Writing Center Quick Reference APA Style Guide

Writing Center Quick reference APA Style Guide Like all documentation styles, American Psychological Association (APA) style provides a standard system for giving credit to others for their contribution to your work. It is a "parenthetical" documentation style, meaning that citations to original sources appear in your text. This allows the reader to see immediately where your information comes from, and it saves you the trouble of having to make footnotes or endnotes. For more information about APA style, visit http://www.apastyle.org APA style is primarily used by writers in the laboratory sciences (chemistry, biology, geology, medicine, etc.) and social sciences (psychology, sociology, economics, etc.). Your professor should let you know what documentation style to follow. This handout contains examples for referencing a wide variety of sources. If you do not see what you are looking for, the Reference section of the library should have a copy of the most recent APA style guide. In addition, the University of Wisconsin has compiled an extensive list of APA style resources online. Go to http://www.wisc.edu/writetest/Handbook/DocAPA.html and click on “Locate other APA resources on the Web” to access the list. The following Quick Reference is taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (2001). (5th ed.). Lancaster, PA: Lancaster Press, Inc. IN-TEXT CITATIONS In-text citation of an author’s work documents your work, briefly identifies the source for readers, and enables readers to locate the source of information in the alphabetical reference list at the end of an article. The APA style calls for three kinds of information to be included in in-text citations. The author's last name and the work's date of publication must always appear, and these items must match exactly the corresponding entry in the references list. The third kind of information, the page number, appears only in a citation to a direct quotation. To cite a specific part of a source (paraphrase of somebody else’s thoughts), be sure to indicate the page, chapter, figure, table, or equation at the appropriate point in your paper. Always give exact page number(s) for quotations. Note that the words page and chapter are abbreviated in such text citations: General Rules • Use one space after most punctuation. • When paraphrasing or citing a direct quote, be sure to use the abbreviations for page (p.), pages (pp.), or chapter (chap.). • Include all digits in a page range (e.g., 350-354 not 350- 4). • In a parenthetical reference use an ampersand (&) before the last author’s surname. If the reference reads as a part of the sentence, spell out the word “and.” • APA style calls for a serial comma, that is, a comma after the second to last item in a list, before the word “and.” • Connect two or more citations together by using semicolons within one set of parentheses (e.g., (Baldwin, Bevin & Beshalke, 2000; Utley et al., 2001). Citing One or Two Authors Idea-focused: • In a recent analysis (Weist, 2001) • In a recent study, research indicates (Adkins & Singh, 2001) Research-focused: • Fisher (1999) recommended • Adkins and Singh (2001) indicate Chronology-focused: • In 2001, Weist proposed • In 2001, Adkins and Singh studied Paraphrase or Direct Quotation: • (Ehrenreich, 2001, pp. 15-17.) Note: When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the reference occurs. Citing 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. In-text citations can be idea, researcher, or chronology-focused. • (Baldwin, Bevan, & Beshalke, 2000) [first citation] • (Baldwin et al., 2000) [subsequent citations] Citing Six or More Authors Use the author’s surname followed by et al. in all in-text citations, even the first one. Citations can be idea, researcher, or chronology-focused. • (Utley et al., 2001) Note: Include all authors when preparing the reference list, up to six authors. Use “et al.” to identify seventh (and subsequent) authors. No Author or an Anonymous Author When a work has no apparent author, cite in text the first two or three words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title if the item being referenced is an article or chapter; if it’s a periodical or book, set the title in italics. • (“Mad Cow,” 2001) • (Vegetarian Living, 2000) When an author is designated as “Anonymous,” cite in text the word Anonymous followed by a comma and the date, as you would for one author. • (Anonymous, 2003) Note: In the reference list, an anonymous work is alphabetized by the word Anonymous. Corporate Authors The names of corporate authors are usually spelled out each time they appear in a text citation. If the corporate name is long and cumbersome and the abbreviation is familiar or readily understandable, you may abbreviate the name in the second and subsequent citations. Include the acronym in square brackets for the first citation if you’ll be using the acronym later on. First In-Text Citation • (United Nations [UN], 2003) Subsequent In-Text Citations • (UN, 2003) Personal Communications Personal communications may be e-mail messages, telephone conversations, interviews, letters, memos, speeches, and the like. Because the information is not retrievable, personal communications are not included in the reference list. Cite personal communications in text only. Give the initials as well as the surname of the communicator and provide as exact a date as possible. • According to Andrew Frisch (personal communication, October 21, 2003) • In a recent analysis (A. S. Frisch, personal communication, October 21, 2003) Electronic Sources Cite information from the Internet in the same way as you would for a print publication, although it may be more difficult to discern the author of something from the Web. In that case, follow the protocol for citing a work with no author, an anonymous author, or a corporate author. Your References page will include the full Web site details. • (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2003) • (“Safe Passages,” n.d.) Direct Quote/Paraphrase of an Online Source: An online document that shows page or chapter numbers on the screen is likely to be the electronic form of a print document. Cite these page numbers only—not the pages of a computer printout, which may be different. • (Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 332) • (American Psychological Association, 2001, chap. 2) No Page Number: For electronic sources that do not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number, if available, preceded by the paragraph symbol or the abbreviation “para.” If neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible online, cite the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to direct the reader to the location of the material. • (Myers, 2000, ¶ 5) • (Butler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1) PREPARING THE REFERENCE LIST The reference list comes at the end of a paper or article and provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source. Note that a reference list cites works that specifically support an original piece of writing. In contrast, a bibliography cites works for background or further reading. General Rules: • Start the reference list on a new page, beginning with the word References (or Reference if there is only one), centered in the top, middle of the page, using both upper and lower case letters. If the reference list takes up more than one page, you do not need to retype the heading. • Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized in article, book, or chapter titles. Note: a journal or magazine title retains its capitalization. • The first line of the reference is flush left. Lines thereafter are indented as a group, a few spaces, to create a hanging indentation. • Double space between references. Single space within the reference. • Use italics for titles of books, journals, magazines, movies, and newspapers. • References cited in text must appear in the reference list, too (unless the item is a personal communication); conversely, each entry in the reference list must be cited in text. • Organize the reference list in alphabetical order. • Put in parentheses the year the work was published. For magazines and newspapers, give the year followed by the month and date, if any. If no date is available, write “n.d.” • Give the volume numbers for magazines, journals, and newsletters. Only include the issue number for journals if each issue begins on page 1.