The Basics of APA Style A guide to student papers

Three areas of concern: Part I: Formatting your paper Part II: The reference list Part III: Parenthetical, or in-text citation

Part I: Formatting your paper Use 8½ X 11 inch paper 12 point, New Times Roman, or similar font 3 cm margins, 3,5 cm for left-hand margin. Double-space your text

Part I: Formatting your paper Number pages consecutively The first page is your title page: Title Your name Your affiliation

Part I: Formatting your paper Abstract (summary) on page two, if required by teachers. Next page: center full title, followed by the main body of the text on the next line Indent the first line of each paragraph by five spaces (1 cm). Figures, tables, charts may be incorporated into the body of the text

Part II: The reference list Reference sources used in your paper must be listed. Start references on a new page after the body of your text. List alphabetically by author’s last name (or title, if author not known).

Part II: The reference list The purpose of the reference list is to:  Identify and credit the sources you used  Enable the reader to locate your sources APA style is used in the social sciences, education, engineering and business. Emphasizes the date of publication

Example of reference list References Heinerman, J. (1988). Heinerman’s encyclopedia of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall. Kowalchik, C. & Hylton, W. (1998). Rodale’s illustrated encyclopedia of herbs. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press. Wardlaw, G. M. & Smith, A. M. (2006). Contemporary nutrition. Boston: McGraw Hill. Weiss, S. E. (Ed.). (1997). Foods that harm, foods that heal. Pleasantville, NY: The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

Part II: The reference list If you have more than one source by the same author, arrange by year of publication beginning with the earliest. Capitalization: titles of books and articles are treated like sentences with only the first word capitalized. (Proper nouns should be capitalized, just as they would in a sentence.)

Part II: The reference list Single-author entries precede those with co-authors. Multiple authors are joined with an ampersand “&” instead of with the word “and”. Authors’ first names are always reduced to initials.

Part II: The reference list Periodicals Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx(x), xxx- xxx. Sacks, S. E. (2004). Fraud risk: are you prepared? Journal of Accountancy, 198(3),

Part II: The reference list Nonperiodicals Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Location: Publisher. Lipson, C. (2004). Doing honest work in college. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Part II: The reference list Part of a nonperiodical (e.g., a book chapter) Author, A. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Location: Publisher. Lipson, C. (2004). Plagiarism and academic honesty. In S. Jones (Ed.), Integrity in scholarship (pp ). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Part II: The reference list References to Electronic Sources  In general, include the same information as you would for a print resource, and add as much electronic retrieval info as needed to locate the source.  Content with no fixed publication date should include a retrieval date.  If the source has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), use it instead of a URL

Part II: The reference list Article with DOI assigned Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx, xxx-xxx. doi: Belli, B. (2007). Nuking food: Contamination fears and market possibilities spur an irradiation revival. E: The Environmental Magazine, 18 (4), doi: /

Part II: The reference list Article with no DOI assigned Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx, xxx-xxx. Retrieved from URL Belli, B. (2007). Nuking food: Contamination fears and market possibilities spur an irradiation revival. E: The Environmental Magazine, 18 (4), Retrieved from

Part II: The reference list Encyclopedia Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. In A. Editor (Ed.), Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from URL Ennis, W. (2006). Sign Language. In G. Albrecht (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Disability. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from Gale Virtual Reference Library, Pima County Public Library,

Part II: The reference list Newspaper article Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of newspaper. Retrieved from URL Rico, G. (2007, August 28). Hayden could get Superfund cleanup. The Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved from

Part II: The reference list Podcast Creator, Producer, Director, etc. (Person’s title). (Year, Month Day). Title of show, segment, etc. [Number or other identifier]. Title of podcast. Podcast retrieved from URL Glass, I. (Producer). (2007, August 3). Blame it on art [Show 73]. This American Life. Podcast retrieved from

Part II: The reference list Article on web site, no date Author, A. A. (n. d.). Title of article. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL Doughan, D. (n. d.) J. R. R. Tolkien: A biographical sketch. Retrieved August 28, 2007, from y.asp y.asp

Part III: Parenthetical, or in-text citation Within the body of your text, you must cite your sources as you use them. You must cite any and all data, facts, information, opinions, ideas, tables, charts, graphics, photographs, etc. that you obtained in your research.

Paraphrasing One idea is to surround quotations with big Q’s to distinguish the author’s words from your own ideas (Lipson, 2004). In Doing honest work in college, Lipson (2004) suggests surrounding quotations with big Q’s to distinguish the author’s words from your own ideas. ___________________________________________ Lipson, C. (2004). Doing honest work in college. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Part III: Parenthetical, or in-text citation Direct quote Lipson’s first rule of academic honesty is, “When you say you did the work yourself, you actually did it” (2004, p. 3). A good rule to follow is “When you say you did the work yourself, you actually did it” (Lipson, 2004, p. 3). ___________________________________________ Lipson, C. (2004). Doing honest work in college. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Conclusion Formatting rules make research papers uniform and easy to read The ability to verify facts through proper citation of sources is essential to good scholarship In-text citation and the reference list  Identify and credit the sources you used  Enable the reader to locate your sources