APA Research Style Crib Sheet
by Russ Dewey
Georgia Southern University
[This page is a summary of rules for using APA style. The version
you are reading was revised 10/10/96, edited and revised again on
September 5, 2000 with Bill Scott of the College of Wooster, and updated in January 2003 by Doc Scribe.
I have made every effort to keep this document accurate, but readers
have occasionally pointed out errors and inconsistencies which required
correction. I am grateful to them and invite additional feedback. This
document may be reproduced freely if this paragraph is included. --Russ
Dewey, rdewey@gasou.edu]
Download the APA Crib Sheet PDF and other APA style resources from Dr. Abel Scribe PhD.
See Professor Dewey's excellent Web site for Psychology Students.
APA Crib Sheet Contents
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INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION
APA style is the style of writing used by journals published by
the American Psychological Association (APA). The style is documented
in the APA Publication Manual (5th ed., 2001). The APA Manual began as an article published in Psychological Bulletin
in 1929. That article reported results of a 1928 meeting of
representatives from anthropological and psychological journals, "to
discuss the form of journal manuscripts and to write instructions for
their preparation" (APA, 2001, p. xix). By 1952 the guidelines were
issued as a separate document called the Publication Manual. Today the manual is in its fifth edition, and
the APA format described in it is a widely recognized standard for scientific writing in psychology and education.
Some of the more commonly used rules and reference formats from the
manual are listed here. However, this web page is no substitute for the
440 page APA Manual
itself, which should be purchased by any serious psychology student in
the U.S., or by students in other countries who are writing for a
journal which uses APA format. The APA Manual can be found in almost any college
bookstore, as well as in many large, general-purpose bookstores, in the
reference and style guide section. You may check the current price and
delivery of the APA Manual by clicking on this link to
amazon.com. The spiral bound edition is especially handy when formatting research papers.
The APA Manual draws a distinction between "final
manuscripts" such as class papers, theses, and dissertations, and "copy
manuscripts" to be submitted for review and publication. The APA Crib Sheet
follows the instructions given in chapter six for "Material Other Than
Journal Articles" (APA, 2001, pp. 321-330). Final manuscripts differ
from copy manuscripts in these ways:
- Spacing. "Double-spacing is required throughout most of the
manuscript. When single-spacing would improve readability, however, it
is usually encouraged. Single spacing can be used for table titles and
headings, figure captions, references (but double-spacing is required
between references), footnotes, and long quotations" (APA, 2001, p.
326).
- Figures, tables, and footnotes. "In a manuscript submitted
for publication, figures, tables, and footnotes are placed at the end
of the manuscript; in theses and dissertations, such material is
frequently incorporated at the appropriate point in text as a
convenience to readers" (APA, 2001, p. 325).
The most notable additions and changes to fifth edition of the APA Manual (2001) include:
- Electronic sources require new formats in references.
The formats previously featured on the APA Web site have been
superseded. Several formats are included in the Crib Sheet.
- Italics or underline? "Use the functions of your
word-processing program to create italic, bold, or other special fonts
or styles following the style guidelines specified in this Publication Manual"
(APA, 2001, p. 286). However, underlining in place of italics is still
acceptable when using a typewriter (see APA, 2001, p. 100). Always be
consistent!
- Hanging indents. "APA publishes references in a hanging indent
format. . . . If a hanging indent is difficult to accomplish with your
word-processing program, it is permissible to indent your references
with paragraph indents" (APA, 2001, p. 299).
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RULES
Following is a summary of rules and reference examples
in the APA style manual. The manual itself contains all this
information and more, organized and worded differently, indexed and
illustrated. If in doubt about a specific rule or example, consult the
manual itself.
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Abbreviations
- Avoid abbreviations (acronyms) except for long, familiar terms (MMPI).
- Explain what an abbreviation means the first time it occurs: American Psychological Association (APA).
- If an abbreviation is commonly used as a word, it does not require explanation (IQ, LSD, REM, ESP).
- Do not use the old abbreviations for subject, experimenter, and observer (S, E, O).
- The following abbreviations should NOT be used outside parenthetical comments:
- cf. [use compare]
- e.g. [use for example]
- etc. [use and so forth]
- i.e. [use that is]
- viz. [use namely]
- vs. [use versus]
- Use periods when making an abbreviation within a reference (Vol. 3, p. 6, 2nd ed.)
