Guide to the APA Style

What’s Included in APA Style?

• Basically everything in your paper:
– How your pages are set up
– How you cite sources
– Your references
– Even your language
 3

Where to learn APA style?

• Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th edition)
• Various websites:
– Landmark Citation Machine
– APA Style Tutorial
 4

The Reference Page

• A list of every source that you make reference
to in your paper.
• Provides the information necessary for a
reader to locate and retrieve any sources cited
in your paper.
• Each retrievable source cited in the paper
must appear on the reference page, and vice
versa.
 5

The Reference Page (Cont.)

• Most citations should contain the following
basic information:
– Author’s name
– Publication Date
– Title of work
– Publication information
 6

Abbreviations
Abbreviation Book or publication part
ed. Edition
Rev. ed. Revised edition
2nd ed. Second edition
Ed. (Eds.) Editors (Editors)
Trans. Translator(s)
n.d. no date
p. (pp.) page (pages)
Vol. Volume (as in Vols. 1-4)
No. Number
Pt. Part
Tech. Rep. Technical Report
Suppl. Supplement
 7

Single-authored book
Perloff, R. M. (1995). The dynamics of
persuasion. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
 8

Electronic version of print book

Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study
of computer dependency [DX Reader version].
Retrieved from http://www.Ebookstore.tandf
./co.uk/html/index.asp

Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The post-traumatic stress

disorder sourcebook: A guide to healing,
recovery, and growth [Adobe Digital Editions
version]. doi:10.1036 /0071393722
 9

Electronic book
• O’keefe, E. (n.d.). Egoism & the crisis in
Western values. Retrieved from
http://www .
onlineoriginals.com/showitem.asp ?
itemID=135
 10

Reissued book
Newcomb, H. (Ed.). (1995). Television: The
critical view (5th ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press.

*Note: Capitals in the title of the book are restricted to

the first letter of the first word of the title, the first
letter of any proper names, and the first letter of the
first word after a semicolon, period, or question
mark.
 11

Dual-authored book
Baran, S. J., & Davis, D. K. (1995). Mass
communication theory: Foundations, ferment
and future. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

*Note: when listing authors, use an ampersand

(&) in the reference list, not “and.”
 12

Essay or chapter in an edited book

Bryant, J. (1989). Message features and

entertainment effects. In J. J. Bradac (Ed.),
Message effects in communication science (pp.
231-262). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

*Note: You must include the page numbers if

you’re just referencing one part of a book.
 13

Journal article with DOI

Senior, B., & Swailes, S. (2007). Inside
management teams: Developing a teamwork
survey instrument. British Journal of
Management, 18, 138-153.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2006.00507.x

13/29
 14

Journal article without DOI

Light, M. A. & Light, I. H. (2008). The geographic
expansion of Mexican immigration in the
United States and its implications for local law
enforcement. Law Enforcement Executive
Forum Journal, 8(10), 73-82.

14/29
 15

Journal article: One author

Williams, J. H. (2008). Employee engagement:
Improving participation in safety. Professional
Safety, 53(12), 40-45.
 16

Journal article: Two to seven authors

[List all authors]

Keller, T. E., Cusick, G. R., & Courtney, M. E.
(2007). Approaching the transition to
adulthood: Distinctive profiles of adolescents
aging out of the child welfare system. Social
Services Review, 81, 453-484.
 17

Journal article: Eight or more authors

[List the first six authors, … and the last

author]
Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-
Y., Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L.,...Griffin, W. A.
(2000). An experimental evaluation of theory-
based mother and mother-child programs for
children of divorce. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 68, 843-856.
 18

Unpublished convention paper

Thomas, S., & Gitlin, T. (1993, May). Who says
there’s a dominant ideology and what
happens if that concept is falsified? Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the
International Communication Association,
Washington, DC.

Note: Conference papers are less highly regarded than

published works
 19

Internet articles based on a print source

VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role

of reference elements in the selection of
resources by psychology undergraduates.
[Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic
Research, 5, 117-123.
 20

Article in an internet-only journal

Koo, D. J., Chitwoode, D. D., & Sanchez, J. (2008).

