APA, MLA, AP, Chicago, etc., etc. Style is evil. Seriously, I hate it. Well, not any one particular style, more that there are so many to choose from and none of them quite agree with each other. It seems that each type of writing we are expected to produce has its own style that needs to be followed. And as if it wasn't bad enough that we have to keep all the big style guides straight, there's a good chance that if we go to work as writers, the organizations we'll be writing for will have their own style sheets, too. In addition to the inconsistencies between the many style guides, they are never happy with themselves and are updated regularly. I was in the middle of writing a ten-page paper when the MLA style was changed. One day, I was following one set of standards for my citations and format, and the next day when I double-checked something (I think it was a citation, but I don't remember), everything was different. I had to go back and change the five pages I had written so that the entire paper would be consistent.
The different styles change the way we write and how our writing is interpreted, but I think everyone would have a unique argument about how each style impacts the writing and interpretation. For me, my writing doesn't change very much with different styles, but my formatting does. I tend to write first, then format and insert my citations to fit what I've written into the necessary style. It's more important to me to make my point clearly than to lose necessary points of my argument due to being distracted by trying to adhere to a particular style. I think that each style has its own fans and opponents. I personally prefer MLA. My best friend, who is a math major, prefers APA. It seems to have a lot to do with what kind of thinker a person is and what they are used to reading. People used to reading and writing about math and science will be accustomed to APA, while people in English and other Liberal Arts will be more used to MLA or Chicago, and journalism and communication students will adhere to AP. Once we become accustomed to reading and writing in one format, it becomes very difficult to transition to another.
As annoying as it is that there isn't one right way to determine whether you need a comma before 'and,' it makes sense that different schools of thought would develop their own style guides and that they would change over time. As Charles Bazerman points out, early publications in the field of experimental psychology had no real format- there were no headings or subheadings, and no agreed-upon rules of writing within the psychological community to give consistency to publications. It is interesting to think about how the APA style guide began as six and a half pages of instructions presented as a guide, not an absolute set of rules, but over the course of 54 years, was edited and added to, with the language changing from a tone of general guidance to concrete standards. The current edition of the APA guide leaves little room for deviation, ensuring that publications within fields that adhere to it are consistent.
The different styles change the way we write and how our writing is interpreted, but I think everyone would have a unique argument about how each style impacts the writing and interpretation. For me, my writing doesn't change very much with different styles, but my formatting does. I tend to write first, then format and insert my citations to fit what I've written into the necessary style. It's more important to me to make my point clearly than to lose necessary points of my argument due to being distracted by trying to adhere to a particular style. I think that each style has its own fans and opponents. I personally prefer MLA. My best friend, who is a math major, prefers APA. It seems to have a lot to do with what kind of thinker a person is and what they are used to reading. People used to reading and writing about math and science will be accustomed to APA, while people in English and other Liberal Arts will be more used to MLA or Chicago, and journalism and communication students will adhere to AP. Once we become accustomed to reading and writing in one format, it becomes very difficult to transition to another.
As annoying as it is that there isn't one right way to determine whether you need a comma before 'and,' it makes sense that different schools of thought would develop their own style guides and that they would change over time. As Charles Bazerman points out, early publications in the field of experimental psychology had no real format- there were no headings or subheadings, and no agreed-upon rules of writing within the psychological community to give consistency to publications. It is interesting to think about how the APA style guide began as six and a half pages of instructions presented as a guide, not an absolute set of rules, but over the course of 54 years, was edited and added to, with the language changing from a tone of general guidance to concrete standards. The current edition of the APA guide leaves little room for deviation, ensuring that publications within fields that adhere to it are consistent.
