UNCW - Randall Library

This guide will help you become comfortable with APA style and provide basic information on documenting sources in this format. For complete information on using APA, please refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition) available in Randall Library at the Reference Desk (BF76.7 .P83 2001)

What is APA Style?

APA (American Psychological Association) Style is one of the three most widely used citation and writing styles for student research papers and scholarly manuscripts.

The Publication Manual is the style manual used for many disciplines including: Psychology, Sociology, Business, Economics, Nursing, Social Work, and Criminology.

What is the Basic APA Format for a Research Paper?

Margins: One inch on all sides (top, bottom, left, right)

Font Size and Type: 12-pt. font (Times Roman or Courier are acceptable typefaces)

Spacing: Double-space throughout the paper, including the title page, abstract, body of the document, references, appendixes, footnotes, tables, and figure captions.

Alignment: Flush left (creating uneven right margin)

Paragraph Indentation: 5-7 spaces

Pagination: The page number appears one inch from the right edge of the paper on the first line of every page, beginning with the title page. The only pages that are not numbered are Figures.

Manuscript Page Header: The first two or three words of the paper title appear five spaces to the left of the page number on every page, beginning with the title page. Manuscript page headers are used to identify manuscript pages during the editorial process. Using most word processors, the manuscript page header and page number can be inserted into a header, which then automatically appears on all pages.

Order of Pages: Title Page, Abstract, Body, References, Appendixes, Footnotes, Tables, Figure Captions, Figures.

EXAMPLE (from OWL at Purdue University)
the top of a first page of a research paper

EXAMPLE (from TheWriteSource.com)
of Subheadings

APA Documentation: Citing References

Here are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text:

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference - you do not need to use quotations in this case.

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.)

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference. See the section on quotations for more information about this.

Examples for referring to another idea or study:

Delaney (2003) compared exercise programs ...

In a recent study of hospital management (Stiles, 2003) ...

In 2002, Connally compared film and movies to ...

If there is no author to cite, such as when you are citing a web page that lists no author, use an abbreviated version of the title of the page in quotation marks to substitute for the name of the author.

A similar study was conducted of medical students ... ("Medical Research," 2001).

If you are citing a work that has no author and no date, use the first few words from the title, then the abbreviation n.d. (for "no date").

In another study of students and research decisions, it was discovered

that students succeeded with exercising ("Exercise and Groups," n.d.).

Personal communications, such as e-mail messages to you, or private interviews that you conducted with another person, should be referred to in your in-text citations but NOT in your reference list.

For example:

Regina McClaran also claimed that many of her students had difficulties

with APA style (personal communication, December 26, 2002).

Formatting Citations in Your Text

Here are some basic rules for formatting citations in the body of your paper. For more information about these rules, see pages 94-99 and 207-209 of the Publication Manual.

Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names.
If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source.
When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word.
After a colon or dash in a title, capitalize the first word.
Italicize the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, documentaries, or albums.
Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited collections, television shows, and song titles.
If a work has two authors, cite both names every time the reference appears in your text. Join the authors' names with the word and.
If a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all of the authors the first time you refer to the work in your text. The next time you refer to the work, shorten the citation to the last name of the first author plus the words et al. Join the authors' names with the word and if you are referring to them in the text; join the authors' names with an ampersand (&) if you are referring to them in a parenthetical citation.
If a work has six authors (or more), cite only the last name of the first author plus the words et al.

Formatting Quotations in your Text

Short Quotations

Formatting quotations is covered on pages 117-121 in the Publication Manual.

To indicate direct quotations of fewer than 40 words in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author, year, and specific page citation in the text, and include a complete reference in the reference list. Punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, and semicolons, should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quotation but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

Examples:

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style," 

(Brinkley, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

According to Bosi (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, 

especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Kidd (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); 

what implications does this have for teachers?

If you are citing a work that has no author, no date, and no page numbers, use the first few words from the title, then the abbreviation n.d. (for "no date"), and then use paragraph numbers (if available) or simply leave out any reference to pages.

Example:

In another study of students and research decisions, it was discovered


that students succeeded with tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).

Long Quotations (block quotes)

Formatting long quotations is covered on pages 117-118 and 292-293 in the Publication Manual.

Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces from the left margin. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation five spaces from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after closing punctuation mark.

Example:

Fritzler's 2003 study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was



their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed



to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual



or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)

Choosing double or single quotation marks

If you are using a quotation that uses quotation marks as a short quotation, use single quotation marks to set off the material that was originally enclosed in quotation marks. If you are using a quotation that uses quotation marks in a block quote, use double quotation marks to set off the material that was originally in quotation marks.

