The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association offers complete guidelines for manuscript style and citation in APA, the documentation style of the social sciences. This handout illustrates the most commonly used types of sources with examples drawn from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. If you have a source not illustrated here, consult the APA manual.
General Forms Periodical: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (1994). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx, xxx-xxx.
Nonperiodical: Author, A. A. (1994). Title of work. Location: Publisher.
References to Periodicals Journal article, one author: Bekerian, D. A. (1993). In search of the typical eyewitness. American Psychologist, 48, 674-576.
Journal article, two authors: Odom, S. L., & McEvoy, M. A. (1990). Mainstreaming at the preschool level: Potential barriers and tasks for the field. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 10(2), 48-61. (10=volume number (2)=issue number; only give issue number if each issue begins with page 1) Winston, B. L., Reinhart, M. L., Sacker, J. R., Gottlieb, W., Oscar, B. B., & Harris, D. P. (1983). Effect of intertrial delays on retardation in learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 9, 581-593. (Note capitalization of chapter title as compared with journal title)
Magazine Article: Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.
Daily Newspaper Article, No Author: New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July 15). The Washington Post, p. A12.
Daily Newspaper Article, Discontinuous Pages: Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4-5.
Monthly Newspaper Article, Letter to the Editor: Markovitz, M. C. (1993, May). Inpatient vs. outpatient [Letter to the editor]. APA Monitor, p.3.
References to Books One Author: Shaller, G. B. (1993). The last panda. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Two or More Authors, Jr. in Name, Third Edition: Mitchell, T. R. , & Larson, J. R., Jr. (1987). People in organizations: An introduction to organizational behavior (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Corporate Author: National Head Start Association. (1990). Head Start: The nation's pride, a nation's challenge. Report of the Silver Ribbon Panel. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Unknown Author: The Times Atlas of the World (9th ed.). (1992). New York: Times Books.
Editors: Fox, R. W., & Lears, T. J. J. (Eds.). (1993). The power of culture: Critical essays in American history. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
English Translation of a Book: Laplace, P. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work published 1814) In the text, cite the original publication date and the date of the translation: (Laplace, 1814/1951).
Reference to Chapter in a Edited Book: Ladd, G. W., & Coleman, C. C. (1993). Young children's peer relationships: Forms, features, and functions. In B. Spodek (Ed.), Handbook of research on the education of young children (pp. 57-76). Ames, IA: Great Books.
References to Nonprint Sources Film: Harrison, J. (Producer), & Schmiechen, R. (Director). (1992). Changing our minds: The story of Evelyn Hooker [Film]. (Available from Changing Our Minds, Inc., 170 West End Avenue, Suite 25R, New York, NY 10023)
Television broadcast: Crystal, L. (Executive Producer). (2003, October 11). The MacNeil/Lehrer news hour. New York and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service.
Music recording: Writer, A. (Date of Copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if different from writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording: compact disk, record, cassette, etc.]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different from copyright date)
Videotape: National Geographic Society (Producer). (1987). In the shadow of Vesuvius [Videotape]. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
Presentation: Lanktree, C., & Briere, J. (1991, January). Early data on the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSC-C). Paper presented at the meeting of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, San Diego, CA.
References to Reports Report from the Government Printing Office (GPO): National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Report from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC): 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 346 082)
Government Report not available from GPO or ERIC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1992). Pressure ulcers in adults: Prediction and prevention (AHCPR Publication No. 92-0047). Rockville, MD: Author.
Reference Citations in Text Single Author Citations - Three Examples: Smith (1983) compared reaction times... In a recent study of reaction times (Smith, 1983)... In 1983, Smith compared reaction times...
Two Authors Per Reference (Always list both): Smith and Thompson (1993) reported a similar finding... In a recent study of aggression (Smith & Thompson, 1993)
More Than Two Authors Per Reference: Williams, Jones, Smith, Bradner, and Torrington (1983) found... (1st reference to the study with more than 2 authors lists all authors; All subsequent references use an abbreviated version). Williams et al. (1983) found... (The exception is when authors are 6 or more, the "et al." format can be used the first time the study is cited.)
