7th Edition

Common Reference Examples Guide

This guide contains examples of common APA Style references. Section numbers indicate where to find
the examples in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
For more information on references and reference examples, see Chapters 9 and 10 of the Publication
Manual as well as the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.). Also see the Reference Examples pages on
the APA Style website.

Journal Article (Section 10.1)

Lachner, A., Backfisch, I., Hoogerheide, V., van Gog, T., & Renkl, A. (2020). Timing matters! Explaining
between study phases enhances students’ learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(4),
841–853. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000396

Online Magazine Article (Section 10.1)

Gander, K. (2020, April 29). COVID-19 vaccine being developed in Australia raises antibodies to
neutralize virus in pre-clinical tests. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/australia-covid-19-
vaccine-neutralize-virus-1500849

Print Magazine Article (Section 10.1)

Nicholl, K. (2020, May). A royal spark. Vanity Fair, 62(5), 56–65, 100.

Online Newspaper Article (Section 10.1)

Roberts, S. (2020, April 9). Early string ties us to Neanderthals. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/science/neanderthals-fiber-string-math.html

Print Newspaper Article (Section 10.1)

Reynolds, G. (2019, April 9). Different strokes for athletic hearts. The New York Times, D4.
Blog Post (Section 10.1)
Rutledge, P. (2019, March 11). The upside of social media. The Media Psychology Blog.
https://www.pamelarutledge.com/2019/03/11/the-upside-of-social-media/

Authored Book (Section 10.2)

Kaufman, K. A., Glass, C. R., & Pineau, T. R. (2018). Mindful sport performance enhancement: Mental
training for athletes and coaches. American Psychological Association.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000048-000

Edited Book Chapter (Section 10.3)

Zeleke, W. A., Hughes, T. L., & Drozda, N. (2020). Home–school collaboration to promote mind–body
health. In C. Maykel & M. A. Bray (Eds.), Promoting mind–body health in schools: Interventions for
mental health professionals (pp. 11–26). American Psychological Association.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000157-002

Online Dictionary Entry (Section 10.3)

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Internet addiction. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved
April 24, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/internet-addiction

Report by a Group Author (Section 10.4)

World Health Organization. (2014). Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young
child nutrition. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/113048/WHO_NMH_NHD_14.1_
eng.pdf?ua=1

Report by Individual Authors (Section 10.4)

Winthrop, R., Ziegler, L., Handa, R., & Fakoya, F. (2019). How playful learning can help leapfrog progress
in education. Center for Universal Education at Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/
uploads/2019/04/how_playful_learning_can_help_leapfrog_progress_in_education.pdf

Press Release (Section 10.4)

American Psychological Association. (2020, March 2). APA reaffirms psychologists’ role in combating
climate change [Press release]. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2020/03/combating-
climate-change

Conference Session (Section 10.5)

Davidson, R. J. (2019, August 8–11). Well-being is a skill [Conference session]. APA 2019 Convention,
Chicago, IL, United States. https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/a5ea5d51/files/uploaded/APA2019_
Program_190708.pdf

2
Dissertation From a Database (Section 10.6)
Horvath-Plyman, M. (2018). Social media and the college student journey: An examination of how social
media use impacts social capital and affects college choice, access, and transition (Publication No.
10937367) [Doctoral dissertation, New York University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Preprint Article (Section 10.8)

Latimier, A., Peyre, H., & Ramus, F. (2020). A meta-analytic review of the benefit of spacing out retrieval
practice episodes on retention. PsyArXiv. https://psyarxiv.com/kzy7u/

Data Set (Section 10.9)

O’Donohue, W. (2017). Content analysis of undergraduate psychology textbooks (ICPSR 21600; Version V1)
[Data set]. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36966.v1

Film or Video (Section 10.12)

Doctor, P., & Del Carmen, R. (Directors). (2015). Inside out [Film]. Walt Disney Pictures; Pixar Animation
Studios.

TV Series Episode (Section 10.12)

Dippold, K. (Writer), & Trim, M. (Director). (2011, April 14). Fancy party (Season 3, Episode 9) [TV series
episode]. In G. Daniels, H. Klein, D. Miner, & M. Schur (Executive Producers), Parks and recreation.
Deedle-Dee Productions; Fremulon; 3 Arts Entertainment; Universal Media Studios.