The Reference List

What is the Basic APA Documentation Format for References?

Your Reference List

Formatting your reference list is covered in chapter four of the Publication Manual, which starts on page 215. Here are some general guidelines for formatting your reference list.

Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.

Your references should begin on a separate page from the text of the essay under the label References (with no quotation marks, underlining, etc.), centered at the top of the page. It should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay. If you would like to see a sample reference list, these links to Sample APA Report and a APA Simulated Journal Article both provide sample reference lists that you can view.

Basic Rules

Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work.
Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work.

If you have more than one article by the same author(s), single-author references or multiple-author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest.

Example:

Fritzler, R. P. (1996). Exploring the effects of surfing on

   social development. In W. M. Bukowski, A. F. Newcomb, & W. W. Hartup,

    (Eds.), The gnarly surfers. (pp. 346-365). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Williams, L. W. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current

    Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.

Pemberton, J. M., & Lounsbury, J. W. (1994). Mood management across affective

    states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality &

    Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.

Pemberton, J. G., & Petty, R. E. (1995). Flexible correction processes in

    social judgment: The role of naive theories in corrections for perceived

    bias. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 68,  36-51.

When an author appears both as a sole author and, in another citation, as the first author of a group, list the one-author entries first.

Example:

Berndt, T. J. (1999). Friends' influence on students' adjustment to

    school. Educational Psychologist, 34, 15-28.


Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (1995). Friends' influence on adolescents'

    adjustment to school. Child Development, 66, 1312-1329.

References that have the same first author and different second and/or third authors are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the second author, or the last name of the third if the first and second authors are the same.

Example:

Wegener, D. T., Kerr, N. L., Fleming, M. A., & Petty, R. E. (2000).

    Flexible corrections of juror judgments: Implications for jury

    instructions. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 6, 629-654.


Wegener, D. T., Petty, R. E., & Klein, D. J. (1994). Effects of mood on

    high elaboration attitude change: The mediating role of likelihood

    judgments. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 25-43.

If you are using more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order) published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter. Then assign letter suffixes to the year.

Example:

Berndt, T. J. (1981a).  Age changes and changes over time in prosocial

    intentions and behavior between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17,

    408-416.

Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and

    behavior. Child Development, 52, 636-643.

When referring to these publications in your paper, use the letter suffixes with the year so that the reader knows which reference you are referring to. For example: "Several studies (Berndt, 1981a, 1981b) have shown that..."

Use "&" instead of "and" when listing multiple authors of a single work.

If no author is given for a particular source, begin with and alphabetize by using the title of the work, which will be listed in place of the author, and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.

Personal communications, such as e-mail messages to you, or private interviews that you conducted with another person, should not be cited in your reference list because they are not retrievable sources for anyone else. You should make reference to these sources in your in-text citations. (For more information, see page 214 of the Publication Manual.)

All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.

When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

Capitalize all major words in journal titles.

Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.

Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.

How do I Cite Books in APA Style?

The basic book format in APA style is:

Typical book entry -- single author
Arnheim, R. (1971). Art and visual perception. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Publishing information - Spell out the publishing names of associations and university presses, but omit superfluous terms such as "Publishers," "Co.," or "Inc." If two or more locations are given, give the location listed first or the publisher's home office. When the publisher is a university and the name of the state (or province) is included in the university name, do not repeat the name of the state/province in the publisher location. When the author and publisher are identical, use the word "Author" as the name of the publisher.

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Multiple authors
When a work has up to (and including) six authors, cite all authors. When a work has more than six authors cite the first six followed by "et al."

Festinger, L., Riecken, H., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails.Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Roeder, K., Howdeshell, J., Fulton, L., Lochhead, M., Craig, K., Peterson, R., et.al. (1967).Nerve cells and insect behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

If a book has more than three authors, list only the first author's name and add et al. (which means and others).

Corporate authorship
Institute of Financial Education. (1982). Managing personal funds. Chicago: Midwestern.

No author identified
Experimental psychology. (1938). New York: Holt.

How do I Cite Parts of Books in APA Style?

When the information you use in your paper comes from a particular part of a book, for example the introduction, preface, foreword or afterward, or a specific article in a reference book, you should cite this work accordingly.

Citing items in an anthology/chapter in edited book
Rubenstein, J.P. (1967). The effect of television violence on small children. In B.F. Kane (Ed.), Television and juvenile psychological development (pp. 112-134). New York: American Psychological Society.

Reprinted or republished chapter
Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3-66). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)

Following the entry, enclose "Original work published" in parentheses, noting the original date.

