The documentation style of the American Psychological Association

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association offers complete guidelines for manuscript style and citation in APA, the documentation style of the social sciences. This handout illustrates the most commonly used types of sources with examples drawn from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 4th ed. and The Bedford Handbook for Writers, 4th ed. If you have a source not illustrated here, consult the APA manual. A copy of this manual is available for use in the Writing Lab.

• Scroll down to see APA Style for Citing Printed Resources (Books, Periodicals, Etc.).

• Click here to see also APA Style for Citing Electronic/Internet Resources.

GENERAL FORMS

• Periodical:

     Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (1994). Title of article.
Title of Periodical, xx, xxx-xxx.

• Nonperiodical:

     Author, A. A. (1994). Title of work. Location: Publisher.

REFERENCES TO PERIODICALS

• Journal article, one author:

     Bekerian, D. A. (1993). In search of the typical eyewitness. American
Psychologist, 48, 674-576.

• Journal article, two authors:

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

• Magazine article:

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

• Daily newspaper article, no author:

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

• Daily newspaper article, discontinuous pages:

     Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social
status. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4-5.

• Monthly newspaper article, letter to the editor:

     Markovitz, M. C. (1993, May). Inpatient vs. outpatient [Letter to the
editor]. APA Monitor, p.3.

REFERENCES TO BOOKS

• One author:

     Shaller, G. B. (1993). The last panda. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.

• Two or more authors, Jr. in name, third edition:

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

• Corporate author:

     National Head Start Association. (1990). Head Start: The nation's pride,
a nation's challenge. Report of the Silver Ribbon Panel. Alexandria, VA:
Author.

• Unknown author:

     The Times Atlas of the World (9th ed.). (1992). New York: Times Books.

• Editors:

     Fox, R. W., & Lears, T. J. J. (Eds.). (1993). The power of culture:
Critical essays in American history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

• English translation of a book:

     Laplace, P. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities (F.
W. Truscott & F. L. Emory, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work
published 1814)

In the text, cite the original publication date and the date of the translation: (Laplace, 1814/1951).

• Work in an anthology:

     Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. (1984). Language acquisition and socialization:Three
developmental stories.  In R. Schweder and R. Levine (Eds.), Culture theory:
Essays in mind, self, and emotion (pp. 276-320). New York: Cambridge University Press.

REFERENCES TO NONPRINT SOURCES

• Film:

     Harrison, J. (Producer), & Schmiechen, R. (Director). (1992). Changing
our minds: The story of Evelyn Hooker [Film]. (Available from Changing
Our Minds, Inc., 170 West End Avenue, Suite 25R, New York, NY 10023)

• Television broadcast:

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

• Music recording:

GENERAL FORM

     Writer, A. (Date of Copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if
different from writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording: compact
disk, record, cassette, etc.]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different
from copyright date)

• Videotape:

     National Geographic Society (Producer). (1987). In the shadow of Vesuvius
[Videotape]. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.

• Presentation:

     Lanktree, C., & Briere, J. (1991, January). Early data on the Trauma
Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C). Paper presented at the meeting
of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, San Diego,
CA.

REFERENCES TO REPORTS

• Report from the Government Printing Office (GPO):

     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 the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC):

     Mead, J.V. (1992). Looking at old photographs: Investigating the teacher
tales that novice teachers bring with them (Report No., NCRTL-RR-92-4).
East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No. ED 346 082)

• Government Report not available from GPO or ERIC:

     U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1992). Pressure ulcers
in adults: Prediction and prevention (AHCPR Publication No. 92-0047). Rockville,
MD: Author.

REFERENCE CITATIONS IN TEXT

• One work by one author:

Rogers (1994) compared reaction times

In a recent study of reaction times (Rogers, 1994)

Within a paragraph, subsequent references to a study need not include the year.

• One work by multiple authors up to five:

Wasserstein, Zappulla, Rosen, Gerstman, and Rock (1994) found [first citation in tcxt]

Wasserstein et al. (1994) found [subsequent first citation per paragraph thereafter]

• Groups as authors:

(National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 1991)

Subsequent references

(NIMH, 1991)

• Works with no author:

("Study Finds," 1982)

Article titles are quoted.

