The American Psychological Association has established a style that it uses in all of the books and journals that it publishes. Many others working in the social and behavioral sciences have adopted this style as their standard as well. The APA style refers to use of such writing elements as:
| punctuation and abbreviations |
| construction of tables |
| selection of headings |
| citation of references |
| presentation of statistics |
| as well as many other elements that are a part of every manuscript |
(As quoted from APA Style.org. URL: http://www.apastyle.org/)
This guide provides examples of the APA style as found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 5th edition. (REF Closed BF76.7.P83 2001). The APA style is an alphabetic listing of sources used in your term paper or report. The word "Reference" or "References" should be centered at the top of your reference page. Use "Reference" for a single source and "References" for two or more sources. Each entry includes the following: author, year of publication, title, and publishing data. Each entry must be double-spaced and have a hanging indent.
Books
Book documentation may contain some or all of the following elements: Author(s) or Editor(s), Date of publication, Chapter Title, Book title (Italicized), Page Numbers, and Publication Information.
Single Author
Dansky, S. (1997). Nobody’s children: Orphans of the HIV epidemic. New York: Harrington Park Press.
Two to Six Authors
Invert all authors’ last names and initials. Complete the entry as for any other book or journal.
Koss-Chionino, J.D., & Vargas, L.A. (1999). Working with Latino youth: Culture, development and context. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Seven or more authors
If a book contains seven or more authors, list the first six (6) authors’ as above and abbreviate the remaining authors as et al.
Editor
Ayers, W., Dohrn, B., & Ayers, R. (Eds.). (2001). Zero tolerance: Resisting the drive for punishment in our schools: A handbook for parents, students, educators, and citizens. New York: New Press.
Society, Institution, or Association as author
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Book Chapter
O’Neil J.M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men’s and women’s gender role journeys: Metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B.R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp.107-123). New York: Springer.
Documents
Government Documents
Waters, J.R., Rhodes, R.J., & R. Wiggers. (2001). Description of economic data collected with a random sample of commercial reef fish boats in the Florida Keys. (NOAA Technical Report NMFS 154). Seattle, WA: U.S. Department of Commerce.
ERIC Documents
Grace, M. (1991). A survey of the instructional reading practices of new teachers in three states. Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association, Las Vegas, NV. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED333333)
Articles
Article documentation may contain any or all of the following elements: Author(s), Date of Publication, Article Title, Periodical Title, and Publication Information.
Scholarly Journal
Macaskill, A., Maltby, J., & Day, L. (2002). Forgiveness of self and others and emotional empathy. Journal of Social Psychology. 142, 663-665.
Magazine article
Faigman, L. (2002, July 19). Is science different for lawyers? Science, 297, 339-40.
Articles in Weekly Publications
Krauthammer, C. (2002, June 24). The fatal promise of cloning. Time, 159, 54.
Daily Newspaper Article, No Author
Ex-FBI agent sentenced for tipping off mobsters. (2002, September 17). The Washington Post, p. A2.
Internet/Electronic Texts
When documenting internet/electronic resources, as a minimum you should provide a document title or description, a date (either the date of publication or the date of retrieval), and an address (URL). If possible, document the author. It is extremely important that the URL is correct. If it is not readers will not be able to locate the source, thus reducing the credibility of your paper.
Article in an Internet-Only Journal
Wace, P. & Condron, F. (September 2002). The Internet, images and archaeology: Ideas for interactive tutorials. Internet Archaeology, 12. Retrieved September 18, 2002, from http://intarch.a.cuk/journal/issue12/wace-condron_toc.html.
Online Database
Smith G. (Summer 2002). The literary equivalent of a Big Mac and fries? Academics, moralists, and the Stephen King phenomenon. Midwest Quarterly, 43: p.329-45. Retrieved September 18, 2002, from Academic Search Premier database.
Internet Sources - No Date
English Cocker Spaniel Club of America. (n.d.) Rescue. Retrieved September 18, 2002 from http://www.esca.org/rescuehome.html.
