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APA Citation Style
APA citation style refers to the rules
and conventions established by the American
Psychological Association for
documenting sources used in a research paper. APA
style
requires both in-text citations
and a reference list. For every in-text citation
there should be
a full citation in the
reference list and vice versa.
The
examples of APA styles and formats listed on this
page include many of the most common
types of sources used in academic
research. For additional examples and more
detailed
information about APA citation
style, refer to the
Publication Manual
of the American
Psychological
Association
and the
APA
Style Guide to Electronic References
.
Also, for automatic generation of
citations in appropriate citation style, use a
bibliographic
citation management
program such as
Refworks
or
EndNote. You can find more information
on this in our
Citation
Management
page.
Reference Citations in Text
In APA style, in-text citations are
placed within sentences and paragraphs so that it
is clear
what information is being
quoted or paraphrased and whose information is
being cited.
Examples:
Works
by a single author
The last name of the
author and the year of publication are inserted in
the text at the
appropriate point.
from theory on bounded rationality
(Simon, 1945)
If the name of
the author or the date appear as part of the
narrative, cite only missing
information in parentheses.
Simon (1945) posited that
Works by multiple authors
When a work has two authors, always
cite both names every time the reference occurs in
the
text. In parenthetical material
join the names with an ampersand (&).
as has been shown (Leiter & Maslach,
1998)
In the narrative text,
join the names with the word
as Leiter
and Maslach (1998) demonstrated
When a work has three, four, or five
authors, cite all authors the first time the
reference
occurs.
Kahneman,
Knetsch, and Thaler (1991) found
In all subsequent citations per
paragraph, include only the surname of the first
author
followed by
Kahneman
et al. (1991) found
Works by associations, corporations,
government agencies, etc.
The names of
groups that serve as authors (corporate authors)
are usually written out each
time they
appear in a text reference.
(National
Institute of Mental Health [NIMH],
2007)
When appropriate, the
names of some corporate authors are spelled out in
the first reference
and abbreviated in
all subsequent citations. The general rule for
abbreviating in this manner
is to
supply enough information in the text citation for
a reader to locate its source in the
Reference List without difficulty.
(NIMH, 2007)
Works with no author
When a
work has no author, use the first two or three
words of the work's title (omitting any
initial articles) as your text
reference, capitalizing each word. Place the title
in quotation
marks if it refers to an
article, chapter of a book, or Web page. Italicize
the title if it refers to
a book,
periodical, brochure, or report.
on
climate change (
Guide to
Agricultural Meteorological Practices
(1981)
Anonymous authors should be listed as
such followed by a comma and the date.
on climate change (Anonymous,
2008)
Specific
parts of a source
To cite a specific
part of a source (always necessary for
quotations), include the page, chapter,
etc. (with appropriate abbreviations)
in the in-text citation.
(Stigter &
Das, 1981, p. 96)
De
Waal
(1996)
overstated
the
case
when
he
asserted
that
seem
to
be
reaching
...
from
the
hands
of
philosophers
(p.
218).
If page
numbers are not included in electronic sources
(such as Web-based journals), provide
the paragraph number preceded by the
abbreviation
paragraph.
(M?nnich & Spiering, 2008, para.
9)
Reference List
References
cited in the text of a research paper must appear
in a Reference List or
bibliography.
This list provides the information necessary to
identify and retrieve each
source.
?
Order:
Entries should be
arranged in alphabetical order by authors' last
names.
Sources without authors are
arranged alphabetically by title within the same
list.
?
Authors:
Write out the last
name and initials for all authors of a particular
work. Use
an ampersand (&) instead of
the word
e.g. Smith, J. D., & Jones, M.
?
Titles:
Capitalize only the
first word of a title or subtitle, and any proper
names that
are part of a title.
?
Pagination:
Use the
abbreviation p. or pp. to designate page numbers
of articles
from periodicals that do
not use volume numbers, especially newspapers.
These
abbreviations are also used to
designate pages in encyclopedia articles and
chapters from
edited books.
?
Indentation*:
The first line
of the entry is flush with the left margin, and
all
subsequent lines are indented (5 to
7 spaces) to form a
?
