APA 7 vs MLA 9: Which Style Does Your Canadian Course Actually Use?

Canadian undergrads waste hours formatting in the wrong style. Psychology, nursing, education, business, and most social sciences default to APA 7. English literature and most humanities default to MLA 9. History and theology often use Chicago. When in doubt, the syllabus wins.

APA 7 dropped the running head on student papers - many Canadian templates still include it, costing easy marks. Title page is title, author, affiliation, course, instructor, date.

MLA 9 keeps things light: no separate title page unless required, header in the top-right with last name and page number, Works Cited using the container model.

In-text differs: APA uses (Author, Year, p. #); MLA uses (Author #). Mixing them in the same paper loses a full grade band.

Reference list vs Works Cited: APA alphabetises by author with hanging indent and DOI as full https URL. MLA does the same alphabetisation but the container hierarchy is decisive.

APA 7 added explicit guidance for Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers. If your course covers Indigenous content, cite with permission and proper attribution.

Quick decision: search your syllabus for 'APA', 'MLA', 'Chicago', or 'Vancouver'. If unspecified, ask your professor - a one-line email saves grades.