PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide
GeneralWritingResearchandCitationTeachingandTutoringSubjectSpecificWriting
JobSearchWritingESL
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InTextCitations:Author/Authors
Summary:
APA(AmericanPsychologicalAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtocitesourceswithinthesocialsciences.Thisresource,
revisedaccordingtothe6thedition,secondprintingoftheAPAmanual,offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofAPAresearch
papers,intextcitations,endnotes/footnotes,andthereferencepage.Formoreinformation,pleaseconsultthePublicationManualof
theAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,(6thed.,2ndprinting).
Contributors:JoshuaM.Paiz,ElizabethAngeli,JodiWagner,ElenaLawrick,KristenMoore,MichaelAnderson,LarsSoderlund,
AllenBrizee,RussellKeck
LastEdited:2014120210:08:04
APAstylehasaseriesofimportantrulesonusingauthornamesaspartoftheauthordatesystem.Thereareadditionalrulesfor
citingindirectsources,electronicsources,andsourceswithoutpagenumbers.
CitinganAuthororAuthors
AWorkbyTwoAuthors:Namebothauthorsinthesignalphraseorintheparentheseseachtimeyoucitethework.Usetheword
"and"betweentheauthors'nameswithinthetextandusetheampersandintheparentheses.
ResearchbyWegenerandPetty(1994)supports...
(Wegener&Petty,1994)
AWorkbyThreetoFiveAuthors:Listalltheauthorsinthesignalphraseorinparenthesesthefirsttimeyoucitethesource.Use
theword"and"betweentheauthors'nameswithinthetextandusetheampersandintheparentheses.
(Kernis,Cornell,Sun,Berry,&Harlow,1993)
Insubsequentcitations,onlyusethefirstauthor'slastnamefollowedby"etal."inthesignalphraseorinparentheses.
(Kernisetal.,1993)
Inetal.,etshouldnotbefollowedbya
period.
SixorMoreAuthors:Usethefirstauthor'snamefollowedbyetal.inthesignalphraseorinparentheses.
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Harrisetal.(2001)argued...
(Harrisetal.,2001)
UnknownAuthor:Iftheworkdoesnothaveanauthor,citethesourcebyitstitleinthesignalphraseorusethefirstwordortwo
intheparentheses.Titlesofbooksandreportsareitalicizedorunderlinedtitlesofarticles,chapters,andwebpagesareinquotation
marks.
Asimilarstudywasdoneofstudentslearningtoformatresearchpapers("UsingAPA,"
2001).
Note:Intherarecasethe"Anonymous"isusedfortheauthor,treatitastheauthor'sname(Anonymous,2001).Inthereference
list,usethenameAnonymousastheauthor.
OrganizationasanAuthor:Iftheauthorisanorganizationoragovernmentagency,mentiontheorganizationinthesignalphrase
orintheparentheticalcitationthefirsttimeyoucitethesource.
AccordingtotheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation(2000),...
Iftheorganizationhasawellknownabbreviation,includetheabbreviationinbracketsthefirsttimethesourceiscitedandthenuse
onlytheabbreviationinlatercitations.
Firstcitation:(MothersAgainstDrunkDriving[MADD],2000)
Secondcitation:(MADD,2000)
TwoorMoreWorksintheSameParentheses:Whenyourparentheticalcitationincludestwoormoreworks,orderthemthe
samewaytheyappearinthereferencelist(viz.,alphabetically),separatedbyasemicolon.
(Berndt,2002Harlow,1983)
AuthorsWiththeSameLastName:Topreventconfusion,usefirstinitialswiththelastnames.
(E.Johnson,2001L.Johnson,1998)
TwoorMoreWorksbytheSameAuthorintheSameYear:Ifyouhavetwosourcesbythesameauthorinthesameyear,use
lowercaseletters(a,b,c)withtheyeartoordertheentriesinthereferencelist.Usethelowercaseletterswiththeyearintheintext
citation.
ResearchbyBerndt(1981a)illustratedthat...
Introductions,Prefaces,Forewords,andAfterwords:WhencitinganIntroduction,Preface,Foreword,orAfterwordsintext,
citetheappropriateauthorandyearasusual.
(Funk&Kolln,1992)
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PersonalCommunication:Forinterviews,letters,emails,andotherpersontopersoncommunication,citethecommunicator's
name,thefactthatitwaspersonalcommunication,andthedateofthecommunication.Donotincludepersonalcommunicationin
thereferencelist.
(E.Robbins,personalcommunication,January4,2001).
A.P.SmithalsoclaimedthatmanyofherstudentshaddifficultieswithAPAstyle
(personalcommunication,November3,2002).
CitingIndirectSources
Ifyouuseasourcethatwascitedinanothersource,nametheoriginalsourceinyoursignalphrase.Listthesecondarysourcein
yourreferencelistandincludethesecondarysourceintheparentheses.
Johnsonarguedthat...(ascitedinSmith,2003,p.102).
Note:Whencitingmaterialinparentheses,setoffthecitationwithacomma,asabove.Also,trytolocatetheoriginalmaterialand
citetheoriginalsource.
ElectronicSources
Ifpossible,citeanelectronicdocumentthesameasanyotherdocumentbyusingtheauthordatestyle.
Kenneth(2000)explained...
UnknownAuthorandUnknownDate:Ifnoauthorordateisgiven,usethetitleinyoursignalphraseorthefirstwordortwo
ofthetitleintheparenthesesandusetheabbreviation"n.d."(for"nodate").
Anotherstudyofstudentsandresearchdecisionsdiscoveredthatstudentssucceeded
withtutoring("TutoringandAPA,"n.d.).
SourcesWithoutPageNumbers
Whenanelectronicsourcelackspagenumbers,youshouldtrytoincludeinformationthatwillhelpreadersfindthepassagebeing
cited.Whenanelectronicdocumenthasnumberedparagraphs,usetheabbreviation"para."followedbytheparagraphnumber(Hall,
2001,para.5).Iftheparagraphsarenotnumberedandthedocumentincludesheadings,providetheappropriateheadingandspecify
theparagraphunderthatheading.Notethatinsomeelectronicsources,likeWebpages,peoplecanusetheFindfunctionintheir
browsertolocateanypassagesyoucite.
AccordingtoSmith(1997),...(MindoverMattersection,para.6).
Note:NeverusethepagenumbersofWebpagesyouprintoutdifferentcomputersprintWebpageswithdifferentpagination.
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