- Do not use periods within degree titles and organization titles (PhD, APA).
- Do not use periods within measurements (lb, ft, s) except inches (in.).
- Use s for second, m for meter.
- To form plurals of abbreviations, add s alone, without apostrophe (PhDs, IQs, vols., Eds).
- In
using standard abbreviations for measurements, like m for meter, do not
add an s to make it plural (100 seconds is 100 s); when referring to
several pages in a reference or citation, use the abbreviation pp.
(with a period after it and a space after the period).
- Do not use the abbreviation "pp." for magazine or journal
citations; just give the numbers themselves. Do use "pp." for citations
of encyclopedia entries, multi-page newspaper articles, chapters or
articles in edited books.
- Use two-letter postal codes for U.S. state names (GA).
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Avoiding Biased and Pejorative Language
In general, avoid anything that causes offense. The style manual makes the following suggestions:
DO NOT use . . .
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when you can use . . .
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ethnic labels (for example, Hispanic)
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geographical labels (Mexican Americans)
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"men" (referring to all adults)
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"men and women"
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"homosexuals"
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"gay men and lesbians"
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"depressives"
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"people with depression"
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Correct use of the terms "gender" and "sex"
The term
"gender" refers to culture and should be used when referring to men and
women as social groups, as in this example from the Publication Manual:
"sexual orientation rather than gender accounted for most of the
variance in the results; most gay men and lesbians were for it, most
heterosexual men and women were against it" (APA, 2001, p. 63).
The term "sex" refers to biology and should be used when biological
distinctions are emphasized, for example, "sex differences in hormone
production."
Avoid gender stereotypes. For example, the manual suggests replacing "An American
boy's infatuation with football" with "An American child's infatuation with football" (see APA, 2001, p. 66).
Sensitivity to labels
Be sensitive to labels. A person in a clinical study should be called a
"patient," not a "case." Avoid equating people with their conditions,
for example, do not say "schizophrenics," say "people diagnosed with
schizophrenia." Use the term "sexual orientation," not "sexual
preference." The phrase "gay men and lesbians" is currently preferred
to the term "homosexuals." To refer to all people who are not
heterosexual, the manual suggests "lesbians, gay men, and bisexual
women and men" (APA, 2001, p. 67). In racial references, the manual simply recommends that we respect
current usage. Currently both the terms "Black" and "African American"
are widely accepted, while "Negro" and "Afro-American" are not. These
things change, so use common sense.
Capitalize Black and White when the words are
used as proper nouns to refer to social groups. Do not use color words
for other ethnic groups. The manual specifies that hyphens should not
be used in multiword names such as Asian American or African American.
Labels can be tricky, and the manual has a lot to say about
them. For example, "American Indian" and "Native American" are both
acceptable usages, but the manual notes that there are nearly 450
Native American groups, including Hawaiians and Samoans, so specific
group names are far more informative.
The terms Hispanic, Latino, and Chicano are
preferred by different groups. The safest procedure is use geographical
references. Just say "Cuban American" if referring to people from Cuba.
The term Asian American is preferable to Oriental,
and again the manual recommends being specific about country of origin,
when this is known (for example, Chinese or Vietnamese). People from
northern Canada, Alaska, eastern Siberia, and Greenland often (but not
always!) prefer Inuk (singular) and
Inuit (plural) to "Eskimo." But some Alaska natives are
non-Inuit people who prefer to be called Eskimo. This type of
difficulty is avoided by using geographical references. For example, in
place of "Eskimo" or "Inuit" one could use "people from northern
Canada, Alaska, eastern Siberia, and Greenland."
In general, call people what they want to be called, and do
not contrast one group of people with another group called "normal"
people. Write "we compared people with autism to people without autism"
not "we contrasted autistics to normals." Do not use pejorative terms
like "stroke victim" or "stroke sufferers." Use a more neutral
terminology such as "people who have had a stroke." Avoid the terms
"challenged" and "special" unless the population referred to prefers
this terminology (for example, Special Olympics). As a rule, use the
phrase "people with _______" (for example, "people with AIDS," not
"AIDS sufferers").
In referring to age, be specific about age ranges; avoid open-ended definitions like "under 16" or "over 65." Avoid the term elderly. Older person is preferred. Boy and Girl are acceptable referring to high school and and younger. For persons 18 and older use men and women.
