presents
Guide
to Documentation, APA Style
This style of documentation is for use in psychology, sociology, and related
fields where the timeliness of sources is of primary importance. Therefore,
the publication date of each source is required when making citations. Quoted
material must include the page number as well. Proper documentation may be
accomplished in any one of three ways:
1. The sentence containing the cited material begins with the author and date:
Kahn (1997) suggested that the partying styles
of college students affected their grades.
2. The date is included in the sentence structure with the page number (used
for quotes only) at the end:
In 1997, Kahn demonstrated that the partying styles
of college students had a direct effect on grades (p. 1513).
3. The author's name, the date and the page number (if a quote is involved)
may be placed in parentheses at the end of the sentence:
One researcher even went so far as to assert that the partying styles of college
students “had a direct effect on grades” (Kahn, 1997, p. 1513).
Using any of these styles will ensure that your psychology or social science
paper is correctly documented using APA style.
MAKING THE LIST OF REFERENCES
On a separate sheet at the end of the paper, include an alphabetical list of
all references cited in the text. The entries should be double spaced, with
no extra space between sources. All but the first line of each entry are indented
(hanging indent). The following page contains example citations of some common
types of references for psychology and sociology.
NOTE: The
APA publication manual is not a manual for student papers, but for manuscripts
intended for publication. The latest edition of the manual clearly states that
for documents that constitute the final printed version (i.e., papers that will
not be typeset for publication in a journal or book), hanging indentation is
proper, since documents intended to be typeset are converted to hanging indents
for publication anyway. The hanging indent is used for the lines following
the first line of the citation. This is not always demonstratable online depending
on your browser and the length of the URL.
Italic or Underline? In all
cases, italic is the correct form for titles of journals, magazines, etc. Underlining
is used as a way to tell print shops to set type in italics and became common
in non-published materials such as college essays when most students used typewriters
to write their papers. Now that we have the ability to italicize using word
processing software, underlining is no longer necessary, but if your instructor
prefers underlining, by all means, underline.
AN
ARTICLE IN A JOURNAL
List the author(s) (using initials for first and middle names), the year of
publication, the title of the article (no quotation marks and only the first
word capitalized), the name of the journal and its volume number (in italics),
and the pages where the article appears.
Kahn, L. & Wanamaker, D. (1998). The effects of study styles on the grades
of college students. Journal of Normal Psychology, 3, 220-223.
A BOOK WITH MULTIPLE AUTHORS
In addition to the authors and title, include the city of publication and
the publisher.
Gruner, J., Culley, V., & Robinson, C. (1990). Studies in frustration (3rd ed.). Bellevue, WA: Laboratory Press.
AN ARTICLE IN A MAGAZINE
For magazines, include the month (and day for a weekly periodical) within the
parentheses after the author(s).
Melvoin, P. (1985, June). Social disorganization goes institutional. Psychology
This Month, pp. 33-35, 37.
AN ELECTRONIC SOURCE
As for magazines, include the month (and day for a weekly periodical) within
the parentheses after the author(s). Then, list the page numbers (if available),
the word “Retrieved” followed by the date of access, and the address
(e.g., an ftp server, the World Wide Web), the path and file name.
Jaconson, J.W.,
Mulick, J.A. & Schwartz, A.A. A history of facilitated communication: Science,
pseudoscience, and antiscience. American Psychologist, 50, 750-765. Retrieved
January 25, 1998 from http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html.
DAILY
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
For
newspapers, include the section (A,B,C,D, etc.) and page number.
Schmaltz,
E. (2003 April 1.) Disturbing new studyfinds
that studies are disturbing. The Daily Bugler, p. A1.
If
an article appears on discontinuous pages, give all page numbers separated by
a comma (pp. A1, A4, A7-A9).
If
there is no author (and there often isn't a byline in news stories), alphabetize
by the first significant word in the title (not
“the”).
PERSONAL
COMMUNICATIONS include
letters, memos, email, electronic bulletin boards, interviews and telephone
conversations. Do not include personal communications in the reference list,
but cite in the text as follows (first initial, last name): (T. Leary, personal
communication, November 5, 1990).
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association has more detailed information on APA format. It is available for consultation in most college writing centers or your local library.This book is available in the Writing Lab.
In a hurry?
See the Diana
Hacker Guide for more APA examples and sample papers.
