APA STYLE

APA style
• APA Style is a writing style and format for
academic documents such as scholarly
journal articles and books and is commonly
used for citing sources within the field of
social sciences.
• It is described in the style guide of the
American Psychological Association (Apa)
 Use of APA style
• APA style is widely used, either entirely or
with modifications, by hundreds of other
scientific journals (including medical and
other public health journals), in many
textbooks, and in academia (for papers
written in classes).
characteristics of APA Style Citation

• In-text citations
APA Style uses an author-date reference citation system
in the text with an accompanying reference list. That
means that to cite any reference in a paper, the writer
should cite the author and year of the work, either by
putting both in parentheses separated by a comma
(parenthetical citation) or by putting the author in the
narrative of the sentence and the year in parentheses
(narrative citation).
 Reference list

• In the APA reference list, the writer should provide

the author, year, title, and source of the cited work in
an alphabetical list of references.
• If a reference is not cited in the text, it should not be
included in the reference list.
• The reference format varies slightly depending on
the document type (e.g., journal article, edited book
chapter, blog post), but broadly speaking always
follows the same pattern of author, date, title,
source.
American Psychological Association
When is it mostly used?
What is it mostly concerned with?
A method of citing references
Parenthetical citations in text
References page
• Title Page: Running Head, page number,
Identifying information
• Subsequent Pages: Running Head, page
number, headings
 In text citation

• If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the
author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference
(preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that
includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in
parentheses.
– According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA
style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).
– Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style"
(p. 199)
• If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last
name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses
after the quotation.
– She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones,
1998, p. 199).
 Text citation

• Even though you have put someone else’s

ideas or information in your own words ,
you still need to show where the original
idea or information came from. This is all
part of the academic writing process
 In text citation
• When citing in text within an assignment, use the author/s (or
editor/s) last name followed by the year of publication.

• Example: Water is a necessary part of every person’s diet and of all

the nutrients a body needs to function, it requires more water each
day than any other nutrient (Whitney & Rolfes, 2011).or

• Whitney and Rolfes (2011) state the body requires many nutrients
to function but highlight that water is of greater importance than
any other nutrient. Or

• Water is an essential element of anyone’s diet and Whitney and

Rolfes (2011) emphasise it is more important than any other
nutrient.
 In Reference list one and
two authors
• Reference list entry:
• Whitney, E., & Rolfes, S. (2011). Understanding nutrition (12th ed.). Australia:
Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

• Note: This book did not have a city for place of

publication, just a country.
• Extra note: This book has an edition. This
information is included straight after the title.
 Parenthetical Citations—One Author

oReference in text (when the text as a whole needs

to be cited)
o Last name (year of publication)
o Rowling (2005) argues for the development of new curricular.

oReference in text (when only part of the text, such as

an idea or a quote from a specific page, needs to be
cited)
o Last name (year of publication, page number)
o lRowling (2005, p.189)
 Parenthetical Citations—More
than One Author
oWhen a work has two authors, always cite both
authors.
o Reference in text
o Last names of authors separated by “and” (year of
publication)
o Rowling and Cramer (2005) argue for the development of new
curricular.
 Three, four or five authors
in citation

• Three, four or five authors If a work has three (3), four (4)
or five (5) authors, cite all authors the first time and from
then on include only the last name of the first author
followed by the words et al. (‘et al.’ is Latin for ‘and others’)
• Example:
• Research can be defined as a systematic method of
creating new knowledge or a way to verify existing
knowledge (Watson, McKenna, Cowman & Keady, 2008).

• Deciding on a research method demands the researcher

consider carefully the problem or area of investigation
being researched (Watson et al., 2008).
 Three, four or five authors
in reference list
• Watson, R., McKenna, H., Cowman, S., & Keady, K. (2008). Nursing
research: Designs and methods. Edinburgh, Scotland: Churchill
Livingstone Elsevier.
 Six or seven authors in text
citation
• Six or seven authors If a work has six (6) or
more authors, cite only the last name of
the first author followed by et al. each
time you refer to this work.
• Example:
• (Mikosch et al., 2010)
 seven (7) authors
• Reference list entry:
• When a source has up to seven (7)
authors, include all names in the reference
list.
• Mikosch, P., Hadrawa, T., Laubreiter, K., Brandl, J., Pilz, J., Stettner, H., &
Grimm, G. (2010). Effectiveness of respiratory-sinus-arrhythmia
biofeedback on state-anxiety in patients undergoing coronary
angiography.
Eight or more authors in text citation

• Eight or more authors When there are

eight (8) or more authors, cite only the
last name of the first author followed by
‘et al.’
Example:
• (Vissing et al., 2004)
 Eight (8) or more authors,
• Note :In the reference list:
• When there are eight (8) or more authors, include the first
six (6) authors’ names and then use ellipsis points (...)
before concluding with the last author’s name.
• Reference list entry: Vissing, K., Brink, M., Lonbro, S.,
Sorensen, H., Overgaard, K., Danborg, K., ... Aagaard, P.
(2008). Muscle adaptations to plyometric vs resistance
training in untrained young men: Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research. Auckland, New Zealand: Random
House New Zealand.
 Reference List—Capitalization of
Titles
o Capitalize the first word in the title and
subtitle, and any proper nouns (cities,
countries, peoples’ names) for book,
article, and chapter titles
o Capitalize the first word, all nouns, verbs,
adverbs, and adjectives for names of
journals
 Reference List—Books
o Arrange references by the same author chronologically, with the
earlier date of publication listed first
o Van Delay, A. (1994). Venetian blinds: Contemporary study of
compulsive lying. New York: Pendant Publishing (not “Publishers”).
o Van Delay, A. (1997). Seinfeld: The show about nothing. New York:
Penguin Books.
oNo Author
oTitle (year). City of publication: press.
o Creation of the media: Political origins of the media. (1922). Los
Angeles: Houghton-Mifflin.
oThe Chicago manual of style (15th ed.). (2003). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
 Final Word on APA

oEach type of source requires specific formatting, both in

text and on the references list. This workshop covered
the most commonly used citations.
oThe information in this workshop was provided
by The APA Publication Manual (6th Ed).
oRefer to an APA handbook or www.apa.org for
more information.
oContact the Center for Teaching and Learning at
ctl@uis.edu or 217-206-6503 for further
assistance.
 Parenthetical Citations—More
than One Author
oWhen a work has three or more authors, always cite all the authors
the first time the text is used. Thereafter, use the first author’s last
name followed by et al.
oOmit year upon third time citing source.
o Reference in text
o Last names of authors separated with and before final name, (year of publication)
o Rowling, Dowling, Benis, George, and Cramer (2005) argue for the
development of new curricular.
o Rowling et al. (2005) argue . . .
o Rowling et al. argue . . .
oNo reference in text
o (Last names of authors separated with an ampersand before final name, copyright
year)
o The development of new curricula has been argued before (Rowling, Dowling,
Benis, George, & Cramer, 2005).
o The development of new curricula has been argued before (Rowling et al.,
2005).
o The development of new curricula has been argued before (Rowling et al.).