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Home > Tutorials > APA Style Guide

APA STYLE GUIDE

see also: APA Style - Citations

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Contents:
  1. Items in the bibliography are presented as follows:

Book (single author)
Book (multiple authors)
Book (edited)
Second or later edition of a book
Chapter in an edited book
Articles in journals
Unpublished paper presented at a meeting/conference
Daily newspaper article
Daily newspaper article, no author
On-line sources

2.  Quotations/Citations within the text of a document:

Short quotations
Longer quotations

(a)  when reference to the author is part of the introduction
(b)  when reference to the author is not part of the introduction

Citations


Based on:

American Psychological Association. (1994).  Publication manual of the
        American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Washington, DC:  Author.

1. Items in the bibliography are presented as follows:
Book (single author)

Merriam, S.B. (1988).  Case study research in education:  A qualitative approach.
        San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Things to notice:
    · First names are not given - initials only.
    · Title is in italics.  (An alternative is to underline it.)
    · Lower-case letters for all words in the title unless  (1) it is the first word; (2) it follows a colon;
        (3) it always has a capital (e.g. Australia).

Book (multiple authors)

Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S.L. (1993).  Inside-outside:  Teacher research
        and knowledge.  New York:  Teachers College, Columbia University.

McWilliam, E., Lather, P. & Morgan, W. (1997). Head work, field work, text
        work:  A textshop in new feminist research.   Kelvin Grove, Q:
        Queensland University of Technology.

Things to notice:
    · The symbol ‘&’ is used
    ·  Use of commas when there are more than two authors.

Book (edited)

Carson, T.R. & Sumara, D. (Eds.). (1997).  Action research as living practice.
        New York:  Peter Lang.

Things to notice:
    · ‘Eds’ is in brackets.
    · A capital E is used.
    · There is a full stop after ‘Eds’ inside the bracket, and there is also a full stop outside the bracket.

Second or later edition of a book

Symes, C. & Preston, N. (1997).  Schools and classrooms:  A cultural studies
        analysis of education (2nd ed.).  South Melbourne:  Longman.

Things to notice:
    · The number of the edition is in normal type, and is put in brackets after the title, before the full stop.
    · The abbreviation ‘ed.’ has a small e.

Chapter in an edited book

Bowers, R.S. (1995).  Early adolescent social and emotional development:
        A constructivist perspective.  In M.J. Wavering (Ed.), Educating young
        adolescents:  Life in the middle (pp. 79-109).  New York:  Garland  Publishing, Inc.

Things to notice:
    · The item is listed under the author of the chapter.
    · The chapter title is in normal type, with capitalisation as for book titles.
    · The editor of the book has initials before surname, and (Ed.) in brackets.
    · The book title is italicised and has no capitals (except as for other book titles).
    · Page numbers of the chapter are given, with pp. and in brackets.


Articles in journals

Butler, D.L. & Winne, P.H. (1995).  Feedback and self-regulated learning:  A
        theoretical synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245-281.

Things to notice:
    · The title of the article is in normal type.
    · The title of the article has no capitals other than the first word, the first word after the colon,
       and any words that are always capitalised.
    · The title of the journal is italicised.
    · The title of the journal has its main words (eg. nouns, adjectives) capitalised.
    · The number of the volume is italicised.
    · The number of the issue is not italicised, and is in brackets.
    · There is no pp. before the page numbers.


Unpublished paper presented at a meeting/conference

Connell, R.W. (1997, July). Curriculum futures:  Social and political
        dimensions.  Keynote address presented at the biennial conference of
        the Australian Curriculum Studies Association, Sydney NSW.

Things to notice:
    · The paper’s title is in italics, and uses lower case (as for book titles).
    · The month of the conference is given beside the year.

Daily newspaper article

Manne, A. (1998, January 31).  Sweet bird of youth. The Age, p. A 9.

Things to notice:
    · Date beside the year.
    · Capitals in newspaper title (as for journals)
    · Page number preceded by ‘p.’

Daily newspaper article, no author

Getting the best teachers.  (1998, February 24).  The Age, p. A 10.

Things to notice:
    · Year and date after the article title.
    · Page number preceded by ‘p.’.
    · Alphabetical place in reference list would be by first word of title (Getting).


On-line sources

These references should contain the usual information:  author, date,
title of article, source. The American Psychological Association has put a
supplement on its website, giving guidelines for citing email, websites,
specific documents and citations from websites, as well as articles and
abstracts from electronic journals and databases
(http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html).  You will notice that, because
websites are constantly under review, it is usual to give the date on which
you retrieved the item.

An example:
Electronic reference formats recommended by the American Psychological Association.
        (2000, September 5).  Washington, DC:  American  Psychological Association.
        Retrieved January 18, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html
 

2.  Quotations/Citations within the text of a document:


Short quotations:

As a National Institute of Education (1979) report of a conference on assessment
and instruction noted: “Current testing procedures are not helpful to teachers or
students in their day-to-day efforts to teach and learn” (p. v).

Things to notice:
    · Quotation is presented in quotation marks.
    · The author is followed by the date (year) in brackets.
    · The quotation is not set off from the text.
    · The page number is given in brackets after the quotation.
    · The full stop comes after the brackets that include the page number(s).


Longer quotations:

(a)  when reference to the author is part of the introduction:

As Eagleton (1983) explains:

All literary texts are woven out of other literary texts, not in the conventional sense
that they bear the traces of influence but in the more radical sense that every word,
phrase or segment is a reworking of other  writings which precede or surround the
individual work. … A specific piece of writing has no clearly defined boundaries: it
spills over constantly into the works clustered around it, generating a hundred
different perspectives which dwindle to vanishing point.  The work cannot be
sprung shut, rendered determinate.  (p. 138)
Things to notice:
    · The quote is indented.
    · The quote is not surrounded by quotation marks.
    · The date follows the mention of the author.
    · The page number is in brackets, after the full stop.
    · There is no full stop after the bracketed page number.
 

(b)  when reference to the author is not part of the introduction: 
In making reference to “interpretive”, we are drawing on a number of
constructivist or interpretivist philosophical traditions.
The constructivist or interpretivist believes that to understand this world of meaning one
must interpret it.  The inquirer must elucidate the process of meaning construction and
clarify what and how meanings are embodied in the language and  actions of social
actors. (Schwandt, 1994, p. 118)
Things to notice:
    · The author’s surname, the date of publication, and the page are all included in the bracket.


Citations

Strauss (1987) provides insights into the group interpretive process through the
analysis of a tape recording of a research seminar on data interpretation.

Group interpretive processes have also been explored in educational research
projects that use participants as co-researchers (Spindler & Spindler, 1993;
Tobin, Wu & Davidson, 1989).

Kohlberg and Mayer (1972) outlined the major theoretical/philosophical positions
in early childhood education.

Things to notice:
    · When the author’s name is part of the sentence (first example), only the date is put in brackets.
    · When the author’s name is not part of the sentence (second example), both name and date are in brackets.
    · Note the use of ‘&’ when the citation is in brackets (second example), but ‘and’ when it is part of the text
      (third example).
    · Note semi-colon between citations (after 1993 in the second example).
    · When there is more than one citation, they are presented in alphabetical order (second example:  S before T).


APA citation:
Russell, R. (2004, March 19). APA style guide. Retrieved March 19, 2004, from
  http://www.ballarat.edu.au/~rrussell/styleguide.html