Underlining vs. Italics*:
It
is appropriate to use italics instead of
underlining for
titles of books and
journals.
Two additional pieces of
information should be included for works accessed
online.
?
Internet Address**:
A stable
Internet address should be included and should
direct the reader as close as possible
to the actual work. If the work has a digital
object
identifier (DOI), use this. If
there is no DOI or similar handle, use a stable
URL. If the URL is
not stable, as is
often the case with online newspapers and some
subscription-based
databases, use the
home page of the site you retrieved the work from.
?
Date:
If the work is a
finalized version published and dated, as in the
case of a
journal article, the date
within the main body of the citation is enough.
However, if the work
is not dated
and/or is subject to change, as in the case of an
online encyclopedia article,
include
the date that you retrieved the information.
*
The APA has special
formatting standards for the use of indentation
and italics in
manuscripts or papers
that will be typeset or submitted for official
publication. For more
detailed
information on these publication standards, refer
to the
Publication Manual of the
American Psychological
Association
, or consult with your
instructors or editors to determine
their style preferences.
**
See the
APA Style Guide to Electronic
References
for information on how to
format URLs
that take up more than one
line.
Examples:
Articles in
journals, magazines, and newspapers
References to periodical articles must
include the following elements: author(s), date of
publication, article title, journal
title, volume number, issue number (if
applicable), and page
numbers.
Journal article, one author, accessed
online
Ku,
G.
(2008).
Learning
to
de-escalate:
The
effects
of
regret
in
escalation
of
commitment.
Organizational
Behavior
and
Human
Decision
Processes
,
105
(2), 221-232.
doi:10.1016/.2007.08.002
Journal article, two
authors, accessed online
Sanchez, D., & King-Toler, E. (2007).
Addressing disparities
consultation and
outreach strategies for university
settings.
Consulting
Psychology Journal: Practice and
Research
,
59
(4), 286-295.
doi:10.1037/1065- 9293.59.4.286
Journal article, more than
two authors, accessed online
Van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R.
B. (2008). Leadership,
followership,
and evolution: Some lessons from the
past.
American
Psychologist
,
63
(3), 182-196.
d
oi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.3.182
Article from an Internet-
only journal
Hirtle,
P.
B.
(2008,
July-August).
Copyright
renewal,
copyright
restoration, and the difficulty of
determining copyright
status.
D-Lib Magazine
,
14
(7/8).
doi:10.1045/july2008-hirtle
Journal article from a
subscription database (no DOI)
Colvin, G. (2008, July 21). Information
worth
billions.
Fortune
,
158
(2), 73-79. Retrieved
from Business
Source Complete, EBSCO.
Retrieved from
Magazine article, in print
Kluger, J. (2008, January 28). Why we
love.
Time
,
171
(4),
54-60.
Newspaper article, no author, in
print
As
prices
surge,
Thailand
pitches
OPEC-style
rice
cartel.
(2008,
May 5).
The Wall Street Journal
, p.
A9.
Newspaper
article, multiple authors, discontinuous pages, in
print
Delaney, K. J.,
Karnitschnig, M., & Guth, R. A. (2008, May 5).
Microsoft ends pursuit of Yahoo,
reassesses its online
options.
The Wall Street Journal
, pp.
A1, A12.
Books
References to an entire book must
include the following elements: author(s) or
editor(s),
date of publication, title,
place of publication, and the name of the
publisher.
No Author or editor, in
print
Merriam-Webster's
collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2003).
Springfield, MA: Merriam-
Webster.
One
author, in print
Kidder,
T.
(1981).
The
soul
of
a
new
machine
.
Boston,
MA:
Little,
Brown &
Company.
Two
authors, in print
Frank, R.
H., & Bernanke, B. (2007).
Principles
of
macro-economics
(3rd
ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Corporate author, author
as publisher, accessed online
Australian Bureau of Statistics.
(2000).
Tasmanian year book
2000
(No. 1301.6). Canberra,
Australian Capital Territory:
Author.
Retrieved
from
...
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Edited book