Referencing Styles

APA and MLA

Referencing

A referencing style is a set of rules telling you how to

acknowledge the thoughts, ideas and works of
others in a particular way.

APA
American Psychological Association

Dos
Double space all lines. Indent the second and
following lines 5 to 7 spaces or one half inch. Use one
inch margins and Times New Roman 12-point font.
Do not justify.

Dos
Arrange the items on your reference list
alphabeticallyby theauthor's last name, letter by
letter, interfiling books, articles, etc. Items with no
author are interfiled in this list by the first
significant word of the title.

Dos

Use only the initials of the authors' first (and

middle) names.

Dos

If no author is given, start with the title and then

the date. Note that some authors on the internet
use a screen name instead of their real name
and that an organization can also be an
author (a "corporate author").

Dos
Article titles, book titles, and webpage titles:
capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle.
(Capitalize all significant words of periodical titles,
database titles and website titles.)

Dos
If the journal (or magazine) begins each issue
with page one (paginated by issue), include
the issue number (not italicized) if one is
provided. If the journal continues the page
numbering from issue to issue throughout the
volume (paginated by volume), do not
include it.

Dos
If a book is not the first edition, include the edition
number in parentheses after the title.

Dos
If there is no author, use the first few words of the
title. Unlike citations in the reference list, capitalize
all significant words. Article, chapter, and webpage
titles are placed in quotation marks. Book,
periodical, report, and brochure titles are placed
in italics. Note that an organization can
also be an author (a "corporate
author").

Dos
Use only the year, even if the full citation in the
reference list includes the month and day. If you
cite the same source a second time in the same
paragraph, you do not need to mention the
year a second time.

Dos
If two authors have the same last name, include
the first initial(s).

Dos
If there are no page numbers, you can count the
paragraph numbers or list the name of a section or
leave this information out if neither of these is
practical.

ournal
J

[Online and hardcopy - paginated by issue. ]

Devine, P. G., & Sherman, S. J. (1992). Intuitive versus rational judgment and the role
of stereotyping in the human condition: Kirk or Spock? Psychological Inquiry,
3(2), 153-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0302_13

[From a database or website without a DOI - paginated by

volume.]
Hodges, F. M. (2003). The promised planet: Alliances and struggles
of the gerontocracy in American television science fiction of the
1960s. The Aging Male, 6, 175-182. Retrieved from
://informahealthcare.com/tam

http

ewspaper
rticle
N
A

[If you get it from a database, include the DOI or URL as shown
above for Journal Articles.]
Di Rado, A. (1995, March 15). Trekking through college: Classes explore
modern society using the world of Star trek. Los Angeles Times,
pp. A3, A20-A22.
[Newspaper website that does not include page numbers.
The square brackets show that this is a review.]

Ebert, R. (2009, May 6). [Review of the motion picture Star trek,
produced by Paramount, 2009]. Chicago Sun-Times.
Retrie
from http://rogerebert.suntimes.com

agazine
rticle
M
A

Mershon, D. H. (1998, November/December). Star trek on the brain: Alien

minds, human minds. American Scientist, 86(6), 585.

ooks
B

Okuda, M., & Okuda, D. (1993). Star trek chronology: The history of the
future. New York, NY: Pocket Books.

[Book with no author]

Star trek: Four generations of stars, stories, and strange new worlds. (1995). Radnor, PA:
News America Publications.
[Online, with a DOI]
Michaud, M. A. G. (2007). Contact with alien civilizations: Our hopes and fears
about encountering extraterrestrials.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-68618-9

ooks
B

[Online from a database - without a DOI - Do not include the

full URL]
Anijar, K. (2000). Teaching toward the 24th century: Star trek as social
curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com
[Ebook reader, Kindle, Nook, etc.]
Okuda, M., Okuda, D., & Mirek, D. (2011). The Star trek encyclopedia [Kindle DX
version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com

ook
rticle
B A

James, N. E. (1988). Two sides of paradise: The Eden myth according to Kirk and
Spock. In D. Palumbo (Ed.), Spectrum of the fantastic (pp. 219-223). Westport, CT:
Greenwood.
[Online from a database - without a DOI]
Cohen, S. (2002). Klingons are the same wherever you go. In N. Stafford (Ed.),
Trekkers: True stories by fans for fans (pp. 140-142). Retrieved from http
://www.ebrary.com

ncylopedia
rticle
E
A

Sturgeon, T. (1995). Science fiction. In L. T. Lorimer et al. (Eds.), The encyclopedia

