MLA to APA Converter — Free
Convert MLA 9 citations to APA 7. Author-page to author-date, Works Cited to References, title-case to sentence-case conversion, with a worked example.
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The full converter lives at /tools/citation-converter with this pair pre-selected. It supports bulk input and 14+ other style pairs.
Why MLA 9th Edition → APA 7th Edition isn’t just a reformat
Going from MLA to APA is the inverse journey: from a narrative-friendly humanities style to a data-dense social-science style. Again, the transformation is deeper than cosmetic.
APA's author-date format is designed to let readers quickly identify the time-currency of an argument. That means you need the year visible every time you cite a work, and the reference list is organised to make that year-scannability easy.
The most common MLA → APA mistakes are: keeping title case on article titles, leaving the bibliography heading as 'Works Cited', and forgetting to alphabetise by surname (APA always alphabetises; MLA technically does too but is more forgiving about alphabetisation-by-title for anonymous works).
Key differences
- In-text format: MLA `(Smith 42)` → APA `(Smith, 2024)` or `(Smith, 2024, p. 42)` for direct quotes
- Bibliography heading: `Works Cited` → `References`
- Author format: full first names → initials only (`Smith, J.`)
- Title case: title case → sentence case for article titles
- Year placement: MLA year at end of entry → APA year immediately after author
- Author separator: `and` → `&` in reference list entries
Worked example
MLA 9th Edition (input)
Smith, John, and Alex Jones. "The Role of Spaced Repetition in Long-Term Retention." *Journal of Educational Psychology*, vol. 116, no. 3, 2024, pp. 234–251, https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000999.
APA 7th Edition (output)
Smith, J., & Jones, A. (2024). The role of spaced repetition in long-term retention. *Journal of Educational Psychology*, 116(3), 234–251. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000999
Article title is now sentence-case, author first names are initials, and year moves to the front (in parens after the author list).
Related converters
- APA to MLA converter — Convert APA 7 citations to MLA 9.
- APA to Chicago converter — Convert APA 7 citations to Chicago 17 Notes-Bibliography.
- Harvard to APA converter — Convert Harvard citations to APA 7.
- BibTeX to APA converter — Convert a BibTeX `@article` or `@book` entry to an APA 7 reference.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the biggest difference between MLA 9th Edition and APA 7th Edition?
- In-text format: MLA `(Smith 42)` → APA `(Smith, 2024)` or `(Smith, 2024, p. 42)` for direct quotes
- Is there a free MLA to APA tool?
- Yes — the full CiteDash citation converter at /tools/citation-converter handles this pair and 14+ other style conversions. It's free and requires no signup for single-citation use.
- Will this converter handle bulk bibliographies?
- The full converter at /tools/citation-converter supports bulk input (paste multiple citations, one per line) on the free tier. For very large bibliographies (500+ entries), the Pro plan removes rate limits.
- Why does my converted APA 7th Edition citation look slightly different from my advisor's?
- Citation styles have variants — journal-specific house rules, institutional style guides, and edition differences. The canonical format produced here follows the official style manual; if your advisor uses a custom house style, spot-check a sample entry against their guidance.