APA Style Guide: Quick Reference
Last Updated (Monday, 09 May 2011 13:42) Written by Joseph Deodato Thursday, 04 March 2010 00:07
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is widely used in the social and behavioral sciences. The manual describes a consistent manner of citing references when writing a research paper. This guide by no means replaces consultation of the manual itself; rather, it provides only the most common citations. The sixth edition introduces students to significant changes from the previous edition of APA documentation style. The manual is to be found in the Reference, Reserve, and Circulating collections of the Library. Its official title is Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition. Its call number is BF76.7 .P83 2010.
Table of Contents
Citing Works Using APA Style in the Reference List
The reference list should be started on a new page at the end of the paper (see sample References page at the end of this guide).
- Electronic Articles
- Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Articles Retrieved Online
Online journal article with DOI:
Because online URLs are subject to change, APA suggests providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL. DOIs generally appear on a document's first page.Lui, J. (1999). Preservation of library materials in China: Problems and solutions. Asian Libraries, 8(12), 480-483. doi: 10.1108/10176749910303496
Online journal article without DOI:
Fredrickson, B.L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html
Online magazine article:
Stein, J. (2008, October 2). Fifth wheel: Hanging out with Flo Rida. Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com
Online newspaper article:
Hilts, P. J. (1999, February 16). In forecasting their emotions, most people flunk out. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Online electronic book:
Dennis, E. (1947). I challenge the un-Americans. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015074198899
Online book review:
Rohter, L. (2009, August 9). A mischievous novelist with an eye and an ear for the unusual [Review of the book Beauty Salon]. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/
Online encyclopedia article:
Ecuador. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com
Web page, with author:
Roccos, L. J. (2002). Ancient Greek Costume. Retrieved from http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/roccos/greekcostume/
Web page, no author, no date:
GVU's 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1997-10/
- Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Articles Retrieved from a Database
Journal article from a database:
Warren, R. (2005, Spring). Three letters. Southern Review, 41(2), 213-223. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Magazine article from a database:
Grunwald, M. (2008). Arnold Schwarzenegger. Time, 172(14), 60. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Newspaper article from a database:
Marc, L. (2009, December 8). Rights group report faults Mexican army's conduct in drug war. New York Times, 12. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Book review from a database:
Chabon, M. (2007). After the apocalypse. [Review of the book The Road]. New York Review of Books, 54(2), 24-26. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
- Journal, Magazine, and Newspaper Articles Retrieved Online
- Books and Other Print Sources
Book by one author:
Elgin, S. H. (1996). The gentle art of communicating with kids. New York: Wiley.
Book by two authors:
Beck, C. A. J., & Sales, B. D. (2001). Family meditation: Facts, myths, and future prospects. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association.
Edited book, no author:
Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological interventions with minority youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Edited book with an author or authors:
Nabokov, V. (1989). Vladimir Nabokov: Selected letters 1940-1977 (D. Nabokov & M.J. Bruccoli, Eds.). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
A translation:
When you cite a republished work in your text, it should appear with both dates, for example: Rulfo (1955/1994).Rulfo, J. (1994). Pedro Páramo. (M.S. Peden, Trans.). New York: Grove. (Original work published in 1955).
Article or chapter in an edited book:
As with newspaper artices, when you list the pages of an article or chapter in parentheses after the book title, use pp., e.g., (pp. 1-21).Massaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In H. L. Pick Jr., P. van den Broek, & D. C. Knill (Eds.), Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Book, no author or editor:
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
- Print Articles
Journal article:
Goodenough, D. R. (1976). The role of individual differences in field dependence as a factor in learning and memory. Psychological Bulletin, 83(1), 675-694.
Magazine article:
Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.
Newspaper article:
The pages a newspaper article covers are indicated by p. for articles of one page (p. C4) and pp. for articles multiple pages in length (pp. A1, A3 or pp. C3-C5).Santora, M. (2009, September 14). Iraqi shoe thrower says he was tortured in jail. New York Times, pp. A1-A2.
Newspaper article, no author:
New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July 15). Washington Post, p. A12.
Letter to the Editor:
Deats, J. (1990). Animal welfare [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American, 263(6), 12.
Review of a book:
Schatz, B. R. (2000, November 17). Learning by text or context? [Review of the book The social life of information]. Science, 290, 1304.
In-Text Citations Using Author-Date Method
The APA format uses the author-date citation system within parentheses, which allows readers to find the sources cited in text in the reference list.
Walker (2000) compared reaction time...or
In a recent study of reaction times (Walker, 2000)...
When a work has two authors always cite both names and the year.
(Adkins & Singh, 2001)...or
Adkins and Singh (2001) found...
When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs.
Wasserstein, Zappulla, Rosen, Gerstman, and Rock (1994) found...
In subsequent citations include only the surname of the first author followed by et al.
Wasserstein et al. (1994) found...
She stated, "The 'placebo effect' disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner" (Miele, 1933, p. 276), but she did not clarify which behaviors were studied.or
Miele (1933) found that "the 'placebo effect,' which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when [only the first group's] behaviors were studied in this manner" (p.276).
For variations and other examples including quotations of 40 or more words, see p. 170-174 of the manual.
SAMPLE REFERENCE LIST
References
Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L. A. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 443-449. Retrieved from PsycARTICLES database.
Elgin, S. H. (1996). The gentle art of communicating with kids. New York: Wiley.
Freeman, S. (2008). Biological science (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings.
Gibbons, M., Crits-Christoph, P., Barber, J., Wiltsey Stirman, S., Gallop, R., Goldstein, L., et al. (2009). Unique and common mechanisms of change across cognitive and dynamic psychotherapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(5), 801-813.
Lui, J. (1999). Preservation of library materials in China: Problems and solutions. Asian Libraries, 8(12), 480-483. doi: 10.1108/10176749910303496
Massaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In H.L. Pick Jr., P. van den Broek, & D. C. Knill (Eds.), Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Nabokov, V. (1989). Vladimir Nabokov: Selected letters 1940-1977 (D. Nabokov & M.J. Bruccoli, Eds.). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Schatz, B. R. (2000, November 17). Learning by text or context? [Review of the book The social life of information]. Science, 290, 1304.
Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem medicate between perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), 38-48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap