APA formatting

APA 6TH EDITION

Robin Sontheimer University of Missouri-Kansas City Writing Center 2009

Resources

http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm for a tutorial about APA Style

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/0 1/ APA formatting and style guide

Title Page
Running head: SHORT TITLE ALL CAPS IN HEADER
No more than 50 characters

Full Title of Paper: Sentence Case, Centered Left to Right Name of Author Authors Affiliation

Full title is centered and positioned in upper half of the page

Author Note

Author note with more information about affiliation, research grants, conflict of interest and how to contact.

Robin Sontheimer University of Missouri-Kansas City Writing Center 2009

Levels

Use levels consecutively, meaning that, if your paper has three levels, use levels 1, 2, and 3 Levels have slightly different formatting
Formatting of Heading Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. 1 2 3

Level of Heading

4
5

Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.

Levels: more like an outline

Outline
I. Method
a.

How it would look in your paper

Method In this paper I used two types of methods to figure out the results of my experiment.

First type
i. ii.

Part One Part Two

First Type: Sand Collecting The first type of method I used was the sand collecting method. Part one of the sand collecting method: collection.

b.

Second Type
i. ii.

Part One Part Two

This part included collecting sand and putting it into giant buckets to be sorted by grain size. Part two of the sand collecting method: testing. This part included

II. Results

When to cite

Ideas, theories, or research that directly influenced your work. Key background information, support or dispute your theory, or offer critical definitions or data. Document all facts and figures that are not common knowledge. For class assignments, use 1 or 2 of most representative sources for each key point.

Literature reviews include more exhaustive lists of citation

Two types of citations In text citations and reference list citations

Text citation (paraphrased):

McPherson (2012) raised issues of motivation in reading.

Text citation with direct quote: McPherson (2012) coined the phrase goblet of motivation (p. 71).

Reference citation -- used in reference list: McPherson, K. (2012). Harry Potter and the goblet of motivation. Teacher Librarian, 34(4), 71. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.76.4.482

Citing Resources in Text

Research confirmed the results of cloning (Fink, 2007). The website did not support the data (Wienhorst, n.d.). A couple of studies (Eifrig & Gehring, 1976; Skinner, 1956) found.... [in alphabetical order]

Several studies (Department of Defense, 2002, 2008; Smith & Jones, 2009a, 2009b)
See APA manual, pp. 176-178.

When to Use Ampersands and Commas

Stating vs. citing

Quinlan and Bardeen (2007) published a definitive study on information literacy in higher education.

but
Information literacy needs to be integrated into the curriculum (Quinlan & Bardeen, 2007).

Ampersands and Commas in Citations

Stating vs. citing

Quinlan and Bardeen (2007) published a definitive study on information literacy in higher education.

but

Information literacy needs to be integrated into the curriculum (Quinlan & Bardeen, 2007).

Three or more authors cited, use commas

Researchers (Creswell, Borg, & Allsop, 2004) have found that this is true.

Differences in Text vs. Reference List

Tunon and Ramirez (2012) found that... in the study (Tunon & Ramirez, 2012).
Tunon, J., & Ramirez, L. (2012). ABD or EdD? Journal of Academic Librarianship, 10(2), 2343.

See APA manual, pp. 177, .

Citations in text:
Quinlan, Jones, Byron, and Montgomery (2008) stated Quinlan et al. (2008) observed (et al. is used after first use when there are three or more authors)

Parenthetical citations in text:

(Quinlan, Jones, Byron, & Montgomery, 2008) (Quinlan et al., 2008)

One work by six or more authors:

Wienhorst et al. (2009) (Wienhorst et al., 2009)
Always use et al. for six or more authors for in-text citations.

See APA manual, p. 177

Six or More Authors in Text vs. Reference List

Text citation for six or more authors:
Wienhorst et al. (2010) found that .

Reference citation with seven authors:

Wienhorst, S., Jones, R. E., Smith, T., Stonebraker, W., Schaefer, A., Johnson, M., & Allsop, S. | (2010). What...

See APA manual, pp. 177, .

More Than Seven Authors

Zapeta, L., Ramirez, L., Jones, K., Smith, R. Bardeen,E., Stonebraker, M. B., Obata, H. (2007). The greening of America. Journal of Environmental Studies, 12(4), 43-47.
When you have eight or more authors, list the first six authors names, insert three ellipses, and list the last authors name.

See APA manual, pp. 184, 198

Six or More Authors in Text vs. Reference List

Text citation for six or more authors: Wienhorst et al. (2010) found that .
List the first six authors and last Reference citation with seven authors: author. Separate Wienhorst, S., Jones, R. E., Smith, T., Stonebraker, with ellipses.

W., Schaefer, A., Johnson, M., & Allsop, S. (2010). What...

Reference citation with more than seven authors: Wienhorst, S., Jones, R. E., Smith, T., Stonebraker, W., Schaefer, A., Johnson, M., ... Donitz, C. (2010).
See APA manual, pp. 177, 198.

Groups as Authors
Citations in text: American Psychological Association [APA] (2009) stated Do not use back-toback parentheses.

APA (2009) observed Parenthetical citations in text: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2009) Use (APA, 2009) thereafter.

See APA manual, p. 176

1. The research project (Smith, Brown, and Jones, no date) or Test yourself 2. The research project (Smith, Brown, & Jones, n.d.) or 3. The research project (Smith, Brown, & Jones, no date) or 4. The research project (Smith, Brown, and Jones, n.d.)

1.

2.

Two research studies (APA, 2002; Barnes, 2005) or Two research studies (Barnes, 2005; APA, 2002)

Paraphrasing
Direct quote Signed into law in January 2002 by President George W. Bush, the No Child Let Behind (NCLB) Act signaled the nations most sweeping education reform of federal education policy in decades. NCLB laid the groundwork for education reforms and the presidents attempt to strengthen Americas education system (Smith, 2008, p. 212).

APA manual, pp. 170-171

Paraphrasing
Direct quote Signed into law in January 2002 by President George W. Bush, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act signaled the nations most sweeping education reform of federal education policy in decades. NCLB laid the groundwork for education reforms and the presidents attempt to strengthen Americas education system (Smith, 2008, p. 212). More than 50% reworded

Paraphrased
When the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was signed into law in January of 2002 by President Bush, the law provided the most allencompassing reform in education the United States in decades and provided a foundation for strengthening educational policy at the national level for years to come (Smith, 2008). APA manual, pp. 170-171

When using a direct quote, provide the page #:

victims of cyberterrorism (Windhorst, 2004, p. 237) . Krankenstein (2006) reported that "empirical research verified compliance" (p. 48). Lynch (2007) stated, The findings are not valid (p. 22) but later maintained that other studies reached different conclusions. in a dictionary (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 2001, p. 346).

See APA, Chapter 6, p. 171-173

In midsentence quotes

Quotes must be introduced.

The principal stated, Instructors may or may not want to require an abstract for class assignments (Tunon, 2006, p. 34), but she concluded that they always summarized the essential content of the paper.

See APA , pp. 92, 171

At end of a sentence
Tunon (2006) found that instructors may or may not want to require an abstract for class assignments (p. 34).

Block quote

Use a colon if there is a complete introductory phrase.

Students at Nova Southeastern University have faced challenges in learning how to use APA formatting. When discussing the challenges, Tunon (2006) found the following: Use quotes around an article title or book chapter, but italicize the title of a book, journal, or report when used in the body of the paper. Use a shot [sic] title in the parenthetical citation or complete title if the title is short. NOTE Non-periodical titles like books and book titles have all the important words capitalized in the text citations, but these same book titles do not have all the important words capitalized in the reference list. (p. 342)

APA manual, p. 92
Direct quote for less than 40 words:

The abstract is a one-paragraph summary or overview of the paper and should summarize the essential content of the paper (Tunon, 2009, p. 34).

Block quote (more than 40 words):

Note where the periods go!

Students at Nova Southeastern University have faced challenges in learning how to use APA formatting. When discussing the challenges, Strunk (1922) stated:

Use quotes around an article title or book chapter, but italicize the title of a book, journal, brochure, or report when used in the body of the paper. Use a short title in the parenthetical citation or complete title if the title is short. NOTE Non-periodica titles like books and book titles have all the important words capitalized in the text citations, but these same book titles do not have all the important words capitalized in the reference list. (p. 342) Callahan (2001), however, says .

MacDougall (2004, p. 34) stated that the Information Literacy Model needed to be implemented. or 2. MacDougall (2004) stated that the Information Literacy Model needed to be implemented (p. 34). or 3. MacDougall (2004) stated that the Information Literacy Model needed to be implemented. (p. 34) 1.

How to Cite a Journal Article in the Reference List

Citing Journal Articles

Author(s) Watkins, R., & Schlosser, C. (2000). Its not about time: A fresh approach to educational equivalency. TechTrend, 24(3), 34-47.

Initials, not first names. No title Ampersand (&), not the word and Comma before the ampersand.

See APA (6th ed,), p. 184

Names

Do not include titles Arguellos, S., Ph.D. (2007). Bucher, J., Dr. (2005). In the reference list, one space between initials Brown, J. D. (2003). If authors first name is hyphenated, retain hyphen Chin, E.-F., Barry, B., & Wilson, H. W.

