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| Chapter 3: The Research Proposal
and history of science, technology, and medicine should use the CMS method. Concentrators in Medieval and
Middle Eastern studies, depending on whether they are focused in the humanities or the social sciences, may
use either the MLA or the CMS method. The differences among these methods are explained and illustrated
below. Students must obtain the most current edition of these guides since each is subtly different from its
predecessor; forms that were acceptable five years ago are not likely to be acceptable at the present time.
Nota Bene: Please note that when we refer students to the APA, MLA, and CMS
handbooks, we do so only with reference to their advice on mechanics and their
methods for documenting sources (i.e., notes and bibliography). For all other issues
concerning content and format of both the proposal and the thesis, students must follow
the guidelines specified in A Guide to the ALM Thesis, 7th edition.
Bibliography
The APA, MLA, and CMS methods all require that books, articles, and other materials to appear in the
bibliography be cited alphabetically according to the author’s last name. Where there is more than one author of
a work, it is the first author’s last name that determines where the entry appears. The order and the form of the
information that follows the authors’ names vary among the three systems, however, as the sample entries on
the following page illustrate. In general, book and journal titles that were once underlined are now italicized.
Notice as well that the first line of each entry occurs flush with the left margin; the second line of an entry is
indented ½ inch.
APA
Note that in the APA method, the author’s last name only is spelled out in full; first and middle names are given
as initials. The publication date follows in parentheses. In the title of an article or a book, only the first letter and
proper nouns are capitalized. The title of the journal itself follows the usual rules of capitalization. The place of
publication comes next but is not included for articles in APA format. In the case of a journal article, the volume
number and the page numbers occur at the end of the entry.
Notes
There are no endnotes or footnotes as such in the APA method; instead, one uses citations made in brief form
directly in the text. This brevity constitutes one of the major advantages of the APA approach to documentation.
After each citation, the author’s last name and the date of the publication are included. Thus the citation for the
first work mentioned on page 47 would read: (Geertz, 1973).
In the APA method, when two or more works by different authors are cited within the same parentheses, all with
reference to the same topic or point in the text, then they should be separated by semicolons (Able, 1980; Baker, 1982;
Charlie, 1984). When there are two or more authors of the same work, an ampersand (“&”) is used before the name
of the last author (Red & Green, 1981; Blue, Brown, & Purple, 1985). After the first citation for three or more authors,
in subsequent citations use only the name of the first author followed by “et al.” (for the Latin et alii, meaning “and
others”) without underlining, and with no period after “et,” followed by the year (Blue et al., 1985). For all citations, as
demonstrated in the prior examples, the final punctuation appears outside the parentheses. For publications with
six or more authors, cite only the first author followed by “et al.” (Note: “et al.” has a period after “al.” only.)
A Guide to the ALM Thesis