Standard Styles in Review of

Related Literature, Citation or

Reference
Three Terms Used to Express Appreciation for
or Recognition of People’s Ownership of
Borrowed Ideas
1. Acknowledgment
2. References or Bibliography
3. Citation or In-Text Citation – references
within the main body of the text,
specifically in RRL.
Documenting
Sources
APA Style 6th Edition
What is APA style?
 American Psychological Association
Style is a set of rules to credit sources
by writing citations and references which
is preferred in the social sciences and
business.
The Fundamental Principles of Good
Writing: Documentation

 borrowing information from various

sources is not only an option – it is a
necessity

 one walks the fine line between the

proper documentation/attribution of
sources and plagiarism
Plagiarism – “the act of
passing off as one’s own
the ideas or writings of
another”
(http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html)
Why document sources?
 To establish the validity of findings and
facts included in the report
 To give proper credit to the creator of
the information
 To provide the audience with information
s/he might need or want about the
subject matter that you have borrowed or
obtained from another source
How do you document?
 Internal referencing at the
point of use (in-text
citation)
 Full bibliographic referencing
at the end of the text
(references)
What should be documented?
 If you used someone else’s ideas—
cite the source
 If you received specific help from
someone in writing the paper—
acknowledge their inputs
 If you quoted someone’s words in
your own report—attribute in full
What should be documented?

*** If you quote verbatim 250 or

more successive words from a
published source, you must
obtain formal permission to
use that material.
(Weisman, 1985)
What does APA regulate?
Stylistics
In-textcitations
References (a list of all the
sources used in the paper)
APA Stylistics: Avoiding bias in
language
 Make adjustments to label
 Avoid gendered pronouns
APA does not recommend replacing “he” with
“he or she,” “she or he,” “(s)he,” “s/he,” or
alternating between “he” and “she” because
these substitutions are awkward and can
distract the reader from the point you are
trying to make.
 Find alternative descriptors
To avoid the bias of using gendered pronouns:
 Rephrase the sentence.
 Use plural nouns or plural pronouns - this
way you can use “they” or “their”.
 Replace the pronoun with an article -
instead of “his,” use “the”.
 Drop the pronoun - many sentences sound
fine if you just omit the troublesome “his”
from the sentence.
 Replace the pronoun with a noun such as
“person,” “individual,” “child,” “researcher,”
etc.
 APA Stylistics: Basics
Point of View and Voice
USE:
 the third person point of view rather than
using the first person point of view or the
passive voice;
e.g., The study showed that…, NOT
I found out that….
 the active voice rather than passive voice;
e.g., The participants responded…, NOT
The participants have been asked….
Clarity and Conciseness
 For clarity, be specific rather than vague in descriptions
and explanations. Unpack details accurately to provide
adequate information to your readers so they can follow
the development of your study.

Example:
POOR: “It was predicted that marital conflict
would predict behavior problems in school-
aged children.”

BETTER: “Results revealed that marital conflict

would predict behavior problems in school-
aged children. It was found that the effect
would be stronger for girls than for boys.
It was also stated that older girls would be
more affected by marital conflict than
younger girls.”
 To be more concise, particularly in
introductory material or abstracts, you
should pare out unnecessary words and
condense information when you can.

“The study revealed marital conflict would

predict behavior problems in children and
that the effect was greater for girls than for
boys, particularly when two different age
groups of girls were examined.”
Word choice
 Use terms like “participants” or “respondents”
(rather than “subjects”) to indicate how individuals
were involved in your research.

 Use terms like “children” or “community

members” to provide more detail about who was
participating in the study.

