Online Writing Lab - (OWL)
Dixie OWL: APA Style Guide
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.
Return to Top of Page
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.]
Roy, A. (1982). Suicide in chronic schizophrenia. British
Journal of Psychiatry, 141,
171-177.
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.]
Herbst-Damm,
K.L., & Kulik, J.A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital
status, and the
survival times of terminally ill patients.
Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:
10l1037/0278-6133,24,2,225 [When a print or
electronic source has a
Digital Object Identifier{doi}, it is added to a
reference.]
three-six authors
Baldwin, C. M., Bevan, C., & Beshalske, A. (2000). At-risk
minority populations in a
church-based clinic: Communicating basic needs.
Journal of Multicultural
Nursing & Health, 6(2), 26-28.
Seven or more authors
Yawn, B. P., Algatt-Bergstrom, P. J., Yawn, R. A., Wollan,
P., Greco, M., Gleason, M., et
al. (2000). An in-school CD-ROM asthma education
program. Journal of School
Health, 70,
153-159.
five authors
Ohnishi, T., Matsuda, H., Tabira, T.,
Asada, T., & Uno, M. (2001). Changes in brain morphology
in Alzheimer’s disease and
exaggerated aging process? American Journal of
Neuroradiology, 22,
1680–1685.
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).
Return to Top of Page
Documentation for Books:
one author
Bernstein, T. M. (1965). The careful writer: A modern guide to
English usage. New York:
Shipley, W. C. (1986). Shipley
Institute of Living Scale. Los Angeles: Western
Psychological
Services.
Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study of
computer dependency.
London, England: Taylor & Francis.
corporate author
U.S. Public Health Service. (2000). Report of the surgeon
general's conference on
children's mental health: A national action
agenda. Washington, DC:U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
Retrieved on August 25, 2001, from
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/cmh/chilreport.htm
two authors
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style
(3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
three authors
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, I., &
Lushene, R. E. (1970). Manual for the State–Trait
Inventory.
Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
five
authors
Wilson, B. A., Alderman, N., Burgess,
P. W., Emslie, H. C., & Evans, J. J. (1996). The
Behavioural Assessment of the
Dysexecutive Syndrome. Flempton, Bury St.
Edmunds, England: Thames Valley
Test Company.
corporate author
U.S. Public Health Service. (2000). Report of the surgeon
general's conference on
children's mental health: A national action
agenda.
Washington, DC:U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
Retrieved on August 25, 2001, from
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/cmh/chilreport.htm
edited volume
Maher, B. A. (Ed.). (1964-1972). Progress in experimental
personality Research (6 vols.).
New York: Academic Press.
article in edited book
Raz, N. (2000). Aging of the brain and
its impact on cognitive performance: Integration of
structural and functional findings.
In F. I. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (Eds.),
Handbook of aging and cognition
(2nd ed., pp. 1–90). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Chow, T. W., & Cummings, J. L. (2000).
The amygdala and Alzheimer’s disease. In J. P.
Aggleton (Ed.), The amygdala: A
functional analysis (pp. 656–680). Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press.
Riesen, A. H. (1966). In E. Stellar & J. M. Sprague book)
(Eds.), Progress in
Physiological
Psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Academic Press.
Manuscript in progress or submitted for publication
Ting, J. Y., Florsheim, P., & Huang, W. (2008). Mental
health help-seeking in ethnic
minority populations: A theoretical perspective.
Manuscript submitted for
publication.
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.
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.
National Institute of Mental Health. (1998). Priorities
for prevention research (NIH
Publication No. 98-4321). WashingtonDC: U.S.
Government Printing Office.
interview, email, telephone conversation, letters, memos, etc.
Interviews, like other forms of personal communication (e.g., e-mail, telephone
conversations, electronic bulletin boards), since they do not provide
recoverable data, are not included in the reference list. Cite personal
communication in text only. Give the initials and the surname of the source, and
provide as exact a date as you can.
J. Snodgrass (personal communication, April1,
2009) argues . . . .
T.K. Lutes (personal communication, April 18, 2001) . .
. .
(R. E. Lee, personal communication, September 22,
1862).
Return to Top of Page
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.
[Note: Date of Access is not needed if content is unlikely to change.]
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):
DeAngelis, T. (2008, September). Priming for a new
role. APA Monitor, pp. 28+.
Retrieved November 31, 2008, from
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/09
/pregnancy.html
An article from a database:
Because this article has been assigned a DOI (digital object
identifier) that functions a unique identifier of the
content (taking the place of a database name) and a link to
the content, no database name or URL is required.
Stultz, J. (2006). Integrating
exposure therapy and analytic therapy in trauma treatment.
American Journal of
Orthopsychiatry, 76, 482-488. doi: 10.1037/0002
-9432.76.4.482
Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., &
Steer, R. A. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical
anxiety: Psychometric properties.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
56, 893–897.
doi:10.1037/0022-006X.56.6.893
Von Ledebur, S. C. (2007). Optimizing knowledge transfer by
new employees in
companies.
Knowledge Management Research & Practice. Advance
online publication.
doi:10.1057/palgrave.kmrp.8500141Article with no DOI assigned.
Retrieval date is not included if the final version of the
article is being referenced.
Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S.
(2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate
between
perceived early parental
love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied
Psychology, 2(2), 38-48.
Retrieved from
http://ofs.lib.swin.edu.au/indes.php
/ejap/article/view/71/100
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
brochure, corporate author
American Psychological Association, Task Force on the
Sexualization of Girls. (2007).
Report of the APA Task Force on the
Sexualization of Girls. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html
E-book (with DOI-Digital Object Identifier)
Rogriguez-Garcia, R., and White, E. M. (2005).
Self-assessment in managing for results:
Conducting self-assessment for development
practitioners. doi:
10.1596/9780-82136148-1
E-book with no DOI
Niehoff, D. (2005). Language of life: How cells
communicate in health and disease. Retrieved
from
http://site.ebrary.com/lib/dixie/document/display.jsp?docID
=10078705&page=1
Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study of
computer dependency [DX
Reader version]. Retrieved from http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co
.uk/html/index.asp
E-book from gutenberg.org
Greville, H. (2008). The little Russian servant.
Available from
http://www.gutenberg.org
/etext/27103
[Use "Available from" instead of
"Retrieved from" when the URL
leads to information on how to obtain the cited material
rather than to the material
itself.]
Message posted to an electronic mailing list
Smith, S. (2006, January 5). Re: Disputed estimates of IQ
[Electronic mailing list
message]. Retrieved from http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group
/ForensicNetwork/message/670
Abstract on CD-Rom
Bower, D. L. (1993). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics
of
referring and nonreferring supervisors [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest
File: Dissertation Abstracts
Item: 9315947
Reference Materials
Online encyclopedia
Graham, G. 920050. Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The
Stanford encyclopedia of
philosophy.
Retrieved January 28, 2007, from
http://plato.stanford.edu
/entries/behaviorism/
Online dictionary
Heuristic. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster's online
dictionary. Retrieved October 20, 2005, from
http://www. m-w.com/dictionary/
Electronic correspondences, such as e-mail or discussions via bulletin boards or
discussion groups, are considered to be personal communications (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
Do not include these in the list of references. 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)
Return to Top of Page
Copyright (C) by Ed Reber, October 2009. Some of this material may be
copyrighted by other entities. 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.
|