Webinar (Section 10.12)

Kamin, H. S., Lee, C. L., & McAdoo, T. L. (2020). Creating references using seventh edition APA Style
[Webinar]. American Psychological Association. https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-
webinars

YouTube Video (Section 10.12)

Above The Noise. (2017, October 18). Can procrastination be a good thing? [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQMwmBNNOnQ

Song or Track (Section 10.13)

Nirvana. (1991). Smells like teen spirit [Song]. On Nevermind. DGC.

Radio Broadcast (Section 10.13)

Hersher, R. (2020, March 19). Spring starts today all over America, which is weird [Radio broadcast]. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/817237429/spring-starts-today-all-over america-which-is-weird

3
Podcast Episode (Section 10.13)
Santos, L. (Host). (n.d.). Psychopaths and superheroes (No. 1) [Audio podcast episode]. In The happiness
lab with Dr. Laurie Santos. Pushkin Industries. https://www.happinesslab.fm/season-2-episodes/
episode-1

Infographic (Section 10.14)

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Data sharing [Infographic]. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/
data-sharing-infographic.pdf

PowerPoint From a Classroom Website (Section 10.14)

Mack, R., & Spake, G. (2018). Citing open source images and formatting references for presentations
[PowerPoint slides]. Canvas@FNU. https://fnu.onelogin.com/login

Tweet (Section 10.15)

Obama, B. [@BarackObama]. (2020, April 7). It’s World Health Day, and we owe a profound debt of
gratitude to all our medical professionals. They’re still giving [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/
BarackObama/status/1247555328365023238

Open Educational Resource (Section 10.16)

Fagan, J. (2019, March 25). Nursing clinical brain. OER Commons. Retrieved January 7, 2020, from
https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/53029-nursing-clinical-brain/view

Webpage (Section 10.16)

Chandler, N. (2020, April 9). What’s the difference between Sasquatch and Bigfoot? howstuffworks.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/sasquatch-bigfoot-difference.
htm

Webpage on a News Website (Section 10.16)

Machado, J., & Turner, K. (2020, March 7). The future of feminism. Vox. https://www.vox.com/
identities/2020/3/7/21163193/international-womens-day-2020

Webpage With a Retrieval Date (Section 10.16)

Center for Systems Science and Engineering. (2020, May 6). COVID-19 dashboard by the Center for
Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Johns Hopkins
University & Medicine, Coronavirus Resource Center. Retrieved May 6, 2020, from https://
coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

© 2021 CITE THIS HANDOUT:

Last updated March 23, 2021
More information on APA Style can be found in the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and the Concise Guide to APA
Style (7th ed.).
American Psychological Association. (2021). Common
reference examples guide.
https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/
reference-examples.pdf
We thank Traci Giuliano, of Southwestern University, for
providing the inspiration for this content.
7th Edition
Avoiding Plagiarism and
Self-Plagiarism Guide
There are two common types of plagiarism: (a) improper use of someone else’s words and (b) improper
use of someone else’s ideas. Both forms of plagiarism involve using someone else’s words or ideas without
appropriately acknowledging the author or source.

Word plagiarism occurs when you credit for the wording of the idea.) If you use an
use another author’s exact words or author’s exact words, quotation marks and
location information must accompany the in-text
phrases without quotation marks. citation.

• Whenever possible, paraphrase sources in your
own words rather than directly quoting them.
Paraphrasing helps you to synthesize ideas and
integrate them into the context of your paper.
• Use direct quotes sparingly and only when it is
important to reproduce both what was said and
how it was said.
• If you use an author’s words directly, even your
own words from a previous paper, you must use
quotation marks (in addition to an in-text citation)
to let readers know that these are not your
original words.
• The most blatant form of word plagiarism occurs
when students copy an author’s exact words and
knowingly do not use quotation marks or include
an in-text citation.
• A more common type of word plagiarism is when
students think they can use an author’s exact (or
very similar words) and include only an in-text
citation. (The citation gives the author credit for
the ideas, but the quotation marks give the author
• Another common type of word plagiarism occurs
when students mistakenly think they have
paraphrased an author’s words because they
added or removed a few words or replaced some
of the words with synonyms. This is called
patchwriting. If your wording has a similar
sentence structure and uses the same words and
phrases of the original author, you are
patchwriting. (See the example next.) Paraphrase
the idea in your own words instead.
Example passage from Ward et al. (2006): Findings
indicate that media content is not uniformly negative.
Information about sexual health, risks, and thoughtful
decision-making is sometimes present.
Plagiarized (patchwritten) example: According to
Ward et al. (2006), media content is not all negative,
and information is sometimes present concerning
sexual health, risks, and thoughtful decision-making.
Avoiding Word Plagiarism For example, they may write a whole paragraph
about a study and then cite the study’s author and
• It is important to paraphrase other authors’ works in
year in the last sentence in parentheses, thinking
your own words.
that citation covers the previous sentences. Instead,
• When reading a description of an idea or study, the in-text citation should appear at the beginning
it can be hard to represent that idea or finding as of the paraphrased passage, to establish its origin at
clearly and succinctly as the author did without the outset.
plagiarizing. The easiest way to avoid repeating
• Another common form of idea plagiarism is when
sentence structure or lifting phrases is to read a
students remember a fact they learned in class
section of a work, and then put the work down and
and put it in their paper without citing it or when
write notes in your own words.
they write about a fact they heard somewhere and
• As a general rule, paraphrase when taking notes on mistakenly assume it is common knowledge.
a source. Do not write the author’s words verbatim
without putting them in quotation marks and
including the source location in your notes. Avoiding Idea Plagiarism
• Always attribute every idea, fact, or finding you put • To avoid idea plagiarism, use (a) signal phrases (e.g.,
in your paper when you write it. “I believe that”) to designate your own idea, or
(b) include an in-text citation to a source to signal
someone else’s idea.
Idea plagiarism occurs when
• Most important, always search the literature to find a
you present an idea from another source for any ideas, facts, or findings that you put in
source without citing the author your paper.
and year. • See Chapter 8 of the Publication Manual and the
• Any time you write about a concept or idea in a In-Text Citations and Instructional Aids pages of the
paper without including an in-text citation (or clearly APA Style website for more information on creating
linking it to a previous sentence containing an in-text in-text citations, integrating source material, and
citation), you are claiming the idea as your own (if it paraphrasing and quoting from a work.
is not, that is plagiarism). For examples, see
Sections 8.1 and 8.24 in the seventh edition
Publication Manual on appropriate level of citation
and long paraphrases.
• The most blatant form of idea plagiarism occurs
when students see a good argument or idea in a
paper and then represent that argument or idea as
their own.
• A more common form of idea plagiarism is when
students cite a source incorrectly because they
do not follow proper in-text citation guidelines, as
described in Chapter 8 of the Publication Manual.

SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020).

More information on avoiding plagiarism and self-plagiarism Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
can be found in Sections 8.2 and 8.3 of both the Publication (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and
the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.). CREDIT: TRACI GIULIANO, SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
7th Edition

In-Text Citation Checklist

Complete the following checklist for each sentence in your paper that relies on another
source. Remember to cite all ideas, findings, results, or other information that is not your
own and is not common knowledge. It may be helpful to highlight or annotate your paper
to remind yourself of what information comes from another source and what is your
contribution.

For each sentence that relies on another source ...

Have you paraphrased as much as possible, rather than quoted?

If you directly quoted, is the quotation necessary? Could you paraphrase instead?

For each sentence that you paraphrased ...

Did you avoid patchwriting? Have you done more than omit a few words and substitute
synonyms? To make a better paraphrase, reframe ideas and make them specific to your
topic and argument.

Did you avoid overcitation? For long paraphrases, have you used one citation when
introducing the idea and not repeated the citation unless there is a change of topic,
source, or paragraph?

For each citation of a paraphrase ...

Does your citation include the author and year?

For parenthetical citations, is there a comma between the author and year? (Author, year)

For narrative citations, is the date in parentheses after the author? Author (year)
 For each sentence that contains a quotation ...

Is the quotation incorporated into a sentence you wrote? Did you use appropriate
punctuation (comma, colon, no punctuation) to introduce the quotation?
Do short quotations (<40 words) appear in double quotation marks?
Do long quotations (40+ words) appear in the block quotation format?

Is the block double-spaced?

Is the block indented 0.5" from the left margin?
Have you removed any quotation marks from around the block?

For each citation of a direct quotation ...

Does your citation include the author, year, and page number (or alternative)?

For parenthetical citations, are there commas between the author and year and
between the year and page number? Sentence "quotation" (Author, year, p. 20).

