Why do schools do this?
I am an idiot and it has taken me a LONG time to be able to write an essay in MLA format without teacher help, and I still can't do it well. Now I have to write an essay in APA! I might as well write it in German! I have never in my life heard of APA and I have to type a 10 paged essay on Volcanism in Iceland in APA format by tonight (1:33pm now). I asked my teacher yesterday about it and she told me to figure it out. She doesn't want to teach it to me because I was in the hospital, which my liver and heart being messed is apparently my fault. Why do schools do this? They teach you diddly squat and then expect you to know everything (in grade 11)
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Looks like you received 2 good answers, I had to look them up just so I knew what you were asking.
I never had to do anything like that when I was in school, but that was a long time ago.
That's what I like about YA, you always learn something.
Different disciplines follow different guidelines for proper citations and formatting, so that's why sometimes you use MLA while other times you use APA. The teacher who gave you this most recent assignment might also be more familiar with APA, so it's easier for her to grade.
Purdue's Online Writing Lab has a great website on some of the basics of APA formatting, especially for citations. You can check it out here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
For all your APA formatting needs, go here:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
As to why teachers do that...well, I suppose some teachers have a preference for one style over the other. The truth of it is, the formatting doesn't matter much, because teachers in college will tell you what format they want their work done in, or they'll be lenient as long as you type it up and it looks decent.
Hope that helps!
Are you concerned primarily with citation style? This is a good site with examples:
http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/
It goes over your reference list as well as in-text citations. For the layout of the paper stop by any library, they will have the style guide in the reference section
Explain to your parents and have them talk to your teacher sometimes as unfortunate as it is teachers will respect it more coming from a parent then a student. have them ask for more time and help.
Follow this link, you will find the answer there and it tells you how to write it step by step. Hope this helped:)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/