APA FORMAT REFERENCING

  
USE OF NUMBERS
 The following should be observed when writing numbers.
1. Use numerals for numbers 10 and above.
2. Use numerals for numbers preceding units of measurement (15 mg, 7 cm).
3. Do not begin a sentence with a numeral – spell it out.
4. Use numerals for numbers representing mathematical or statistical functions, percentages,
ratios, and percentiles (divided by 2, 11%, a ratio of 22:1, the 10th percentile).
5. Write out page numbers in full, such as 186-197.
6. Use commas to separate groups of three digits, except for page numbers.

A. INTERNAL DOCUMENTATION ( IN-TEXT CITATIONS, PARENTHETICAL

REFERENCES)
 APA style uses the author-date system for citing references in the text of your paper. Each
reference cited in the text will appear alphabetically in your reference list.
 Direct quotations. In addition to the author and the date, direct quotations must also include the
page number (or paragraph number for non-paginated sources). For example, (Blake, 2005, p.
27) or, for a non-paginated source such as online material, (Myers, 2008, para. 4). Use the
abbreviation pp. for multiple pages.
 Paraphrasing. Page or paragraph numbers should also be included when paraphrasing to help
your reader locate the material you used in the original source.
 Author’s name in tag line
Example : Gray (2009) studied motor inhibition in baseball players.
 Author’s name in parentheses
Example : Complex motor skills were studied in a baseball batting simulation (Gray, 2009).
 Two authors
Cite both names every time you refer to a work by two authors. If the names are referred to in the
text, only the year appears in parentheses. If the names are not referred to in the text, include
them in the parenthetical reference, joined by an ampersand (&).
Examples:
 Baker and Hamilton (2007) found a high rate of depression in the participants.
  A high rate of depression was found among the participants (Baker & Hamilton, 2007).
 Three, four, or five authors
Cite all authors, either in text or parenthetically, the first time they are referred to. From then all,
use only the surname of the first author, followed by et al. Notice in the following examples that
et al., which means “and others,” is not italicized and ends with a period.
 First time authors referred to in the text
Rogers, Finney, and Myers (2004) presented participants with conflicting information.
 Subsequent references to the same authors in the text
Rogers et al. (2004) found that the subjects were unable to make decisions.
 First time authors referred to in the parenthetical reference
Participants in the study were presented with conflicting information (Rogers, Finney, & Myers,
2004).
 Subsequent parenthetical references to same authors
The subjects in the study were unable to make decisions (Rogers et al., 2004).

 Six or more authors

When there are six or more authors, use the last name of the first author followed by et al. for the
first citation in the text, as well as subsequent citations. Follow the same format for the
parenthetical reference.
 Secondary sources
Use material from original sources whenever possible. If you need to cite something that was
mentioned or quoted in someone else’s work, mention the original work in the text of your paper,
but list the secondary source in your parenthetical reference and in the reference list.
  For example, if Thompson’s work is cited in Smith’s work and you did not read Thompson’s
work, you will mention Thompson’s work in the text of your paper, but reference Smith’s work,
both parenthetically and in the reference list.
Thompson’s study (as cited in Smith, 2008) . . .
In the above example, Smith’s work will be the one listed in your reference list.
 Work listed by title
If no author is given, use the article title (in quotation marks) or book title (italicized) in the text
of your paper and in the parenthetical reference. You may use just the first several words, if the
title is lengthy. For example, a parenthetical reference to the article “Remember the Facts by
Cramming With Fat” which appeared in New Scientist without an identified author, would be
shown as (“Remember the Facts,” 2009).
 Personal communications
Personal communications that are not recoverable, such as personal or phone interviews, e-mail
messages, and memos, are cited in the text only and are not included in the reference list.
(H.J. Killian, personal communication, November 16, 2008)
 Ellipsis
Ellipsis points (three spaced periods) are used to designate that material has been omitted from
the source material.
 
