APA Style References and

Citations
 The Reference Page
Center the title
(References) at the top of
the page. Do not bold it.

Double-space reference
entries

Flush left the first line of

the entry and indent
subsequent lines

Order entries alphabetically

by the surname of the first
author of each work
 Reference Basics
Invert authors names (last name first followed by
initials)

EX:Smith, J.Q.

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a

title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a
dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not
capitalize the first letter of the second word in a
hyphenated compound word.

EX: The perfectly formatted paper: How I used

APA style in my essay.
 Reference Basics
Capitalize all major words in journal titles

Italicize titles of longer works such as books and

journals

Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around

the titles of shorter works such as journal articles
or essays in edited collections
 Print Sources
Article From a Journal
Paginated by Volume:
Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing
psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and
Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Paginated by Issue:
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New
Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.
 Print Sources
Article in a Magazine
Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in
today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31.

Article in a Newspaper
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen
state energy policies. The Country Today, pp. 1A, 2A.

Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter
also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
 Print Sources
An Entry in an Encyclopedia
Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia
Britannica.(Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia
Britannica.
Government Document
National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in
serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 90-1679).
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Report From a Private Organization

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Practice guidelines for
the treatment of patients with eating disorders (2nd ed.).
Washington, DC: Author.
 Electronic Sources
Article From an Online Periodical
Online articles follow the same guidelines
for printed articles. Include all information
the online host makes available, including
an issue number in parentheses.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication).
Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume
number(issue number if available). Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
 Electronic Sources
Article From an Online Periodical with
DOI Assigned
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range.
doi:0000000/000000000000 or
http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

Article From an Online Periodical with

no DOI Assigned
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved from
http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/
 Electronic Sources
Article From a Database
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range.
Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Newspaper Article
De Huff, E. W. (n.d.). Taytays tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian
tales. Retrieved from
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/taytay.html

Davis, J. (n.d.). Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available

from http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio? inkey=1-
9780931686108-0
 Electronic Sources
Chapter/Section of a Web Document
or Online Book Chapter
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication).
Title of article. In Title of book or larger document
(chapter or section number). Retrieved from
http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Dissertation/Thesis from a Database

Biswas, S. (2008). Dopamine D3 receptor: A
neuroprotective treatment target in Parkinson's disease.
Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT
3295214)
 Electronic Sources
Data Sets
United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development. (2008). Indiana income limits [Data
file]. Retrieved from
http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf

Nonperiodical Web Document or

Report Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of
publication). Title of document. Retrieved from http://Web
address
 Making the Reference List
APA is a complex system of citation. When compiling the reference
list, the strategy below might be useful:

1. Identify the type of source:

Is it a book? A journal article? A webpage?

2. Find a sample citation for this type of source

Check a textbook or the OWL APA Guide:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

3. Mirror the sample

4. Make sure that the entries are listed in alphabetical order and
that the subsequent lines are indented (Recall References: Basics)
 In-Text Citations
In-text citations help readers locate the cited source in the
References section of the paper.

Whenever you use a source, provide in parenthesis:

the authors name and the date of publication

for quotations and close paraphrases, provide the

authors name, date of publication, and a page number
 Quoting In-Text
When quoting:
Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase

Include the authors name, year of publication, and page

number

Keep the citation briefdo not repeat the information

 Summary or Paraphrase
Provide the authors last name and
the year of publication in parenthesis
after a summary or a paraphrase.
 Signal words
Introduce quotations with signal phrases, e.g.:

According to Xavier (2008), . (p. 3).

Xavier (2008) argued that (p. 3).

Use such signal verbs such as:

acknowledged, contended, maintained,

responded, reported, argued, concluded, etc.

Use the past tense or the present perfect tense of verbs in

signal phrases when they discuss past events.
 Two or More Works
When the parenthetical citation includes two or more works,
order them in the same way they appear in the reference
listthe authors name, the year of publicationseparated
by a semi-colon.
 Works with Two Authors
When citing a work with two authors, use

In the signal phrase, use and in between the authors

names

In parenthesis, use & between names

 Works with 3-5 Authors
When citing a work with three to five authors, identify all
authors in the signal phrase or in parenthesis.

(Harklau, Siegal, & Losey, 1999)

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last

name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.

(Harklau et al., 1993)

 Works with 6+ Authors

When citing a work with six and more authors, identify the
first authors name followed by et al.

Smith et al. (2006) maintained that.

(Smith et al., 2006)

 Unknown Author
When citing a work of unknown author:
use the sources full title in the signal phrase
cite the first word of the title followed by the year of
publication in parenthesis.

According to Indiana Joins Federal Accountability System

(2008)
OR
(Indiana, 2008)

Titles:
Articles and Chapters =
Books and Reports = italicize
 Organizations
When citing an organization:

mention the organization the first time you cite the source in the
signal phrase or the parenthetical citation.

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the

abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then
use only the abbreviation in later citations.
 Authors with Same Last Name
When citing authors with the same last names, use first
initials with the last names.

(B. Kachru, 2005; Y. Kachru, 2008)

When citing two or more works by the same author and

published in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c)
after the year of publication to order the references.

Smiths (1998a) study of adolescent immigrants

 Personal Communication
When citing interviews, letters, e-mails, etc., include the
communicators name, the fact that it was personal
communication, and the date of the communication.

Do not include personal communication in the reference

list.
 Electronic Documents
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/paragraph heading.