Why and How to Write APA- Style References in the

Body and Reference Section of Your Papers

Drew C. Appleby, PhD

The purpose of this presentation is to explain
WHY it is necessary to cite the sources you use
to support what you write in your papers and HOW
to cite these sources in a correct APA style (i.e.,
according to the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association).

APA-Style References in the Body of Your Paper
(IN-TEXT CITATION)

What is the purpose of including APA-style
references in the body of a paper?
The references in the body of your paper give
appropriate credit to the person or persons whose
words or ideas you are using to support what you
have written in your paper. If you do not give
credit to those whose work you use, you are
guilty of plagiarism, which is a VERY serious
violation of academic integrity.

If you use a direct quotation from an original
source, give the author(s) credit for
her/his/their words as follows. Include the page
number(s) of the quotation to enable your readers
to find it.
Cognitive therapy is more effective than
psychoanalysis in the treatments of phobias
(Jones Smith, 2002, p. 44).

If you paraphrase from a source (i.e., translate
it into your own words), give the author(s)
credit for their ideas as follows.
According to Jones and Smith (2002), phobias
can be treated more successfully by cognitive
therapy than psychoanalysis.

If you refer to a primary source (e.g., a journal
article by Jones) you read about in a secondary
source (e.g., a textbook by Smith), you must
create the following type of citation.
According to Jones (as cited in Smith, 2003),
phobias can be treated more successfully by
cognitive therapy than psychoanalysis.

If you refer to a personal communication (e.g.,
an e-mail message or conversation) that is not
available to your readers, include it in the body
of your paper in the following way.
According to P. J. Jones, Director of the IUPUI
Counseling Center (personal communication, May
1, 2002), phobias can be treated more
successfully by cognitive therapy than
psychoanalysis.

If you refer to an online source (e.g., the website of the
British Psychological Association), include it in the body of
your paper in the following way.
Phobias can be treated more successfully by
cognitive therapy than psychoanalysis (British
Psychological Association, n.d.).

* IMPORTANT DETAILS TO REMEMBER:
Use an ampersand (&) between authors when their names
are within parentheses.
. . . is the most effective treatment (Smith
Jones, 1999)

Use a regular "and" between authors when their
names are not within parentheses.
. . . is the most effective treatment according
to Smith and Jones (1999).

If your source does not have a date, replace the
date in the citation with n.d., which is the
abbreviation for no date.
. . . British Psychological Association (n.d.).


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APA-Style References in the
REFERENCE SECTION of Your Paper

What is the purpose of APA-style references in a
reference section?
The references in your reference section provide
your readers with the information necessary to
retrieve the sources you cited in the body of
your paper by performing a library or online
search.
What questions are answered in an APA-style
reference that will enable a reader to perform a
successful search?
Who wrote this document?
When was it written?
What was its title?
Where was it published?
Who published it?

Example
Suppose you paraphrased information from a book
titled Sigmund Freud: Champion of the Unconscious
by Gerald R. Smith and Thomas T. Ferguson that
was published by Worth Publishers of St. Paul,
Minnesota in 2001.

Who wrote it?
Smith, G. R., Ferguson, T. T.

When was it written?
Smith, G. R., Ferguson, T. T. (2001).

What was its title?
Smith, G. R., Ferguson, T. T. (2001). Sigmund Freud: Champion
of the unconscious.



Where was it published?
Smith, G. R., Ferguson, T. T. (2001) . Sigmund Freud: Champion
of the unconscious. St. Paul, MN
If two or more publisher locations are given, use
the location listed first in the book or, if
specified, the location of the publishers home
office.

Who published it?
Smith, G. R., Ferguson, T. T. (2001. Sigmund Freud: Champion of
the unconscious. St. Paul, MN Worth.
Include only the publisher's name, without any
unnecessary words like Publisher, Co., or Inc.,
but do retain the words Books or Press.

* IMPORTANT DETAILS TO REMEMBER:
Spacing
Use of the ampersand (&)
Use of italics
Capitalization
Hanging indentation
Primary and secondary sources

Smith, G. R., & Ferguson, T. T. (2001). Sigmund Freud:
Champion of the unconscious. St. Paul, MN
Worth.

Spacing
Follow each punctuation mark (e.g., comma,
period, and colon) with one space.

Use of the ampersand (&)
Use an ampersand before the final author and
precede it with a comma.

Use of italics
Italicize the title of the book.

Capitalization
Capitalize only the first word in the title of a
book, except for proper nouns and the first word
that follows a colon.

Hanging paragraph indentation
Use Words hanging indent command to indent the
second and all following lines of your reference.

