The Portable Editor
Volume 7, No. 5
One indication of the global nature of social problems as well as the growing diversity among social work professionals is the increasing frequency of author names that reflect cultures and languages other than those with an English – European heritage. This diversity can present some challenges when alphabetizing reference lists – especially given that most of us still have to sing the ABC song (at least mentally) when we’re trying to alphabetize. The following quiz/tutorial was created by the editors of the APA blog; we added instructions and examples to emphasize that the alphabetization exercises are focused on separate reference entries rather than multiple authors of a single work. Quiz: Alphabetization in APA Style You are writing a paper in APA Style and need to alphabetize your reference list. You know that in APA Style, you alphabetize by the name of the first author (shown below), letter by letter—disregard spaces, capitalization, hyphens, apostrophes, periods, and accent marks. When alphabetizing titles or group names as authors, go by the first significant word (disregard a, an, the, etc.). [For the following questions, assume that each name corresponds to the first name of the author /organization of separate reference entries. In other words, you’re not alphabetizing the authors of one work (which would be a mistake!) but alphabetizing a list of reference entries based on the surname of first authors. (Hint: Semicolons between the names indicate these names represent separate entries; commas between the names would indicate the list was composed of co-­‐authors).] Example: In what order should these A names appear? a) Aaronson; al Shamsi; Al-­‐Awar; Allan b) Aaronson; Al-­‐Awar; Allan; al Shamsi c) al Shamsi: Al-­‐Awar; Aaronson; Allan Answer: b). Aaronson, Al-­‐Awar, Allan, al Shamsi (treat as Aaronson, Alawar, Allan, Alshamsi Choose the response b elow that shows the entries in APA Style alphabetical order. 1. In what order should these B names appear? 2. In what order should these D names appear? a.) Ben-­‐Shafir; Ben-­‐Arieh; Benjamin a.) d’Artagnan; da Silva; De Vargas; Darren-­‐
b.) Ben-­‐Arieh; Benjamin; Ben-­‐Shafir Brown; Desimone c.) Ben-­‐Arieh; Ben-­‐Shafir; Benjamin b.) da Silva; d’Artagnan; Darren-­‐Brown; De Vargas; Desimone c.) Darren-­‐Brown; d’Artagnan; da Silva; Desimone; De Vargas 3. In what order should these J names appear? 4. In what order should these M names appear? a.) Jones; Jöreskog; Jorgensen a.) MacKenzie; M’Carthy; McCarthy; McNair b.) Jorgensen; Jöreskog; Jones c.) Jones; Jorgensen; Jöreskog 5. In what order should these O names appear? a.) O’Connor; O’Malley; Olson b.) O’Connor; Olson; O’Malley c.) Olson; O’Connor; O’Malley 7. In what order should these U names appear? a.) U.S. Department of Education; Ullman; Uster b.) Uster; Ullman; U.S. Department of Education c.) Ullman; U.S. Department of Education; Uster 9. In what order should these titles/groups as authors appear? a.) A Basic Primer on Math; The Alcohol Research Group; The Beatles; Heuristic b.) The Alcohol Research Group; A Basic Primer on Math; The Beatles; Heuristic c.) A Basic Primer on Math; Heuristic; The Alcohol Research Group; The Beatles b.) M’Carthy; MacKenzie; McCarthy; McNair c.) MacKenzie; McCarthy; M’Carthy; McNair 6. In what order should these S names appear? a.) Sörbom; Steinberg; St. James; Stout b.) St. James; Sörbom; Steinberg; Stout c.) Sörbom; St. James; Steinberg; Stout 8. In what order should these V names appear? a.) VandeCreek; van den Oord; Vandermeer; van IJzendoorn b.) van den Oord; van IJzendoorn; VandeCreek; Vandermeer c.) VandeCreek; Vandermeer; van den Oord; van IJzendoorn Answer Key: Alphabetization in APA Style Quiz 1. b.) Ben-­‐Arieh, Benjamin, Ben-­‐Shafir (treat as Benarieh, Benjamin, Benshafir) 2. c.) Darren-­‐Brown, d’Artagnan, da Silva, Desimone, De Vargas (treat as Darrenbrown, Dartagnan, Dasilva, Desimone, Devargas) 3. a.) Jones, Jöreskog, Jorgensen (treat as Jones, Joreskog, Jorgensen) 4. a.) MacKenzie, M’Carthy, McCarthy, McNair (treat as Mackenzie, Mcarthy, Mccarthy, Mcnair) 5. b.) O’Connor, Olson, O’Malley (treat as Oconnor, Olson, Omalley) 6. a.) Sörbom, Steinberg, St. James, Stout (treat as Sorbom, Steinberg, Stjames, Stout) 7. c.) Ullman, U.S. Department of Education, Uster (treat as Ullman, Usdepartmentofeducation, Uster) 8. a.) VandeCreek, van den Oord, Vandermeer, van IJzendoorn (treat as Vandecreek, Vandenoord, Vandermeer, Vanijzendoorn) 9. b.) The Alcohol Research Group, A Basic Primer on Math, The Beatles, Heuristic (treat as Alcoholresearchgroup, The; Basicprimeronmath, A; Beatles, The; Heuristic) Copyright © 2010 by the American Psychological Association. This content may be reproduced for classroom or teaching purposes provided that credit is given to the American Psychological Association. For any other use, please contact the APA Permissions Office.