(Science, 1993)

Book and journal titles are underlined.

• Specific parts of a source:

(Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 332)

(Shimamura, 1989, chap. 3)

Points to remember about APA:

• APA uses an author/date style of in-text citations, referring by the author's last name to the References page at the end of the text.
• All references are double-spaced.
• For manuscripts submitted to journals, APA requires the form illustrated here (with the first lines of reference entries indented and subsequent lines flushed left). The hanging indent form (first line flushed left, subsequent lines indented) is customary for student papers. Check with your instructor to determine which form is appropriate.
• Capitalize only the first word of an article title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper names. On the references page, do not underline the title of an article or place quotation marks around it.
• Capitalize significant words in the title of a journal. Underline journal titles and volume numbers.
• Capitalize only the first significant word and only proper names within book titles. Capitalize the first significant word of the subtitle, if any.
• Underline book titles.
• Because personal communications (letters, memos, telephone conversations, interviews) do not provide recoverable data, they are not included in the reference list. Cite personal communications in text only. Example: (K. W. Schaie, personal communication, September 28, 1993)

APA STYLE FOR ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

Electronic Sources: APA Style of Citation

>>>Individual Works <<<

Author/editor. (Year). Title (edition), [Type of medium]. Producer (optional). Available: Supplier/Database identifier or number [Access date].

Author/editor. (Year). Title (edition), [Type of medium]. Producer (optional). Available Protocol (if applicable): Site/Path/File [Access date].

Examples:

• Oxford English dictionary computer file: On compact disc (2nd ed.), [CD-ROM]. (1992). Available: Oxford UP [1995, May 27].
  
  
• Pritzker, T. J. (No date). An Early fragment from central Nepal [Online]. Available: http://www.ingress.com/~astanart/pritzker/pritzker.html [1995, June 8].
  
  * Write "No date" when the electronic publication date is not available.
  * When citing information retrieved on the World Wide Web, it is not necessary to repeat the protocol (HTTP) after "Available" since that is stated in the URL.

>>>Parts of Works <<<

Author/editor. (Year). Title. In Source (edition), [Type of medium]. Producer (optional). Available: Supplier/Database identifier or number [Access date].

Author/editor. (Year). Title. In Source (edition), [Type of medium]. Producer (optional). Available Protocol (if applicable): Site/Path/File [Access date].

Examples:

• Bosnia and Hercegovina. (1995). In Academic American Encyclopedia [Online]. Available: Dow Jones News Retrieval Service/ENCYC [1995, June 5].
  
  * This is an article from an encyclopedia with no author given.
  
  
• Daniel, R. T. (1995). The history of Western music. In Britannica online: Macropaedia [Online]. Available: http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g:DocF=macro/5004/45/0.html [1995, June 14].
  
  * When citing information retrieved on the World Wide Web, it is not necessary to repeat the protocol (HTTP) after "Available" since that is stated in the URL.

  ---

  >>>Journal Articles <<<

  
  Basic forms, commercial supplier, and using an Internet protocol:
  
  

  Author. (Year). Title. Journal Title [Type of medium], volume(issue), paging or indicator of length. Available: Supplier/Database name (Database identifier or number, if available)/Item or accession number [Access date].
  
  

  Author. (Year). Title. Journal Title [Type of medium], volume(issue), paging or indicator of length. Available Protocol (if applicable): Site/Path/File [Access date].

  
  Examples:
  

  • Clark, J. K. Complications in academia: Sexual harassment and the law. Siecus Report [CD-ROM], 21(6), 6-10. Available: 1994 SIRS/SIRS 1993 School/Volume 4/Article 93A [1995, June 13].
    
    
  • Carriveau, K. L., Jr. [Review of the book Environmental hazards: Marine pollution]. Electronic Green Journal [Online], 2(1), 3 paragraphs. Available: gopher://gopher.uidaho.edu/11/UI_gopher/access_research/egj03/carriv01.html [1995, June 21].
    
    * This is a reference for a book review; brackets indicate title is supplied.
    * When citing information retrieved on the World Wide Web, it is not necessary to repeat the protocol (Gopher) after "Available" since that is stated in the URL.
    
