Quick Guide to APA Style

by Dr. Janet Waters

APA Writing Style - updated for the new 6th edition

APA writing and referencing style is the standard format required by the American Psychological Association for writing psychology papers and research reports. This handout is based on the new 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Handouts based on the previous edition are out of date.

To write papers or reports in APA style, generally paraphrase the ideas, theories or research from psychology sources into your own words (rather than relying on numerous direct quotes). Always give the citation and reference for every source, for both quoted and paraphrased material. If you fail to cite the source of your information, you are plagiarizing, that is, claiming another's work and ideas as your own. This is a serious academic offense that will lead to failure of your paper, or even the course.

Tips on writing style in your papers/reports:

Use a formal, direct and clear writing style, avoiding slang or casual language. Write with precision, using the correct psychological term for a concept. Do not write "feel" when you mean "think". Avoid first or second person; do not use "I", "me", or "you".

In presenting theories or research in psychology, use the researcher's or author's name to avoid reification (e.g. avoid "the article says..." as an article or research study can not speak). Use last names only. There is no need to add your sources' qualifications, as they all should be psychologists.

APA requires the use of non-sexist and unbiased language. Avoid "he" and "mankind", and language or terms that show cultural or ethnic bias. To refer to a culture or group, use a term preferred by members of that culture. To refer to a person with a psychological disorder, do not refer to them as the disorder (e.g. "the individual with schizophrenia", not "the schizophrenic").

Tips on formatting your papers/reports:

Papers and research reports must always be typed and double-spaced, with 1 inch (2.5 cm) margins on all sides. The recommended typeface is Times New Roman, 12 point font. The margins are left-justified (even only on the left margin). Indent the first line of every paragraph five spaces. Use two spaces after periods at the end of sentences, and one space after periods within references and within sentences (for abbreviations, for example).

Reference citations in your paper

In APA referencing style, paraphrased and quoted material is cited where you use the information in the paper itself, in parenthetical reference citations which include the author's last name(s) and the date. These sources are also listed in full in a References section at the end of the paper. Unlike MLA style, APA style emphasizes the date of a study, instead of the page number. However, page numbers are added to the date when you are using direct quotes. For further information on APA style, go to the APA website.

Citing Paraphrased Material

Whenever you include information or ideas from any source, you must give the author's last name and the date of publication, either as part of your sentence or in parentheses. APA also encourages the addition of page numbers for long or complex texts. For example:

Meyer (1992) discussed the variety of methods of inducing hypnosis.
There are a variety of methods of inducing hypnosis in subjects (Meyer, 1992).

Cite both names if there are two authors. Join the names with an ampersand (&) only when in parentheses (if used within a sentence, use 'and' - for example, Shaver and Fraley) . Use initials where authors have the same surname. When there are more than two authors, cite all the names the first time, and from then on, only the first name and "et al." (Latin for "and others"):

(Shaver & Fraley, 1998)
(S. Fenton & D. Fenton, 2004)
(Cuesta, Peralta, & DeLeon, 2003) - first reference citation
use (Cuesta et al., 2003) for subsequent citations

If an article has no author, use the first few words of the title or the name of the organization, and the year. Use quote marks for the title of an article, or italicize the title of a book, brochure, or report. If there is no date, use n.d. (for "no date"). For example:

Current evidence from research on the brain ("Brain Breakthrough", 2002) indicates that...
In the current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American Psychological Association [APA], 2009)...

In subsequent references to well known organizations, the abbreviation alone may be used (APA, 2009).
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Secondary Sources

When you paraphrase a secondary source (that is, you read about Freud's theory of dreams in a text by Weiten & McCann), you usually give the name of the original source (i.e. Freud) in your sentence, but cite and reference the secondary source only, as follows. For example:

According to Freud (as cited in Weiten & McCann, 2010), all dreams are wish fulfilments.

Quotations

Avoid using too many quotes, but if you do directly quote a source, you must give the page number as well as author and date. Place commas between the elements of the citation, and indicate pages with p. for one page and pp. for more than one. In short quotes, the period goes after the citation as follows:

According to Weiten and McCann (2010, p. 323), fluid intelligence involves "reasoning ability, memory capacity and speed of information processing", while crystallized intelligence involves the "ability to apply acquired knowledge and skills in problem solving" (p. 323).

If you quote a passage of more than 40 words, block and indent it five spaces, without quotation marks. A second paragraph within the block quotation would be indented an additional five spaces. For block quotes, the period goes before the reference. The quotation is double-spaced. If you italicize a portion of the quotation to add an emphasis, indicate that with [emphasis added]. If you add a word, enclose it in brackets (e.g.[the results]), and if there are errors in the quote, follow the original quote, inserting [sic] after the error. If the original text included citations, keep them in the quote, but do not list these in the References section.

