APA Style Example

An Introduction to the APA Referencing Style

Jackson Carr (21286599)
School of Education

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................... 1
APA style headings ............................................................................................ 2
Level 1 (Upper case and lower case) ................................................................. 2
Level 2 (Upper and lower case, italic, left justified and indented1.25 cm) ... 2
Level 3 (Upper and lower case, italic, left justified and indented 2.5 cm) 2
Introduction to the APA Style of Referencing ................................................... 3
Overview ........................................................................................................ 3
Referencing in Text ........................................................................................ 3
Reference list .................................................................................................. 4
References .......................................................................................................... 4

APA Style Sample

APA style headings

APA Style utilises a series of headings. For a document containing three
levels of heading s, the following formats should be adopted:

Level 1 (Upper case and lower case)

Level 2 (Upper and lower case, italic, left justified and indented1.25 cm)
Level 3 (Upper and lower case, italic, left justified and indented 2.5 cm)
The following essay, adapted from material supplied in class in EDUC5464,
provides an example of a document formatted in the APA style. This document has been
formatted applying all formatting as styles in Microsoft Word, which allows for the
application of consistent formatting throughout a document.

APA Style Sample

Sample Text: Introduction to the APA Style of Referencing

Overview
APA (American Psychological Association) style is primarily used in the
social science disciplines. It is formatted like MLA, and shows many similarities, but is
unique in several key points.
Referencing in Text
APA uses parenthetical (or in-text) citations within sentences, but rather than
indicating the author's name and page number, APA includes author's name and date of
publication. The page number, represented with a p. or a pp., is only added to the citation
when using a direct quote (not a summary or paraphrase). If the author's name is mentioned
in the sentence, then place the date of publication in parentheses directly after the name. If the
name is not mentioned include the author's name and date in parentheses at the end of the
source material. And, if you use a direct quote, place the page number after the publication
date within the
Terrence (1999) has presented poignant examples from 150 interviews.
However, it has been pointed out that the research was conducted in a selective, highly
biased, way (Strong & Porter, 1998). All of the interviewees have been called exceptions to
the norm (Strong & Porter, 1998, pp. 24).
Note the first example paraphrases an author that is named in the sentence, the
second example paraphrases authors that are not named in the sentence, and the third
example provides a direct quote (thus the inclusion of the page numbers) but also does not
identify the authors within the sentence. If the authors were identified within the sentence in

APA Style Sample

the third example, the authors' names would be followed by the year of publication and only
the page numbers would be in the parentheses at the end of the quote.
Reference list
Finally, the bibliographic page in APA style differs from MLA, what APA
calls the Reference page. You will notice a few immediate differences from the MLA Works
Cited format. With APA you include the initial of the author's first name rather than the
complete name, the publication date immediately follows the author's name in parentheses,
and titles of articles are not surrounded with quotation marks (however titles of books,
magazines, journals, etc are still underlined). The lists are still alphabetized by author's last
name (or title in the absence of an author) and the first line is flush left while subsequent lines
in the same entry are indented in (approximately 5 spaces or one tab). For journals and
magazines, publication title and volume number are both underlined, followed by the issue
number (not underlined) in parentheses. Only use a p. or a pp. to indicate page numbers with
newspapers. The only other time you would use a p. is to indicatewhat pages an article is on
within a collection or anthology. Again, if you have any questions or need furtherassistance,
come in to see us at the Writing Desk.

References
Booth, W. (1979, November). Writing Essays: Secrets of the Trade.
Composition Today, 13, 78-91.
Eckholm, E., & Gibbons, A. (1991). Guide to APA Style. Journal of Style
Manuals, 18, 1561-1562.

APA Style Sample

Strong, R. L., Porter, M. (1998), Grammatical Combinations. In S. T. Parker &

K. R. Gibson (Eds.), Language and Literacy (p 540-578) Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Terrence, H. S. (1999, November 1). Student Success in Community Colleges.
Oregonian, p. A6.
White, A., & Long, B. (Eds.). (1993). Praise for America's Literacy. Westport,
CT: Greenwood