Chapter in a volume in a series
Maccoby, E.E., & Martin, J. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In P.H. Mussen (Series Ed.) & E.M. Hetherington (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th ed., pp. 1-101). New York: Wiley.

Citing multivolume works
Wilson, J. G., & Fraser, F. C. (Eds.). (1977-1978). Handbook of teratology (Vols. 1-4). New York: Plenum Press.

In listing a multivolume work, the publication dates should be inclusive for all volumes. The volumes should be identified, in parentheses, immediately following the book title. Do not use a period between the title and the parenthetical information; close the entire title, including the volume information, with a period.

Edited collections
Higgins, J. (Ed.). (1988). Psychology. New York: Norton.

Grice, H. P., & Gregory, R. L. (Eds.). (1968). Early language development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Citing specific editions of a book
Brockett, O. (1987). History of the theatre (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Immediately after the book's title, note the edition information in parentheses (for example, "5th ed." or "rev. ed."). Do not use a period between the title and the parenthetical information.

Translated works
Freud, S. (1970) An outline of psychoanalysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1940)

The original publication date is the last portion of the entry and should be in parentheses with the note "Original work published" followed by the date.

Proceedings
Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integrataion in personality.

In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 38. Perspectives on motivation (pp. 237-288). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Cynx, J., Williams, H., & Nottebohm, F. (1992). Hemispheric differences in avian song discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 89, 1372-1375.

How do I Cite Articles in APA Style?

Magazines, newspapers and scholarly journals are all periodicals. This means that they are publications that are published at regular intervals, for example every day, once a week, once a month or four times a year. Each type of periodical has a specific format for citation in APA style.

Citing articles in journals with continuous pagination
Passons, W. (1967). Predictive validities of the ACT, SAT, and high school grades for first semester GPA and freshman courses. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 27, 1143-1144.

Citing articles in journals with non-continuous pagination
Sawyer, J. (1966). Measurement and prediction, clinical and statistical. Psychological Bulletin, 66 (3), 178-200.

Because pagination begins anew with each issue of this journal, it is necessary to include the issue number in parentheses after the volume number. Note that there is a comma between the issue number and the page numbers, but no comma between the italicized volume number and the issue number. If the periodical does not use volume numbers, include "pp." before the page numbers so the reader will understand that the numbers refer to pagination. Use "p." if the source is a page or less long.

Citing articles in monthly periodicals
Chandler-Crisp, S. (1988, May) "Aerobic writing": a writing practice model. Writing Lab Newsletter, pp. 9-11.

Citing articles in weekly periodicals
Kauffmann, S. (1993, October 18). On films: class consciousness. The New Republic, p.30.

Newspaper articles
Monson, M. (1993, September 16). Urbana firm obstacle to office project. The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, pp. A1,A8.

No author identified
Clinton puts 'human face' on health-care plan. (1993, September 16). The New York Times, p. B1.

Reprinted or republished articles
Clark, G., & Zimmerman, E. (1988). Professional roles and activities as models for art education. In S. Dobbs (Ed.), Research readings for discipline-based art education. Reston, VA: NAEA. (Reprinted from Studies in Art Education, 19 (1986), 34-39.)

Following the entry, enclose "Reprinted from" in parentheses, noting the original publication information. Close with a period.

ERIC Documents (Report available from the Educational Resources Information Center)
Mead, J.V. (1992). Looking at old photographs: Investigating the teacher tales that novice teachers bring with them (Report No. NCRTL-RR-92-4).

East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED346082)

Dissertations

Dissertation obtained from Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI)
Bower, D.L. (1993). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics of referring and nonreferring supervisors. Dissertation Abstracts International, 54 (01), 534B. (UMI No. 9315947)

Dissertation obtained from the university:

Ross, D. F. (1990). Unconscious transference and mistaken identity: When a witness misidentifies a familiar but innocent person from a lineup (Doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1990). Dissertation Abstracts International, 51, 417.

Give the university and year of the dissertation as well as the volume and page numbers from the Dissertation Abstract International.

How do I Cite Other Media in APA Style?

Citing interviews
Archer, N. (1993). [Interview with Helen Burns, author of Sense and Perception]. Journal of Sensory Studies, 21, 211-216.

In this example, the interview lacks a title, so a description of the interview is given in brackets. If the interview has a title, include the title (without quotation marks) after the year, and then give a further description in brackets if necessary.

Unpublished interviews do not need a reference page entry because they are what the Publication Manual of the APA calls "personal communications" and so "do not provide recoverable data." Here, the entry consists of the first initial and last name of the interviewee, the type of communication, and the date of the interview.

(N. Archer, personal interview, October 11, 1993)

Citing films or videotapes
[Motion picture] replaces Film and Videotape as a bracketed descriptor.

Weir, P.B. (Producer), & Harrison, B.F. (Director). (1992). Levels of consciousness [Motion picture]. Boston, MA: Filmways.

Here, the main people responsible for the videotape are given, with their roles identified in parentheses after their names. After the title, the medium is identified (here, a motion picture). The distributor's name and location comprises the last part of the entry.

Citing recordings
Writer, A. (Date of copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if different from writer].

On Title of album [Medium of recording: CD, record, cassette, etc.]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different than copyright)

McFerrin, Bobby (Vocalist). (1990). Medicine music [Cassette Recording]. Hollywood, CA: EMI-USA.

Electronic Information
The type of medium can be, but is not limited to the following: aggregated databases, online journals, Web sites or Web pages, newsgoups, Web- or e-mail based discussion groups or Web or e-mail based newsletters. Pagination in electronic references is unavailable in many cases, thus left out of the citation. The APA Manual has a short section demonstrating the format for electronic references on pp. 268-281. For other examples, visit http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

Citing computer software
Arend, Dominic N. (1993). Choices (Version 4.0) [Computer software]. Champaign, IL: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research Laboratory. (CERL Report No.CH7-22510)

If an individual(s) has proprietary rights to the software, their name(s) are listed at the head of the entry, last names first, followed by a period. Otherwise, treat such references as unauthored. Do not italicize the title. Specify in brackets that the source is computer software, program or language. List the location and the organization's name that produced the program. Add any other necessary information for identifying the program (in this example, the report number) in parentheses at the entry's conclusion. To reference a manual, follow the same as above but add "manual" as the source in the bracketed information. Do not add a period at the end of a citation if it ends in a web address.

Full-Text Database (i.e., book, magazine, newspaper article or report)
The second date which follows is the date the user retrieved the material. No period follows an Internet Web address.

Schneiderman, R. A. (1997). Librarians can make sense of the Net. San Antonio Business Journal, 11, 58+. Retrieved January 27, 1999, from EBSCO Masterfile database.

Article in an Internet-only journal
Kawasaki, J. L., & Raven, M.R. (1995). Computer-administered surveys in extension. Journal of Extension, 33, 252-255. Retrieved June 2, 1999, from http://joe.org/joe/index.html

Article in an Internet-only newsletter
Waufton, K.K. (1999, April). Dealing with anthrax. Telehealth News, 3(2). Retreived December 16, 2000, from http://www.telehearlth.net/subscribe/newslettr_5b.html#1

Nonperiodical Internet Document (e.g., a Web page or report)
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Retrieved month date, year, from http://Web address

Example: Pemberton, A.E. (1999, February 16). APA citation help. Retrieved August 25, 2003, from http://library.uncw.edu/subject/Psych/APA.html

Internet technical or research reports
University of California, San Francisco, Institute for Health and Aging. (1996, November). Chronic care in America: A 21st century challenge. Retrieved September 9, 2000, from the Robert Wood Foundation Web site: http://www.rwjf.org/library/chrcare

Document created by private organization, no page numbers, no date
Greater Hattiesburg Civic Awareness Group, Task Force on Sheltered Programs. (n.d.). Fund-raising efforts. Retreived November 10, 2001, from http://www.hattiesburgcag.org

Sometimes authors are not identified, and there is no date showing for the document. Date website was accessed should be used and efforts should be made to identify the sponsoring author/organization of the website. If none is found, do not list an author.

Document from university program or department
McNeese, M.N. (2001). Using technology in educational settings. Retrieved October 13, 2001, from University of Southern Mississippi, Educational Leadership and Research Web site: http://www-dept.usm.edu/~eda/

E-Mail, newsgroups, online forums, discussion groups and electronic mailing lists
Personal communications, which are not archived, should not included in reference lists and cited within the text only: Smith, Fred ("personal communication," January 21, 1999)

If archived
Hammond, Tl (2000, November 20). YAHC: Handle Parameters, DOI Genres, etc. Message posted to Ref-Links electronic mailing list, archived at http://www.doi.org/mail-archive/ref-link/msg00088.html

Other APA Citation Webpages

OWL at Purdue University - Using American Psychological Association (APA) Format (Updated to 5th Edition)
APAStyle.org - Electronic References
Lesley University - APA Citation Format
APA Style from Canisius College
APA Style from University of Southern Mississippi

Last Update: December 12, 2005

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