Summarizing Several Studies: Several studies provide support for the idea that spanking is not an effective method of disciplining preschool aged children (Kames, 1983; Miller, 1977; Smith, 1993; Tower, 1988). (Note alphabetical, not numerical order of references)
Two Articles by Same Author in the Same Year: Several studies provide support for the idea that spanking is not an effective method of disciplining preschoolers (Jones, 1993a; Jones, 1993b). One study showed very negative effects (Jones, 1993b) while another found slightly less negative effects (Jones, 1993a). (Refer to them as "a" and "b".)
Quotations Quote of Less Than 40 Words: Koop (1978) stated, "The job of educating will not be completed until every person old enough to comprehend the information is knowledgeable about AIDS" (p. 14).
Quote of More Than 40 Words: Scientists are still intrigued with the fact that one can fully explain why a certain may is attracted to a particular woman and she to him. Perhaps John Cheever (1977) said it best: I am today and will be forever astonished at the perspicacity with which a man can, in a glimpse, judge the scope and beauty of a woman's memory, her tastes in color, food, climate and language, the precise clinical dimensions of her visceral, cranial, and reproductive tracts, the conditions of her teeth, hair, skin, toenails, eyesight and bronchial tree, that he can in a second, exalted by the diagnostics of love, seize on the fact that she is meant for him or that they are meant for one another. (pp. 76-77)
(Note the punctuation at the end)
Information from the Internet Information on how to cite documents retrieved from the World Wide Web follows. You may also want to go directly to APA's website for updated information. But first, a cautionary note regarding the citation of email communications: It is possible to send an email note disguised as someone else. Authors—not journal editors or copy editors—are responsible for the accuracy of all references, which includes verifying the source of email communications before citing them as personal communications in manuscripts. E-mail communications from individuals should be cited as personal communications, as noted in APA's Publication Manual (5th ed.). The format in text (personal communications are not cited in the reference list) is as follows: L. A. Chafez (personal communication, March 28, 1997). Here are some examples of how to cite material posted on APA's own Web page. A similar format can be used to cite gopher or ftp sources, as long as the medium and the path are sufficiently identified. An Action Alert Posted by our Public Policy Office: American Psychological Association. (1995, September 15). APA public policy action alert:
Legislation would affect grant recipients [Announcement posted on the World Wide Web].
Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/ppo/istook.html
An Article from the 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. American Psychologist, 50, 750–765.
Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html
A Newpaper Article: Sleek, S. (1996, January). Psychologists build a culture of peace.
APA Monitor, pp. 1, 33 [Newspaper, selected stories on line].
Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/monitor/peacea.html
An Abstract: Rosenthal, R. (1995). State of New Jersey v. Margaret Kelly Michaels: An overview [Abstract].
Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1, 247–271.
Retrieved January 25, 1996 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/ab1.html
All references begin with the same information that would be provided for a printed source (or as much of that information as possible). The Web information is then placed at the end of the reference. It is important to use "Retrieved from" and the date because documents on the Web may change in content, move, or be removed from a site altogether. For example, the last two examples above are no longer available on APA's Web site. To cite a Web site in text (but not a specific document), it's sufficient to give the address (e.g., http://www.apa.org) there. No reference entry is needed.
Points to Remeber about APA Style - All written material and references are double-spaced.
- For manuscripts submitted to journals, APA requires the form illustrated here (with the first lines of reference entries flush to the left margin and subsequent lines indented 5 spaces). Check with your instructor to determine which form is appropriate.
- Capitalize only the first word of an article title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper names. On the references page, do not underline the title of an article or place quotation marks around it.
- Capitalize significant words in the title of a journal. Italicize journal titles and volume numbers.
- Capitalize only the first significant word and only proper names within book titles.
- Capitalize the first significant word of the subtitle, if any.
- Italicize book titles.
- Because personal communications (letters, memos, telephone conversations, interviews) do not provide recoverable data, they are not included in the reference list. Cite personal communications in text only. Example: (K. W. Schaie, personal communication, September 28, 1993)
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