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APA Style

Description

The style recommended by the American Psychological Association (APA) is often used for scholarly writing about psychology or education topics, or about other subjects in the social sciences. (Other styles are often used for history, science, or humanities papers.)

The information below describes how to cite works within the text of a paper, as well as how to list all the references at the end. A "work" in this context means any source—in print, on the Web, or in some other medium—containing information that you used. Some examples are:

Citing Works in the Text

In the APA style, references to a work or parts of a work inside the text of a paper follow the author-date format. Typically this format consists of the last name of the first author and the year of publication, separated by a comma. Enough information must always be included in the text to identify a work uniquely in the reference list at the end of your paper. (Note that this format differs from the author-page system preferred by the MLA. As well, it is not identical to the author-date system preferred by the University of Chicago Press and should not be confused with the latter.)

Pattern:

(AuthorLastName, Date, pp. StartPage-EndPage)

Single Authors

  • If the author's name appears in the text, or if the identical source was just cited in the same paragraph, include only the date.

Harper discusses the features and subtypes of personality disorders (2004).

  • Otherwise, include the author's name followed by a comma and a space and then the date of publication.

Diabetes may be brought on by certain personality disorders (Harper, 2004).

  • To cite a specific portion of a work, follow the date with a comma and a space and then the page number, range of pages, or chapter or section title.

Sanders' bill would have restored protections for library and bookstore records (Foerstel, 2004, p. 160).

Several features characterize all good survey designs (Fink, 2003, chap. 1).

Multiple Authors

  • When citing a work by two authors, include the names of both authors.

Pragmatism is reflected in Skinner's later work (Lattal & Laipple, 2003).

  • For a work with three to five authors, name all the authors the first time. In subsequent references to that work, include only the last name of the first author followed by "et al." (meaning "and others").

Whiting, Whiting, and Longabaugh consider learning environments in different cultures (1975).

Learning environments influence such behavior as childhood sociability (Whiting et al., 1975).

  • When a work has six or more authors, cite the last name of the first author followed by "et al." even when referring to the work for the first time.

Family characteristics can be significant in eating disorders (Tozzi et al., 1998).

Missing and Homonymous Authors

  • For a work with no author, use the first few words of the entry for that work as it appears in the reference list (generally this is the title). Italicize titles of books, periodicals, and reports, but surround the titles of articles and chapters with quotation marks.

According to the APA, "Anonymous" should be used for the author name in anonymous works (Publication Manual, 2001, p. 211).

  • When two or more works have the same author (or sequence of authors) and publication date, append a letter (a, b, c, and so on) to the date to indicate the order of each work in the reference list. Such works will generally be ordered in the reference list alphabetically by title.

O'Keefe (1997b) demonstrates that battered women tend to have few social supports.

Listing Sources at the End

Add a "References" section at the end of your paper that lists all the works whose ideas or information you used. Include every work cited in your text. Order the references alphabetically by the last name of the first author. A reference with one author precedes a reference with multiple authors where the first author has the same last name. If two or more references with multiple authors have the same last name for the first author, order them by the last name of the second author, and so on. Indent the second and subsequent lines of each entry in the list. In manuscripts submitted for publication, use double line spacing.

Works with the exact same author(s) are ordered by date. When two or more works have both the same author (or sequence of authors) and the same publication date, order the works alphabetically by title. Then append a letter (a, b, c, and so on) to the dates in the order that the works appear in the reference list (see the Articles section for an example).

Books

Pattern for the Entire Book

AuthorLastName, I. I. (PublicationYear). Title of the book. Location: Publisher.

  • Provide the full last name of an author, but use initials for the first name and any other names. The last name is always given first. In the title or subtitle, capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns. The title should be italicized and not underlined.

Jung, J. (2001). Psychology of alcohol and other drugs: A research perspective. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Indicate any edition other then the first.

Mitchell, T. R., & Larson, J. R., Jr. (1987). People in organizations: An introduction to organizational behavior (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

  • Include complete volume information for a multi-volume work.

