APA Style and Formatting Explained

January 31, 2012

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Table of Contents Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 2

In-text Citations ....................................................................................................................................... 3

Citing a Paraphrase – Examples ........................................................................................................... 4

Citing Quotations – Examples .............................................................................................................. 5

The Reference List – General Guidelines .................................................................................................. 6

How to reference different sources: ........................................................................................................ 7

Reference and Article – Scholarly Journal ............................................................................................ 7

Reference a Book – Single Author ........................................................................................................ 7

Reference a Book – Two Authors ......................................................................................................... 8

Reference a Government Publication – No specific author or editor .................................................... 8

Reference an Internet Article – Based on a print source ....................................................................... 8

Reference a Web Document – Corporate Document............................................................................ 9

Reference a Web Document – Without author or date ...................................................................... 10

Reference Database Information – Journal Article from a Database ................................................... 10

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Overview

By using references you give credit to sources, this creates a shortcut and makes it easier for the reader

to find the information they are looking for. As you write your paper you will use outside sources. You

will need to give credit to the original author, and acknowledge that the material belongs to another

writer(s).

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In-text Citations

In-text citations give credit to sources used within the body of your paper. You should cite the author in

the text when you quote directly or paraphrase. In-text citations also leads readers to the complete

source information that you included in the Reference list. Here are some examples of in-text citations:

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Citing a Paraphrase – Examples

When citing a paraphrase, include two elements: Author’s last name (or names if more than one

author), and a year of publication.

Example 1 List the year of publication after author’s last name.

Example 2 List the author and the year of publication at the end of the sentence.

Example 3 For sources with two authors, combine last names with an ampersand (&) followed by the year of publication.

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Citing Quotations – Examples

Citation quotations include three elements: author’s last name (or names), year of publication, and the

page number where the original text was found. For quotes that are less than 40 words can be included

in the body of your paper, long quotations should be set apart from text as a block quotation.

Example 1 Place the author and year of publication at the start of the sentence, followed by the page number at the end of the sentence. Note: The period is placed after the page number.

Example 2 Place all three elements (author’s last name, publication date, and page numbers) in parentheses together.

Example 3 When citing three to five authors, initially list all author’s names. After that you can only list the name of the first author followed by “et al”, which means “and others.”

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The Reference List – General Guidelines

1. Begin the Reference List on the first page after the body of your paper. 2. Center the word References at the top of the page and capitalize the first letter of the word

References. 3. Keep the same margins, spacing, page numbers, and headings as the body your paper. 4. List each reference by author’s last name, alphabetically. 5. Use the year of publication to list two or more references by the same author.

The Reference list provides information that your readers will need to access the sources you used in

your paper. It also demonstrates the depth of your research.

Note: There are two important differences between a Reference List and a Bibliography

Reference List – includes all and only sources you cite in your paper.

Bibliography – lists all the sources you read that inform your work, even if you don’t cite them.

APA calls for a Reference List, not a Bibliography!

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How to reference different sources:

Reference and Article – Scholarly Journal

Reference a Book – Single Author

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Reference a Book – Two Authors

Reference a Government Publication – No specific author or editor

Reference an Internet Article – Based on a print source

APA Guidelines state that electronic articles are duplicates of their print versions and can be references

the same way.

URLs often change or break, therefore, publishers are using DOIs (Digital Object Identifier) to articles.

Use the DOI instead of the URL, if available.

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Example Using the URL:

Example Using the DOI:

Reference a Web Document – Corporate Document

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Reference a Web Document – Without author or date

Reference Database Information – Journal Article from a Database