Overview
APA resourcesReference List:
How to cite a scholarly article How to cite a news article How to cite a government report How to cite a book How to cite a website
In-text citations
APA Resources
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.1
American Psychological Association. (2007). APA style guide to electronic references. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
APA Style Online TutorialAPA Style BlogResearch & Documentation OnlinePurdue OWL - APA1. All citation and formatting rules found in this presentation are from this source. Check this area of each slide for a page reference.
Why Cite?
Ethics It is dishonest to present another person’s words or ideas as your own.
Copyright In many cases failure to acknowledge your sources would violate the law.
Courtesy to readers The citations you provide are designed to help your readers track down and consult the same materials you used in preparing your work.
Reference List: Formatting
Start the reference list on a new page. Use References as the title for the list of references (see example below). List references in alphabetical order, sorted by the last name of the author. Include only works that have been cited in the text of your paper. Double-space evenly throughout. Use the hanging indent paragraph format. The first line of a citation should
be flush left and subsequent lines of the same citation are indented.
References
Berelson, B. (1966). Content analysis in communication research. In B.
Berelson, and M. Janowitz (Eds.), Reader in public opinion and
communication (2nd ed.), pp.260-266. New York, NY: Free Press.
Severin, W. J., and Tankard, J. W. (2001). Communication theories: Origins,
methods, and uses in the mass media. New York, NY: Addison
Wesley Longman.
Shyles, L. (2002). Deciphering cyberspace. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 37.
Reference List: Multiple works by the same author
Two or more works by the same author :- Use the author’s name for all entries. - List the entries by year, the earliest first.
Two or more works by the same author in the same year:- List the works alphabetically by title (excluding A or The). - In the parentheses, following the year add “a,” “b,” and so on.
- Use these same letters when giving the year in the in-text citation.
ReferencesBarry, P. (2007, December 8). Putting
tumors on pause. Science News, 172, 365.
Barry, P. (2008, August 2). Finding the golden genes. Science News, 174, 16-21.
Elkind, D. (2008a, Spring). Can we play? Greater Good, 4(4), 14-17.
Elkind, D. (2008b, June 27). The price of hurrying children [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://blogs/psychologytoday.com/blog/digital-children
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 182.
Reference List:Scholarly Articles [Periodicals]
Author, A.B., & Writer, C.D. (YEAR). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, Volume#, begin page – end page.
Gitlin, T. (1978). Media sociology: The dominant paradigm. Theory and Society, 6, 205-253.
In Print
p.198-199
Reference List:Scholarly Articles [Periodicals]
Retrieved OnlineAuthor, A.B., & Writer, C.D. (YEAR). Title of
the article. Title of the Journal, Volume#, begin page – end page. doi: 1053/45614-5643
Wang, Z., Lang, A., & Busemeyer, J. R. (2011). Motivational processing and choice behavior during television viewing: An integrative dynamic approach. Journal of Communication, 61, 71-93. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01527.xp.198-199
Reference ListScholarly Articles [Periodicals]
Always leave names of authors in the order they are given.
More than 7 authors: First 6 authors,…Last author.
DOI not available: Retrieved from URL or name of database
Journals paginated by issue: Include the issue number in parentheses Constructivism in the Human Sciences, 23(2),
14-23. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 198-199.
Reference List: Newspaper Articles
Author, D. (YEAR, Month DAY). Title or headline of article. Title of the Newspaper, pp. SectionPage.
“If an article appears on discontinuous pages, give all page numbers, and separate the numbers with a comma (e.g., pp. B1, B3, B5-B7).”
Bieply, M., & Barnes, B. (2011, March 1). Younger audience still eludes the Oscars. The New York Times, pp. C1, C7.
Print Newspaper Article
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 200.
Reference List: Newspaper Articles
Author, D. (YEAR, Month DAY). Title or headline of article. Title of the Newspaper. Retrieved from URL of the homepage
*If no author is provided, begin with the title of the article, then the date.
Bialik, C. (2011, February 26). Pollsters struggle for accurate picture of Mideast. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/
Online Newspaper Article
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 200.
