1. What It Is and How to Use It
APA Style
What It Is and How to Use It

2. What Is APA Style?
American Psychological Association style is a style of documentation, largely used by the sciences.
APA style explains how to format a document consistently.
The most elements of the style regard parenthetical citations, headings, and the list of references.

3. When Should Parenthetical Citations Be Used?
Use parenthetical citations when including information from another source.
Types of information (or notes):
Quotations
Paraphrases
Summaries
Note: Common knowledge does not require a citation.
Information is considered common knowledge when it can be found in at least five independent sources and when it is considered common knowledge.
When in doubt, cite the information.

4. Formatting Parenthetical Citations
A parenthetical citation requires:
The author’s last name, year of publication.
Example: (Harrison, 2009).
The citation is placed right after the information being cited.
Note: The author’s last name is the only name used in the document.
If the author’s name is included in the text, only the year is placed in parentheses.
The citation is placed right after the author’s name in the text.
Example: Harrison (2009) states…

5. Formatting Parenthetical Citations: Page Numbers
Page numbers are included for quotations or reference to a specific part of a text, like a figure or table.
For a single page, preface with p. For multiple pages, preface with pp. Write out the full numbers.
Example: (Harrison, 2009, p. 3).
Example: Harrison (2009) believes that “students should come prepared to each class” (p. 3).

6. Formatting Parenthetical Citations: More than One Author
Citing a work with two authors: Include both names in the citation, separated by a &.
If the names are included in the text, use and.
Citing a work with six or more authors: Give the first author’s name followed by et al.

7. Formatting Parenthetical Citations: More than One Author cont.
Citing a work with three to five authors: List all the names the first time a work is cited, placing a comma and space after each name, and an & before the last name.
If the names are included in the text, use and before the last name.
Example: Jones, Smith, Brown, Turner, and Cooper (2001) state…
After the first time, use only the first author’s name, followed by et al. Do not underline or italicize the term.
Example: Jones et al. (2001) state…

8. Formatting Parenthetical Citations cont.
Citing more than one work by different authors in the same citation: List the sources in alphabetical order, separated by a semi-colon.
Example: (Harrison, 2009; Jones, 2003).
Citing works by different authors with the same last name: Include the authors’ initials in the text and citations.
Example: (C. Harrison, 2009).

9. Formatting Parenthetical Citations cont.
Citing a work with an organizational author: If the author is an agency, corporation, or group, give its full name the first time it is referred to. If the audience is familiar with the abbreviation or acronym for the group, include it in brackets after the first use and then use it in later citations. If the audience is not familiar, continue to use the full name.
Citing a work with an unknown author: Use the first two or three words of the reference-list entry and the year.

10. Formatting Parenthetical Citations cont.
Citing an online work: Cite as you would any other source.
If there is no author or date, use the title of the source in a citation (or a shortened version in the text. Write n.d. in parentheses.
If there are no page numbers, include information that will help readers find the passage. If the document has numbered paragraphs, use the ¶ symbol, or the abbreviation "para." followed by the paragraph number (Harrison, 2009, para. 5).
If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, give the correct heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. (Smith, 1999, Background section, para. 3)

11. Formatting Parenthetical Citations: Long Quotations
A long quotation is longer than 40 words.
To format, start the quotation on a new line. Each line should be indented five spaces.
If the quotation is longer than one paragraph, indent the first line of subsequent paragraphs another five spaces.
The citation is placed at the end of the quotation, after the final punctuation.

12. List of References At the top of the page, center the word References.
All sources listed must be referred to in the text of the document.
The list is alphabetized according to the author’s last name and is double-spaced.
For each entry, the first line is flush with the left margin; subsequent lines are indented five spaces (a hanging indent).

13. List of References: Structure of Entry
A typical entry includes:
Author(s): List all authors in the same order as on the title page of the document.
List authors by last name, a comma and a space, the first initial, followed by a period and a space, and the middle initial (if given), followed by a period and a space.
If an organization is given as the author, write out the organization’s name.
If there is no author given, move the title into the author position.

14. List of References: Structure of Entry (cont.)
Author(s) (cont.): For more than 7 authors:
List the first 6 by last names and initials, and separate by commas.
After the 6th author's name, use an ellipsis in place of the author names.
Give the final author name.
NOTE: There should be no more than seven names. 
Sample:
Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos,
J. A., Thomas, S. T., Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site
usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical
Communication, 57,

15. List of References: Structure of Entry cont.
Date format: the year of the entry goes one space after the period after the author. It is placed inside parentheses, followed by a period and a space.
If the month or month and day are included, then the year is followed by a comma, a space, and the month (don’t abbreviate) followed by the day. (Ex. 2008, September 5).

16. List of References: Structure of Entry cont.
Title: Give the full title, including subtitles, which are separated from the main title by a comma and a space.
Capitalize only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns.
If the source is not a book or article, give a description of the work’s form in brackets after the title but before the period.
Publication information—page numbers: If giving a range, write out both numbers. (Ex )
Use p. and pp. only for articles in books and newspapers and when listing discontinuous pages.

17. List of References: Books
Title
Italicize book titles.
Include the edition number in parentheses after the title but before the period.
Publication information
List the city and state (postal abbreviation).
After the location, add a colon and a space followed by the full name of the publisher.
Do not include the words Publishers, Company, or Inc.

18. List of References: Journal Article
Write out the full name of the periodical.
Capitalize all words in the periodical title except prepositions and articles that do not begin the title or follow a colon.
Italicize the periodical title and the volume and issue numbers.
Article in a journal paginated by annual volume:
Give the author(s), period, space; date, period, space; article title, period, space; journal title, comma, space, the volume number, parenthesis, issue number, parenthesis, comma, space, and the page numbers.

19. List of References: Journal Article cont.
Article in a journal paginated by issue:
If the journal is monthly or bimonthly, list the month of publication after the year.
After the title, include a comma, a space, and the volume number (all italicized).
After the volume number, place the issue number in parentheses (with no space).
After another comma, give the page numbers (without p. or pp.).
Article in a daily, weekly, or biweekly magazine or newspaper:
Include the year, month, and day. List the page numbers with p. or pp.

20. List of References: Electronic Sources
Guidelines are the same as for printed sources.
Include a retrieval date only if the source is likely to be updated.
Article in an online scholarly journal:
Provide the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available, instead of the URL.
DOIs are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code.
Many publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document.
If there is no DOI, give the URL, unless the source is also available in print.
Find DOI's from print publications or ones that go to dead links with CrossRef.org's "DOI Resolver," which is displayed in a central location on their home page.

21. List of References: Electronic Sources cont.
Article from a database: Provide the appropriate print information. If the source is hard to find, add information that gives the proper name of the database. If the source could change, include the date of retrieval.
Example: Retrieved February 20, 2003, from PsycARTICLES database.
Article from an electronic version of a print source: Show that the source is the electronic version by placing [Electronic version] after the title of the article.
Neither a retrieval date nor a URL is required.

22. Additional Format Information
Every page must be numbered.
Center at the bottom of the title page.
For subsequent pages, the number should be in a header at the top right with a condensed version of the title.
Margins are at least one inch.
Use a serif font, size 12.

23. Additional Format Info cont.
Capitalization:
When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word.
When referring to the title of a source within the text, capitalize all words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs, or are four letters long or greater.

24. Headings and Subheadings
Headings are used to separate a document into sections.
When writing, determine how many headings are required.
The introduction requires no heading.
Determine how many levels of headings are required. Most undergraduate documents use three levels or fewer.
All headings are the same size as regular text.
The types of headings show the hierarchy of information.
For Level 1 headings, simply center the text, put it in boldface, and use standard capitalization.

25. Headings and Subheadings cont.
For two levels of headings, use Level 1 and Level 2.
Level 2 headings are flush-left and in boldface, with standard capitalization.
For three levels of headings, use Levels 1, 2, and 3.
Level 3 headings are indented, in boldface, and only first words and words after colons are capitalized. End with a period. Text follows immediately after.