AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA) This handout is adapted from the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2009). Two elements contribute documenting your sources in APA: 1) a References page after the text of the document giving the publication information for your sources and 2) in-text parenthetical citations that refer to the reference page so that your readers know which information comes from which source. In essence, these two elements work together as a matching tool. The References page is an alphabetical and specifically formatted list of sources cited in the text. The purpose of having a reference page in an APA document is so others can clearly see and access what sources you use in your text. The validity of your own work will be affected by certain factors listed in your Reference page. For example, if you use sources published several decades ago, your research may be outdated, or if you use sources created by people who are not considered to be leaders in the field, your work will have less authority. In contrast, using the most recent research and publications from authors who are experts and citing this information will allow your readers to know that you are a credible author. NOTE: If you are required to list all the sources you have read relating to your text, even if you do not cite the sources inside the text itself, the list is called a Bibliography; a bibliography differs from a reference page in that the bibliography includes all material that influenced your writing and thinking, whereas the reference page only shows what materials you refer to within your text.) This handout demonstrates a shortened “how to” version of creating a references page as well as citing those sources with in the work: Section 1: Creating a Reference Page Section 2: Citing Sources within the Text
Section 1: Creating a Reference Page List sources alphabetically by the author’s last name. If the author of a source is unknown, alphabetize the source by the first major word of the title (ignore the articles “A,” “An,” and “The”). Begin the list of references after the text of your paper but before any appendices and/or notes. Continue the consecutive numbering of your pages.
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REFERENCE PAGE EXAMPLES: It is important to note that although the examples listed below are single spaced to save space, you must double space your reference page entries. Printed Sources Most non-periodical entries use the following format: Author, G. P. (year). Title of the work: The subtitle. Location of the publisher: Publisher. BOOKS BY ONE AUTHOR Winterowd, W. R. (1992). Contemporary rhetoric: A conceptual background. New York: Harcourt. SUBSEQUENT BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR (arrange by date) Robertson, D. (1985). A dictionary of modern politics. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis. Robertson, D. (2004). A dictionary of human rights. London: Europa. BOOKS BY TWO TO SEVEN AUTHORS Witte, P. & Faigley, L. (1983). Evaluating college writing programs. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Appleby, J., Hunt, L., & Jacob, M. (1994). Telling the truth about history. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. MORE THAN SEVEN AUTHORS Picton, T.W., Benton, S., Berg, P., Donchin, E., Hillyard, S.A., Johnson, R.J., . . . Taylor, M.J. (2000). Auditory cortical activity in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. BOOKS WITH AND EDITOR Demers, P. (Ed.). (2004). From instruction to delight: An anthology of children’s literature to 1850. (2nd ed.). Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press Canada. ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE WORK Bergman, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL PAGINATED BY VOLUME Rickerts, J. (1994). Homelessness: The reality. Sociology Digest, 92,108-112. ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL PAGINATED BY ISSUE Snell, M. (1983). Anger in the classroom. Education Today, 13(2), 43-47. ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE Van Biema, D. (1994, March 21). Parodies regained. Time, 46-48. 2
ARTICLE IN A NEWSPAPER Lohr, S. (2004, December 3). Health care technology is a promise unfinanced. The New York Times, p. C5. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Carter, R. (2000, July). Shot in the dark? [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American, 283(1), 8. PERSONAL INTERVIEWS Unpublished personal communications (personal interviews, private letters, memos, emails, etc.) are not included in the reference list. However, they are cited in the text. Electronic Sources APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) instead of a URL whenever possible, which is a series of numbers as opposed to a web address. The DOI is often located on the online bibliography page but could also be under the “Article,” “CrossRef,” or “Pubmed” buttons. You may also find it by using CrossRef.org’s “DOI Resolver.” APA no longer requires the retrieval date (the date you found the source) unless it is subject to change (e.g., Wikis or other editable sites). Most works from an online periodical with a DOI assigned use the following format: Author, A.A. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of the Journal, volume number(issue), pages. doi:0000000/0000000000 Most works from an online periodical without a DOI assigned use the following format: Author, A. A. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of the Journal, volume number(issue), pages. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com ARTICLE IN AN ONLINE JOURNAL Veerman, P. & Sand, C. (1999). Religion and children’s rights. International Journal of Children’s Rights, 7(4), 385-393. doi: 10.1163/15718189920494453 ARTICLE IN A REFERENCE DATABASE Rococo style. (2007) In Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com ONLINE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE Cohen, N. (2009, August 30). Wikipedia looks hard at its culture. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com ONLINE BOOK Abbott, J. (1858) Rollo in Paris. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books GOVERNMENT WEBSITE U.S. Dept. of Education. (2007). Strategic plan for fiscal years 2007-12. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/strat/plan2007-12/2007-plan.pdf BLOG POSTING 3
Johnson, D. (2009, June 9). Frog and toad leap off the page again. [Web log message] Retrieved from http://thejoyofchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2009/06/frog-andtoad-leap-off-page-again.html
Section 2: Citing Sources within the Text When quoting and/or paraphrasing another person’s work, you must give that person credit; failure to cite is plagiarism. These citations are often called parenthetical citations or in-text citations. In APA, always include author and date of the source. For a direct quotation, the page number (preceded by p.) also appears in the parentheses. As discussed at the beginning of this handout, the purpose of the parenthetical citations is that they refer to the reference page—in other words, correspond to the reference page—so that the reader is able to see where you found specific information. PARENTHETICAL CITATION EXAMPLES: Printed Sources AUTHOR NAMED IN A SIGNAL PHRASE Jones (1996) argues that television’s initial role as educator has now become eclipsed by its role as entertainer. As Murray (1985) explains, “looking at the raw material, the writer may choose to be greatly concerned with the reader or may choose not to” (p. 80). AUTHOR NOT NAMED IN A SIGNAL PHRASE The recent hysteria regarding “Mad Cow Disease” now seems to have been largely unwarranted (Rubles, 1996). TWO AUTHORS Meyer and Smith (1987) attempt to alert writing tutors to issues that frequently arise in counseling sessions. Note: The two authors are mentioned in a signal phrase, so join the authors’ names with “and.” “If a writer sees immediate benefits from tutoring, he will be more likely to attend further sessions” (Meyer & Smith, 1987, p. 23). Note: The two authors ARE NOT mentioned in a signal phrase, so use an ampersand (&) in the parenthetical reference. THREE TO FIVE AUTHORS First Citation in text: Lee, Blake, Brewer, and Garrett (1992) found . . . . Subsequent first citation per paragraph: Lee et al. (1992) found . . . . Subsequent first citation after the first citation within a paragraph [omit date]: Lee et al. found . . . . SIX OR MORE AUTHORS 4
As Brashears et al. (1992) demonstrated, advances in audio recording procedures now make personal recording possible for the amateur musician. CORPORATE OR GROUP AUTHOR First citation: (The Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 1990) Later citations: (CDC, 1990) UNKNOWN AUTHOR Use the title or its first few words if the author is unknown. Home computer ownership may be more strongly linked to education level rather than income (“Home Computers in the ‘90s,” 1995). Electronic Sources Creating parenthetical citations for electronic sources can be a little different since you won’t always be able to find the author’s name, page numbers, etc. You simply need to post as much as possible. If paragraph numbers are available, use them as you would use page numbers with the abbreviation “para.” If your source does not include paragraph numbers but has internal divisions, you should cite them. For example, the document may be broken up with headings (Introduction, Chapter 1, etc.) or by Roman numerals. If these headings are excessively long, you may abbreviate them. If both paragraph numbers and internal divisions are available, you should cite both. OPTION #1: Document Electronic Source by Using a Signal Phrase If the electronic source does not have page numbers or internal divisions, all you need is a signal phrase specifying the author (or if an author is not designated, then use the title). If the source contains internal divisions, you must note it: Example: As Steven E. Landsburg (1999) argues in his introduction, “if you know you’re going to treasure something, you don’t hesitate to buy it.” OPTION #2: Document Source by Using Parenthetical Citations If the electronic source does not have page numbers , paragraph numbers, or internal divisions, list the author’s name in the parentheses (or if an author is not designated, then use the title of the work) and the source’s date of publication. Example: “If you know you’re going to treasure something, you don’t hesitate to buy it” (Landsburg, 1999). If the source contains internal divisions and/or paragraph numbers, include them. Example: “If you know you’re going to treasure something, you don’t hesitate to buy it (Landsburg, 1999, “Introduction,” para. 6).
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