APA Style
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Examples of frequently used entries are included. For more examples, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, 6th ed. (2010) or http://libguides.uwstout.edu/citing.
Type of Entry
Example of Reference
Citation in Text
Book - Single Author
Shotton, M.A., (1989). Computer addiction? A study of computer
dependency (2nd ed.). London, England: Taylor & Francis.
(Shotten, 1989)
*Two Authors
Wegener, D.T., & Petty, R.E. (1994) . . .
(Wegener & Petty, 1994)
*Three - Five Authors
Luce, M.F., Bettman, J.R., & Payne, J.W. (2001) . . .
1st citation:
(Luce, Bettman, &
Payne, 2001)
subsequent citations:
(Luce et al., 2001)
Book - Edited
Jankowiak, W.R. (Ed.). (2008). Intimacies: Love and sex across
cultures. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
(Jankowiak, 2008)
Book - Electronic
O’Keefe, E. (n.d.). Egoism & the crisis in Western values. Retrieved from http://www.onlineoriginals.com/showitem.
asp?itemID=135
(O’Keefe, n.d.)*
Book - One Chapter
Haybron, D.M. (2008). Philosophy and the science of subjective
well-being. In M. Eid & R.J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of
subjective well-being (pp. 17- 43). New York, NY: Guilford
Press.
(Haybron, 2008)
Article - Scholarly
Journal (continuous
pagination)
Corrigan, P. (2004). How stigma interferes with mental health
care. American Psychologist, 59, 614 - 625.
(Corrigan, 2004)
Article - Scholarly
Journal (pagination by
issue)
Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10 - 36.
(Klimoski & Palmer,
1993)
Article - Online with
Digital Object Identifier
(DOI)*
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:10.1037/02786133.24.2.225.
(Harbst-Damm & Kulik,
2005)
Article - Online without
Digital Object Identifier
(DOI)
Sillick, T. J., & Shutte, N.S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and
self-esteem mediate between perceived early parental love and
adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), 38 48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swing.edu/au/index.php.ejap
(Sillick & Schutte, 2006)
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APA Style
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Article - Magazine
Posner, M.I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262,
673 - 674.
(Posner, 1993)
Article - Newspaper; No
Author
New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure.
(1993, July 15). The Washington Post, p. A12, A15
(“New Drug,” 1993)
Article - Online
Newspaper
Brody, J.E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.
com
(Brody, 2007)
Article - Encyclopedia
Bergmann, P.G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501 - 508). Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia
Britannica.
(Bergmann, 1993)
Work Discussed in
Other Work (didn’t
read original source)
*List source that was read
*Use signal phrase:
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models
of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608.
In Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (as
cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller,
1993), . . .
Abstract
Paterson, P. (2008). How well do young offenders with Asperger
Syndrome cope in custody?: Two prison case studies [Abstract]. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), 54 - 58.
(Paterson, 2008)
Organization Report
Nabisco. (2008). 2007 Annual Report. Parsippany, NJ: Author
(Nabisco, 2008)
*”Author” at end signifies the author is also the publisher.
*If online, use “Website” example (below)
Thesis/Dissertation
Leick, D.M. (2007). Family stories: The transfer of moral values
to future generations (Unpublished master’s thesis). University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI.
(Leick, 2007)
Personal
Communication
(e.g. email, lecture or
conference speaker)
*Cite personal communication in text only. Do NOT include in
references list. Preferably use a signal phrase that sufficiently
describes the context of the communication (e.g. if a lecture attended, include speaker, date, place, etc.)
(P.Becker, personal
communication, September 2, 2009)
Lecture Notes
*Cite as “Personal Communication” (unless notes are online
and available to anyone - then cite as “Class PowerPoint Slides”
below)
Class PowerPoint
Slides
Blampied, N. M. (2011). Learning and behaviour change [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.learn.canterbury.
ac.nz/
(Blampied, 2011)
Music Recording
Taupin, B. (1975). Someone Saved My Life Tonight [Recorded
by Elton John]. On Captain fantastic and brown dirt cowboy
[CD]. London: Big Pig Music Limited.
(Taupin, 1975)
Motion Picture/DVD
Grazer, B., & Howard, R. (Producers), & Howard, R. (Director).
(2002). A beautiful mind [DVD]. Universal City, CA: Universal.
(Grazer & Howard,
2002)
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APA Style
Data Sets
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United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(2008). Indiana income limits [Data file]. Retrieved from
http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf
*1st citation:
(United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development
[HUD], 2008)
subsequent citations:
(HUD, 2008)
Website
Irving, I. & Kuan, X. (2009, August 25). Crime, punishment and
poverty in the United States. Retrieved from http://ideas.
repec.org/p/dal/wparch/uspov.html
(Irving & Kuan, 2009)
Blog
Dean, J. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the
mirror? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.spring.
org.uk/
(Dean, 2008)
Comment on Forum/
Discussion Board/
Blog Post- Online
Frook, B.D. (1999, July 23). New inventions in the cybreworld of
toylandia [Web log comment, Msg 25]. Retrieved from http://
www.spring.org.uk/
(Frook, 1999)
Wiki
OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved from the OLPC Wiki:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay
(“OLPC Peru,” n.d.)
Video - Online
*If available, include both author name [screen name]
(Carteret Community
College, 2010)
Carteret Community College [CCC Library]. (2010, December
6). Plagiarism [Video File]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/
Fw6NxvwP41U.
Podcast - audio or video
Scott, D. (Producer). (2007, January 5). The community college
classroom [Episode 7]. Adventures in Education. Podcast
retrieved from http://www.adveeducation.com
(Scott, 2007)
Facebook/Google+
Post - Public
Gaiman, N. [Neil]. (2012, February 29). Please celebrate Leap
Year Day in the traditional manner by taking a writer out for
dinner. It’s been four years since many authors had a good
dinner. We are waiting. Many of us have our forks or chopsticks at the [Facebook status update]. Retrieved from https://
www.facebook.com/neilgaiman/posts/10150574185041016
(Gaiman, 2012)
*If available, include both real name and screen name (e.g. author
name [screen name]). Only include up to first 40 words of post
for title caption. If post will be inaccessible to readers (due to privacy settings), reference as a “Personal Communication” (above).
Twitter Post
Stanford Medicine [SUMedicine]. (2012, October 9). Animal
study shows sleeping brain behaves as if it’s remembering: http://stan.md/RrqyEt #sleep #neuroscience #research
[Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/SUMedicine/status/255644688630046720
(Stanford Medicine,
2012)
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APA Style
Ask a Librarian Writing Center
reference@uwstout.edu www.uwstout.edu/writingcenter
715/232-1353 715/232-5284
*References Tips
Scholarly Journal
Articles:
from a Database
It is not necessary to include database information. If the article is not on the web (do a quick
search to check), do not provide URL information either.
Scholarly Journal
Articles:
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Numbers
If the article is found online (NOT a library database), include a DOI number when it is provided.
Look for the DOI number in the article pdf itself, or on the record describing the article.
Web Items:
“Retrived from” vs.
“Available from”
Use “Retrieved from” when you provide a URL that directly links to the cited item. Use “Available
from” when you provide a URL to a website that generally hosts the cited item.
Abbreviations
To use a common abbreviation of an organization, use the entire name the first time it is introduced in a sentence or reference, followed by the abbreviation in brackets[ ]. Use the abbreviation thereafter. See the example (above) for “Data Sets.”
Other common abbreviations in APA citations include:
edition
Editor(s)
no date
ed.
Ed. or Eds.
n.d.
Formatting Tips
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