    
  • Inada, K. (1995). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics [Online], 2, 9 paragraphs. Available: http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html [1995, June 21].
    
    * When citing information retrieved on the World Wide Web, it is not necessary to repeat the protocol (HTTP) after "Available" since that is stated in the URL.

  • ---

    >>>Magazine Articles <<<

    
    Basic forms, commercial supplier, and using an Internet protocol:
    
    

    Author. (Year, month day). Title. Magazine Title [Type of medium], volume (if given), paging or indicator of length. Available: Supplier/Database name (Database identifier or number, if available)/Item or accession number [Access date].
    
    

    Author. (Year, month day). Title. Magazine Title [Type of medium], volume (if given), paging or indicator of length. Available Protocol (if applicable): Site/Path/File [Access date].

    
    Examples:
    

    • Goodstein, C. (1991, September). Healers from the deep. American Health [CD-ROM], 60-64. Available: 1994 SIRS/SIRS 1992 Life Science/Article 08A [1995, June 13].
      
      
    • Viviano, F. (1995, May/June0. The new Mafia order. Mother Jones Magazine [Online], 72 paragraphs. Available: http://www.mojones.com/MOTHER_JONES/MJ95/viviano.html [1995, July 17].
      
      * When citing information retrieved on the World Wide Web, it is not necessary to repeat the protocol (HTTP) after "Available" since that is stated in the URL.

    ---

    >>>Newspaper Articles <<<

    
    Basic forms, commercial supplier, and using an Internet protocol:
    
    

    Author. (Year, month day). Title. Newspaper Title [Type of medium], paging or indicator of length. Available: Supplier/Database name (Database identifier or number, if available)/Item or accession number [Access date].
    
    

    Author. (Year, month day). Title. Newspaper Title [Type of medium], paging or indicator of length. Available Protocol (if applicable): Site/Path/File [Access date].

    
    Examples:
    

    • Howell, V., & Carlton, B. (1993, August 29). Growing up tough: New generation fights for its life: Inner-city youths live by rule of vengeance. Birmingham News [CD-ROM], p. 1A(10 pp.). Available: 1994 SIRS/SIRS 1993 Youth/Volume 4/Article 56A [1995, July 16].
      
      
    • Johnson, T. (1994, December 5). Indigenous people are now more combative, organized. Miami Herald [Online], p. 29SA(22 paragraphs).Available: gopher://summit.fiu.edu/Miami Herald--Summit-Related Articles/12/05/95--Indigenous People Now More Combative, Organized [1995, July 16].
      
      * This reference gives beginning page and the number of paragraphs; this information is useful if one wishes to refer to material in text references.
      * When citing information retrieved on the World Wide Web, it is not necessary to repeat the protocol (HTTP) after "Available" since that is stated in the URL.

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    >>>Discussion List Messages <<<

    
    Basic forms:
    
    

    Author. (Year, Month day). Subject of message. Discussion List [Type of medium]. Available E-mail: DISCUSSION LIST@e-mail address [Access date].
    
    

    Author. (Year, Month day). Subject of message. Discussion List [Type of medium]. Available E-mail: LISTSERV@e-mail address/Get [Access date].

    
    Examples:
    

    • RRECOME. (1995, April 1). Top ten rules of film criticism. Discussions on All Forms of Cinema [Online]. Available E-mail: CINEMA-L@american.edu [1995, April 1].
      
      * Author's login name, in uppercase, is given as the first element.
      
      Discussions on All Forms of Cinema [Online]. Available E-mail: LISTSERV@american.edu/Get cinema-l log9504A [1995, August 1].
      
      * Reference is obtained by searching the list's archive.

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    >>>Personal electronic communications (E-mail) <<<

    
    Basic forms:
    
    

    Sender (Sender's E-mail address). (Year, Month day). Subject of Message. E-mail to recipient (Recipient's E-mail address)

    
    Examples:
    

    • Day, Martha (MDAY@sage.uvm.edu). (1995, July 30). Review of film -- Bad Lieutenant. E-mail to Xia Li (XLI@moose.uvm.edu).