APA :

Citations & Reference Page Formatting

 What is APA?
 American Psychological Association
 is the most commonly used format for manuscripts in
the Social Sciences.
 APA regulates
• Style
• In text Citations
• References
• A list of all sources used
 When is APA Style used?
 Term Papers
 Research Reports
 Empirical Studies
 Literature Reviews
 Theoretical Articles
 Methodological Articles
 Case Studies
 Text Citations
 Information from sources must be cited. This
acknowledges the author’s work, and allows the
reader to access the information in the References
section of your paper

 Follow the (author, date) method of in-text citation. If

no date is available, write (n.d.) in place of the date

 The author's last name and the year of publication for

the source should appear in the text, for example
(Jones, 1998).
 Text Citations
Three key points in APA citations
1. Use author, date format whenever possible.
2. If the source is quoted, you MUST include the page
or paragraph number.
3. If author’s name is not available, use the title of the
document in place of the author’s name
 Text Citations

 Three types of text citations:

1. Paraphrase (summary)

2. Short Quote = less than 40 words

3. Long Quote= more than 40 words

In-text Citations: Paraphrase
 A paraphrase is material from a source which
has been summarized in your own words.

 All paraphrases must be cited, using the

author’s last name and year of publication.

 No page number is required.

 Paraphrase : Example
 If the author’s name is a part of the sentence
structure, the year follows the author’s names in
parenthesis. Quotation marks are not included.
 Example:
Author’s last name, year of publication

Berk (2007) found that children begin to play

organized games with rules, once they reach
school-age.
 Paraphrase : Example
 When the author’s name is not part of the sentence
structure (parenthetical citation), the author’s name
and year of publication are included at the end of the
citation, in parenthesis. Quotation marks are not
included.
 Example:
Studies conducted found that children begin to use
organized play and games with rules at school-age
(Berk, 2007).
Author’s last name, year of publication
 In-text Citations: What to include in the
parentheses
 If the author’s name is part of the sentence, place only
the year of publication in parentheses.
• Example:
Berk (2007) found that children begin to play organized games
with rules, once they reach school-age.

 When the author’s name is not part of the sentence,

place both the name and the year, separated by a
comma, in parentheses
• Example:
Studies conducted found that children begin to use organized play and
games with rules at school-age (Berk, 2007).
 In-text Citations: Short Quote
 A direct quote is information included in a
paper, which is taken directly from the source.

 Short quotes = less than 40 words

• Enclosed within quotation marks
• Cited using the author’s last name, year of
publication, and page number (or paragraph number, if
page number is not available.)
 Short Quote (< 40 words) Examples
 “Reading makes use of many skills at once,
taxing all aspects of our information-
processing systems” (Berk, 2007, p. 306).
Author’s last name,
year of publication, page #
 Research has shown that “mathematics
teaching in elementary school builds on and
greatly enriches children’s informal knowledge
of number concepts and counting” (Berk,
2007, p. 307).
Author’s last name, year of publication, page
#
 Long Quote (>40 words) Example
 Quotes over 40 words must be block formatted.
 Quotation marks are not used. The entire block
quote is indented five spaces, and double-spaced.
 Example:
Berk (2007) found the following to be true:
We have seen that middle childhood brings
Notice: the
quote is
major advances in perspective taking, the capacity
block to imagine what other people may be thinking and
formatted feeling. These changes support self-self esteem,
(indented 5 understanding of others, and a wide variety of social
spaces), but
skills. (p. 336)
quotation
marks are
not used
 Citations
Note: with 3 or more authors, after the first text citation, only the first author is
named. The remaining authors are included as “et al.”
Table 6.1 Basic Citation Styles
Type of Citation First Citation in Text Subsequent Parenthetical Parenthetical
Citations in Text Format, First Format, Second
One Author Walker (2000) Walker (2000) Citations
(Walker, 2007) Citations
(Walker, 2007)
Two Authors Walker and Allen (2004) Walker and Allen (2004) (Walker & Allen, 2004) (Walker & Allen, 2004)

Three Authors Bradley, Ramirez, and Bradley et al. (1999) (Bradley, Ramirez, & (Bradley et al., 1999)
Soo (1999) Soo, 1999)
Four Authors Bradley, Ramirez, Soo, Bradley et al. (2006) (Bradley, Ramirez, Soo, (Bradley et al., 2006)
and Walsh (2006) & Walsh, 2006)
Five Authors Walker, Allen, Bradley, Walker et al. (2008) (Walker, Allen, Bradley, (Walker et al., 2008)
Ramiriz, and Soo Ramirez, & Soo, 2008)
(2008)
Six + Authors Wasserstein et al. Wasserstein et al. (Wasserstein et al., (Wasserstein et al.,
(2005) (2005) 2005) 2005)
Groups (abbrev.) National Institute of NIHM (2003) (National Institute of (NIMH, 2003)
Mental Health (NIMH, Mental Health [NIMH],
2003) 2003)
Groups (no abbrev.) University of Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh (University of Pittsburgh, (University of
(2005) (2005) 2005) Pittsburgh, 2005)

(APA Publication Manual, 2009, 6.11-6.15)

 In-text Citations: Electronic sources
 When citing an electronic document, whenever
possible, cite it in the author-date style.
 If electronic source lacks page numbers, locate and
identify paragraph number or paragraph heading

Example:
Recent research has yielded similar results (Smith,
1997, para. 6).