Americana (Vol. 24, pp. 390-392). Danbury, CT: Grolier.
[Online from a database - without a DOI]
Tauber, S. (2008). Star trek. In W. A. Darity Jr. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the
social sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 8, p. 99). Retrieved from
http://www.gale.cengage.com

[Online from a website - with no author, no date, no page, and no

editor. If some of this information is available, include it as shown
above.]
Star trek. (n.d.). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved from
://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/ 563557/Star-Trek
*Include the complete URL

issertation
D

Boyd, K. G. (2001). Imagined spaces: Entertainment and utopia in science fiction films
and television series of the 1980s and 1990s (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text database. (Dissertation No. 3024161)

ebsites
W

Epsicokhan, J. (2004, February 20). Confessions of a closet trekkie. Retrieved October

12, 2009, from Jammer's Reviews website: http://
www.jammersreviews.com/articles/confessions.php

[Page with a corporate author and the name of the website is the same
the name of the author.]
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2009, May 28). NASA astronaut
watches new Star trek movie in space. Retrieved from http://
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/behindscenes/star_trek.html
[Page with a no author.]
The Roddenberry legacy of human potential: If only, if only. (2007,
October 24). Retrieved January 7, 2009, from Star Trek Official Site
website: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/editorials/article/2310913.html

eport
ompany
&
n
dustry
R
C
I

[Include the URL of the database's homepage instead of the complete

link.]
Industry custom report: Advertising agencies. (2013, February 25). Retrieved from
Hoover's website: http://subscriber.hoovers.com/H/home/index.html
[You have the option of using the database's name as the author
instead of the publisher.]
Hoover's Inc. (2013, February 25). Industry custom report: Advertising agencies.
Retrieved from http://subscriber.hoovers.com/H/home/index.html

MLA
Modern Language Association

Dos

Set the margins for the text at one inch on all sides.
Page numbers go in the top right and one-half inch
down. Use 12 point Times New Roman font. Doublespace all lines. Don't justify the text. The first line of
each paragraph of text is indented one-half of an
inch. The second and following lines of each
reference is indented one-half of an inch (a
hanging indenture). Blocks of quoted text are
indented one inch.

Dos

Alphabetize the reference list letter-by-letter

(ignoring the blank spaces in names like "Di
Rado").

Dos
Authors:
Include the author's complete name if it is
provided.
Include up to three authors. If there are more, you
have a choice: you can list all of the authors, or you
can list the first name followed by "et al." (Kirk,
James, et al.). Whichever you choose, do the
same thing in the parenthetical references (Kirk
et al. 1701).

Dos
Authors:
Corporate authors: a company, association, or government
agency can also be an author (see the example beginning
"United States" in the "Websites" section). Use abbreviations
for common words. In parenthetical references, well-known
acronyms and abbreviations for geographic locations may
also be used. The sections of a government agency's name
are separated by periods in the reference list and by commas
in the parenthetical references.

Dos
Authors:
Authors of web pages may use screen names
instead of their real names.
If there is no author, then start with the title.

Dos
Titles
o Capitalize the first letter of each significant word
in the title.
o Complete works, such as books, periodicals,
databases, entire websites, television series, and
movies, should be placed in italics.

Dos
Titles
o Segments of larger works, such as chapters,
articles, single web pages, and single episodes of
series, should be placed within "quotation marks."

Dos
Titles within titles
If a title of a complete work appears within the
title of a segment, then italicize the title of the
complete work (see examples for "Roberts" and "Di
Rado"). If it appears within the title of a complete
work, then do not italicize it, but do continue to
italicize the rest of the words (reverse
italicization; see examples for "Okuda" and
"Anijar").

Dos
Titles within titles
o If a title of a segment appears within the title
of a segment, then place that title within 'single
quotation marks.' If it appears within the title of a
complete work, then place it within regular
"quotation marks."

Dos
Periodicals
Journal, magazine, and newspaper articles may
be accessed in hardcopy (include the word, Print at
the end); from a website (include the word Web,
and the date that you looked at it); or from a
database (include the Database Name, the word
Web, and the date that you looked at it).

Dos
Periodicals
Do not include an initial article at the beginning
of a periodical title.
Include the volume and issue numbers for all
journals but not for magazines and newspapers.

Dos
Encyclopedias and reference books:
If an encyclopedia does not arrange its articles
alphabetically, then include the page numbers in
the reference list as shown under "Book Article or
Chapter."

Dos
Place of publication:
List only the first city mentioned.
Do not include the state or country.
If no place is given, put N.p.

