CONCEPT

 (American Psychological Association) style is most

commonly used to cite sources within the social
sciences.
Main Body
References
 FORMAT:
Contributors' names (Last edited date). Title of resource.
Retrieved from http://Web address for OWL resource

 SAMPLE:
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson,
M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General
format. Retrieved from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
 Capitalization
 Quotes
 Italics
 Underlining
 Point of View and Voice
 Clarity and Conciseness
 Word Choice
 Avoiding Poetic Language
 Short quotations
Jones (1998) found "students often had
difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what
implications does this have for
teachers?
Long quotations
Jones's (1998) study found the
following:
Students often had difficulty using APA
style, especially when it was their first
time citing sources. This difficulty could
be attributed to the fact that many
students failed to purchase a style
manual or to ask their teacher for help.
(p. 199)

Summary or paraphrase
According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation
format for first-time learners.
APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners
(Jones, 1998, p. 199).
 Two Authors Three to Five Unknown Organizati Two or Authors Two or Personal
Authors Author: on as an More With the More Communic
Author: Works Same Last Works by ation
Name the Same
Author in
the Same
Year:
Research by (Kernis, Cornell, A similar First (Berndt, (E. Johnson, Research by (E. Robbins,
Wegener and Sun, Berry, & study was citation: 2002; 2001; L. Berndt personal
Petty (1994) Harlow, 1993) done of (Mothers Harlow, Johnson, (1981a) communicat
supports... students Against 1983) 1998) illustrated ion, January
learning to Drunk that... 4, 2001).
format Driving
(Wegener & Petty, (Kernis et al., research [MADD],
1994) 1993) papers 2000) A. P. Smith
("Using also claimed
APA," 2001). that many of
Second her students
citation: had
(MADD, difficulties
2000) with APA
style
(personal
communicat
ion,
November 3,
2002).
 Unknown Author
Citing Indirect and Unknown Date
Sources
Another study of students and
Johnson argued that...(as cited in research decisions discovered
Smith, 2003, p. 102). that students succeeded with
Sources Without
tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," Page Numbers
n.d.).
Electronic According to Smith (1997), ...
Sources (Mind over Matter section,
para. 6).

Kenneth (2000) explained...

 Content Notes
1 See Blackmur (1995), especially chapters 3 and 4, for an insightful analysis of this extraordinary animal.

Copyright Permission Notes

Note. From “Title of the article,” by W. Jones and R. Smith, 2007, Journal Title, 21, p. 122. Copyright 2007 by Copyright
Holder. Reprinted with permission.
BASIC FORMAT Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
EDITED BOOK, Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY:
NO AUTHOR Russell Sage Foundation.
EDITED BOOK Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals. K. V. Kukil (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.
WITH AN
AUTHOR
A Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory, Trans.).
TRANSLATION New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1814)
EDITION Helfer, M. E., Kempe, R. S., & Krugman, R. D. (1997). The battered child (5th ed.). Chicago, IL:
OTHER THAN University of Chicago Press.
THE FIRST
ARTICLE OR Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor
CHAPTER IN (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.
AN EDITED
BOOK

MULTIVOLUME Wiener, P. (Ed.). (1973). Dictionary of the history of ideas (Vols. 1-4). New York, NY: Scribner's.
WORK
 Removing Bias in Language:
Disabilities
 Removing Bias in Language: Race &
Ethnicity
 Removing Bias in Language: Sex and
Gender
 Avoid Gendered Pronouns
 Find Alternative Descriptors
 Punctuating statistics
...proved to be statistically significant (p = .42) with all
variables.
 Use boldface for vectors and matrices:
V, ∑
 Use an italicized, uppercase N to refer to a total
population.
N = 328