Primary and Secondary Sources
If you cite a primary source in the body of your
paper that you read about in a secondary source
(but did not read in its original form), you
should include only the secondary source in your
reference section.

* IMPORTANT EXCEPTIONS TO THESE RULES

All the important words in the title of a journal
are capitalized, and the journal title and its
volume number are italicized. If page numbers
start at 1 in each issue of a volume, put the
issue number in parenthesis but not in
italics immediately after the volume number.
Jones, L. K. (2003). The social life of
chimpanzees. Journal of Animal Behavior, 7(2),
1-18.

If two references by the same author(s) with the
same date appear in the text of your paper, one
will appear as Jones (2006a) and the other will
appear as Jones (2006b). The a or b will be
determined by how they are alphabetized in the
reference section, not the order in which they
appear in the text. In this case, the references
in the reference section would look like the
following because the B in Birds comes before the
Z in Zebra. (Please note that an A or a The at
the beginning of a title is ignored in the
alphabetizing process.)
Jones, T. J. (2006a). Birds are smart creatures.
Dallas, TX Harcourt.
Jones, T. J. (2006b). A zebra is a striped horse.
Peoria, IL Wiley.
When a book has no author, use the publisher as
the author and replace the publisher with the
word Author.
Harvard University. (1999). The diary of William
James. Cambridge, MA Author.

When referencing an online source, follow the
title with the date you retrieved it and its url.
Do not put a period after the url.
Smith, J. N. (n.d.). Careers for psychology
majors. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from Yale
University, Psychology Department Web site
http//www.YalePsych.edu/jobs

*If the document is contained within a large
and complex Web site (such as that for a university
or government agency), identify the host
organization and the relevant program or
department before giving the URL for the document itself.

When referencing a publication of limited
circulation (e.g., a class syllabus or handout),
follow its title with the mailing and/or email
address of where it can be obtained.
Jones, P. J. (2004). Syllabus for PSY B301 Abnormal
Psychology. (Available from the
Butler University Psychology Department, 402
Main Street, Indianapolis, IN 46222-3456)

Personal communications that cannot be retrieved
by readers (e.g., conversations, classroom
discussions, email messages) are not included in
the reference section of your paper.






APA format

Hanging indent format
the first line flush to the left margin and all other
lines indented.
Miller, J., & Smith, T. (Eds.). (1996). Cape Cod stories:
Tales from Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's
Vineyard. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

JOURNALS
is a blanket term for a scholarly publication that is
published periodically-generally either monthly or
quarterly.
A(s)- Y-TA-TJ-V-I-P
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of
journal, v (i), pages.
*do not include issue number if the journal is continuously
paged
* Italicize title of journal and volume number

One author
Sawyer, J. (1966). Measurement and
prediction, clinical and statistical. Psychological
Bulletin, 66(3), 178-200.

Two to seven authors
Sawyer, J., Santos, K. E., & Liou, G. H. (1966).
Measurement and prediction, clinical and
statistical. Psychological Bulletin, 66(3), 178-
200.

Eight or more authors
Sawyer, J., Santos, K. E., Liou, G. H., Lim, O. P.,
Oman, J. H., Holt, F. V., . . . Smith, P. K. (1966).
Measurement and prediction, clinical and
statistical. Psychological Bulletin, 66 (3), 178-
200.

Journals vs. magazines
journals are generally for a very specific audience:
experts within a specific scholarly or professional
field.
Magazines, on the other hand, usually have a more
general readership.
While magazines sometimes report new or
ongoing research, the information is often given
second-hand.

MAGAZINES
A(s)- Y-D-TA-TM-V-I-P
* Italicize title of magazine and volume number
Matthews, J., Berrett, D., & Brillman, D. (2005, May 16).
Other winning equations. Newsweek, 145 (20), 58-59
Matthews, J., Berrett, D., & Brillman, D. (2005,
August/September). Other winning equations. Newsweek,
145 (20), 58-59

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
Monson, M. (1993, September 16). Urbana firm obstacle to
office project. The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, pp. 1.

No author and discontinuous page
Generic Prozac debuts. (2001, August 3). The Washington
Post, pp. E1, E4-E5.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
When an editorial or letter in a newspaper is
cited
Berkowitz, A. D. (2000, November 24). How to tackle the
problem of student drinking [Letter to the editor]. The
Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B20.

Books
is a work that is published once, not as part of a
regular series. Books can be revised and
republished: each revision is considered a new
edition of the same book.
A(s)-Y-T-*ed-L-Pub
* Italicize title of the book
Author, A. A. (1996). Title of book. City: Publisher.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (1996). Title of book: Subtitle
of book (edition). City, ST: Publisher.

