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A Very Brief Introduction to Using American Psychological Association (APA) Format

(updated 10/25/01)

Handling Quotations In Your Text

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of citation. This means that the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page reference for the source should appear in the text (Hunter, 2001, p. 12), and a complete bibliographic entry should appear in the reference list.

Signal Phrases

Whenever possible, introduce quotation or paraphrase with a signal phrase:

Jane Hunter (2001), director of research at Lucent Technologies, compared reaction times . . .(p. 12).

Hunter (2001) compared reaction times . . .(p. 12).

(commonly used signal phrases: acknowledges, adds, agrees, argues, asserts, claims, denies, disputes, illustrates, observes, points out, refutes, reports, responds, says, states, suggests, writes)

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 bibliographic entry in the reference list. Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quotation but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

She stated, "The placebo effect disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner" (Miele, 1993, p. 276), but she did not clarify which behaviors were studied. According to Miele (1993), "The placebo effect disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner" (p. 276). Miele (1993) found that "the placebo effect disappeared" in this case (p. 276), but what will the next step in researching this issue be?

Long Quotations

Place quotations longer than 40 words in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces from the left margin. Type the entire quotation on the new margin and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation five spaces from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after closing punctuation mark.

In her 1993 study, Miele discovered 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 at the hospital were clearly premature in attributing the results to a placebo effect. (p. 276)

Note: Use the block style of quotation sparingly. Whenever possible, paraphrase longer quotations or split them into short passages that you can more successfully integrate into your own paragraphs. Long quotations will distract the reader from the true voice of the paper–YOUR voice.

Your Reference List

Your reference list should appear at the end of your essay. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the essay. Each source you cite in the essay must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text.

Basic Rules

• Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give last name and initials for all authors of a particular work.
• Your reference list should be alphabetized by authors' last names. If you have more than one work by a particular author, order them by publication date, oldest to newest (thus a 1999 article would appear before a 2001 article).
• When an author appears both as a sole author and as the first author of a group (two separate entries), list the one-author entries first. If no author is given for a particular source, alphabetize by the title of the piece.
• Use "&" instead of "and" when listing multiple authors of a single work.
• List your entries in hanging indent style. The first line of the entry should be flush against your left margin; subsequent lines are indented five spaces.
• All references should be double-spaced.
• Capitalize only the first word of a title or subtitle of a book or article title. Keep journal and magazine titles in capital letters. Italicize titles of books, journals, and magazines. Note that the italics in these entries often continues through commas and periods.
• Each entry is separated from the next by a double space (thus the entire reference list is double spaced, with no extra returns added).

Basic Forms for Sources in Print

An article in a journal:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year of publication). "Title of article".

  in Title of periodical, Volume Number, pages.

Pelletier, P. B., Kranston, J. E., & Holder, M. (2001). "Human behavior:

  Interpersonal theories in practice". American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 829-846.

Goodwin, T. (2000). "Barriers to interpersonal communication". Consulting Psychology

  Journal: Practice and Research, 52(5), 12-27.

Note: List only the volume number if the periodical uses continuous pagination throughout a particular volume. If each issue begins with page 1, then you should list the issue number as well: Title of Periodical, Volume (Issue), pages.

An article in a daily newspaper:

Author, A. A. (Year, month, day of publication). "Title of article". Title of newspaper, pages.

Cranston, M. R. (2001, September 15). "Human resource departments pool databases".

  The New York Times, pp. B1, B7, B10.

A non periodical (such as a book, report, brochure, or audiovisual media):

Author, A. A. (Year of Publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle.

  Location: Publisher.

Gameros, J. M. & Vandermast, E. (1999). Economic recovery: An historical context

  for the modern recession. Pensacola, FL: Fine Print Press.

Note: For "Location," you should always list the city, but you should also include the state if the city is unfamiliar to most readers or if the city could be confused with one in another state or country.