Reference List: Government Reports
Full Name of Department or Agency. (YEAR). Title of the report (ACRONYM Publication No. 1234). Retrieved from URL of the document
United States Government Accountability Office. (2005). Independent media development abroad: Challenges exist in implementing U.S. efforts and measuring results (GAO-05-803). Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/ GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-803/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-803.pdf
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 205.
Reference List: Books
Author, A.B. (YEAR). Title of the book. Location: Publisher.
Shyles, L. (2002). Deciphering cyberspace. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 202.
Reference List: Book Chapter
Author, A.B. (YEAR). Title of chapter. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (pp. beginpage – endpage). Location: Publisher.
*For works retrieved online, include DOI if available, or if not available, use Retrieved from.
Berelson, B. (1966). Content analysis in communication research. In B. Berelson, & M. Janowitz (Eds.), Reader in public opinion and communication (2nd ed.), pp.260-266. New York, NY: Free Press.
Reference List: Websites
Author, A. (YEAR, Month DAY). Title of page or document [Format description]. Retrieved from URL of site
Basic Citation
Variations
•Format description is only necessary for unusual format types:• Example format descriptions: Blog post, Twitter post,
Facebook update, Press release •The author could also be the publishing organization, if no person is named.• Give as specific a date as possible. If no date is available, use the abbreviation (n.d.) for “no date.”
Source: How to cite something you found on a website in APA style from the APA Style Blog
Reference List: Websites
Examples:
NBC Universal. (2011). About us. Retrieved from http://www.nbcuni.com/about-us/
DeGeorges, T. (2011, February 25). I didn’t tape that, my TV alter-ego did [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.twcableuntangled.com/2011/02/i-didnt-tape-that-my-tv-alter-ego-did/
Signal phrase Parenthesis
Provide at least the author’s last name and the year of publication. For direct quotations and some paraphrases, a page number is given as well. Use past tense or present tense to introduce cited materials in a signal phrase.
Example: Critser (2003) noted that despite growing numbers of overweight Americans, many health care providers still “remain either in ignorance or outright denial about the health danger to the poor and the young” (p. 5).
Add the author’s last name and the year of publication in parenthesis at the end of the sentence, if they are not mentioned in the sentence or paragraph. Separate multiple reference with a semicolon.
Example: Researchers have indicated that studies of pharmacological treatments for childhood obesity are inconclusive (Berkowitz et al., 2003; McDuffie et al., 2002).
In Text Citations
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 174-175.
One or Two Authors Multiple Authors
When a work has two authors always list both authors. Use and in the sentence, but ampersand (&) in parenthesis.
Examples:Shyles (2002) notes that analog signals are continuous.Shyles’ 2002 study noted that analog signals are continuous.Analog signals are continuous (Shyles, 2002).Severin and Tankard (2001) claim…(Severin & Tankard, 2001)
When a works has three to five authors, list all the authors the first time, but subsequently list only the first author followed by et al. For more than six authors, cite only the first author followed by et al. and the year.
Examples:Osgood, Suci, and Tannenbaum (1957) found…(first time cited)Osgood et al. (1957) found…(subsequent citations)Osgood et al. found… (subsequent citations within same paragraph as above example)
In Text Citations
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 174-175.
Organizational Author No Author
A study by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC, 2004) states… (first citation)
The FCC (2004) claims…(subsequent citations)
Use first few words of the reference (typically the title) Double quotes around title of
article, chapter or webpage; italicize title of periodical, book, or report
This is an example (“Newspaper Article,” 2005).
The book Examples (2007) states…
In Text Citations
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 176-177.
In Text Citations: Direct Quotations
Direct quotes from a source are enclosed in double quotation marks, with the page number given in parentheses at the end of the quote, before the period.
Example:Shyles (2002) claims that the Strowger switch “quickly became the backbone of the world’s telecommunication network” (p. 115).
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 92.
In Text Citations: Direct Quotations
Quotations of 40 words or more are presented in a block, without quotation marks, with the page number given in parentheses at the end, after the final period.
Example:Dickens (1859) stated:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way. (p. 1)
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., p. 92.
Conclusion
There are many more types of documents that you may need to cite in APA style.
There are unusual situations you may encounter when preparing your reference list.
When in doubt, check a trustworthy APA resource, or the publication manual itself.
Reference librarians are available to help with APA citations.
The Writing Center can help throughout the writing process, including APA formatting.