APA (6th ed.), p. 184

Suffices for Names in Text and Reference Citations

Use a space to separate initials and suffices R. F. Johnson, Jr. D. S. Altilio, III

For references in the text, do not include suffixes

Johnson Altilio

For references in the reference list, use a comma to separate initials and suffices.
Johnson, R. F., Jr. Altilio, D. S., III

APA (6th ed.), pp. 24, 174, 184

Citing Journal Articles

Year of publication

Watkins, R., & Schlosser, C. (2000). Its not about time: A fresh approach to educational equivalency. TechTrend, 24(3), 34-47.

Enclosed in parentheses Period after the parentheses No month or day if the publication is a journal, not a magazine, newsletter, or newspaper article.

See APA (6th ed.), p. 185

Citing Journal Articles

Article title

Watkins, R., & Schlosser, C. (2000). Its not about time: A fresh approach to educational equivalency. TechTrend, 24(3), 34-47.

Only first word in title and subtitle should be be capitalized as well as any proper names. A period at the end of the title. Only one space after the period, not two.

See APA (6th ed.), p. 185

Citing Journal Articles

Watkins, R., & Schlosser, C. (2000). Its not about time: A fresh approach to educational equivalency. TechTrend, 24(3), 34-47.

Journal title Journal title should have all important words capitalized. It is italicized The journal title is followed by a comma

See APA manual, pp. 186-187

Citing Journal Articles

Watkins, R., & Schlosser, C. (2000). Its not about time: A fresh approach to educational equivalency. TechTrend, 24(3), 34-47.

Volume, issue, and page number(s)

The volume number is italicized There should be no space between the volume number and issue number Enclose issue number in parentheses and follow by a comma Do not use p. or pp. for journal articles.

See APA manual, p. 186

Citing Journal Articles Retrieved Full Text Online:

Watkins, R., & Schlosser, C. (2000). Its not about time: A fresh approach to educational equivalency. TechTrend, 24(3), 34-47. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.76.4.482

DOI number

Preferred: If the database has a Digital Object Identifier that functions as a unique identifier of the content and a link to the content, then use that. If no DOI number is found, then citation ends with the period after the page number

Formatting of DOI
Borman, W. C. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(5), 443-449. doi:10.1037 /0002-9432.76.4.482
Do not capitalize doi, and do not include a space before or after the colon. Break the number before most punctuation Do not include a period after the DOI number.

See APA manual, p. 192

Example of a DOI

 Page entitled References Hanging indentations Double space in citations Double space between citations Use italics, do not underline

References Page
References

centered

32

Jones, R. N., del Rio, J. A., Humenik, J. A., Garca, E. O., & Ramrez, A. M. (2006). Citation

mining: Integrating text mining and bibliometrics for research user profiling. Journal of the
American Society for Information Science and Technology, 52 , 1148-1156. Kushkowski, J. D. (1985). Master's and doctoral thesis citations: Analysis and trends of a longitudinal study. Portal, 3, 459-479. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.76.4.482

Kushkowski, J. D. (1999a). Identifying uniform core journal titles for music libraries: A
dissertation citation study. College & Research Libraries, 60(2), 153-163. Kushkowski, J. D. (1999b). Measuring the use and value of electronic journals and books. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship.

Alphabetical order, then by date

Morner, C. J. (1995). Measuring the library research skills of education doctoral students.
In R. AnRhein (Ed.), Continuity & transformation: The promise of confluence. Proceedings of the Seventh National Conference of the Association of College and Research Libraries, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 29-April 1, 1995 (pp. 381-391). Chicago: Association of

College and Research Libraries.

Hanging Indentations in Word 2003

In Indents and Spacing Go to the Special section. Select Hanging.

Alphabetizing the Reference List in Word 2003

Go to Table. Select Sort. Click OK.

Hanging Indentations in Word 2007

Alphabetizing the Reference List in Word 2007

Test Yourself: How Many Mistakes?

Barber, Dr. Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Can you find 13 mistakes?

(Using APA 6th ed.)

Identifying Formatting Barber, Dr. Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Problems todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4).
pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Authors Barber, Dr. Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Date of Publication Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Punctuation after Date of Publication

Barber, Dr. Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the Run -- todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Dr. Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run -- Todays administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Todays Administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run: Todays administrator. Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Todays Administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run: Todays administrator. Journal of Management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Todays Administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run: Todays administrator. Journal of Management, 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Todays Administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run: Todays administrator. Journal of Management, 24(4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Todays Administrator Journal of management 24(4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run: Todays administrator. Journal of Management, 24(4), 323-329. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http:// 0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, Fran Gail (2005, spring/summer) Life on the Run -Todays Administrator Journal of management 24 (4). pp. 323-9. Retrieved 2/3/08 from FirstSearch Database: http://0-firstsearch.oclc.org.novacat.nova.edu/WebZ/ FSPrefs?entityjsdetect=:javascript=true:screensize=1:0

Barber, F. G. (2005). Life on the run: Todays administrator. Journal of Management, 24(4), 323-329. doi:10.1037/00029432.76.4.482