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Capitalization
- Capitalize formal names of tests (Stroop Color-Word Interference Test).
- Capitalize
major words and all other words of four letters or more, in headings,
titles, and subtitles outside reference lists, for example, "A Study of
No-Win Strategies."
- Capitalize names of conditions, groups, effects, and
variables only when definite and specific. (Group A was the control
group; an Age x Weight interaction showed lower weight with age.)
- Capitalize the first word after a comma or colon if, and
only if, it begins a complete sentence. For example, "This is a
complete sentence, so it is capitalized." As a counter example, "no
capitalization here."
- Capitalize specific course and department titles (GSU Department of Psychology, Psych 150).
- Do not capitalize generic names of tests (Stroop color test). "Stroop" is a name, so it remains capitalized.
- Capitalize nouns before numbers, but not before variables (Trial 2, trial x).
- Do not capitalize names of laws, theories, and hypotheses (the law of effect).
- Do not capitalize when referring to generalities (any department, any introductory course).
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Commas
- Do not use commas to separate parts of measurement (9 lbs 5 oz). Use the metric system, as a rule.
- Use commas before "and" in lists, for example, height, width, and depth.
- Use commas between groups of three digits, for example, 1,453.
- Use commas to set off a reference in a parenthetical comment (Patrick, 1993).
- Use
commas for seriation within a paragraph or sentence. For example,
"three choices are (a) true, (b) false, and (c) don't know." Use
semicolons for seriation if there are commas within the items. For
example, (a) here, in the middle of the item, there are commas; (b)
here there are not; (c) so we use semicolons throughout.
- Use commas in exact dates, for example, April 18, 1992 (but not in April 1992).
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Hyphenation
- Do not hyphenate -ly and superlative words (widely used test, best informed students).
- Do not hyphenate common prefixes (posttest, prewar, multiphase, nonsignificant) unless needed for clarity (pre-existing).
- Do
not hyphenate foreign, letter, numeral terms (a priori hypothesis, Type
A behavior) when the meaning is clear without it (least squares
solution, heart rate scores).
- Do not hyphenate if a noun comes first (a therapy was client centered, results of t tests).
- Hyphenate adjectival phrases (role-playing technique, high-anxiety group, two-way analysis).
- Hyphenate compound adjectives preceding nouns (client-centered therapy, t-test scores) unless the compound adjective involves a superlative (best written paper).
- Hyphenate if the base is an abbreviation or compounded (pre-UCS, non-college bound).
- Hyphenate if the base word is capitalized or a number (pre-Freudian, post-1960).
- Hyphenate if the words could be misunderstood without a hyphen (re-pair, un-ionized, co-worker).
- If
in doubt, consult a recently published dictionary. Standards change.
For example, "data base" is now "database," and "life-style" is now
"lifestyle."
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Italics (Underlining)
- Do not italicize or underline common foreign abbreviations (vice versa, et al., a priori).
- Do not italicize or underline for mere emphasis.
- Italicize
or underline the titles of books and articles, species names,
introduction of new terms and labels (the first time only), words and
phrases used as linguistic examples, letters used as statistical
symbols, and volume numbers in reference lists.
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Miscellaneous: Colons, dashes, parentheses, numbering paragraphs
- Do not use "and/or." Write things out. For example, "Monday, Tuesday, or both" is preferable to "Monday and/or Tuesday."
- Do not use a colon or other punctuation after an introduction which is not a complete sentence such as
this one, or any other sentence in the body of text which flows
into an extended quote. The quote "picks up where the sentence leaves off"
and provides the punctuation.
- Use
a dash (rendered on typewriters and some word processors as a double
hyphen) when there is a sudden interruption like this one--zoiks!--in
the flow of a sentence. Overuse "weakens the flow of the writing" (APA,
2001, p. 81).
- Use parentheses to introduce an abbreviation, for example, the galvanic skin response (GSR).
- Use appendixes (appendices) as the plural of appendix. Use datum as
singular, data as plural. Use matrix as singular, matrices as plural. Phenomenon is the singular form of the plural phenomena. Use schema as singular, schemas (not schemata) as plural.
- When listing separate paragraphs in a series, use a number and a period, not parentheses.
- The first paragraph goes here.
- The second paragraph goes here.
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Numbers
- Spell out common fractions and common expressions (one-half, Fourth of July).
- Spell out large numbers beginning sentences (Thirty days hath September . . .).
