Basic APA Formatting

From the CHC Writing Center
The Basics
of APA
Formatting
JAIME R. SORIANO
Faculty, SHS Department
General Format
Your essay should 4. References
include four major
sections:
3. Main Body
2. Abstract
1. Title page
Your essay should:

 be typed,
 double-spaced,
 have 1” margins,
 use 10-12pt. Standard font (ex. Times New Roman), and
 be printed on standard-sized paper (8.5”x 11”)
From the CHC Writing
Center
Formatting the Title Page

Header= the
Running
head* and
page number
Title of the paper

Your name and
your institution
(school)
*The running head
should not exceed
one line. If it does,
use a shortened
version of your title
as the header
The Abstract
0 The second page of your paper
0 Summarizes your subject, research method, findings,
and conclusions
In-Text Citations
0 Used to cite information that you have taken from another source and
used in your paper in the form of:
0 Direct Quotes
0 Paraphrasing
0 Summary
0 Whenever you use a source, provide in parenthesis:
0 the author’s name and the date of publication
0 for quotations and close paraphrases, provide the author’s name,

date of publication, and a page number
In-text Citations:
Formatting Quotations
Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response

With a signal frequently entails a “delayed, uncontrolled
phrase repetitive appearance of hallucinations and
other intrusive phenomena” (p. 11).
A traumatic response frequently entails a

Without a “delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of
signal phrase hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena”
(Caruth, 1996, p. 11).
With a signal phrase
Introduce quotations with signal phrases, e.g.:
According to Xavier (2008), “….” (p. 3).
Xavier (2008) argued that “……” (p. 3).
Use such signal verbs such as:
acknowledged, contended, maintained,

responded, reported, argued, concluded, etc.
Use the past tense or the present perfect tense of verbs in signal phrases
when they discuss past events.
In-text Citations:
Formatting a Summary or Paraphrase
Smith (2002) explained that sibutramine

With a signal suppresses appetite by blocking the reuptake
phrase if the neurotransmitters serotonin and
norepinephrine in the brain (p. 594).
Sibutramine suppresses appetite by

blocking the reuptake of the
Without a
signal phrase
neurotransmitters serotonin and
norepinephrine in the brain (Smith, 2002, p.
594).
In-text Citations:
A Work with Two Authors
According to feminist researchers Bergin
With a signal and Tate (1997), “It is no longer true to
phrase claim that women's responses to the war
have been ignored” (p. 2).
When citing a work with two authors, use

“and” in between authors’ name in the
signal phrase, but use“&” between their
names in parenthesis.
Without a Some feminists researchers question that

signal phrase “women's responses to the war have been
ignored” (Bergin & Tate, 1997, p. 2).
In-text Citations:
Two or More Works
When citing authors with the same last names, use first
initials with the last names.
(B. Kachru, 2005; Y. Kachru, 2008)
When citing two or more works by the same author and

published in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c)
after the year of publication to order the references.
Smith’s (1998a) study of adolescent immigrants…

In-text Citations:
A Work with Three to Five authors
0 When citing a work with three to five authors, identify all

authors in the signal phrase or in parenthesis.
(Harklau, Siegal, and Losey, 1999)
0 In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last

name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.
(Harklau et al., 1993)

In-text Citations:
A Work with Six and More Authors
0 When citing a work with six and more authors,
identify the first author’s name followed by “et al.”
Smith et al. (2006) maintained that….
OR…
(Smith et al., 2006)

In-text Citations:
Two or More Works
When the parenthetical citation includes two or

more works, order them in the same way they appear in the
reference list—the author’s name, the year of publication—
separated by a semi-colon.
In-text Citations:
A Work of Unknown Author
0 When citing a work of unknown author, use the
source’s full title in the signal phrase and cite the first
word of the title followed by the year of publication in
parenthesis. Put titles of articles and chapters in
quotation marks; italicize titles of books and reports.
According to “Indiana Joins Federal

Accountability System” (2008), …
(“Indiana,” 2008)
In-text Citations:
Organization
0 When citing an organization, mention the
organization the first time when you cite the source in
the signal phrase or the parenthetical citation.
The data collected by the Food and Drug Administration
(2008) confirmed that…
0 If the organization has a well-known abbreviation,

include the abbreviation in parenthesis the first time
the source is cited and use only the abbreviation in
later citations.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed … FDA’s
experts tested…
In-text Citations:
Interviews / Letters / E-mails
When citing interviews, letters, e-mails, etc., include the
communicator’s name, the fact that it was personal
communication, and the date of the communication.
Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

References Page
Center the title
(References) at the Double-space
top of the page. Do reference
not bold it. entries
Flush left the first

line of the entry
and indent
subsequent lines
Order entries
alphabetically
by the author’s
surnames
References:
Basics
0 Invert authors’ names
0 last name first followed by initials: Smith, J.Q.
0 Alphabetize reference list entries by the last name of

the first author of each work
0 Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a

title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash
in the title, and proper nouns:
Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography
References:
Basic Format for Books
0 Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work:

Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
Ex.:
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing

manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
References:
Article form an Online Periodical
0 With DOI Assigned
0 Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title
of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range.
doi:0000000/000000000000
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations:

An annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing,
41, 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161
References:
Article form an Online Periodical
0 With no DOI Assigned
0 Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require
the URL of the journal home page.
0 Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title
of article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved
from http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/
Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature

of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved
from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html
References:
Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
0 Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
0 Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide
bylines (authors' names). When no byline is present,
move the entry name to the front of the citation. Provide
publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is
present in the entry.
Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism
References:
Web Document, Web Page, or Report
You may h
ave to
hunt arou
nd to find
the inform
ation;
don't be l
azy!
0 List as much of the following information as possible
0 Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
document. Retrieved from http://Web address
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M.,
Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format.
Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

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From the CHC Writing Center

Your essay should:

Formatting the Title Page

Title of the paper

0 for quotations and close paraphrases, provide the author’s name,

Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response

A traumatic response frequently entails a

Introduce quotations with signal phrases, e.g.:

According to Xavier (2008), “….” (p. 3).

Xavier (2008) argued that “……” (p. 3).

Use such signal verbs such as:

acknowledged, contended, maintained,

Smith (2002) explained that sibutramine

Sibutramine suppresses appetite by

When citing a work with two authors, use

Without a Some feminists researchers question that

(B. Kachru, 2005; Y. Kachru, 2008)

When citing two or more works by the same author and

Smith’s (1998a) study of adolescent immigrants…

0 When citing a work with three to five authors, identify all

0 In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last

(Harklau et al., 1993)

Smith et al. (2006) maintained that….

(Smith et al., 2006)

When the parenthetical citation includes two or

According to “Indiana Joins Federal

0 If the organization has a well-known abbreviation,

Do not include personal communication in the reference list.

Flush left the first

0 Alphabetize reference list entries by the last name of

0 Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a

0 Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work:

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing

Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations:

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature

Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from

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