Sadie, S. (Ed.). (1980). The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians (6th ed., Vols. 1-20). London: Macmillan.

  • For a work with no author or editor, begin the entry with the title of the work. Alphabetize the entry by the first significant word in the title (ignore any leading "the," "a," "an," etc.)

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). (2001). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Pattern for One Part of the Book

AuthorALastName, A. A., & AuthorBLastName, B. B. (PublicationYear). Title of the chapter. In A. EditorALastName, B. EditorBLastName, & C. EditorCLastName (Eds.), Title of the book (pp. StartPage-EndPage). Location: Publisher.

Bergmann, P. G. (2002). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: A metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York: Springer.

  • When the author is exactly the same as the publisher, indicate the publisher by the word "Author."

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Pattern for Electronic Books

AuthorLastName, I. I. (PublicationYear). Title of the book. Location: Publisher. Retrieved LastAccessedMonth Day, Year, from SourceURL

  • For documents found at a large and complex Web site, such as that of a university or a government agency, name the organization and the specific program or department before giving the URL.

Freud, S. (1923). A young girl's diary. New York: Thomas Seltzer. Retrieved July 27, 2005, from University of Virginia Library, Electronic Text Center Web site: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/modeng/modeng0.browse.html

  • If the book was retrieved from an online aggregated database, give the name of the database instead of a URL.

Rury, John L. (2002). Education and social change: Themes in the history of American schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Retrieved July 27, 2005, from NetLibrary database.

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Articles

Pattern for Print Serials

AuthorALastName, A. A., AuthorBLastName, B. B., & AuthorCLastName, C. C. (PublicationYear, Month Day). Title of the article. Complete Title of the Serial, VolumeNumber(IssueNumber), StartPage-EndPage.

  • Capitalize the title of the article as you would the title of a book. By contrast, fully capitalize the title of the serial and do not abbreviate it. Only the serial title and the volume number should be italicized

Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10-36.

  • If two articles by the same author(s) were published on the same date, order the references by the titles of the articles. Append letters to the dates in the order that the articles appear in the reference list.

O'Keefe, M. (1997a). Adolescents' exposure to community and school violence: Prevalence and behavioral correlates. Journal of Adolescent Health, 20, 368-376.

O'Keefe, M. (1997b). Incarcerated battered women: A comparison of battered women who killed their abusers and those incarcerated for other offenses. Journal of Family Violence, 12(1), 1-19.

  • For magazines, add the month and, if applicable, the day to the publication date.

Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.

  • Newspaper article references should add "p." (page) or "pp." (pages) before the page number(s). A newspaper article with no author is alphabetized by the first significant word in the title (ignore any leading "the," "a," "an," etc.).

New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July 15). The Washington Post, p. A12.

Pattern for Online Serials

AuthorALastName, A. A., AuthorBLastName, B. B., & AuthorCLastName, C. C. (PublicationYear, Month Day). Title of the article. Title of Periodical, PrintPublicationInformation. Retrieved LastAccessedMonth Day, Year, from DatabaseName database.

  • For articles obtained from an aggregated electronic database, add the date the article was last accessed and the name of the database where it was found. The name of the database is not italicized.

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 October 23, 2000, from PsychARTICLES database.

  • For online magazine or newspaper articles available by search, give the complete publication date including month and day, if available. Add the date accessed and the URL of the publication's home page.

Hilts, P. J. (1999, February 16). In forecasting their emotions, most people flunk out. New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2000, from http://www.nytimes.com

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Web Sites

Pattern for documents

AuthorLastName, I. I. (LastUpdatedYear, Month Day). Title of the document or site. Retrieved LastAccessedMonth Day, Year, from SourceURL

  • Give the date the document was electronically published or last updated, if known. This information is often found near the bottom of the Web page. Include the full date when you last accessed this document on the Web.