Electronic Book (E-Book)
Blau, Eve. (1997). Architecture and cubism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved October 7, 2003 from University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Frederick Douglass Library, netLibrary Web site: http://www.netlibrary.com/index.asp.
Daily Newspaper Article Retrieved on the Internet
Semple, K. (2003, October 7). Voters line up in California to decide whether to recall Davis. The New York Times. Retrieved October 7, 2003 from http://www.nytimes.com.
In-text Parenthetical Citations
Parenthetical references are used in place of footnotes and endnotes. They direct the reader to a specific page in a book, journal, magazine, or other source. They provide the exact source of a quote without breaking the chain of thought in your paper. They increase the validity of your work, by informing the reader of sources you have drawn upon whether you are paraphrasing or including a direct quote. The APA format keys parenthetical citations to the references which appear at the end of your paper in complete APA format.
Parenthetical Reference Rules
1. When making an in-text reference, a comma must be placed between the author’s name and the date of the publication.
One marketing study (Smith, 2002) shows the need to focus on users, clients and customers.
2. Do not include the author’s name and date if they are listed in text from which you are quoting.
In Smith’s 2002 marketing study…
3. References at the end of a sentence go inside the last punctuation mark.
The marketing model in the digital age focuses on the type of customer (Smith,
2002).
4. When including a direct quotation include the page number as well as the author’s last name and the date of publication.
Many businessmen have found that “the real value of marketing is to ensure the survival and growth of the company” (Smith, 2002, p. 52).
5. If the quote includes the author’s name, give the year of the publication immediately after the author’s name, even if the page number falls at a different place in the quote.
Smith (2002) that for many business men “the real value of marketing is to ensure the survival and growth of the company” (p. 52).
6. The first time you make a parenthetical reference from a work with two to five authors, all the author’s last names must be used.
Portfolio management (Smith, Jones, & Black, 2002) is recommended as an effective tool in the management
If you make reference to the work in another part of your paper, you may put the last name of the first author followed by et al.
There are many models of portfolio management (Smith et al, 2002).
7. If you quote from a book which is currently in press, do not give the year of the book. Instead use the phrase “in press).
“Anything can be marketed: products, services, organizations, people, places, social issues” (Black, in press).
8. If you use multiple works by the same author in the same year, assign letters to distinguish them (a, b, c, and so on) in your reference page and in any parenthetical references.
The design of marketing plans is now a concern to all businessmen regardless of the department in which they work (Smith, 2002a, p15).
9. If you site more than one source in the same sentence place them in alphabetical order according to the authors’ last name. Separate the sources with a semi-colon.
A solid marketing plan must therefore include accountants, sales people, product designers, and the advertising department (Black, 200, p.198; Smith, 2002, p. 26).
10. For electronic sources which do not have a page number, list the paragraph number.
Field trials for cocker spaniels began in the United States in 1924 (American Kennel Club, 1992, para. 5).
11. If you have two different authors with the same last name, you must include the first initial of the author’s first name within the parentheses.
Marketing strategies are used by people from all walks of life from the President to grocery stores to sports stars (A. Green, 2003).
12. If you cite a corporate author, the author’s complete name must be listed in the parenthetical reference. If a simple abbreviation is possible you should include in brackets followed by the corporate name.
“In the 19840s most doctors learned through apprenticeships, and many did not attend medical school” (American Medical Association [AMA], 1993).
If you site the same corporate author more than once, you may use only the abbreviation in subsequent parenthetical references.
13 Personal letters, telephone calls, and other materials which the reader can not retrieve are not listed in the Reference page, they are cited within the text of the paper.
Joe Smith (telephone call, January10, 2003) confirmed the importance of combining marketing strategies.
Remember parenthetical references take the place of footnotes and/or endnotes. Therefore, all authors cited in the text of your paper must appear in your reference list.
If you have any further questions, please consult a Reference Librarian.
410-651-7937 or refuser@umes.edu
AKD: updated September 2005