For narrative citations, does the page number appear in parentheses after the
quotation? Author (year) "quotation" (p. 20).

For all in-text citations, in relation to the reference list ...

Do spellings of author names in the text match spellings in the reference list?

Are author names abbreviated correctly from reference list entries (e.g., first author
plus “et al.” for 3+ authors, abbreviations for group authors as appropriate)?

Do publication years in the text match the years in the reference list?

Does each in-text citation match only one reference list entry? If citations are
ambiguous (could match more than one entry), follow the guidelines in Publication
Manual Sections 8.18 to 8.20.

For all reference list entries ...

Have you followed the reference examples in Chapter 10?

Are all works in the reference list cited in the text? For any uncited works,
either cite them in the text or remove the entries from the reference list.

More information on in-text citation can be found in Chapter 8 of SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020).
both the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
Association (7th ed.) and the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
ed.). Reference examples appear in Chapter 10.
7th Edition

Journal Article
Reference Checklist
The following are general guidelines for formatting reference list entries for journal articles in APA Style.
Find examples of journal article references in Section 10.1 of both the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (7th ed.) and the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.) as well as on the
Journal Articles References page of the APA Style website.
Chapter 9 of the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide show these general guidelines for creating
references and reference lists plus exceptions and cases not addressed in this checklist. Examples of references
for other types of works are shown in Chapter 10 of the Publication Manual and the Concise Guide and on the
Reference Examples pages.

Author(s) Article Title

List authors’ names in the same order as shown
on the first page of the article.
Write each author’s last name, followed by a
comma, and then their initials—no full first or
middle names.
Use a period and a space after each initial.
For works with two to 20 authors, put a comma
after the initials of the first author and before
the last name of the next author, and then do
the same for subsequent authors.
Journal Name
Use “&” before the final author’s last name.
For works with 21 or more authors, list the first
19 authors’ names; insert an ellipsis (. . .), but no
ampersand; and add the final author’s name.
Check that there is a period after the final
author’s initials.
Year
Place the year of publication in parentheses.
Use the year only (other periodicals [e.g., blog,
newspaper, magazine] may include a month,
day, or season).
Put a period after the closing parenthesis.
Write the title in sentence case: Capitalize only
the first word of the title, the first word after
punctuation that separates a main title from a
subtitle (e.g., ending periods, question marks,
colons, and some dashes), and proper nouns;
lowercase all other words.
Do not use italics or other formatting for the
title.
Put a period at the end of the title.
Use the journal name shown on the work
(e.g., at the top of the article or on the cover
of the journal)—do not abbreviate it yourself.
Write the journal name in title case:
Capitalize most words; lowercase only words
of three letters or fewer with the exception of
the first word in the title, the first word after
punctuation that separates a main title from
a subtitle (e.g., ending periods, colons, and
some dashes), and proper nouns.
Italicize the journal name.
Put a comma after the journal name—do not
italicize the comma.
Volume Number and Issue Number Put a period after the second page number.
Italicize the volume number. If the article has an article number or
eLocator instead of a page range, write the
Include the issue number when available.
word “Article” and then the article number
Put the issue number in parentheses directly instead of a page range, followed by a
after the volume number—do not put a period.
space between the volume number and the
opening parenthesis. DOI or URL
Do not use italics or other formatting for the Include the DOI if available; use the Crossref
issue number and its parentheses. DOI search engine if you cannot find the
Put a comma after the closing parenthesis— DOI.
do not italicize the comma. Include the URL if the article is retrieved
If no issue number is shown on the work, online (but not from a database) and has
omit it and place a comma directly after the no DOI.
volume number—do not italicize the comma If the article comes from an academic
after the volume number. research database and does not have a
DOI, do not include any electronic retrieval
Page Number information in the reference.
Include the full page range of the article. Copy and paste the DOI or URL directly
Do not use italics or other formatting. from your web browser.
Separate numbers in the page range using Do not put a period at the end of the
an en dash (–).1 DOI or URL.
Do not include page abbreviations, such as Do not write “Retrieved from” or
“pp.” or “pg.” “Accessed from” before the DOI or URL.
See the APA Style website for
more information on how to format
DOIs and URLs and when to include a URL
for articles retrieved from a database.