American Psychological Association. (2003). Electronic references: Reference examples for electronic source materials. Retrieved July 7, 2005, from http://www.apastyle.org/elecsource.html

  • If a document consists of more than one Web page, use the first page for the source URL. If the date the page was last updated cannot be found, use "n.d." (no date).

Greater New Milford (Ct) Area Healthy Communities 2000, Task Force on Teen and Adolescent Issues. (n.d.). Who has time for a family meal? You do! Retrieved October 5, 2000, from http://www.familymealtime.org

  • For a posting to an email group, Web forum, or blog, give the exact date of the posting. Use the title of the thread or subject message line (not italicized) and add any message identifier in square brackets. Use the phrase "Message posted to" before the URL of the forum or blog.

Simons, D. J. (2000, July 14). New resources for visual cognition [Msg 31]. Message posted to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/visualcognition/message/31

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Reports and Proceedings

Pattern for a Report

AuthorLastName, A. A. (PublicationYear). Title of the report (SeriesName No. ReportNumber). Location: Publisher.

Ostfield, A. M., & Eaker, E. D. (Eds.). (1985) Measuring psychological variables in epidemiologic studies of cardiovascular disease (NIH Publication No. 85-2270). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

  • If a report is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, show the latter as the publisher.

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.

Pattern for a Paper in Published Proceedings

AuthorALastName, A. A., & AuthorBLastName, B. B. (PublicationYear). Title of the paper. In A. EditorALastName & B. EditorBLastName (Eds.), Title of the meeting (pp. StartPage-EndPage). Location: Publisher.

  • Capitalize the description of a meeting as you would the title of a book. Since the name of a symposium is a proper noun, it should be fully capitalized.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 38. Perspectives on motivation (pp. 237-288). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

  • If the proceedings are published regularly, treat them as you would a periodical.

Cynx, J., Williams, H., & Nottebohm, F. (1992). Hemispheric differences in avian song discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 89, 1372-1375.

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Pamphlets

Pattern for a Pamphlet

AuthorLastName, I. I. (PublicationYear). Title of the pamphlet [Brochure]. Location: Publisher.

  • Cite a pamphlet as you would a book, but add "[Brochure]" to indicate that it is a pamphlet. Note: when the author is exactly the same as the publisher, indicate the publisher by the word "Author."

Research and Training Center on Independent Living. (2001). Guidelines for reporting and writing about people with disabilities (6th ed.) [Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: Author.

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Audiovisual Materials

Pattern for a Music Recording (CD, record, audio cassette, etc.)

Composer, C. (CopyrightYear). Title of the piece [Recording by A. Artist IF not the composer]. On Title of the album [mediumOfRecording]. Location: Label (RecordingYearIfNotTheCopyrightYear)

Shocked, M. (1992). Over the waterfall. On Arkansas traveler [CD]. New York: Mercury.

Pattern for a Television Broadcast or Series

ProducerOrDirectorName, P. (ProducerOrDirectorTitle). (BroadcastYear, Month Day). Title of the program [Television broadcastOrSeries]. Location: Broadcaster.

  • Indicate that the work is a television broadcast or series immediately after the title.

Crystal, L. (Executive Producer). (1993, October 11). The McNeil/Lehrer news hour [Television broadcast]. New York and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service.

Pattern for a Motion Picture

ProducerName, P. (Title), & DirectorName, D. (Title). (ReleaseYear). Title of the film [Motion picture]. Location: Studio.

Scorsese, M. (Producer), & Lonergan, K. (Writer/Director). (2000). You can count on me [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.

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Other Resources

This description of the APA style is based on the fifth edition of the American Psychological Association's Publication Manual (Beatley Reference BF76.7 .P83 2001). Many of the examples are taken directly from that work. See also Concise Rules of APA Style (Beatley Reference BF76.7 .C66 2005).

For more detail and additional examples of the APA style see the following:

You can also find online guides to the APA style at many of the sites listed in the Other Resources section of the Creating a bibliography page.

Page updated: October 12, 2005

 

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