Books vs. edited books
A book is distinguished from an edited book in
that the entire text of the work is written by the
same author, group of authors, or institution.
If individual sections of the work you are citing
were written by different authors it is considered
as edited book
Edited books are valuable in that the individual
chapters are generally authored by specialists.
Sometimes the chapters were originally published
as journal articles, and are reprinted because of
their enduring importance.

Edited books/chapter in a book
A(s)-Y-T-Edi-TB-Ed-P-L-Pub
* Italicize title of book
Author, A. A. (1996). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor
(Ed.), Title of book (pp. first page-last page). City:
Publisher.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (1996). Title of chapter:
Subtitle of chapter. In E. E. Editor, & F. F. Editor
(Eds.), Title of book: Subtitle of book (edition, pp. first
page-last page). City, ST: Publisher.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (1996).
Title of chapter: Subtitle of chapter. In E. E. Editor, F.
F. Editor, & G. G. Editor (Eds.), Title of book: Subtitle
of book (edition, pp. first page-last page). City,
Country: Publisher.

edited books/chapter in a book
Sallei, L. T. (1995). A dynamic model of inter-
generational Pig Language transmission. In R. K.
Jambalaya,Creole studies (pp. 571-576).
Amsterdam: Updyke.
Bryson, B., & Winkler, I. R. (1992). What does "oo-
day" really mean?. In J. Paul, Current research on
semantic competence in creolized Pig Latin (3rd
ed., pp. 96-107). Lick Fork, VA: Fourchette
University Press.
Lennon, J., McCartney, P., & Harrison, G. Q. (1978).
Popular music and Pig Latin: Uhv-lay ee-may oo-
day. In R. Starr, The musical Pig Latin
classroom (Rev. ed., pp. 40-97). Liverpool,
England: Organization of Pig Latin Musicians.

Corporate authorship
work is published by a corporation or institution
*italicize title
Institute of Financial Education. (1982). Managing
personal funds. Chicago: Midwestern Publishing.
University of Minnesota. (1985). Social psychology.
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Anonymous author
*italicize title
Experimental psychology. (1938). New York: Holt.

Eric documents
ERIC is an acronym which stands for the
Educational Resources Information Center, an
entity sponsored by the National Institute of
Education.

Author(s) of document is printed in the title
lines of the document's microfiche. If you're not
sure which person, persons, or entity authored the
document, place the microfiche in a reader
machine and check the document's title page
Year of publication is always printed in the title
lines of the document's microfiche, in abbreviated
form (i.e., without the "19"), before the number
specifying the number of pages in the document
Title of document is the first element printed in
the title lines of the microfiche. Again, if you're
unsure about the document's title, put the
microfiche in a reader machine and check the
document's title page
Report number (if any) can be found in the title
lines of the document's microfiche
Place of publication is printed in the title lines of
the document's microfiche
Sponsoring entity is printed in the title lines of
the document's microfiche
ERIC document number can be found at the top,
left corner of the microfiche

Eric documents
Author, A. A. (1996). Title of ERIC
document (Report No. AB-12). City, ST:
Sponsoring Entity. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED 123 456)
Institutional Author. (1996). Title of ERIC
document (Report No. AB-12). City, Country:
Sponsoring Entity. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. ED 123 456)

Eric documents
Badden, M. R. (1992). A revised syllabus for Pig
Latin in public schools (Report No. BZ4X).
Mudsock, OH: Ohio State Association for
Excellence in Pig Latin Education. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED 678 342)
Headmaster's Committee on the Language Arts
Curriculum. (1995). Pig Latin encounters:
Exposing primary-age students to authentic
models of production (Report No. FH-457).
Orange Walk, Belize: Orange Walk Board of
Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED 589 244)

ONLINE JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS
*Italicize title of journal and volume number
Senior, B., & Swailes, S. (2007). Inside
management teams: Developing a teamwork
survey instrument. British Journal of Management,
18, 138-153. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-
8551.2006.0007.x
Lodewijx, H. F. M. (2001, May 23). Individual-
group continuity in cooperation and competition
under varying communication conditions. Current
Issues in Social Psychology, 6(12), 166-168.
retrieved from
http://www.uiowa.ediu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.6.
12.htm

Online report from non-governmental
organization
Kenney, G. M. (2009). Prospects for reducing uninsured
rates among children: How much can premium assistance
programs help? Retrieved from Urban Institute website:
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411823

Online report with no author identified and no
date
GVUs 10
th
WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/

APA In-text Citation Style with Annotation
See page 67
http://www.englishclub.com/writing/plagiarism-
citation.htm