APA Writing Style

1. APA Writing Style American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.

2. Citations and References • Reference citations in text are found in sections 3.94 through 3.103 • Reference list guidelines are found in sections 4.01 through 4.16

3. Reference citations in text • Document your study throughout the text by citing by author and date the works you used in your research. • This style of citation briefly identifies the source for readers and enables them to locate the source of information in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the article.

4. Citing One Work By One Author • APA journals use the author-date method of citation; that is, the surname of the author (do not include suffixes such as Jr.) and the year of publication are inserted in the text at the appropriate point

5. Citing One Work By One Author • If the name of the author appears as part of the narrative, cite only the year of publication in parentheses. • Example: Walker (2002) compared reaction times…

6. Citing One Work By One Author • If the name of the author does not appear in the narrative, place both the name and the year, separated by a comma, in parentheses. • Example: In a recent study of reaction times (Walker, 2002) …

7. Citing One Work By Multiple Authors • When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the reference occurs in text. • Example: In a recent study of marsupial behavior (Johnson & Starling, 1999)…

8. Citing One Work By Multiple Authors • When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs; in subsequent citations, include only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year if it is the first citation of the reference within a paragraph. • Examples on next page

9. Citing One Work By Multiple Authors • Example of first citation in text: Wasserstein, Zappa, Rosen, Gerst, and Rock (1994) found.. • Example of subsequent first citation per paragraph thereafter: Wasserstein et al. (1994) found… • Omit year from subsequent citations after first citation within a paragraph. Example: Wasserstein et al. found…

10. Citing One Work By Multiple Authors • When a work has six or more authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year for the first and subsequent citations.

11. Reference List • The reference list at the end of a journal article documents the article and provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source. Authors should choose references judiciously and must include only the sources that were used in the research and preparation of the article. Note that a reference list cites works that specifically support a particular article.

12. Reference List • Start the reference list on a new page. Type the word References (Reference, if there is only one) in upper case and lower case letters, centered, at the top of the page. • Double space all reference entries. • APA publishes references in a hanging indent format, meaning that the first line of each reference is set flush left and subsequent lines are indented.

13. Reference List • Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author. • Excellent examples of Reference lists can be found in sections 4.04-4.16, 5.18, and 5.29 in the APA manual.