- Spell out numbers which are inexact, or below 10 and not grouped with numbers over 10 (one-tailed t test, eight items, nine pages, three-way interaction, five trials).
- Use
numerals for numbers 10 and above, or lower numbers grouped with
numbers 10 and above (for example, from 6 to 12 hours of sleep).
- To make plurals out of numbers, add s only, with no apostrophe (the 1950s).
- Treat ordinal numbers like cardinal numbers (the first item of the 75th trial . . .).
- Use combinations of written and Arabic numerals for back-to-back modifiers (five 4-point scales).
- Use combinations of numerals and written numbers for large sums (over 3 million people).
- Use
numerals for exact statistical references, scores, sample sizes, and
sums (multiplied by 3, or 5% of the sample). Here is another example:
"We used 30 subjects, all two year olds, and they spent an average of 1
hr 20 min per day crying.
- Use metric abbreviations with figures (4 km) but not when written out (many meters distant).
- Use the percent symbol (%) only with figures (5%) not with written numbers (five percent).
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Quotation Marks
- Use quotation marks for an odd or ironic usage the first
time but not thereafter, for example, "This is the "good-outcome"
variable, but as it turns out, the good-outcome variable predicts
trouble later on . . ."
- Use quotation marks for article and chapter titles cited
in the text but not in the reference list. (In Smith's (1992) article,
"APA Style and Personal Computers," computers were described as "here
to stay" (p. 311).)
Extended quotations
- Add emphasis in a quotation with italics, immediately followed by the words [italics added] in brackets.
- Brackets are not necessary when changing the first letter of a quotation to upper case.
- For
quotations over 40 words in length, indent and single space the whole
block (double space in papers for review or publication). Indent five
more spaces (one-half inch, 1.25 cm) if there are paragraphs within the
long quotation after the first. Always provide author, year, and page
citation.
- Expand or clarify words or meanings in a quotation by
placing the added material in quotes. For example, "They [the Irish
Republican Army] initiated a cease-fire."
- Reproduce a quote exactly. If there are errors, introduce the word sic italicized and bracketed--for exammple [sic]--immediately after the error to indicate it was part of the original source.
- Use
three dots with a space before, between, and after each (ellipsis
points) when omitting material, four if the omitted material includes
the end of a sentence (with no space before the first). Do not use dots
at the beginning or end of a quotation unless it is important to
indicate the quotation begins or ends in midsentence.
Do NOT use quotes to . . .
- . . . cite a linguistic example; instead, underline or italicize the term (the verb gather).
- . . . hedge, cast doubt, or apologize (he was "cured"). Leave off the quotes.
- . . . identify endpoints on a scale; underline or italicize instead (poor to excellent).
- . . . introduce a key term (the neoquasipsychoanalytic theory).
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PAGE FORMATS
The APA Manual notes that "the size of the type should be
one of the standard typewriter sizes (pica or elite) or, if produced
from a word processing program, 12 points" (2001, p. 285). The body of
the paper should be in a serif typeface (like Courier or Times Roman)
with lettering on figures in a sans serif typeface (such as Helvetica
or Arial).
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Headings
APA headings follow a complex hierarchy, with provision for up
to five levels. These come, in descending order, as levels 5, 1, 2, 3,
4. But, if one, two, or three levels of headings are required in a
paper, use levels 1, 3, and 4, in that order. If four levels are
required, interleave level 2 between levels 1 and 3. If five levels are
required, start with level five and work down the remaining hierarchy
in order (5, 1, 2, 3, 4). Confused? Most papers will need no more than
three levels. To avoid confusion these are labeled A, B, and C below
(APA levels 1, 3, and 4 respectively) (see APA, 2001, pp. 114–115).
Level A Headings are Centered and Set in Heading Caps
Level B: Flush with Left Margin, Italicized, Set in Heading Caps
Level C headings: Indented, italicized, sentence caps, end with a period. These headings are sometimes referred to as paragraph or run-in headings. Although they end with a period (or other punctuation) they need not be complete sentences or grammatically correct.
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Use headings in the order presented. If you need just two levels,
use Level A and Level B headings. Level A and B headings do not end
with punctuation except to add emphasis with an exclamation point or
question mark. Do not begin a paper with the heading Introduction. It is understood that all papers begin with an introduction.
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Text details
- Abstracts are limited to 120 words (APA, 2001, p. 13).