Smith (1996) found that:

The "placebo effect", which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again [emphasis added], even when reel [sic] drugs were administered. Earlier studies (e.g., Abdullah, 1984; Fox, 1979) were clearly premature in attributing [the results] to a placebo effect. (p. 276)

Referencing Personal Communications

Interviews, lectures, email, etc. are rarely used because they cannot be retrieved by the reader. They are therefore cited only in your text, and not listed in the References section. Give the initials and surname of your source, and the date. For example:

According to the elder, T. Daniels (personal communication, June 7, 2006)...

Ability to visualize has been found to be related to both creativity and emotions (J. Waters, personal communication, June 3, 2006).

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References Section

At the end of your paper, append a References section in which all your cited sources (books, articles, and other sources) appear alphabetically by the first author's last name. The subtitle of this section is References (centred, and not bolded). Provide the full reference, which includes all the information necessary for the reader to retrieve the source, in a standard format. Each entry should be a hanging indent. The details of the format must be followed exactly, including correct punctuation. For example:

Book: The four parts of the entry, separated by periods, are (a) the author's name (surname followed by initials); (b) the year of publication, in parentheses; (c) the title, which is italicized. Only the first word of the title and subtitle, and proper names, are capitalized; (d) the city (and state/province if city not known) followed by a colon and the publisher's name. For example:

Weiten, W., & McCann, D. (2010). Psychology: Themes and variations (2^nd Cdn. ed.). Toronto,
ON: Nelson.

Wade, C., Tavris, C., Saucier, D., & Elias, L. (2006). Psychology (2^nd Cdn. ed.). Toronto, ON:
Pearson.

Chapter or article in an edited collection: a) author of the article; b) year of publication of the edited book; c) title of the article or chapter; d) editor's name, initials first, then (Ed.); e) italicized title of the edited book and page numbers of the chapter; f) city and publisher. For example:

Wallerstein, J. S. (1998). Children of divorce: The dilemma of a decade. In B. Slife (Ed.), Taking
sides: Clashing views on controversial psychological issues (10th ed., pp. 114-121).
Guilford, CT: Duskin/McGraw-Hill.

Journal Article with DOI (digital object identifier): In most articles found through PsycINFO or PsycARTICLES, you will find a DOI (digital object identifier) at the top right of the first page.

The elements of journal article references include: (a) the author's name; (b) the year of publication; (c) the title of the article with only the first words of the title and subtitle capitalized; (d) the title of the journal, italicized and with all main words capitalized, followed by a comma; e) the volume number, italicized, the issue number in parentheses and not italicized, and then the page numbers. Do not include the abbreviations Vol or pp; f) the DOI if there is one. For example:

Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of
terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

Journal Article without DOI: Omit the DOI in cases when there is none on the article, for example for a older print version of a journal article:

Cuesta, M. J., Peralta, B., & DeLeon, J. (1994). Schizophrenic syndromes associated with treatment
response. Progress in Neurology, Psychopharmacology, and Biological Psychiatry, 18, 87-99.

Magazine article: Add the month of publication after the year for magazine articles (see the following example). If there is no author, the title of the article is substituted.

Walter, C. (2006, December/January). Why do we cry? Scientific American Mind, 17(6), 44-51.

Online magazine article: Use the magazine format, but add the URL at the end.

Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research.
Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/

Newspaper article: Give the month and day after the year. If there is no author, the title of the article is substituted.

Fox, M. (2007, September 15). Loneliness linked to genes, researchers say. The Vancouver Sun,
p. B4.

Loneliness linked to genes, researchers say. (2007, Sept 15). The Vancouver Sun, p. B4.

Online newspaper article: Use the newspaper format, but add the URL at the end.

Fox, M. (2007, September 15). Loneliness linked to genes, researchers say. The Vancouver Sun.
Retrieved from http://www.vancouversun.com

Abstract of an article: The reference citation for an Abstract of an article found on a database (PsycINFO) (without a DOI):

Ludwig, D. N. (1996). Preschool children's cognitive styles and their social orientations [Abstract].
Perceptual and Motor Skills, 70, 915-921.

"Informally published"documents from a web site: If an author is identified, begin with the author's name; if not, use the title. If no publication date is given, use n.d. (no date).

A short biography of Jean Piaget. (1999). Retrieved from http://www.piaget.org/

Shaver, P. R., & Fraley, R. C. (n.d.). Self-report measures of adult attachment. Retrieved from
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Shaver/measures.html

Educational Research

Saturday, September 3, 2011