 Use phrases like “The evidence suggests...” or “The

study indicates...” rather than referring to “proof”
or “proves” because no single study can prove a
theory or hypothesis.
Avoid poetic language
Therefore, you should:
 minimize the amount of figurative language
used in an APA paper, such as metaphors and
analogies unless they are helpful in conveying
a complex idea.
 avoid rhyming schemes, alliteration, or other
poetic devices typically found in verse.
 use simple, descriptive adjectives and plain
language that does not risk confusing your
meaning.
Language in an APA paper is...
 clear: be specific in descriptions and
explanations.

 concise: condense information when

you can.

 plain: use simple, descriptive adjectives

and minimize the figurative language.
General Document Format Guidelines (APA
Style)
 Margins – 1” on all sides
 Font – 12 pts. Times New Roman,
Courier or Arial
 Spacing – double
 Alignment – flush left
 Paragraph indentions – 5 to 7 spaces
 Pagination – 1” from the rightmost edge;
first line
 On standard size paper – 8 ½” x 11”

 Include a page header (short title & page

number) in the upper right-hand of every
page
Your paper References

should include
four major Main Body

sections: Abstract

Title page
Page header:
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 1
(use Insert Page Header)
2-3 words of the title+
5 spaces +page number
 APA Tables
 Number all tables with arabic numerals sequentially. Do not
use suffix letters (e.g. Table 3a, 3b, 3c); instead, combine the
related tables. The label and the title appear on separate lines
above the table, flush-left and single-spaced.
Table 1

Internet Users in Europe

Country Regular users

France 9 ml

If the manuscript includes an appendix with tables,

identify them with capital letters and Arabic numerals
(e.g. Table A1, Table B2).
 APA Figures
 Label a figure with an Arabic numeral and provide a title.
The label and the title appear on the same line below
the figure, flush-left.

10%
29% Facebook
24% Multiply.com
Friendster

15% 22% Twitter

Plurk

Figure 1. Social media used in the Philippines.

APA Citation: Basics
 Use the author-date method of in-text
citation.

‘Information prominent’ (Author’s Last Name,

Year of Publication) - the author’s name is within
parentheses:

Example:

The conclusion reached in a recent study

(Ayala, 2007) was that…
APA Citation: Basics
‘‘Author prominent’ (the author’s
name is outside the parentheses):

Ayala (2007) concluded that…

In-Text Citations (Basics)
Whenever you use a source, provide in
parenthesis:
 the author’s name and the date of
publication.
 for quotations and close paraphrases,
provide a page number as well.

In-text citations help readers locate the cited source

in the References section of the paper.
Short Quotations
 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 Smith, “APA style is a

challenging citation format for first-time
learners” (2009, p. 199).
The study demonstrated how "APA style
can be challenging for college students"
(Bedford, 2010, p. 8).
Format for a quotation
Ayala (2016) stated that a traumatic
response frequently entails a “delayed,
uncontrolled repetitive appearance of
hallucinations and other intrusive
phenomena” (p. 11).

A traumatic response frequently

entails a “delayed, uncontrolled repetitive
appearance of hallucinations and other
intrusive phenomena” (Ayala, 2016, p. 11).
In-Text Citation: Format for a Quotation

 When quoting, introduce the

quotation with a signal phrase. Make
sure to include the author’s name,
the year of publication, the page
number, but keep the citation
brief—do not repeat the
information.
In-Text Citations: Signal Words
 Introduce quotations with signal phrases,
e.g.

According to Ayala (2008), “….” (p. 3).

Ayala (2008) stated that “……” (p. 3).

 Usesuch signal verbs as: acknowledge,
contend, maintain, respond, report,
argue, conclude, etc..

 Use the past tense or the present

perfect tense of verbs in signal phrases,
e.g.
Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998)
has found...
Format for a summary or
paraphrase
 provide the author’s last name and the
year of publication in parenthesis after a
summary or a paraphrase. You are
encouraged (but not required) to
also provide the page number.

Though feminist studies focus

solely on women's experiences, they
err by collectively perpetuating the
masculine-centered impressions
(Fussell, 2015).
In-text Citation: Two Authors

When citing a work with two authors, use “and”

in between authors’ name in the signal phrase yet
“&” between their names in parenthesis, e.g.

Research conducted by Bedford and Smith

(2008) suggests college students struggle when
using APA style.
Research has suggested that college students
struggle when using APA style because they do not
acquire the necessary resources or seek additional
support on-campus (Bedford & Smith, 2008).

