WEEK 17: APA STYLE OF DOCUMENTATION

FORMATTING and STYLE GUIDE

American Psychological Association (APA)

 This style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences.
 It uses the Author-Date format.
 When quoting directly or indirectly from a source, the source must be
acknowledged in the text by author name and year of publication.

IN-TEXT
To cite information directly or indirectly, there are two ways to acknowledge citations:
1. Make it a part of a sentence.
2. Put it in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
Direct quotation – use quotation marks around the quote and include page numbers
1. Cohen and Lotan (2014) argue that “many different kinds of abilities are essential
for any profession” (p.151).
2. “Many different kinds of abilities are essential for any profession” (Cohen &
Lotan, 2014, p.151).
Note: Be aware for a quotation of 40 words or more
Indirect Quotation/paraphrasing/summarizing – no quotation marks
1. Professional knowledge alone does not make someone a very capable
professional (Cohen & Lotan, 2014).
2. According to Cohen and Lotan (2014), professional knowledge alone does not
make someone a very capable professional.
Note: Page numbers are optional when paraphrasing, although it is useful to
include them.
Citations from a secondary source
1. Gould’s (1981) research “raises fundamental doubts as to whether we can
continue to think of intelligence as unidimensional” (as cited in Cohen & Lotan,
2014, pp.151-152).
2. Intelligence cannot be believed to consist of one single entity any more (Gould,
1981, as cited in Cohen & Lotan, 2014).
Note: To cite a source you found in another source, you must acknowledge all
the authors.
 The author(s) of the source referred to
i.e Gould, 1981
 The author(s) of the work which contains the original source
i.e. Cohen & Lotan, 2014
 In the reference list, only the book by Cohen & Lotan should be
acknowledged. Do not list Gould.

EXAMPLES OF REFERENCES BY TYPE

In a reference list In-text citation
1. Book with one author (King, 2000) or
King, M. (2000). Wrestling with the angel: A life of Janet King (2000)
Frame. Auckland, New Zealand: Viking.

2. Book with two authors (Dancey & Reidy, 2004) or

Dancey, C.P., & Reidy, J. (2004). Statistics without maths Dancey and Reidy (2004)
for psychology: Using SPSS for Windows (3rd ed).
Harlow, England: Pearson/Prentice Hall
3. Book with three to five authors (Krause, Bochner, &
Krause, K.L., Bochner., & Duchesne, S. (2006). Educational Duchesne, 2006)
psychology for learning and teaching (2nd ed.) then
Melbourne, Australia: Thomson. (Krause et al., 2006)
4. Book or report by a corporate author e.g. organization, (International Labor
association, government department Organization, 2007) or
International Labor Organization. (2007). Equality at work: (International Labor
Tackling the challenges (International Labor Organization [ILO], 2007)
Conference report). Geneva, Switzerland: Author. then
(ILO, 2007)
5. Book chapter in edited book (Kestly, 2010) or
Kestly, T. (2010). Group sandplay in elementary schools. In Kestly (2010)
A.A. Drewes, & C.E Shaefer (Eds), School-based play
therapy (2nd ed., pp. 257-282). Hoboken, NJ: John
Wileys & Sons.
6. Conference paper online (Bochner, 1996) or
Bochner, S. (1996, November). Mentoring in higher Bochner (1996)
education: Issues to be addressed in developing a
mentoring program. Paper presented at the
Australian Association for Research in Education
Conference, Singapore. Retrieved from
http://www.aare.edu.au/96pap/bochs96018.txt
7. Course handout/Lecture notes (electronic version) (Archard, Merry, &
Archard, S., Merry, R., & Nicholson, C. (2011). Karakia and Nicholson, 2011)
waiata [Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from TEPS757- then subsequently, if 3-5
11B (NET): Communities of Learners authors
 website:http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz/mod/resource/vi (Archard et al., 2011)
ew.php?id=174650
8. Film (Preston, 2010)
Preston, G. (Director/Producer). (2010). Home by
Christmas [Motion picture]. New Zealand: Gaylene
Preston Production.
9. Journal article (academic/scholarly) with DOI (Cavenagh & Ramadurai,
Cavenagh, N., & Ramadurai, R. (2017). On the distances 2017) or
between Latin squares and the smallest defining set Cavenagh & Ramadurai
size. Journal of Combinatorial Designs, 25(4), 147– (2017)
158. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcd.21529
9a. Journal article with no DOI Germann, Ebbes, and
Germann, F., Ebbes, P., & Grewal, R. (2015). The chief Grewal (2015) claim that
marketing officer matters! Journal of Marketing, “there have been …” (p.
79(3), 1-22. 19).
Germann et al. (2015)
argue …
10. Magazine – popular/trade/general interest (Goodwin, 2002) or
Goodwin, D. K. (2002, February 4). How I caused that Goodwin (2002) defends ...
story. Time, 159(5), 69.
11. Newspaper Article (Coster, 2017) or Coster
Coster, D. (2017, June 12). Driver who caused man's death (2017) reports ...
is placed into dementia care. Stuff. Retrieved from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
12. Personal Communication (W. Bush, personal
Note: Information such as Letters, telephone communication, March 19,
conversations, emails, interviews, and private social 2017)
networking is called “Personal Communication”, and no
reference list entry is required
13. Reference Book – dictionary or encyclopedia entry (Cerveny & Haines-Young,
Cerveny, R. S., & Haines-Young, R. (2016). Climate change. 2016) or Cerveny and
In D. S. G. Thomas, & A. Goudie (Eds.), The dictionary Haines-Young (2016)
of physical geography (4th ed.). Oxford, United state ...
Kingdom: Blackwell.
14. Webpage (New Zealand Trade and
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. (n.d.). Agribusiness. Enterprise, n.d., para. 1)
Retrieved from https://www.nzte.govt.nz For direct quote, cite the
paragraph number in text
APA IN-TEXT CITATION: Basic Citation Styles
Type of First citation in Subsequent Parenthetical Parenthetical
citation text citations in format, first format,
text citation in text subsequent
citations in text
One work by Walker (2007) Walker (2007) (Walker, 2007) (Walker, 2007)
one author
One work by Walker and Walker and (Walker & (Walker &
two authors Allen (2004) Allen (2004) Allen, 2004) Allen, 2004)
One work by Bradley, Bradley et al. (Bradley, (Bradley et al.,
three authors Ramirez, and (1999) Ramirez, & Soo, 1999)
Soo (1999) 1999)
One work by Bradley, Bradley et al. (Bradley, (Bradley et al.,
four authors Ramirez, Soo, (2006) Ramirez, Soo, & 2006)
and Walsh Walsh, 2006)
(2006)
One work by Walker, Allen, Walker et al. (Walker, Allen, (Walker et al.,
five authors Bradley, (2008) Bradley, 2008)
Ramirez, and Ramirez, & Soo,
Soo (2008) 2008)
One work by six Wasserstein et Wasserstein et (Wasserstein et (Wasserstein et
or more al. (2005) al. (2005) al., 2005) al., 2005)
authors
Groups (readily National NIMH (2003) (National (NIMH, 2003)
identified Institute of Institute of
through Mental Health Mental Health
abbreviation) (NIMH, 2003) [NIMH], 2003)
as authors
Groups (no University of University of (University of (University of
abbreviation) Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
as authors (2005) (2005) 2005) 2005)

Reference:
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.