Examples of Journal Article References

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of
storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture,
8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018).
Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House.” PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

Sanchiz, M., Chevalier, A., & Amadieu, F. (2017). How do older and young adults start searching for information?
Impact of age, domain knowledge and problem complexity on the different steps of information searching.
Computers in Human Behavior, 72, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.02.038
1
For help creating an en dash, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_make_dashes

SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020).

More information on and examples of journal article references Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
can be found in Section 10.1 of the Publication Manual of the (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and the Concise
Guide to APA Style (7th ed.). CREDIT: JULIE HILL, LASALLE UNIVERSITY
~
APA
STYLE
7th Edition
Numbers and Statistics Guide
Numbers
see Publication Manual Sections 6.32–6.35 for guidelines on using numerals vs. words
• Use numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) for the following:
° numbers 10 and above; see exceptions in the
next section
° numbers used in statistics (e.g., 2.45, 3 times
as many, 2 x 2 design)
° numbers used with units of measurement
(e.g., 7-mg dose, 3-in. increments)
° times (e.g., 1 hr 34 min), ages (e.g., 2 years old),
and dates (e.g., March 6)
° scores and points on a scale (e.g., score of 6,
5-point Likert scale)
° exact sums of money (e.g., $10 reward)
° numbers used as numerals (e.g., the numeral 4
on the chart)
° numbers denoting a place in a numbered
series (e.g., Grade 6, Items 2 and 3, Row 4)
° parts of books (e.g., Chapter 1)
table and figure numbers (e.g., Figure 1,
°
Table 2)
• Use words (one, two, three, etc.) for the following:
° numbers zero through nine (e.g., five members);
see exceptions in the previous section
° numbers beginning a sentence, heading, or
title (e.g., Sixty participants volunteered for)
° common fractions (e.g., one half, one fifth,
a two-thirds majority)
universally accepted phrases (e.g., Twelve
°
Apostles, Five Pillars of Islam)
• Combine numerals and words to express back-
to-back numerical modifiers (e.g., ten 7-point
scales, 2 two-way interactions).
• Commas in numbers
Use commas between groups of three digits in
°
most figures of 1,000 or more.
Do not use commas in page numbers, binary
°
digits, serial numbers, degrees of temperature,
degrees of freedom, and acoustic frequencies
above 1000.
• Plurals of numbers
° Add “s” or “es” (without an apostrophe) to
form plural numerals or words (e.g., fours,
sixes, 1950s, Ms, ps).
° Do not make symbols or measurement
abbreviations plural (e.g., 3 cm, not 3 cms).
Decimals
see Publication Manual Section 6.36 for guidelines
on decimal places
• Put a zero before the decimal point when
a number is less than 1 but the statistic
can exceed 1.
• Do not use a zero before a decimal when the
statistic cannot be greater than 1 (proportion,
correlation, level of statistical significance).
• In general:
° Report means and standard deviations for
data measured on integer scales (e.g.,
surveys and questionnaires) to one decimal.
° Report other means and standard
deviations and correlations, proportions,
and inferential statistics (t, F, chi-square) to
two decimals.
° Report exact p values to two or three
decimals (e.g., p = .006, p = .03).
° However, report p values less than .001 as
“p < .001.”
• Keep in mind that these are general guidelines
and that the most important consideration
when deciding the number of decimal
places to use in reporting results is the
following: Round as much as possible while
considering prospective use and statistical
precision. See Publication Manual Section
6.36 for additional guidelines.
0 AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
More information on numbers and statistics can be found in Sections 6.32–6.48 of
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and in
Sections 6.1–6.12 of the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.).
Statistics
see Publication Manual Sections 6.40–6.45 for
guidelines on reporting statistics
• Do not repeat statistics in both the text and a
table or figure.
• In tables and figures, report exact p values (e.g.,
p = .015), unless p is < .001 (instead write as
"<.001").
• Put a space before and after a mathematical
operator (e.g., minus, plus, greater than, less
than). For a negative value, put a space only
before the minus sign, not after it (e.g., –8.25).
• Use the symbol or abbreviation for statistics with a
mathematical operator (e.g., M = 7.7).
• Use the term, not the symbol, for statistics
in the text (e.g., the means were).
• Use italics for letters used as statistical symbols or
algebraic variables (e.g., contained 587 t-test p
values; R2 = .12).
• However, use standard (nonitalic) type for Greek
letters. See Publication Manual Table 6.5 for
specific examples.
• Do not define symbols or abbreviations that
represent statistics (e.g., M, SD, F, t, df, p, N, n,
OR) and abbreviations or symbols composed of
Greek letters. See Table 6.5.
• Define other abbreviations (e.g., AIC, ANOVA,
BIC, CFA, CI, NFI, RMSEA, SEM). See Table 6.5.
SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020).
Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
CREDIT: TRACI GIULIANO, SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
7th Edition