 Example for a quotation

According to feminist researchers Raitt and

Tate (2007), “It is no longer true to claim that
women's responses to the war have been
ignored” (p. 2).
or
Some feminists researchers question that
“women's responses to the war have been
ignored” (Raitt & Tate, 2007, p. 2).
In-Text Citation:Three to Five
Authors
List all last names in signal phrase or brackets for
the first in-text citation. If you cite the source
again, use the first author's last name with "et al."

(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 2013)

(Kernis et al., 2013)

In et al., et should not be followed by a

period.
In-Text Citations: A work with 6 and
more authors

 when citing a work with six and more

authors, identify the first author’s name
followed by “et al.”, e.g.

Smith et al. (2006) maintained that….

(Smith et al., 2006)

 In-Text Citations: A work of unknown
author
 Use the source’s full title in the signal phrase and
cite the first word of the title followed by the
year of publication in parenthesis. Put titles of
articles and chapters in quotation marks; italicize
titles of books and reports.

Google was involved in anti-competitive practices

("Patent Trials," 2010, para. 3).

It was reported that Calgary's office vacancy rate

in the downtown core is almost 25% ("Calgary
Downtown Vacancy," 2016, para. 1).
In-Text Citation: Organization
as Author
when citing an organization, mention the
organization the first time when you cite
the source in the signal phrase or the
parenthetical citation; e.g.,

According to the American

Psychological Association (2000), ...
 Organization as Author
 If the organization has a well-known abbreviation,
include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the
source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in
later citations; e.g.,

First citation:
(Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000)

Second citation: (MADD, 2000)

The Department of Education [DepEd] (2016)

confirmed that ...

DepEd (2016) revealed that…

 In-Text Citation:Two or More Works
in the Same Parentheses
• when your parenthetical citation includes two
or more works, order them the same way
they appear in the reference list, separated
by a semi-colon.

(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 2013)

 In-Text Citation: The same last
name/the same name
 when citing authors with the same last names, use
first initials with the last names, e.g.
(B. Kachru, 2012; Y. Kachru, 2015)

 when citing two or more works by the same

author published in the same year, use lower-case
letters (a, b, c) with the year of publication to
order the references, e.g.

Smith’s (2015a) study of adolescent

immigrants…
In-Text Citation: Personal
communication
• When citing interviews, letters, e-mails, etc.,
include initials and last name of the
person(s) and the full date of the
communication. Do not include personal
communication in the reference list.
A registered nurse explained how "elderly
patients with dementia may wander off the premises of
nursing homes" (J. McGill, personal communication,
October 12, 2015).
Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic
honesty policies at Bow Valley College (L. Peters,
personal communication, September 12, 2016).
Citing Indirect Sources
 If you use a source that was cited in another
source, name the original source in your
signal phrase. List the secondary source in
your reference list and include the secondary
source in the parentheses.
Moore (as cited in Maxwell, 2009, p. 25)
stated that…
Moore argued that... (as cited in Maxwell ,
2003, p. 102).

 Note: When citing material in parentheses,

set off the citation with a comma, as above.
In-Text Citations: Electronic
sources

 when citing an electronic document,

whenever possible, cite it in the author-
date style.

Kenneth (2000) explained...

In-Text Citations: Electronic sources
Unknown author and unknown date
 If no author or date is given, use the title
in your signal phrase or the first word or
two of the title in the parentheses and use
the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Another study of students and

research decisions discovered that
students succeeded with tutoring
("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).
 In-Text Citations: Electronic sources

If electronic source lacks page numbers,

locate and identify paragraph number/
paragraph heading. To cite paragraphs,
use the abbreviation “para.”

According to Smith (2007),

“students...” (Mind over Matter section,
para. 6).
Reference: Basics
 All lines after the first line of each entry
in your reference list should be indented
one-half inch from the left margin. This is
called hanging indentation.