Violent victimization and the routine
activities/lifestyle of active drug users.
Journal of Drug Issues, 38, 1105-1137.
Retrieved from
http://www2.criminology .fsu.edu/~jdi/
 21

Online Report with No Author Identified

and No Date
GVU's 10th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.cc.gatech.edu
/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/
 22

Website
• To cite an entire Web site (but not a specific
document within the site), it is sufficient to
give the URL of the site in the text. No entry in
the reference list is needed. Example:

Kidpsych is an excellent website for young

children (http://www.kidpsych.org).
 23

Newspaper
• Newspaper article
Rosli Mohammed. (1998, October 27). Master
teachers: Are we prepared? The Star, p. N7.
• Article with no known author
Cigarette sales fall 30% as tax rises. (1999, September
14). The New Straits Times, p. A17.
• Online newspaper article
Rosli Mohammed. (1998, October 27). Master
teachers: Are we prepared? The Star. Retrieved from
http://www.thestar.com.my
 24

Citation: When do you cite your

sources in your paper?
• When quoting any words that are not your own
– Quoting means to repeat another source word for word,
using quotation marks
• When summarizing facts and ideas from a source
– Summarizing means to take ideas from a large passage of
another source and condense them, using your own words
• When paraphrasing a source
– Paraphrasing means to use the ideas from another source
but change the phrasing into your own words
 25

Paraphrasing
Scott (2002) identified…

Several researchers (Anthony, 1990; Gregory &

Jacobs, 1985; Polk et al., 1980) reported…

Or at the end of a sentence

It was argued that …. (Scott, 2002).
 26

Citing while paraphrasing

• List the last names of all authors the first time
you cite them, unless there are more than 5.
• If there are more than five (5), or you are
citing the paper of three (3) or more authors
for a second or more time, list last name of
first author, followed by “et al.,” and the date.
 27

Examples
Scott, Williamson, Scott and Williamson
and Schaffer (1990) (1990) reported that…
reported that… (FIRST TIME and
(FIRST TIME) EVERY TIME)

Scott et al. (1990) 6 or more authors,

reported that use “et al.,” first time
(EVERY TIME and every time.
AFTER)
 28

Citation: No Known Author

• If the source has no known author, then use
an abbreviated version of the title:
Full Title: “Cigarette Tax Deters Smokers”
Citation: (“Cigarette Tax,” 2006)
 29

Citation: Additional Info.

Sometimes additional information is necessary.
– More than one author with the same last name
(H. James, 1878); (W. James, 1880)
– Specific part of a source
(Jones, 1995, chap. 2)
 30

Citing while quoting

• Author’s last name, publication year, and page
number(s) of quote must appear in the text
– Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response frequently
entails a “delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of
hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena” (p. 11).
– A traumatic response frequently entails a “delayed,
uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations and
other intrusive phenomena” (Caruth, 1996, p. 11).
 31

Quotations: Electronic Sources

• Many electronic sources do not include page
numbers. If paragraph numbers are given, use
them in place of page numbers, preceded by
the ¶ symbol or the abbreviation para.
• Example:
– According to the Ministry of Health, “health care
workers at all levels of education and training will
continue to be in demand” (2005, ¶ 52).
 32

Long Quotations
• Quotations of 40 or more words are formatted
differently:
– Start on a new line
– Block Indent the full quote 5 spaces from left
margin
– Omit quotation marks
– Double-space
 33

Long Quotations (Cont.)

According to Merrell, Viadero & Mosser (2006):

No matter how the jobs and their settings change, though, one thing

remains the same: each member of the school improvement team

brings a unique combination of skills, knowledge, and experience as

the group works together for a common goal--to improve the quality

of education. (p. 3)
 34

Personal Communication
• Personal communications include:
– Letters
– Memos
– E-mails
– Personal Interviews
– Telephone Conversations
 35

Personal Communication (Cont.)

• Cite only within the text.
• They are not included on the
references page.
• Example:
(J. D. Smith, personal communication, May 1,
2006).
J. D. Smith (personal communication, May 1,
2006).
 36

Citing secondary sources

• When citing in the text a work discussed in a
secondary source, give both the primary and
the secondary sources. Example:
• Seidenberg and McClelland was mentioned in
an article by Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller.
Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (as cited
in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993)
provided a glimpse into the world ….
 37

Citing secondary sources (Cont.)

• In the references page, you would cite the
secondary source you read not the original
study.
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M.
(1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route
and parallel-distributedprocessing
approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-
608.
 38

Table Format
Table 1
Frequency distribution of respondents by gender

Gender Frequency Percentage

Male 171 48.2
Female 184 51.8
Total 355 100

Minimum type size: 8 point

Maximum type size: 14 point
 39

Thank You