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/
 In-text Citations: Unknown author
 When the author’s name is designated as
“Anonymous” cite in text the word Anonymous
followed by a comma and the date.
 Example:
(Anonymous, 1998)

 In the Reference list, an anonymous work is

alphabetized by the word Anonymous as the
author with the remaining publication data
 In-text Citations: Unknown author
 When a work has no identified author, cite the title of the
reference and the year. If it is a long title, use the first few words
• Use quotation marks around the title of an article, a chapter or a webpage
• Italicize the title of a journal, a book, a brochure or a report.

 Examples Use the title of the article with the year in the citation when no
• Recent research revealsauthor
(“SixisSites
named. Meet,” 2006) significantly…
 Full publication title is “Six sites meet for comprehensive anti-gang initiative
conference.” Notice the title was shortened for the in text citation because the
title was long

• The book College Bound Seniors (2008) asserts that…

Use the title of the book with the year in the citation when no author is
named. APA (2010), section 6.15
 In-text Citations: Unknown author
 Because there is no author listed for these sources, use
the title in place of the author’s name in the citation
and on the References page, in alphabetical order.

 Examples
• Recent research reveals (“Six Sites Meet,” 2006)
significantly…
• The book College Bound Seniors (2008) asserts that…

On the Reference page, use the title in the place of

the author’s name. Place in alphabetical order.
 In-text Citations: Unknown author
 Because there is no author listed for these sources, use
the title in place of the author’s name in the citation
and on the References page, in alphabetical order.

 Examples The name of the publication is NOT part of the

sentence structure, so both the title and the year of
• Recent research reveals (“Six
publication Sitesin Meet,”
are placed parentheses.2006)
significantly…
• The book College Bound Seniors (2008) asserts that…

The name of the book is part of the sentence

structure; it is the subject of the sentence, so only
the year of publication is placed in parentheses.
 Reference Page Format
 References cited throughout text are listed in
alphabetical order by author’s last name on a new
page following the text.
• Hanging indentation is used for all references.
• Entire reference page is double-spaced

 Center the title References at the top of the

page
• Do not bold, underline, or use quotation marks for the title.

APA Sample Reference Page:

http://www.vanguard.edu/uploadedFiles/Psychology/references.pdf
 Reference Page Format
 APA reference format always follows this basic formula
regardless of the type of source.

 References Formula
Author(s) Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title,
Publication Data.
• Author (s) last names, include ALL authors as they are listed
• Year of publication--if no date is available, write (n.d)
• Title of the book or title of the article
• Publication data = where do I locate the source material? For example:
Book publishing company information, full website address, journal name,
newspaper name, magazine name or include issue and page numbers for
journals, newspapers and magazines
 What’s on a Reference Page?
Examples of Sources
1. Journal article with DOI:
Murzynski, J., & Degelman, D. (1996). Body language
of women and judgments of vulnerability to sexual
assault. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26,
1617-1626. doi:10.1111/j.1559- 1816.1996.tb00088.x

2. Journal article without DOI:

Koenig, H. G. (1990). Research on religion and mental
health in later life: A review and commentary. Journal
of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 23-53.
 What’s on a Reference Page?
Examples of Sources - continued
3. Journal article without DOI, retrieved online
• [Note: For articles retrieved from databases, include the URL of
the journal home page. Database information is not needed. Do not
include the date of retrieval.]:

Aldridge, D. (1991). Spirituality, healing and medicine. British

Journal of General Practice, 41, 425-427. Retrieved from
http://www.rcgp.org.uk/publications/bjgp.aspx

(Degelman, 2009)
 What’s on a Reference Page?
Examples of Sources - continued
4. Book:
Paloutzian, R. F. (1996). Invitation to the psychology of religion
(2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

5. Informally published Web document:

Degelman, D. (2009). APA style essentials. Retrieved
from http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty
/ddegelman/detail.aspx?doc_id=796

(Degelman, 2009)
 What’s on a Reference Page?
Examples of Sources - continued
6. Informally published Web document (no date):
Nielsen, M. E. (n.d.). Notable people in psychology of
religion. Retrieved from
http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/psyrelpr.ht m

7. Informally published Web document (no author, no

date):
Gender and society. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/gender.html

(Degelman, 2009)
 What’s on a Reference Page?
Examples of Sources - continued
8. Abstract from secondary database:
Garrity, K., & Degelman, D. (1990). Effect of server
introduction on restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied
Social Psychology, 20, 168-172. Abstract retrieved from
PsycINFO database.

9. Article or chapter in an edited book:

Shea, J. D. (1992). Religion and sexual adjustment. In J. F.
Schumaker (Ed.), Religion and mental health (pp. 70-84).
New York: Oxford University Press.

(Degelman, 2009)
 What’s on a Reference Page?
Examples of Sources - continued

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

10.
Disorders:
American Psychiatric Association. (2000).
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC:
Author.

(Degelman, 2009)
 References
American Psychological Association (2009). The Basics of APA style
tutorial. Retreived from http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx

American Psychological Association (2010). Publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association (6th ed), Washington, DC: Author

Berk, L. (2007). Development through the lifespan

(4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Degelman, D. (2009). APA style essentials. Retrieved from

http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/d
etail.aspx?doc_id=796

Purdue Online Writing Lab (2010). Retrieved from

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/

Schor, E. (1995). Caring for your school-age child; ages 5-12. New
York: Bantam Books.