Dos

Publisher
Do not include articles, first names of people, or
common words like Inc., Books, Press, and
Publishing. Use abbreviations like: Acad., Assn.,
Inst., and Soc. Abbreviate "University Press" as
"UP".
If the acronym for a company, organization, or
agency is well-known, it should be used.
If no publisher is given, put n.p.

Dos
Dates

The parts of the date are listed as day, month,

year.
All months should be abbreviated except for May,
June, and July (Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept.,
Oct., Nov., Dec.).
If no date is given, put n.d.
For a website or other online
source, also include the date that you looked at it.

Dos

Page numbers:
Cite the page numbers for the entire article in the
reference list. Cite specific page numbers in
parentheses in the text.
If possible, include only the final two digits of the
concluding page number (ex. 393-94, 393-405,
1393-94, 1393-1405).

Dos

Page numbers:
If the paging of a magazine or newspaper article
is continued elsewhere in the issue, include only
the first page followed by a plus sign (ex. 25+).
If no page numbers are given, put N. pag.

Dos

Websites: include the author; the "title of the web page";

the name of the entire web site; the publisher or
organization that posted it; date the page was created or
last updated; the word Web.; and the date you looked at it.
Authors of web pages may use screen names instead of
their real names. There might be a corporate author (a
company, association, or government agency; If there is no
author, then start with the title.

Dos

Websites: include the author; the "title of the web

page"; the name of the entire web site; the
publisher or organization that posted it; date the
page was created or last updated; the word Web.;
and the date you looked at it.
Titles of single web pages within a website should
be placed within "quotation marks."

Dos

Websites: include the author; the "title of the web

page"; the name of the entire web site; the
publisher or organization that posted it; date the
page was created or last updated; the word Web.;
and the date you looked at it.
Titles of entire websites should be placed in
italics.

Dos

Websites: include the author; the "title of the web page";

the name of the entire web site; the publisher or
organization that posted it; date the page was created or
last updated; the word Web.; and the date you looked at it.
The name of the publisher may be the same as the
name of the website, so it would be listed twice. If no
publisher is given, put N.p.

Dos

Websites: include the author; the "title of the web

page"; the name of the entire web site; the
publisher or organization that posted it; date the
page was created or last updated; the word Web.;
and the date you looked at it.
If no date is given, put n.d.
If any of the other information is not
available, it can be left out.

ournal
J

[Hardcopy]
Devine, Patricia G., and Steven J. Sherman. "Intuitive Versus Rational
Judgment and the Role of Stereotyping in the Human Condition: Kirk or
Spock?" Psychological Inquiry 3.2 (1992): 153-59. Print.
[From a Website]
Hodges, F. M. "The Promised Planet: Alliances and Struggles of the
Gerontocracy in American Television Science Fiction of the
1960s. Aging Male 6.3 (2003): 175-82. Web. 18 Feb. 2010.

ewspaper
rticle
N
A

Di Rado, Alicia. "Trekking through College: Classes Explore Modern

Society Using the World of Star Trek." Los Angeles Times 15 Mar.1995:
A3+. Print.

[Specialized article: Movie review - the review information can

be replaced with Editorial, Letter, etc.]
Dargis, Manohla. "Kids in Space." Rev. of Star Trek, dir. J. J. Abrams.
New York Times 8 May 2009, sec. C: 1+. Print.

agazine
rticle
M
A
Mershon, Donald H. "Star Trek on the Brain: Alien Minds, Human Minds."
American Scientist Nov.-Dec. 1998: 585. Print.

ooks
B

Hardcopy]
Okuda, Michael, and Denise Okuda. Star Trek Chronology: The History of
the Future. New York: Pocket, 1993. Print.
[No author or editor]
Vulcan Reflections: Essays on Spock and His World. Baltimore: T-K
Graphics, 1975. Print.
[From a Database or Website]
Anijar, Karen. Teaching Toward the 24th Century : Star Trek
as Social Curriculum. New York: Falmer-Taylor, 2000.
Ebrary. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

ook
rticle
B A

James, Nancy E. "Two Sides of Paradise: The Eden Myth According to

Kirk and Spock." Spectrum of the Fantastic. Ed. Donald Palumbo.
Westport: Greenwood, 1988. 219-23. Print.

ncylopedia
rticle
E
A

[Widely used general reference books - Hardcopy]

Sturgeon, Theodore. "Science Fiction." The Encyclopedia Americana.
International ed. 1995. Print.
[Specialized reference books - from a Database]
Barr, Marleen S. "Science Fiction." New Dictionary of the History of
Ideas. Ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz. Vol. 5. Detroit: Scribner's,
2005. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.