What is APA format?

APA Referencing Style

Margin
Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5 X 11 inches) with margins of 1 inch on all sides.

References (start on a new page)
*All citations in the text must appear in the reference list and all references must be cited in text
A) Citations in reference list:
They should follow the order of references by alphabetical names (surname of the first author), and then year of publication, the earliest first.
-Each reference usually contains the following elements: author, year of publication, title and publishing data
-Examples adopted from http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.cfm?doc_id=796
1.Journal article
Murzynski, J., & Degelman, D. (1996). Body language of women and judgments of vulnerability to sexual assault. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 1617-1626.
2.Book
Paloutzian, R. F. (1996). Invitation to the psychology of religion (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
3.Web document on university program or department Web site
Degelman, D., & Harris, M. L. (2000). APA style essentials. Retrieved May 18, 2000, from Vanguard University, Department of Psychology Web site: http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/index.cfm?doc_id=796
4.Article or chapter in an edited book
Shea, J. D. (1992). Religion and sexual adjustment. In J. F. Schumaker (Ed.), Religion and Mental Health (pp. 70-84). New York: Oxford University Press.

B) Citations in the text:
1. Surname of the author and the year of publication are inserted in the text at appropriate points:
Rogers (1994) compared reaction times…
In a recent study of reaction times (Rogers, 1994)…
Rogers (1994) stated that "… …" (p.18).
2. Within a paragraph, you need not include the year in subsequent references:
In a recent study of reaction times, Rogers (1994) described the method…Rogers also found…
3. If a source with three to five authors, all the authors’ surnames should be cited at the first-time citation, and use the first author’s surname following with “et al.” when citing the source again.

What is APA Style? PDF Version

American Psychological Association (APA) style is one of several styles for academic writing. It is generally used in psychology, sociology, social work, education, and other disciplines. The examples in this guide cover frequently used citation forms only. For more detailed information refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.), available in the Reference and the circulating collection at BF 76.7 .P83 2001.

APA style provides rules for formatting:

your essay as a whole: margins, indenting, etc.
references included in the body of your essay
the reference list at the end of your essay
(For a Word document formatted in APA style, try here)
General Rules

Double-space your paper, including the reference list.
Format reference list entries with a hanging indent (in MS Word use Format>Paragraph>Special>Hanging).
Arrange reference list entries in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author or by title if there is no author. Use only the initial(s) of the author's given name, not the full name.
If the reference list includes two or more entries by the same author(s), list them in chronological order (oldest first). If entries are by the same author with the same year, put them in alphabetical order by first letter of the title. Add a lower case letter (a, b, etc) after the year, within the parentheses.
Capitalize only the first letter of the first word in the article or book title. Proper nouns are also capitalized as well as the word following a colon (subtitle).
Italicize journal titles, volume numbers and even the commas following the journal title as well as the volume. Do not italicize issue numbers.
References cited in text must appear in the reference list and vice versa. The only exceptions to this rule are personal communications and secondary sources, which are cited in text only and not included in the reference list.

What kinds of sources do I document?

direct quotations from a book, article, film, letter, email, lecture, etc.
single words, short phrases, sentences and longer passages quoted from books, articles etc.
ideas you draw from a source but present entirely in your own words
paraphrases and summaries of books, journal articles, pamphlets
single words, short phrases, sentences and longer passages quoted from books or articles used
statistics

How do I introduce sources in my essay?

In order to make your paper coherent and accurate, use the following tags and conventions to introduce other sources into your work:
Boyd argues, describes, explains, claims, asserts, refers to, cites
Santos contends, compares, speculates, hypothesizes, concludes, recommends
Citations in Text
1. When using a direct quotation, include the page number of the quote.
Stereotypes have been defined as “generalized and usually value-laden impressions that one's social group uses in characterizing members of another group” (Lindgren, 2001, p. 1617).
2. When paraphrasing an idea, the citation will include author(s) and date.
Author's name given in the body of your paper:
• Lindgren (2001) reported…
Author's name not given in the body of your paper:
• A study of the comparison process (Lindgren, 2001)

3. For electronic sources without page numbers, use the paragraph number, preceded by the paragraph symbol ¶ (in Windows press down on Alt and type 0182 on the keypad) or the abbreviation para. If the paragraph number is not apparent, cite the section heading and the paragraph number following it.

• (Myers, 2000, ¶ 5)
• ( Butler , 2000, Conclusion, para. 1)

4. Order two or more works within the same parentheses as they would appear in the reference list.

• Past research (Heschl, 2001, 2005; Noonan & Johnson, 2002a, 2002b; Wolchuk et al., 2000) has shown…