connection in APA format you’ll want to have a title page with a running header the full title your name and the institution for APA reference pages remember to Center the word references with no other formatting also alphabetized and double-spaced all entries and use a hanging indent these graphics were created using the fifth addition make sure to visit the APA website so you’re using the most current and up-to-date information remember to use these guidelines and you’ll have yourself a very successful college paper to watch the other segments in this video series or for how-to videos on almost any other topic visit monkey-see calm