 Reference list entries should be double-

spaced and alphabetized by the last name
of the first author of each work.
References: Basics
 Book with one author

Ayala, C. O. J. (2009). Communicare (rev.

ed.). Lucena City: Lucena Quality

Printers.
Reference: Basics
 Use only the name of the publishing company
(do not include "Company" or "Inc.“, “Ltd.” etc.).
 When referring to any work that is NOT a
journal, such as a book, article, or Web page,
capitalize only the first letter of the first word of
a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or
a dash in the title, and proper nouns.
 Do not capitalize the first letter of the second
word in a hyphenated compound word.
References: Basics
 With editor

Smither, J. W. (Ed.). (2008). Performance

appraisal: State of the art in practice. San

Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

 Capitalize only the first letter of the first word
of a title and subtitle, the first word after a
colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns.
Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word
in a hyphenated compound word.
Ayala, C. O. J. (2017). Communicare: A manual in speech

and oral communication (5th ed.). Lucena City: Lucena

Quality Printers.

Ayala, C. O. J. (n.d.). Outcomes-based education in the

Philippines: A overview. Mandaluyong City: National

Book Store.
 References: Basics
 Multiple Authors

Murray, R. B., Zentner, J. P., & Yakimo, R. (2009). Health

promotion strategies through the life span.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/ Prentice

Hall.
 References: Basics
 Multiple Editors

Baker, A., Dutton, S., & Kelly, D. (Eds.). (2004).

Composite materials for aircraft structures (2nd

ed.). Reston,VA: American Institute of

Aeronautics and Astronautics.

 References: Basics
 No author or editor
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.).

(1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

New concise world atlas. (2007). New York, NY:

Oxford University Press.

 References: Basics
 Journal

Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social

development. Current Directions in

Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.

Two Authors
List by their last names and initials. Use the
ampersand instead of "and."

Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (2014). Mood

management across affective states: The

hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of

Personality & Social Psychology, 66, 1034-

1048.
 Three to Six Authors
List by last names and initials; commas separate
author names, while the last author name is
preceded again by ampersand.
Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., &

Harlow, T. , Bach, J. D. (2013). There's more to self-

esteem than whether it is high or low: The

importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.

 Two or More Works by the Same
Author
Use the author's name for all entries and
list the entries by the year (earliest comes
first).

Berndt, T.J. (2011).

Berndt, T.J. (2015).

 When an author appears both as a sole author
and, in another citation, as the first author of a
group, list the one-author entries first.

Berndt, T. J. (2009). Friends' influence on students'

adjustment to school. Educational Psychologist,

34, 15-28.

Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (2011). Friends' influence on

adolescents' adjustment to school. Child

Development, 66, 1312-1329.

 More Than Six Authors
If there are more than six authors, list the first
six and then "et al.," which stands for "and
others." Remember NOT to place a period
after "et" in "et al."
Harris, M., Karper, E., Stacks, G., Hoffman, D., DeNiro,

R., Cruz, P., et al. (2001). Writing labs and the

Hollywood connection. Journal of Film and Writing,

44(3), 213-245.
 Article in Journal Paginated by Issue
Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every
issue; therefore, the issue number gets indicated in
parentheses after the volume. The parentheses and issue
number are not italicized or underlined.

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The

New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.

 Article in a Magazine

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the

grade in today's schools. Time, 135,

28-31.
 Article in a Newspaper
Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page
numbers for a newspaper reference in APA
style. Single pages take p., e.g., p. B2; multiple
pages take pp., e.g., pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-C4.

Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made

to strengthen state energy policies.

The Country Today, p. 1A.

References: Basics
Books
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work:

Capital letter also for subtitle. City, State or

Country: Publisher.
Books

Author, A. A. & Author, B., & Author, C. (Date of

publication). Title of work in sentence case and italics:

Capitalize first word of subtitle (Number of edition, if

available). City, State or Country: Publishing

Company.
References: Basics

Edited Book, No Author

Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997).

Consequences of growing up poor. New York,

NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

Edition Other Than the First

Helfer, M. E., Keme, R. S., & Drugman, R. D.

(2017). The battered child (5th ed.).

Chicago, IL: University of Chicago

Press.
 Chapter in a book
Entry in an anthology (where H. LaFollette is
the editor of the book):

Warren, M. A. (2007). On the moral or legal

status of abortion. In H. LaFollette (Ed.),

Ethics in practice (pp. 126-136). Malden, MA:

Blackwell Publishing.
Reference List: Other Sources

Entry in an Encyclopedia

Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The

new encyclopedia britannica (Vol. 26,

pp. 501-508). Chicago:

Encyclopedia Britannica.
Dissertation Abstract

Yoshida,Y. (2001). Essays in urban

transportation (Doctoral

dissertation, Boston College).