- Double space the text, but single space within block quotes, references, and the abstract.
- Footnotes are rarely used in APA papers, except for author affiliation and contact information--the author note.
- Hyphenation should not occur at the end of lines, only between words when necessary.
- Indent paragraphs, block quotes, and hanging indents one-half inch (1.25 cm or five to seven spaces).
- Justification should be set to "off" or "left margin only" (the right margin should be uneven, a ragged right margin).
- Keyword emphasis requires the use of italics, but only the
first time a term is used. If the intent is to indicate odd or ironic
usage, use quotation marks.
- Margins should be at least 1" all around (about 2.5 cm).
- Page numbers are required on every page: Number pages consecutively.
- The page header summarizes the title in a few words. The
header and page number go inside the margin space, double spaced above
the text, next to the right margin.
- Word processor features--such as bold and italic fonts and hanging indents--should be used as appropriate.
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References and tables
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Table notes
Number tables consecutively as they appear in your text. Use only whole numbers, no 5a, 5b, etc. See recent issues of the American Psychologist
or other APA journals for more complex table layouts. "Tables are
efficient, enabling the researcher to present a large amount of data in
a small amount of space" (APA, 2001, p. 147).
- Place tables close to where they are first mentioned in your text,
but do not split a table across pages. (Tables in papers submitted for
review or publication are placed on separate pages at the end of the
paper.)
- Label each table beginning with the table number followed by a description of the contents.
- Horizontal rules (lines) should be typed into tables; do not draw them in by hand.
- Each row and column must have a heading. Abbreviations and symbols (e.g., "%" or "nos.") may be used.
- Do not change the number of decimal places within a column.
- Do not change the units of measurement within a column.
- "Use a zero before the decimal point when numbers are less than one" (APA, 2001, p. 128). Write "0.23" not ".23" unless the number is a statistic that cannot be larger than one, for example a correlation r = .55, or a probability p < .01.
- Add notes to explain the table contents. These may be general notes or footnotes. The latter are labeled "a, b, c, etc."
- Use asterisks to indicate statistical significance explained
in the probability level note at the bottom of the table. "Assign a
given alpha level the same number of asterisks from table to table
within your paper, such as *p < .05 and **p < .01;
the largest probability receives the fewest asterisks [the smaller
probability get more asterisks]" (APA, 2001, p. 170).
- You may both single space and double space within a table to
achieve clarity. Tables in papers submitted for review or publication
(only!) must be double spaced throughout.
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REFERENCE CITATIONS (IN-TEXT)
Use the author-date format to cite references in text. For
example: as Smith (1990) points out, a recent study (Smith, 1990)
shows. . . . Every source cited in your text--and only those
sources cited in your text--are referenced in the reference list.
- For two-author citations, spell out both authors on all occurrences.
- For
multiple-author citations (up to five authors) name all authors the
first time, then use et al., so the first time it is Smith, Jones,
Pearson and Sherwin (1990), but the second time it is Smith et al.,
with a period after "al" but no underlining.
- The first time an "et al." reference is used in a
paragraph, give the year, thereafter (if the citation is repeated in
the paragraph) omit the year.
- For six or more authors, use et al. the first time and give the full citation in references.
- Include
a page reference after the year, outside quotes. For example: The
author stated, "The effect disappeared within minutes" (Lopez, 1993, p.
311), but she did not say which effect; Lopez found that "the effect
disappeared within minutes" (p. 311). The sentence quoted is
capitalized only if it follows a comma, and is a complete sentence not
merged into the flow of the text.
- If two or more multiple-author references which shorten to
the same "et al." form, making it ambiguous, give as many author names
as necessary to make them distinct, before et al. For example: (Smith,
Jones, et al., 1991) to distinguish it from (Smith, Burke, et al.,
1991).
- Join names in a multiple-author citation with and
(in text) or an ampersand (&) in reference lists and parenthetical
comments. For example: As Smith and Sarason (1990) point out, the same
argument was made by in an earlier study (Smith & Sarason, 1990).
- If a group is readily identified by its initials, spell it
out only the first time. For example, "As reported in a government
study (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 1991), blah blah . .
. " and thereafter, "The previously cited study (NIMH, 1991) found that
. . .
- If the author is unknown or unspecified, use the first few
words of the reference list entry (usually the title), for example:
("Study Finds," 1992).