Errors in source material
If there is an error in the original source which might be confusing to the reader, you may add
sic, which is Latin for “thus,” to assure your readers that the quote is accurate, even with the
error. Do not correct the error. The word sic should be inserted immediately after the error and
should be italicized and bracketed, like this: [sic].
 Citing more than one source in a single parenthetical reference
Following are some examples.
Two works by the same author (arranged by year of publication)
(Myers, 1998, 2003)
 Two works by different authors (arranged alphabetically by the first author’s surname and
separated by a semicolon)
(Jones, 2006; Myers & Barton, 2003)
 Group authors
Names of group authors, such as corporations, associations, and government agencies, are to be
spelled out in full the first time they are mentioned in the text of your paper.
For example, write out the name National Institutes of Health (NIH) the first time you mention
them in the text of your paper. Since this group is readily identified through abbreviation, you
may use an abbreviation in the parenthetical reference, such as (NIH, 2008). When you mention
this group later in your paper, you may refer to them as the NIH, both in the text of your paper
and in the parenthetical reference. If you did not mention the group in the text of your paper, but
need to reference them parenthetically, your first citation will be formatted as in this example:
(National Institutes of Health [NIH], 2008). Subsequent citations will be shown as (NIH,
2008).
 Block quotation
If a quotation is 40 or more words, set it off by beginning a new line, indenting it one tab from
the left margin. Double-space the quotation and do not use quotation marks. The parenthetical
reference appears at the end of the block quotation, following the ending punctuation mark.
 Example:
In 2006, Ray English reviewed the rationale for open access:
The movement for public access to government-funded research is based on simple but powerful
principles. Taxpayers who fund research have a right to easy and effective access to the research
that they pay for through tax dollars. In the age of the Internet, in which research can be shared
instantaneously, it makes no sense for federally funded research to be accessible only through
expensive journals that are available only in a limited number of research libraries. (p. 251)
 If the author and date were not mentioned in the introductory text, they would need to be
included in the parenthetical reference at the end of the quotation. Example: (English, 2006, p.
251)
D. REFERENCES
 The list of references begins on a new page. Center the title References one inch from the top.
The references are arranged alphabetically regardless of their respective types of reference
material. They are no longer classified as books, journals, periodicals, theses or dissertations, or
online sources. All sources are double-spaced with hanging indentation.
 Order of references in the reference list

 When alphabetizing, remember that “nothing precedes something.” For example: Brown
precedes Browning.
 If you are citing two or more works by the same author, always repeat the author’s name
and order them by year of publication, with the earliest first.
 One-author entries appear in the reference list before multiple-author entries beginning
with the same surname, regardless of the year.
 

For entries beginning with the same name, but with different coauthors, alphabetize by the last
names of the second author listed.
 Examples:
 Book by a single author or editor
 Fair, J. D. (1999). Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the manly culture of York Barbell.
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
 Gallagher, G. W. (Ed.). (1989). Fighting for the Confederacy: The personal recollections of
General Edward Porter Alexander. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
 Wood, E. W., Jr. (2006). Worshipping the myths of World War II: Reflections on America’s
dedication to war. Washington, DC: Potomac Books.
Book by two or more authors
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2003). The craft of research (2nd ed.).
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
 Book by a corporate author
A corporate author can be an association, a committee, or any group whose members are not
identified individually. When the author and the publisher are the same, use the word Author as
the name of the publisher.
 American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
 American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
 Chapter in a book
Begin the citation with the information for the chapter you are using, followed by the
information for the book. Notice the page numbers for the piece you are citing appear after the
title of the book.
 Putnam, J. W. (2009). Cooperative learning for inclusion. In P. Hick, R. Kershner, & P. T.
Farrell (Eds.), Psychology for inclusive education: New directions in theory and practice (pp. 81-
95). London, England: Routledge.
 