Dissertation Abstracts International, 62,

7741A.
Unpublished Thesis/Dissertation

Ayala, C. J. (2016). Research productivity

and utilization in Philippine higher

education institutions. (Doctoral

dissertation). University of the

Philippines Diliman, Quezon City.

Conference Papers
Keshavarzi, R., Mohammadi, S., & Bayesteh,

M.S. (2012, June). Hydraulic fracture

propagation in unconventional reservoirs:

The role of natural fractures. Paper

presented at the 5th Rock Mechanics

Symposium, Chicago, IL.

Conference Proceedings
Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995).

Proceedings from CSCL '95: The First

International Conference on Computer

Support for Collaborative Learning.

Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Unpublished symposium
Martins, J. R. (2004, April). Working with the

terminally ill: An integrated theoretical model.

In J. R. Tunon (Chair), Cooperative health care

in the 21st century. Symposium conducted at

the meeting of the American Counseling

Association World Conference, San Diego,

CA.
Electronic Sources

Online Newspaper Article

Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry

handbook linked to drug industry. The New

York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com
Electronic Sources

Article with DOI (digital object

identifier)
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster

presentations: An annotated bibliography.

European Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12),

1245-1283. doi:10.1108/0309056071082
Electronic Sources

Article without DOI

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response

to the nature of human rights. Journal

of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved from

http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/two.html
Electronic Books
Electronic books may include books found on
personal websites, databases, or even in audio
form.
Glazer, H. (2011). High performance operations: Leverage

compliance to lower costs, increase profits, and gain

competitive advantage [Kindle eBook version]. Retrieved

from http://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-

OperationsCompetitive-ebook/dp/
Electronic Books
If the work is not directly available online or must
be purchased, use "Available from," rather than
"Retrieved from," and point readers to where they
can find it.
Glazer, H. (2011). High performance operations: Leverage

compliance to lower costs, increase profits, and gain

competitive advantage [Kindle eBook version].

Available from http://www.amazon.com/High-

Performance-OperationsCompetitive-ebook/dp/
Presentation from instructor, online

Smith, J. A. (2012). Biggest engineering mistakes of the

21st century [Powerpoint presentation].

Retrieved from http://moodle.nait.ca/course/

view. php?id=7076
 Handout from instructor, offline

Smith, P. R. (2012). Robot boss battles [Class

handout]. Instrumentation Engineering

Technology, NAIT, Edmonton, Canada.

Doctoral dissertation retrieved from
institutional database

Bernardi, R. A. (1990). Accounting pronouncements,

firm size, and firm industry: Their effect on

Altman's bankruptcy prediction model.

(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from

http://www.vtu.edu/etd/
Dissertation/Master’s thesis retrieved
from the web

Patterson, G. W. (2003). A comparison of multi-year

instructional programs (looping) and regular

education program utilizing scale scores in

reading. (Master’s thesis, University of

Florida). Retrieved from

http://www.uf.edu/~asb/theses/ 2003/
Unpublished manuscript with a university
cited retrieved from institutional website,
no date
Colman, W. C. (n.d.). Comparisons of grade point averages

between men who join fraternities and men who do not

join fraternities at Shady Rock University. Unpublished

manuscript. Programs for Higher Education, Nova

Southeastern University. Retrieved from

http://www.nova.edu/phe/phe_resources/

online_documents.htm
Doctoral dissertation retrieved from
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
database

Johnson, S. (2004). Financial variables and merger

premiums: Evidence from bank mergers.

Available from ProQuest Dissertations and

Theses database. (UMI No. 3025476)

APA is a complex system of citation, which is difficult to
keep in mind. When compiling the reference list, the
strategy below might be useful:

 Identify a type source: Is it a book? A

journal article? A webpage?

 “Mirror” the sample.

 Make sure that the entries are listed in

the alphabetical order and the subsequent
lines are indented.
Thank you!