- If citing multiple works by the same author at the same
time, arrange dates in order. In general, use letters after years to
distinguish multiple publications by the same author in the same year.
For example: Several studies (Johnson, 1988, 1990a, 1990b, 1995 in
press-a, 1995 in press-b) showed the same thing.
- For old works cite the translation or the original and
modern copyright dates if both are known, for example: (Aristotle,
trans. 1931) or (James, 1890/1983).
- Always give page numbers for quotations, for example: (Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 332) or (Shimamura, 1989, chap. 3, p. 5).
- For
e-mail and other "unrecoverable data" use personal communication, for
example: (V.-G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 1993).
These do not appear in the reference list.
- For quoting electronic documents without page numbers,
cite paragraph numbers if given, indicated by the paragraph symbol or
the abbreviation para. in the citation (e.g., Smith, 2000, ¶ 17). If
there are no paragraph numbers, cite the nearest preceding section
heading and count paragraphs from there (e.g., Smith, 2000, Method
section, para. 4).
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REFERENCE FORMATS
Your text and the
reference list must agree. "References cited in text must appear in the
reference list; conversely, each entry in the reference list must be
cited in text" (APA, 2001, p. 215). See the section on Reference citations for citing references in text.
Abbreviating within a reference
Here are approved abbreviations for use
in a reference list:
- chap. for chapter
- ed. for edition
- rev. ed. for revised edition
- 2nd ed. for second edition
- Ed. for Edited by
- (Eds.) for multiple editors
- Trans. for Translated by
- p. for page number, with a space after the period
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- pp. for page numbers (plural)
- Vol. for a specific Volume
- vols. for a work with xx volumes
- No. for Number
- Pt. for Part
- Suppl. for Supplement,
- Tech. Rep. for Technical Report
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Use the abbreviation "pp." for page numbers in encyclopedia entries,
multi-page newspaper articles, chapters or articles in edited books,
but not in journal or magazine article citations, where numbers alone should be used (see examples of reference formats).
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Alphabetizing within reference lists
- Use prefixes in alphabetizing names if commonly part of the surname (De
Vries).
- Do not use von in alphabetizing (Helmholtz, H. L. F. von), or Jr., III, or Sr.
- Treat Mc and Mac literally; Mac comes before Mc.
- Disregard apostrophes, spaces, and capitals in alphabetizing; D'Arcy comes after Daagwood, Decker comes after de Chardin.
- Single-author citations precede multiple-author citations of the same year (Zev, 1990 then Zev et al., 1990).
- Alphabetize corporate authors by first significant word. Do not use abbreviations in corporate names.
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APA reference style
The APA Publication Manual now instructs authors to use hanging indents for references, and to use italics
for titles. The hanging indent is one-half inch (1.25 cm), just like
paragraph indents. All titles in references are set in sentence caps,
but titles quoted in the text are set in heading caps. No quotation
marks are used around titles of articles in references, but quotes are
used when citing article titles in the text. The APA Publication Manual
(2001) contains 95 examples of different reference types (pp. 240-281).
Here are a few examples of the most commonly used formats.
Anonymous or unknown author (common in newspapers):
Caffeine linked to mental illness. (1991, July 13). New York Times, pp. B13, B15.
Citation: ("Caffeine Linked," 1991). Use heading caps when citing titles in text citations.
Books (Group author, 3–5 authors, reprint/translation, edition other than first):
- American Psychiatric Association. (1990). Diagnostic and statistical
manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.).
- Washington, DC: Author.
Citation: (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1990); next
citation (APA, 1990). Note: "Author" is used as above when author and
publisher are identical.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (1995). The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Citation: (Booth, Colomb, & Williams, 1995); next citation (Booth et al., 1995).
- Ebbinghaus, H. (1913). Memory (H. A. Rueger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). New York: Teachers College. (Original
- work published 1885)
Citation: (Ebbinghaus, 1885/1913).
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements
of style (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.
Citation: (Strunk & White, 1979).
Chapter or section in a book (online & print):
- Beers, M. H., & Berkow, R. (1999). Mood disorders. In The Merck manual of diagnosis and therapy (17th ed.,
- sec. 15, chap. 189). Retrieved January 17, 2003, from http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/section15/
chapter189/189a.htm
- Stephan, W. G. (1985). Intergroup relations. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social
- psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 599–658). New York: Random House.