Paraphrasing and Citation Activities

In any academic paper, writers must show how their work relates to and builds on existing
research. However, published works are usually dense with information. Even one sentence may
include several interconnected ideas, only some of which are relevant to the paper topic. Writers
may need to summarize one sentence, several sentences, or entire studies.

Effective paraphrasing and citation skills allow writers to clearly and concisely present and credit
the most important or relevant ideas from published works in their papers. With these skills,
writers become better prepared to make unique contributions to knowledge in their field.

Instructions
Complete the following activities to practice your paraphrasing and citation skills. Then compare
your answers with those from the APA Style team (see pages 6 and 7 of this instructional aid) as
well as your classmates or colleagues.
In completing the activities, you can type your answers directly into the PDF using the text fields.
If you need more space or have trouble applying formatting (e.g., italics), copy the needed
information into your preferred word-processing program and edit it there.
Start by asking yourself the following questions:
1. Did you paraphrase effectively? Or did you patchwrite (change only a few words, substitute
synonyms on a one-to-one basis) rather than paraphrase (restate in your own words,
reframe ideas for your paper context)?
2. How are your sentences different from the sentences from the APA Style team? From those
of your classmates or colleagues? How are they the same?
3. What other ways are there to paraphrase? How could you emphasize different ideas?

Reminders and Tips

Remember, there are many acceptable ways to paraphrase a sentence; the sentences in these
activities are only examples.

Want more practice? Select your own passages and try the activities again.
Activity 1: Paraphrasing One Sentence
This activity consists of three steps:
1. Read the following published sentence and then paraphrase it—that is, rewrite it in
your own words. You do not need to repeat every element. Instead, try changing the
focus of the sentence while preserving the meaning of the original.
2. Write an APA Style reference list entry for the published work using the source
information provided. Look up the document type in Chapter 10 of the Publication
Manual and follow the appropriate reference example.
3. Figure out the in-text citation that corresponds to the reference list entry. Then add a
parenthetical citation to your paraphrased sentence. Use the standard citation formats
shown in Table 8.1 of the Publication Manual.

Published Sentence
Leaders who lack emotional and social competence undoubtedly can become a liability to
organizations, directly leading to employee disengagement, absenteeism, stress-disability
claims, hostile-workplace lawsuits, and increased health care expenses.

Source Information

• Document type: Journal article (Section 10.1)

• Authors: Kenneth Nowack and Paul Zak
• Publication year: 2020
• Article title: Empathy enhancing antidotes for interpersonally toxic leaders
• Journal information: Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research , Volume 72,
Issue 2, pages 119–133
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000164

Your paraphrased sentence and parenthetical in-text citation:

Your reference list entry:

2
Activity 2: Summarizing Multiple Sentences
This activity consists of three steps:

1. Read the following published sentences and summarize the authors' findings in your
own words in one sentence.
2. Write an APA Style reference list entry for the published work using the source
information provided (see Chapter 10 of the Publication Manual for examples).
3. Figure out the in-text citation that corresponds to your reference list entry. Then add
a narrative citation to your paraphrased sentence. You do not need to re-cite the
works that are already cited in the published sentences.

Published Sentences
Research suggests that people exercise less when demands in their job or studies increase
(Englert & Rummel, 2016; Oaten & Cheng, 2005; Sonnentag & Jelden, 2009). Building upon
these findings, the present study investigated the relationship between university students’
implicit theories about willpower and the amount they exercise during their final examination
period. We hypothesized and found that students with a limited theory about willpower—
those who believed that their self-control resembles a limited resource—exercised
significantly less than students with a nonlimited theory during this stressful period (about 220
min less over the course of 2 weeks).

