Documentation Guide: American Psychological Association (APA) Format

Academic writers document information that they paraphrase or quote from other sources so that readers may locate the original
source material. Documenting sources also gives writers credibility and protects them from accusations of plagiarism.

APA Format consists of 2 parts: Parenthetical References in the Text; References List

A. Parenthetical References in the Text

These references consist of the author’s last name, date of publication and page number inserted parenthetically within the text
(See Example 1 below) or just the date and the page number if the author’s name introduces the information (Example 2).
Example (3) is a paraphrase. In the case of a paraphrase, page reference is optional.

1) It is important to improve your study skills because “to reach higher levels of knowledge, you must become an active
learner” (Packard, 1970, p. 24).
2) As Packard (1970) states, “you must become an active learner” (p. 24) to be a successful student.
3) According to Packard (1970), students must learn active study strategies to be a successful student (p. 24).

B. References List
This list should be placed on a separate page at the end of your paper (continuing page numbers) with the heading References
centred at the top of the page. Always list your references double spaced in alphabetical order starting with the author’s last name
first. Only the first word of a book or article title should be capitalised. However, all the words in the title of a journal should be
capitalised. Titles of both books and journals should be italicized. The second and subsequent line(s) of each reference should be
indented 5 spaces. When there is more than one person who has written the work, use the symbol “&” rather than “and”.

Basic Forms for Sources in Print

Book with one author
Author, A. (year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
Ellis, D. (1997). Becoming a master student. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Book with two or more authors

Rhoden, C., & Gordon, C. T. (2000). Studying engineering at university. St. Leonards, Austral: Allen & Unwin.

Two or more books by the same author: Arrange by date of publication from earliest to most recent
Elbow, P. (1973). Writing without teachers. New York: Oxford University Press.
Elbow, P. (1991). Writing with power. New York: Oxford University Press.

A book or article with no author or editor named (e.g. encyclopaedia, dictionary)

Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

A part of a book (chapter or essay)

Author(s). (year). Name of chapter or article. In Editor’s Name(s) first name initials first and full last name (Ed.), Title
of collection. (pp. ). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Hairstone, M. (1994). The winds of change: Thomas Kuhn and the revolution in the teaching of writing. In S. Perl (Ed.),
Landmark essays on writing process. (pp. 113-126). Davis, CA: Hermagoras Press.
English translation of a book
Servan-Schreiber, J. –L. (1988). The art of time (F. Philip, Trans.). New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Inc.
(Original work published 1987)
N.B. In text, cite both original and translation publication dates. E.g. (Servan-Schreiber, 1987/1988)

Article in a periodical (such as a journal or magazine)

Author, A., Author B., & Author C. (1994) Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume #, pages.
Aretz, A., Bolen, M. T., & Devereux, K.E. (1997). Critical thinking assessment of college students. Journal of College
Reading and Learning, 28(1), 12-23.

Government publication
Ontario Legislative Assembly. (1990). Standing committee on social development. Report on food banks (2nd Session, 34th
Parliament). Toronto: Government of Ontario.

Citation of a work discussed in a secondary source

N.B. Here’s how to cite information that your source (secondary source) got from another source (primary source).
Cite the original (primary) source in the body of your paper. Cite the secondary source (the book you actually consulted) in
your References list. Suppose you were consulting I. Leki’s book, Understanding ESL Writers: A Guide for Teachers, and
wanted to use information that this author gives from a study written by Burt and Kiparsky:

In the text: Burt and Kiparsky’s study (as cited in Leki, 1992), . . .

In the References list:

Leki, I. (1992). Understanding ESL writers: A guide for teachers. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

Electronic Sources
Article on a web site
O’Malley, M. (1999). How to benefit from a low grade. Retrieved Feb. 20, 2002, from The Bridge:Concordia University New
Student Program web site: http://relish.concordia.ca/Newstudent.BRIDGE/v1n3b.htm#omalley

A web page
Student Learning Services. (2000). Learning from your textbook Retrieved January 31, 2002, from Concordia University,
Counselling and Development web site: http://cdev.concordia.ca/CnD/studentlearn/Help/reading.html

NOTE: Do not include any personal communications such as interviews, emails, or course lectures in the APA References list.
Cite sources for these only in the text. Here is an example.
Canadian women benefited from women’s involvement in World War II (Lecture by G. Decarie, Sept. 2001).

August, 2003
Student Learning Services, Concordia University