Citing References APA Style Wallace Library Copyright ©2002 Rochester Institute of Technology, Wallace Library

Reasons for Citing  To give credit to originator of text or idea.  To provide source information, so reader can follow-up, if desired.

Definitions  In-text Citation – a brief parenthetical acknowledgement within the paper wherever another’s words, facts, or ideas have been incorporated.  Citation or Reference - information needed to properly give credit to an author and direct the reader to its location.  “Works Cited” – the list of citations that appears at the end of the paper. The citations listed are only those referred to in the paper, not everything that was reviewed.

Information Needed for All Citation Styles  Author or Authoring Body  Date of publication  Title of the work  Publisher of the work & place of publication  Title of the Source, if work is part of something else, i.e.. journal, encyclopedia, website  Location information within the Source, i.e.. Volume, issue #, page or paragraph numbers  Retrieval date, if electronic format

Accrediting Information  APA citation format was developed by the American Psychological Association.  The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the basis for all of the rules and examples used in this presentation.  Copies of the Manual are available at RESERVE, in the REFERENCE collection, and on the 4 th floor for checkout BF76.7.P  Short guides derived from the Manual are available in the guide rack in the Reference area of the Library and on the web at

In-text Citations  Consist of an author’s last name, publication date, and a page or paragraph number (if the reference is to a quote or specific part of a work) separated by commas.  Must be located in parentheses at the end of the quoted or borrowed information.  Must refer to a specific work listed on the “Works Cited” page at the end of the paper.

In-text Citation Examples  Work cited has one author In a recent study of reaction time (Rogers, 1994)…  Authors of the work cited are already mentioned in the narrative Coppola and Naturale (2001) found that…  Part of the work is quoted “A lack of career success may lower men’s value in the marketplace of relationships” (Reinking & Bell, 1991, p.368)

In-text Citations Which Need No “Works Cited” Entry  Work cited is an entire web site Douglass ( is a well organized site for locating American speeches.  Work cited is a personal communication: , oral interview, conversation, etc. Koren verified this (personal communication, January 9, 2002).

APA Formatting Rules for “Works Cited” List  Double space each entry.  Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author.  Entries by same author are arranged by publication date, earliest first.  If no author, the title moves to the author position and the entry is alphabetized by the first significant word of the title.

APA Formatting Rules for “Works Cited” Entries  First line of each entry is flush to left margin and all succeeding lines are indented. This is known as a hanging indent.  Titles of books and journals should be italicized.  Capitalize only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon or dash, and proper nouns in titles of books, articles, films and broadcasts.  Capitalize all major words and all words of four letters or more in periodical titles.

APA Formatting Rules for “Works Cited” Entries  Use author initials only.  Vol. # is italicized; issue # is not.  There is no period at the end of a URL in a citation. If you do not have a URL at the end, put a period there.  Put the date you retrieved the article in month day, year order followed by a comma, i.e. July 7, 2001,  Entries retrieved from RIT licensed research databases do not require a URL; use database name only.

General Format for Print Magazine/Journal Article Author, A. A. (Date of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Magazine/Journal Title, Volume number, (issue number only if each issue begins on page 1), pages.

Example of Cite for Print Magazine/Journal Article Stacks, D. W., & Hickson, M. (1991). The communication investigator: Teaching research methods to undergraduates. Communication Quarterly, 39,

General Format for Book or Edited Book Author/Editor. (Date of Publication). Title: Subtitle. (Edition). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example of Cite for Book or Edited Book Chickering, A. W., & Smith, L. E. (Eds.). (1981). The modern American college: Responding to the new realities of diverse students and a changing society. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

General Format for an Article in an Edited Book Author. (Date of Publication). Article title. In Book Editor (Ed.), Title: Subtitle. (Edition, pages). Place of Publication: Publisher.

Example of Cite for Article in an Edited Book Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. (1986). School effects. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed., pp ). New York: Macmillan.

General Format for Internet Document Circles represent pieces of info that need to be located on the electronic document Author/editor. (Year/Date). Title. Retrieved Date, from URL Date, from URL

Example of Cite for Internet Document Bryant, P. (2001). Biodiversity and conservation. Retrieved November 26, 2001, from edu/~sustain/ bio65/Titlpage.htm

General Format for an Internet Document Which Is Part of an Internet Resource Author/editor. (Year). Title. Retrieved date, from web site name: URL

Example of a Cite for an Internet Document Which Is Part of an Internet Resource Pellegrino, J. (n.d.). Seamus Heaney. Retrieved October 4, 1999, from the Internet Poetry Archive web site: heaney/heaney.bio.html

General Format for an Article From an Internet Journal Author. (Year). Title of article. Source, vol. #, (issue # if each issue is separately numbered), pages. Retrieved date, from URL

Example of a Cite for an Article From an Internet Journal Fine, M.A., & Kurdek, L.A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit and authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist, 48, Retrieved June 7, 1999, from journals/amp/kurdek.html

General Format for an Article From an Electronic Database Author. (Year). Title of article. Source, vol. #, (issue # if each issue is separately numbered), pages. Retrieved date, from Database. Author. (Year). Title of article. Source, vol. #, (issue # if each issue is separately numbered), pages. Retrieved date, from Database.

Example of a Cite for an Article From an Electronic Database Kramer, J.F. (December 1999/January 2000). Valuing accounting practices. The National Public Accountant, 44 (10), 32. Retrieved April 4, 2000, from ABI/Inform Global via Proquest Direct.

Other Formats  MLA – Modern Language Association  Chicago Style – Chicago Manual of Style  Turabian Style – based on Chicago Style  Harvard Referencing System  ASA – American Sociological Association  CBE - Council of Biology Editors See Formats for Citing References guide at for info on these formats and others

Bibliographic Management Software  Software that collects & organizes citations for a bibliography and puts it into a specific style. Often includes filters that work with specific databases.  Examples: Endnote, ProCite, Reference Manager, Papyrus  Comparison information & links to trial versions, company websites with purchasing info, use guides & tutorials are available from the website at internet/subject/writing.html internet/subject/writing.html

Writing Resources on the Web This website includes links to  Referencing & citing guides with examples  Grammar guides and tutorials  Term paper writing workshops and guides  Bibliographic management software info

? Exercise

Correct Citations for Exercise Persico, J. E. (2001). Roosevelt’s secret war: FDR and World War II espionage. New York: Random House.

Correct Citation for Exercise Cullhed, A. (August 28, 2001). Nobel prize authors on time. Retrieved February 18, 2002, from the Nobel e-Museum: cullhed/