Quick Guide to APA Documentation Style

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed, 2009.

Disclaimer — This handout will not provide full or detailed information for your paper. You can access some
additional information at this site:
Basics of APA Style Tutorial: http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm

Please note that your professor might ask you to use the older edition of the APA Manual. You can access help
with the older, 5th ed. at these sites:
Diana Hacker’s APA Guide: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/p04_c09_o.html
Online Writing Center at Purdue: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Crediting a Source in the Text of Your Paper

APA uses an “author/year” style which places the author(s) and year in prominent positions in
the text. The author and year also act as tags for finding the related entry on the References
page. There are two ways to place the author/year information into your paper:

Moeck and Yoon (2004) have shown how green buildings can substantially reduce the amount of
lighting needed in office spaces. When properly built, “between 89 and 84% can be supplied by
daylight” (p. 158).

Green buildings can substantially reduce the amount of lighting needed in office spaces (Moeck &
Yoon, 2004).

Include the page number for direct quotations or specific information. Notice the word “and” in
the first sample, but the use of an ampersand (&) for the parenthetical citation in the second
sample.

Creating a References Page

Each of the individual sources you cited in the text of your paper must be found on the
References page (the final page of your paper). Notice that only the first word of titles and
subtitles of articles and book are capitalized. Journal titles are capitalized normally. Here are a
few samples:

Journal article from a database:

Moeck, M., & Yoon, Y. (2004). Green buildings and potential electric light energy savings. Journal of

Architectural Engineering, 10(4), 143-159. Retrieved from http://www. Pubs.asce.org/

journals/architectural/

Hint: Find the journal’s homepage online for the retrieval statement. If you must include the
database, use the database title and the URL for the entry page, not the long URL for the
article.
 Journal article with a DOI number:

Moeck, M., & Yoon, Y. (2004). Green buildings and potential electric light energy savings. Journal of

Architec- tural Engineering, 10(4), 143-159. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1076-0431(2004)10:4(143)

Journal article from an online journal or downloaded from a website other than a database:

Grant, R. M., & Stilton, M. A. (2005). Green design for the future. Architectural International

Review, 14(5), 11-19. Retrieved from http:www.archintrev.org.

Book:

Yudelson, J. (2008). The green building revolution. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Article with no author:

Green design. (2009). Oxford dictionary of architecture. New York: Oxford University Press.

Essay or chapter in an edited collection or an anthology:

Frosch, R. A. (1997). Industrial ecology: Closing the loop on waste materials. In D. J. Richards (Ed.),

The industrial green game: Implications for environmental design and management (pp. 37-47).

Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Newspaper article:

O’Toole, C. (2009, March 31). The greening of Pittsburgh. The New York Times. Retrieved from

www.nytimes.com.

Website:

National Institute of Building Sciences. (n. d.). The whole building design guide. Retrieved from http://

www.wbdg.org/

Hint: An “updated” or copyright year posted on a website is not the same as a publication date.
Use n.d. (no date) if you can’t establish a publication date.
Government Source:

U. S. Department of Justice. (2004). Designing government buildings. Washington, DC: U. S.

Government Printing Office.

Movie/Film/Video/Documentary:

Bender, L. (Producer), & Tarantino, Q. (Director). (1994). Pulp fiction [Motion Picture]. United

States: Miramax.

Dealing with Authors In the text of your paper

One author:
Frosch (1997) maintained that . . .
. . . many waste materials can be reclaimed (Frosch, 1997).

Two authors:

Frosch and Midesky (1997) maintained that . . .

. . . many waste materials can be reclaimed (Frosch & Midesky, 1997).

Three to five authors, first mention in your paper:

Frosch, Midesky, Grant, and Choo (1997) maintained that . . .

. . . many waste materials can be reclaimed (Frosch, Midesky, Grant, & Choo, 1997).

Three to five authors, subsequent reference in your paper:

Frosch et al. (1997) maintained that . .
. . . many waste materials can be reclaimed (Frosch et al., 1997).

Six or more authors, at any point in your paper:

Frosch et al. (1997) maintained that . . .
. . many waste materials can be reclaimed (Frosch et al., 1997).

On your References page, follow these models:

One author:
Matsuda, J. (2009). . . .

Two authors:
Matsuda, J., & Johnson, R. (2009). . . .

Three to seven authors:

Matsuda, J., Johnson, R., Brolin, K., & Grant, P. (2009).

Eight or more authors: Matsuda, J., Johnson, R., Brolin, K., Grant, P., Woods, J. D., Midesky, A., .
. . Rud- dig, R. (2009).
So, you list the first six, and then list the final author after an ellipses (. . . ).