APA (American Psychological Association) is a citation style which is most commonly used to cite sources for papers within the social sciences.
Citing sources in the text in APA CitationrnIn referring to a work or a quote from a work you should cite APA in the author-date-page number format e.g (Freud, 1927). The last name of the author and the year of the publication should be used when citing source inside the text. If the author is already mentioned in the sentence, no need to mention the author again, just insert the publication year in parentheses after the author has been mentioned.
The page number should follow before the period of the sentence eg. (p. 00)
For Example:
According to Freud (1927), "Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis" (p. 53).
Freud (1927) compares religion to a childhood neurosis (p. 53).
He said, "Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis" (Freud, 1927, p. 53) which I don’t agree on.
rnAPA Works Cited PagernAt the end of your paper, you should have a works cited page in APA Citation. It should start on a new page and should be titled “References.” It should be centered at the top of the page. Do not bold, underline or put quotations on the title. Some use an APA works cited generator but doing it manually is usually done.
General rules of Reference list in
APA citation:rnThe spacing should be double space.rnThe indention of the entry should be a hanging indent.rnList the entries alphabetically by the author’s last name.rnIf you have multiple sources by one author, order it starting with the earliest publication.
Capitalization:rnCapitalize major words only for journal titles. Do not capitalize prepositions/conjunctions unless they are the first word of the title/subtitle.rnFor books, chapter or articles in books and magazines, or Web pages, capitalize only the first letter of the title and subtitle. rnCapitalize proper nouns.
Italicization:rnItalicize titles of longer works like books and journals.rnTitles of shorter works such as poems, stories, journal articles, and essays should not be italicized, underlined or inserted in quotation marks.
rnExamples of APA citations
rnBOOKS in APA citation
Basic format:
Author Last Name, First Name Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. City, State Abbreviation: Publisher.
If not in the US, then just write the city.
One author:
Moran, A. (2012). Sport and exercise psychology: A critical introduction (2nd Ed). London: Routledge.
If edition other than the first, just add the edition in parentheses after the title of the work.
Two authors:rnType in the authors by their last names and initials; use the ampersand instead of the word "and."
Kitchener, K. S., & Anderson, S. K. (2012). Foundations of ethical practice, research, and teaching in psychology and counseling. London: Psychology Press.
Three to seven authors:rnSeparate authors with a comma. The last author should be preceded by an ampersand instead of “and.”
Keith-Spiegel, P., Whitley, B. E., Balogh, D. W., Perkins, D. V., & Wittig, A. F. (2002). The ethics of teaching: A casebook. London: Psychology Press.
More than seven authors:rnMention the first six first followed by a “. . .” then mention the last author. No need to use the ampersand.
Keith-Spiegel, P., Whitley, B. E., Balogh, D. W., Perkins, D. V., Miller, F. H., Harland, A. A., . . . Wittig, A. F. (2002). The ethics of teaching: A casebook. London: Psychology Press.
Chapter or Article in an Edited book:rnOnly first word of Chapter title and subtitle should be capitalized. Only first word of book should be capitalized. For several authors, follow format above. For several editors, separate with comma and ampersand whenever applicable.
Seligman, M. (1992). Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive therapy. In Snyder, C.R., & Lopez S. (Eds.), Gender handbook of positive psychology. (pp. 107-123). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania.
JOURNAL ARTICLES in APA style citation
The journal is italicized with all the major words capitalized. The title of the article should only have the first word capitalized.
The basic format:
Author Last Name, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of article or chapter. Journal, Volume (issue if available), Pages.
Brandon, N. (2012). Predicting adolescents' persistence, non-persistence, and recent onset of nonmedical use of opioids and stimulants. Addictive Behaviors, 37 (6), 716-721.
Two authors:rnJust like how you would cite APA on a book. Separate with an ampersand.
Brandon, N., & Rogers, P., (2012). Predicting adolescents' persistence, non-persistence, and recent onset of nonmedical use of opioids and stimulants. Addictive Behaviors, 37 (6), 716-721.
For three or to seven authors, follow the author list as how you would do the book to cite in APA. The same rule applies for seven or more authors.
Online book:rnUse “n.d.” if no date is available. Include the full URL where readers can find it.
Smith, D. (2008). Where to find happiness. Available from URL_GOES_HERE
NEWSPAPERS in APA citation
Print:rnArticles in newspapers can be usually in several pages. If there is only one page, then use p. For multiple pages, use pp. for an APA citation.
ExamplernSingle page: p. A2rnmultiple pages: pp. C2, C5-C7
Mention the whole date (year, Month date) eg. (2006, March 26)
rnExample APA cite:
Richards, S. (2007, April 28). Alcoholic policies around the globe. Washington Post, pp. 2A, 3A.
rnOnline:rnInclude the full URL
Tierney, J. (2011, May 16). A new gauge to see what’s beyond happiness. The New York Times. Retrieved from URL_GOES_HERE
MAGAZINE in APA citation
Basic format (Print):
Borgia, M. (2000, April 9). Passing the mark for global schools. Newsweek, 135, 26-28.
Online:
Use n.p. if there is no publisher name given and n.d. if no publishing date is available. Add the full URL to cite in APA.
Ronalds, T. M., Peters, A., & Ricci, D. (2008). Abnormal eating among teens. Cosmopolitan Online, 10(3), 35-36. Retrieved from rnURL_GOES_HERE
WEBSITE in APA citationrnInclude the date of access because web sites are updated often. Add the complete URL of the site.rnUse n.d. if no publishing date is given.rnAuthor, A.(Date if available). Title of document/ article/ or page. Retrieved from URL_GOES_HERErnEvans, E. (2010, May 5). Soup for the soul. Retrieved from URL_GOES_HERE
Evans, E. (n.d.). Soup for the soul. Retrieved from
http://foodforthesoul.com/whole-URL-here