Source Information
• Document type: Journal article (Section 10.1)
• Authors: Katharina Bernecker and Jule Kramer
• Publication year: 2020
• Article title: Implicit theories about willpower are associated with exercise levels
during the academic examination period
• Journal information: Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology , Volume 9,
Issue 2, pages 216–231
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000182

Your paraphrased sentence and narrative in-text citation:

Your reference list entry:

3
Activity 3: Writing a Long Paraphrase
This activity consists of three steps:
1. Read the following published paragraphs and summarize them in your own words in
two to three sentences (a long paraphrase). Do not repeat every idea. Instead,
highlight important findings and accurately represent the meaning of the original.
2. Write an APA Style reference list entry for the published work using the source
information provided (see Chapter 10 in the Publication Manual for examples).
3. Figure out the in-text citation that corresponds to your reference list entry. Then add
either a parenthetical or narrative citation to your first sentence. You do not need to
re-cite the works that are already cited in the published paragraphs.

Published Paragraphs
Food selectivity is the most frequently documented and well-researched feeding problem
associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It most often involves strong preferences
for starches and snack foods, coinciding with a bias against fruits and vegetables. Associated
mealtime difficulties include disruptive mealtime behavior (e.g., tantrums, crying), rigidity
surrounding eating (e.g., only eating in a specific location, requiring certain utensils), and
avoidance of certain food items based on the sensory characteristic (e.g., texture).
Severe food selectivity in ASD most often involves deficits in dietary variety, not volume, and
children with ASD typically consume enough food to meet gross energy needs (Sharp, Berry,
et al., 2013; Sharp et al., 2014). Because children with ASD typically consume an adequate
volume of food, this may explain why, historically, feeding concerns in ASD have been
overlooked in relation to other areas of clinical concern. The clinical picture, however, for
food selectivity in ASD is more complicated from a nutritional and medical standpoint and
requires looking beyond anthropometrics to determine the overall impact of atypical
patterns of intake, including enhanced risk for underlying dietary insufficiencies and
associated poor health outcomes (e.g., obesity).

Source Information
• Document type: Edited book chapter (Section 10.3)
• Chapter authors: T. Lindsey Burrell, William Sharp, Cristina Whitehouse, and
Cynthia R. Johnson
• Publication year: 2019
• Chapter title: Parent training for food selectivity in autism spectrum disorder
• Book editors: Cynthia R. Johnson, Eric M. Butter, and Lawrence Scahill
• Book title: Parent training for autism spectrum disorder: Improving the quality
of life for children and their families
• Chapter page range: 173–202
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0000111-008

4
Your paraphrased sentences and in-text citation (either format):

Your reference list entry:

5
APA Style Team Answers
Activity 1: Paraphrasing One Sentence
Our paraphrased sentence and parenthetical in-text citation:
Employees experience negative outcomes such as stress and disengagement when their organizational

leaders lack emotional and social skills (Nowack & Zak, 2020).

Our reference list entry:

Nowack, K., & Zak, P. (2020). Empathy enhancing antidotes for interpersonally toxic leaders. Consulting
Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 72(2), 119–133. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000164

Activity 2: Summarizing Multiple Sentences

Our paraphrased sentence and narrative in-text citation:
Bernecker and Kramer (2020) found that when students believed they had a limited amount of willpower,

they were less likely to exercise during the stressful time of final exams than students who believed they

had a nonlimited amount of willpower.

Our reference list entry:

Bernecker, K., & Kramer, J. (2020). Implicit theories about willpower are associated with exercise levels
during the academic examination period. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 9(2),

216–231. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000182

6
APA Style Team Answers, continued
Activity 3: Writing a Long Paraphrase
Our paraphrased sentence and parenthetical in-text citation:
Children with autism spectrum disorder are often very selective about what food they will eat and
experience difficulties during mealtimes (Burrell et al., 2019). For example, these children may

experience tantrums if they do not get the foods they want (usually starchy foods or snack foods).

Although they usually eat enough calories, autistic children may be at greater risk for nutritional and

health problems such as obesity.

Our paraphrased sentence and narrative in-text citation:

Burrell et al. (2019) discussed how children with autism spectrum disorder are often very selective

about what food they will eat and experience difficulties during mealtimes. For example, these

children may experience tantrums if they do not get the foods they want (usually starchy foods or

snack foods). Although they usually eat enough calories, autistic children may be at greater risk for

nutritional and health problems such as obesity.