Article from a reference book
Begin the citation with the author for the entry you are citing. If no author is given, begin the
citation with the title of the entry.
Moore, C. C., & Munroe, R. L. (2000). Cognitive anthropology. In A.E. Kazdin (Ed.),
Encylopedia of psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 132-135). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
 Reber, A. S. (1995). Phenomenology. In The Penguin dictionary of psychology (2nd ed., p. 564).
London, England: Penguin Books.
 Article from an online reference book
Hajek, P. (2006). Fuzzy logic. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
(Summer 2009 ed.). Retreived from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2009/entries/logic-
fuzzy/ Accessed through Gale Virtual Reference Library, a library subscription database
 Cameron, J., & Pierce, W. D. (2008). Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. In N. J. Salkind & K.
Rasmussen (Eds.), Encyclopedia of educational psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 555-560). Retrieved
from www.go.galegroup.com
 Scholarly journal article with continuous pagination
English, R. (2006). Open access to federally funded research: The time is now. Portal: Libraries
and the Academy, 6, 249-252. doi:10.1353/pla.2006.0036
 Gray, R. (2009). A model of motor inhibition for a complex skill: Baseball batting. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 91-105. doi:10.1037/a0015591
 Kay, A. C., Gaucher, D., Peach, J. M., Laurin, K., Friesen, J., Zanna, M. P., & Spencer, S. J.
(2009). Inequality, discrimination, and the power of the status quo: Direct evidence for a
motivation to see the way things are as the way they should be. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 97, 421-434. doi: 10.1037/a0015997
If there are more than seven authors, list the first six authors’ names, followed by three ellipses,
and then add the final author’s name.
 Harden, K. P., Lynch, S. K., Turkheimer, E., D’Onofrio, B. M., Waldron, M. D., Martin,
N.G., . . . Emery, R. E. (2007). A behavior genetic investigation of adolescent motherhood and
offspring mental health problems. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 667-683.
doi:10.1037/0021-843X.116.4. 667
 
Scholarly journal article, journal paginated by issue
Baard, P. P. (1994). A motivational model for consulting with not-for-profit organizations: A
study of church growth and participation. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and
Research, 46(3), 19-31. doi:10.1037/1061-4087.46.3.19
 Informally published, from ERIC
Herman, W. E. (2009). Understanding psychology within the context of the other academic
disciplines. Retrieved from ERIC database. (ED505273)
Magazine article
Print
Hemp, P. (2009, September). Death by information overload. Harvard Business Review, 87(9),
83-89.
 Jaret, P. (2009, September). The new middle age. Prevention, 61(9), 98-105.
 Remember the facts by cramming with fat. (2009, May 2). New Scientist, 202(2706), 15.
 From a library subscription database
Agnew, T. (2008, November). Nursing homes make the best classrooms. Nursing Older People,
20(9), 8-9. Retrieved from http://nursingolderpeople.rcnpublishing.co.uk/
 
Online from the paper’s website
Hafner, K. (2009, May 25). Texting may be taking a toll. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
 You can see that the citations for the library database and the paper’s website are almost
identical, with the exception of the page number and the date.
 TECHNICAL AND RESEARCH REPORTS
Publication Manual, pages 205-206
Corporate author, government report
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Your guide to lowering blood pressure. (NIH Publication
No. 03-5232). Retrieved from
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/hbp_low/hbp_low.pdf
 Cloud, J. (2009, June 1). Why your memory may not be so bad after all. Time, 173(21), 53.
Retrieved from http://www.time.com
 Despite the fact the above articles were accessed through ProQuest, the retrieval statement will
show the home page for the magazine, even if the full text of the article is not available from
the magazine’s website.
 
Newspaper article
Use the abbreviations p. or pp. preceding the page numbers for newspaper articles.
 Print
Hafner, K. (2009, May 26). Texting may be taking a toll. The New York Times, p. D1.
 From a library subscription database
Hafner, K. (2009, May 26). Texting may be taking a toll. The New York Times, p. D1. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com