Dixie OWL: APA Style Guide

• Return To Dixie OWL
• Parenthetical References within your text
• Bibliographic Entries--Periodicals
• Bibliographic Entries--Books
• Bibliographic Entries--Electronic Sources
• Click here for the APA site on using Electronic sources
• Click here to go to a more complete online source for the APA Style

Parenthetical References In Your Text:

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of citation. Include the author's last name and year of publication in your text. Examples: - Smith (1970) compared reaction times . . . . - In a recent study of reaction times (Smith, 1970) . . . . - In 1970, Smith compared reaction times . . . . If there are 2 authors, always use both names; for 3, 4, or 5 authors, use all the names the first time, then use only the first name and et al. example: Miller et al. (1998) noted that....

For Short Quotations:

To indicate short quotations (fewer than 40 words) in your text, enclose the quotation within double quotation marks. Provide the author, year, and specific page citation in the text, and include a complete citation on the Reference page(s).

Examples: He stated, "The placebo effect disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner" (Smith, 1982, p. 276), but he did not clarify which behaviors were studied.  

Smith (1982) found that "the placebo effect disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner" (p. 276).

For Long Quotations:

Place quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit the quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces from the left margin. Type the entire quotation double-spaced on the new margin and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation five spaces from the new margin.

Smith (1982) found the following:

The placebo effect disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again, even when real drugs were administered. Earlier studies conducted by the same group of researchers were clearly premature in attributing the results to a placebo effect. (p. 276)

For References to the Entire Work (omit page numbers)

Adams (2001) concluded that pigeons were more likely to be influenced by sunflower seeds than were rats.

Web Citations in Text

    For quotations, give page numbers (or paragraph numbers) if they are available.  If page or paragraph numbers are not available (i.e., they are not visible to every reader), they can be omitted from the in-text citation. 

Lopez (1999) said that "drug enforcement contamination" was widespread in Florida (para. 16).

Schjeldahl (2002) pointed out that "post modern ennui" is easily visible in modern art.

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At the End of Your Text:

At the end of your paper, list in alphabetical order all the references you cited in the text of your writing on a page titled References. While in the MLA style, books and periodicals are underlined, in the APA style they are italicized.  Citations of references are double-spaced within and between citations. Remember to indent five spaces at the beginning of each line after the first line in each citation. (Note:  some browsers may not show the correct spacing or margins.)

Style for Citing References -- Documentation for Periodicals:

one author

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of

Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.
        [Here with continuous pagination, only the volume number is included.]

two authors

Atkinson, R. C. & Schiffrin, R. M. (1971). The control of short-term memory. Scientific

American, 225 (2), 82-90.
    [Here with a journal paginated by issue,  the volume  and issue numbers are included.]

no author

The blood business. (1972, September 11) Time, pp. 47-48.

newspaper article, no author

Eight APA journals initiate controversial blind reviewing. (1972, June). APA Monitor, pp. 1, 

5.

magazine article

Gardner, H. (1981, December). Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today, pp. 

70-76.

monograph

Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of

reinforcement. Psychological Monographs, 80 (1, Serial No. 609).

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Documentation for Books:

one author

Bernstein, T. M. (1965). The careful writer: A modern guide to English usage. New York:

Athenaeum.

two authors

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

corporate author

U.S. Government Printing Office. (1973). Style manual (Rev. ed.). Washington, D.C.: Author.

edited volume

Maher, B. A. (Ed.). (1964-1972). Progress in experimental personality Research (6 vols.). 

New York: Academic Press.

article in edited book

Riesen, A. H. (1966). In E. Stellar & J. M. Sprague book) (Eds.), Progress in Physiological

Psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press.

government publication

Clements, S. D. (1966). Minimal brain dysfunction in children (NINDS Monograph No. 3, 

U.S. Public Health Service Publication No. 1415). Washington, D. C.: U.S.

 Government Printing Office.

technical and research report

Birney, A. J. & Hall, M. M. (1981). Early identification of children with written language

disabilities (Report No. 81-502). Washington, D.C.: National Education 

Association.

ERIC document

Mead, J. V. (1992). Looking at old photographs: Investigating the teacher tales that novice

teachers bring with them (Report No. NCRTL-RR-92-4). East Lansing, MI: 

National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. (ERIC Document

 Reproduction Service NO. ED 346082)

ED 346082)

brochure, corporate author

Research and Training Center on Independent Living. (1993). Guidelines for reporting and 

writing about people with disabilities (4th ed.) [Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: 

Author.

interview

Information on how to document an interview could not be found in The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. You may want to check with your instructor to see if she recommends the personal communication form or a different format.

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Electronic Sources

Citing Specific Documents on a Web Site
    Web documents are similar to print documents; however, they require additional data, as shown below:

An article from the journal American Psychologist:

Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. A. (1995). A history of facilitated 

communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science

 working group on facilitated communication. [Electronic version].American 

Psychologist, 50, 750-765. 

An article from the APA Monitor (a newspaper) (If you are referencing an electronic version of a source that you have reason to believe may differ from the print version, you will need to add the date you retrieved the document and the URL):

Sleek, S. (1996, January). Psychologists build a culture of peace. APA Monitor, pp. 1, 33. 

Retrieved January 25, 1996 from http://www.apa.org/monitor/peacea.html

An article from a database: (These begin similarly to print sources, but you must end the retrieval data with the name of the database. You do not need to indicate how you accessed the database:

Stewart, S. (2006, March 22). Higher-ed $$ shrinking. Deseret News, B.01. Retrieved May 7,

2006 from ProQuest database.

On-line abstract

Meyer, A.S., & Bock, K.. (1992). The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Blocking or partical 

activation? [On-line]. Memory & Cognition, 20. 715-726. Abstract from: 

DIALOG File: PsychINFO Item: 80-16351

Abstract on CD-Rom

Bower, DL. (1993). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics of 

referring and nonreferring supervisors [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest 

File: Dissertation Abstracts Item: 9315947

Electronic correspondences, such as e-mail or discussions via bulletin boards or discussion groups, is considered to be personal communication (like phone conversations or memos), because it generally is not recoverable by others. Personal communications are cited only within the text and not the reference page.

personal communication

In the text, give the initials and surname of the author and provide as exact a date as possible:

R.W. Runyon (personal communication, April 18, 1993)

(M. Kohel, personal communication, June 28, 1993)

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Copyright (C) by Ed Reber, July 2002. Some of this material was copyrighted (C)1995 by Purdue University. All rights reserved. This document may be distributed as long as it is done entirely with all attributions to organizations and authors. Commercial distribution is strictly prohibited. Portions of this document may be copyrighted by other organizations.