Citations: (Beers & Berkow, 1999, chap. 189); (Stephan, 1985).
Note: Break a URL to wrap a line only after a slash or before a period.
Do not add a hyphen or any other punctuation.
Conference paper (unpublished):
- Shrout, P. E. (Chair), Hunter, J. E., Harris, R. J., Wilkinson, L., Strouss, M. E., Applebaum, M. I., et al.
- (1996, August). Significance tests—Should they be banned from APA journals? Symposium conducted
at the 104th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada.
Citation: (Shrout et al., 1996). APA references list up to
the first six authors to a work. If there are more add et al. (and
others) to the list of names. In text citations give just the lead
author, et al. Published papers are referenced as a chapter in a book.
Government report online accessed through GPO database:
- National Institute of Mental Health. (2002). Breaking ground, breaking through: The strategic plan for mood
- disorders research of the National Institute of Mental Health (Publication No. 0507-B-05). Retrieved
January 19, 2003, from NIMH Web site via GPO Access: http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS20906
Citation: (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2002); next citation (NIMH, 2002).
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Journal articles (Print, electronic copy, changed source, online journal, paged by issue):
- Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) in major
- depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 287, 1807–1814.
Citation: (Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group, 2002). The APA Manual
requires citing the full name of a corporate author like this; the
acronym would not be easily recognized. However, shortening the author
to "Hypericum Depression Trial" in subsequent citations would probably
be acceptable to editors of APA journals.
Journal article, electronic facsimile:
- Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) in major
- depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial [Electronic version]. JAMA, 287, 1807–1814.
Many documents are now available online as exact facsimile
copies of the print original (usually in Adobe's PDF format).
References to these facsimiles just add the note [Electronic version]
to the reference. If the document is not an exact copy of a print
version--"(e.g., the format differs from the print version or page
numbers are not indicated)"--add the date you retrieved the document
and the URL to the reference (APA, 2001, p. 271).
Journal article, changed/doubtful source:
- Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) in major
- depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 287, 1807–1814. Retrieved July 7, 2002,
from http://www.jama.org/articles.html
Journal article, retrieved from a database:
- Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. (2002). Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) in major
- depressive disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 287, 1807–1814. Retrieved July 7, 2002,
from MEDSYS database.
Online only journal (paged by issue):
- Kortepeter, M. G., & Parker, G. W. (1999). Potential biological weapons threats. Emerging Infectious
- Diseases, 5(4). Retrieved January 20, 2003, from http://www.cdc.gov/ ncidod/EID/vol5no4/kortepeter.htm
Citation: (Kortepeter & Parker, 1999). There is no period after the URL in a reference.
Note: When directly quoting or citing a document, a page number
or other means of identifying a specific passage is required. In the
absence of page numbers, if paragraph numbers appear in an electronic
document, add the paragraph symbol or the abbreviation para.
and the paragraph number to the citation (e.g., Kortepeter &
Parker, 1999, ¶ 17). If there is no paragraph number, cite the nearest
preceding section heading and count paragraphs from there (e.g.,
Kortepeter & Parker, 1999, Method section, para. 4).
Note: Occasionally a research journal may be paged by issue,
that is, page numbering in each issue begins at page one. Add the
number in the volume (in parentheses in plain text) to these references
immediately after the volume number, as in the example above.
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Letter to the editor:
O'Neill, G. W. (1992, January). In support of DSM-III [Letter to the editor]. APA Monitor, 4-5.
Magazine article:
Gardner, H. (1991, December). Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today, 70-76.
Newsletter/newspaper articles:
Brown, L. S. (1993, Spring). My research with orangs. The Psychology Department Newsletter, 3, 2.
- Goleman, D. (1991, October 24). Battle of insurers vs. therapists: Cost control pitted against proper
- care. New York Times, pp. D1, D9.
- Markoff, J. (1996, June 5). Voluntary rules proposed to help insure privacy for Internet users. New York
- Times. Retrieved April 1, 1996, from http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/yo5dat.html
The date is given as it appears on the publication. For anonymous newspaper articles, see the previous section on "Anonymous or unknown authors."
Pamphlet:
Just Say No Foundation. (1992). Saving our youth. (9th ed.) [Brochure]. Washington, DC: Author.
Web page:
Dewey, R. A. (2002). Psych Web by Russ Dewey. Retrieved January 25, 2003 from http://www .psywww.com/
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