Our reference list entry:

Burrell, T. L., Sharp, W., Whitehouse, C., & Johnson, C. R. (2019). Parent training for food selectivity in
autism spectrum disorder. In C. R. Johnson, E. M. Butter, & L. Scahill (Eds.), Parent training for
autism spectrum disorder: Improving the quality of life for children and their families (pp. 173–
202). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000111-008

More information on paraphrasing and in-text citation can be
found in Chapter 8 of both the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and the Concise
Guide to APA Style (7th ed.). Reference examples appear in
Chapter 10.
SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020).
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
(7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
7
 7th Edition
Six Steps to Proper Citation Infographic

1 READ the work you want to cite.

2 Identify an IDEA you want to put in your paper.

3 Write a SENTENCE about that idea.

4 Write a REFERENCE LIST ENTRY for the work.

5 Add the corresponding IN-TEXT CITATION to the sentence.

6 REPEAT as needed for more works and ideas.

More information on in-text citations can be found in Section 8.1 of both the Publication SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and the Concise Guide to APA manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
Style (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
 7th Edition
Reference Guide for Journal Articles,
Books, and Edited Book Chapters

Invert names so that the last name comes first, Place the year Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. For a two-part
followed by a comma and the initials. Leave a space in parentheses. title, capitalize the first word of the second part of the title. Also
between initials. Retain the order of authors’ names. End with a period. capitalize proper nouns. Do not italicize. End with a period.

Journal Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article.

Article
Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx

Capitalize all major words in the Italicize the volume number. Do not Do not italicize the issue number or Include the article page Does the article have a
periodical name. Follow with a put a space between the volume parentheses. Follow the parentheses with range. Use an en dash; do DOI? Include a DOI for all
comma. Italicize the periodical number and the parentheses a comma. No issue number? That’s okay. not put spaces around the works that have one. Do not
name (but not the comma after). around the issue number. Follow the volume number with a comma. en dash. End with a period. put a period after the DOI.

Invert names so that the last name comes first, Place the copyright year Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. For a two-part
followed by a comma and the initials. Leave a space in parentheses. End with title, capitalize the first word of the second part of the title. Also
between initials. Retain the order of authors’ names. a period. capitalize proper nouns. Italicize the title. End with a period.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (7th ed.).
Book
Publisher. DOI or URL

Include the name of the publisher, followed Does the book have a DOI? Include a DOI if available. Does the book have an edition or volume number? If so, include
by a period. Do not include the publisher Do not include a URL or database information for works from the number in parentheses after the title but before the period. If both,
location. Are there multiple publishers? academic research databases. Include a URL for ebooks from show edition first and volume second, separated by a comma. Do
If so, separate them with a semicolon. other websites. Do not put a period after the DOI or URL. not put a period between the title and the parenthetical information.
 Invert names so that the last name comes first, Place the copyright year Capitalize only the first letter of the first word. For a two-part
followed by a comma and the initials. Leave a space in parentheses. End with title, capitalize the first word of the second part of the title.
between initials. Retain the order of authors’ names. a period. Also capitalize proper nouns. Do not italicize. End with a period.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter.
Chapter in
an Edited Book
In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (2nd ed., pp. #–#).
Publisher. DOI or URL Provide the title of the book in which Include the chapter page range. End with a period.
the chapter appears. Capitalize only Does the book have an edition or volume
the first letter of the first word. For a number? If so, include the number in parentheses
two-part title, capitalize the first word before the page range. If both, show edition
Write the word “In” and the initials
of the second part of the title. Also first and volume second, separated by a comma,
and last name (not inverted) of
capitalize proper nouns. Italicize the before the page range. Do not put a period
each editor. Use “(Ed.)” for one
book title. between the title and the parenthetical information.
editor or “(Eds.)” for multiple
editors. End with a comma.

Include the name of the publisher followed Does the book have a DOI or URL? Include a DOI if available.
by a period. Do not include the publisher Do not include a URL or database information for works from
location. If there are multiple publishers, academic research databases. Include a URL for ebooks from
separate them with a semicolon. other websites. Do not put a period after the DOI or URL.

More information on reference variations not shown here (e.g., in-press articles, articles with article numbers, articles without DOIs, books with titled volumes, SOURCE: American Psychological Association. (2020).
audiobooks) can be found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and in the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.): Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Journal articles and other periodicals Section 10.1
Books and reference works Section 10.2 CREDIT: MELANIE R. FOWLER, FLORIDA SOUTHERN COLLEGE
Edited book chapters and entries in reference works Section 10.3