AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION (APA) FORMAT
Regis Writing Center

For additional information not contained on this sheet, refer to the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association or come to the Writing Center.

IN-TEXT CITATIONS

In-text citations include the author's name and date of publication.  The date must be mentioned once in each paragraph.  The page number is included only if cited material is a direct quotation.

            Example:

                        As Childs (1981) reports, "the number of people suffering Multiple Personality Disorder continues to grow" (p. 32).

                        Childs (1981) reports an increase in Multiple Personality Disorders.

If the author's name is not given in the signal phrase before the quote, it must be given in the parentheses at the end of the citation.

            Example:

Mental health workers must be aware: "The number of people suffering Multiple Personality Disorder continues to grow" (Childs, 1981, p. 32).

In a work with two authors, state the names of both authors should be given.

Example:

According to Smith and Jones (1995), "the study of mathematics is an integral part of secondary education" (p. 11)

Or:

Experts assert:  "The study of mathematics is an integral part of secondary education" (Smith and Jones, 1995, p. 11).

In a work with three to five authors, state all authors' names for the first citation.  In subsequent citations, use only the first author's name followed by "et al."

Example:

Educational psychologists comment that "raising children is the primary responsibility of the entire community" (Franklin, Childs, and Smith, 1965, p. 120). To be successful, "communities must be willing to take this responsibility" (Franklin et al., 1965, p. 135)

In a work with six or more authors, state only the first author's name for all citations, followed by "et al."

Example:

The biologists' approach to the problem was to examine the genetic component of behavior (Anderson et al., 1999, p. 75).

REFERENCES

• Alphabetize sources by the author's last name followed by initials only of the first name.  Retain the order of the authors' names as they appear in the book or periodical.  Do not use separate categories for books, periodicals, etc.

• Put the year, month and day of publication in parentheses.

• Underline or italicize titles and subtitles of books, and capitalize only the first word of the title or subtitle (as well as all proper nouns) of books.

• Underline or italicize the names of periodicals, and capitalize the names as you would ordinarily.  Underline the volume number of periodicals.

• Either the first or second lines may be indented five spaces from the left margin, depending on your professor's preference.  This handout shows the first line indented.

• Double space all entries.

Book with One Author:

Miller, S. (1991).  The difference between men and women.  New York:  University of New York Press. 

Book with Two or More Authors:

Curtis, A. P., Barlow, J., & Hill, E. (1995).  Philosophy and fairy tales.  New York:  St. Martin's Press.

Book with Editors or Editions:

Peterson, L. H., Hartman, J. E., &  Brereton, J. C. (Eds.).  (1996).  The Norton reader:  An anthology of expository prose  (9th ed.). New York:  W. W. Norton.

Chapter in an Edited Book:

Hemingway, E.  (1933/1997).  A clean, well-lighted place.  In L. G. Kirszner & S. R. Mandell (Eds.),  Literature: Reading, reacting, writing  (3rd ed., pp. 256-60).  New York:  Harcourt Brace.

Periodical Paginated by Volume:

Baker, J.  (1994, May 12).  Social responsibility and endemic disease.  The New Yorker, 65, 912-13.

If the periodical is paginated by issue, underline the volume number only and include the issue number in parentheses, followed by a comma, i.e., The New Yorker, 65 (3), 65-72.

Article in a Newspaper:

Moulton, A. (1997, Sept. 11).  Scam artists latching on to internet.  The Denver Post, 2A-3A.

© 2000, Regis University Writing Program