This is the style established by the American Psychological Association
(APA) for citing resources used in research papers. APA Style is used primarily
in the behavioral and social sciences. The rules for APA Style are provided in
pages 193-224 of the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. Copies of the
handbook are available behind the reference desk on the 2nd floor of
Smith Library and at the reference desk at the University Center Learning
Commons.
When doing citations in APA Style, remember to follow these MLA Formatting
Guidelines. For general formatting rules for papers in APA style,
see sections 2 and 4 of the APA Manual.
The purpose of citation is to allow readers to access the information being cited. Proper citation also ensures that you are not committing plagiarism or misusing sources, which is in violation of the University Honor Code.
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, & Books
DICTIONARY ENTRY OR ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE (p.204-205)
BOOK (SINGLE AUTHOR) (p.203)
ELECTRONIC VERSION OF PRINT BOOK (p.203)
BOOK WITH AN EDITOR (p.202)
ARTICLE IN AN EDITED BOOK (p.202)
Journals, Magazines, Newspapers, & Newsletters
GENERAL FORMAT FOR CITING JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND NEWSLETTERS (p.198)
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE WITHOUT DOI (WHEN DOI IS NOT AVAILABLE) (p.199)
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE WITH DOI (SEVEN AUTHORS)
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (p.200)
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (p.200)
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, WEB VERSION (p.200)
Web Sites
WEB SITE WITH NO AUTHOR OR PAGE NUMBERS
References in Text
QUOTING FROM A SOURCE (p.170-171)
PARAPHRASING (p.171)
APA FORMATTING GUIDELINES
1. All APA citations should be double spaced.
2. The first line of an APA citation should be flush with the left margin. All other lines should be indented.
3. Only the first and middle initial of author name(s) are used in APA [e.g. Smith, J.A.]
4. Multiple authors are separated by an ampersand (&) not the word 'and.'
5. The publication date follows the author name(s) and is contained in parentheses [e.g. Smith, J.A. (2004)]
6. Capitalize ONLY the first word of the title of a book or article, the subtitle, and proper nouns. Exception: Capitalize every important word in journal titles.
7. Italicize titles of books and journals and the volume number of journals. DO NOT italicize or put quotation marks around the title of a book chapter or article in a journal.
8. If the book has a subtitle, put a colon between the main title and the subtitle. Subtitles must be included in the citation.
9. Give the location (city and state) where the publisher is located for books, reports, and other nonperiodical publications. Use the official two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviations. For cities outside the United States, spell out the country names. See p. 186-187.
10. Include the digital object identifier (DOI) assigned to a source even if the print is available. DOIs may be searched using the registration agency CrossRef.org which will give you access to any online supplemental archives associated with the article.
11. If you retreived a journal article electronically and there is no DOI, give the URL of the journal home page. If the journal is available in print, there is no need to include the URL.
12. Usually, database information is not included as part of the citation. However, if a document is difficult to locate through its primary publishing channels, give the home page URL for the online service. Many ERIC documents and discontinued items in JSTOR meet this criteria. See pp. 189-192.
13.
Do
not end the citation with a period if you include the URL.
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, & Books
DICTIONARY ENTRY OR ENCYCLOPEDIA ARTICLE (p.204-205)
Freud, Sigmund. (2005). In The new encyclopedia Britannica (15th ed). (Vol. 5, p 5). Chicago, IL:
Encyclopedia Britannica.
Online
Anomaly.
(2008). In C. Soanes and A. Stevenson (Eds.), The concise Oxford English dictionary (12th ed.).
Retrieved
from Oxford Reference Online.
BOOK (SINGLE AUTHOR) (p.203)
Packer, S.
(2002). Dreams in myth, medicine, and
movies. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
BOOK (TWO AUTHORS)
Postman, N., & Powers, S. (2008). How to watch TV news. (Rev. ed). New York: Penguin.
ELECTRONIC VERSION OF PRINT BOOK (p.203)
Perret-Clermont, A. N. (2004). Joining society: social interaction and learning in adolescence and youth
[NetLibrary version]. Retrieved from http://www.netlibrary.com
BOOK WITH AN EDITOR (p.202)
Keeble,R., & Wheeler, S. (Eds.) (2007). The journalistic imagination: literary
journalists from Defoe to
Capote and Carter. New York: Routledge.
ARTICLE IN AN EDITED BOOK (p.202)
Khan, N. (2007). Catwalk Politics. In S. Bruzzi & P.C.
Gibson (Eds.), Fashion cultures:
theories,
explanations and analysis. (pp. 114-127). New York: Routledge.
Journals, Magazines, Newspapers, & Newsletters
GENERAL FORMAT FOR CITING JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS,
AND NEWSLETTERS (p.198)
Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (year). Title
of article. Title of periodical, Vol.,
pages.
doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxxxxx
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE WITHOUT DOI (WHEN DOI IS NOT
AVAILABLE) (p.199)
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(1),
73-82.
SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLE WITH DOI (SEVEN AUTHORS)
Hart, G. M., Johnson, B., Stamm, B., Robinson, A., Fagley, W. H., Lally, T., & Angers, N. (2009). Effects of
video games on adolescents and adults. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(1), 63-65.
doi:10.1089/cpb.2008.0117
MAGAZINE ARTICLE (p.200)
Walsh, B. (2010, May 17). The meaning of the mess. Time, 175(19), 29-35.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (p.200)
Michaels, D. (2010, June 9). Jets fuel German air flight. The Wall Street Journal, pp. B1, B7.
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, WEB VERSION (p.200)
Rhoden, W.C. (2010, June 8). South Africans awash in a wave of expectations. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Web Sites
GOVERNMENT WEBSITE
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S.
Department of Agriculture. (2005). Dietary
Guidelines for Americans. Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/default.htm
WEB SITE WITH NO AUTHOR OR PAGE NUMBERS
Autism: The hidden epidemic? (2009). Retrieved August 28, 2009, from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6844737/ns/health-mental_health/
Note: If no date is given, put n.d. in the parentheses.
DOCUMENT ON A LARGER WEB SITE
The World Bank. (2010). China
– meeting the challenges of offshore and large-scale wind power:
strategic guidance. Retrieved from http://go.worldbank.org/9TT9CUOT00
Note: If a document is contained within a complex Web site (such as that for a university or a government agency), identify the host organization and the relevant program or department (if it is not listed as the author) before giving the URL for the document itself. Precede the URL with a colon.
References in Text
QUOTING FROM A SOURCE (p.170-171)
Use the author-date format to cite references in text. When quoting directly from a source, include the author's name, year of publication, and page number. For example:
Effective communication can “build bridges between disparate groups” (Keller & Wilson, 2005, p.13).
PARAPHRASING (p.171)
Provide the author’s last name and year of publication:
These effects have been well-documented in recent research (Simmons, 2009).
Simmons (2009) documented similar findings in a recent report.
In 2009, Simmons conducted research on this topic and published an extensive report.