A P A Style References E ntries
6th E dition
Used in most Social Science and Business Courses
T he information below comes from the updated 6 th edition of A PA (A merican
Psychological Association) style guidelines. A P A style dictates that authors are named last
name followed by initials ; the publication year goes between parentheses and is followed by
a period. T itles are written in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns
in the title are capitalized.
H ere are a few basic rules for listing/formatting your sources in the A P A reference list:
1. List only the words you cited in the text of your paper. Do not list works that you only consulted
or reviewed.
2. Begin your reference list on a new numbered page after the last page of the text of your paper.
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no period following it). Double space throughout the list, but do not space add extra spaces
between your entries.
3. List the words alphabetically by last names of primary authors or by the name of an organization
that acts as the author (do not number or bullet the entries).
4. Use a period and a space to separate the main parts of each entry.
Use this information for citing B O O KS in your reference page:
1. C iting A Book By O ne A uthor:
Williams, John. (1994). Economics. Washington, DC.: University Press.
2. Book W ith T wo To Seven A uthors:
Baumol, W.J., Litan, R.E., & Schramm, C.J (2005). Good capitalism, bad capitalism.
Washington, DC: University Press.
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Note: AXWKRU¶VQDPHVare listed in the order that they appear on the book or
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Separate all names with commas, and insert an ³´DPSHUVDQGEHIRUHWKH
last name.
3. E dited Book :
Bates, M. & Williams, J. (Eds). (2005). Good capitalism, bad capitalism. Washington, DC:
University Press.
ª Note: 8VH³(G´LI\RXUERRNKDVRQO\RQHHGLWRU
Also notice the title;
unlike MLA, APA style capitalizes only the first letter of a title (and the first
word after a semicolon). Proper nouns should always be capitalized,
regardless of where they appear in the title.
4. Wor k In A n E dited Collection O r Reference Book :
DuBois, W.E.B. (2007). Returning Soldiers. In L. Gates, Jr., & G.A. Jarrett (Eds.), The new
Negro: Readings on race, representation, and African American culture, 1892 ± 1938
(pp. 85 ± 91). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
ª
ª
Note: List the author of the work (the study or essay that you are using), the
date of publication of the edited book, and the title of the work. After this
LQIRUPDWLRQXVH³,Q´IROORZHGE\WKHQDPHVRIWKHHGLWRUV1RWH that the
names of the editors are not written in reverse order.
Note: The titles of the short works in the collection are written using titular
capitalization with no quotation marks.
5. No A uthor Identified:
Good capitalism, bad capitalism. (2005). Washington, DC: University Press.
ª Note: Put the title first. When alphabetizing, ignore A, An, and The if these
words begin your title.
6. E dited Book with an A uthor or A uthors:
Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals. K.V. Kukil, (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.
7. A T ranslation:
Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F. W. Truscott & F. L.
Emory, Trans.). New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1814).
ª
Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, work in
your text, it should appear with both dates: Laplace (1814/1951).
8. E dition O ther T han the F irst:
Helfer, M. E., Keme, R. S., & Drugman, R. D. (1997). The battered child (5th ed.).
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
9. A rticle or C hapter in an E dited Book :
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor
(Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.
ª
Note: When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses
after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This
abbreviation does not appear before the page numbers in periodical
references, except for newspapers.
10. M ultivolume Wor k :
Wiener, P. (Ed.). (1973). Dictionary of the history of ideas (Vols. 1-4). New York, NY:
Scribner's.
_______________________________________________________________________
Use this information to cite P E RI O D I C A LS in your reference page:
1. A rticle In A Scholarly Journal O rganized By Volume:
Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of
Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.
2. A rticle In A Scholarly Journal O rganized By Issue:
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.
3. M agazine A rticle:
Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31.
ª
Note: Include the year and exact publication date in the parentheses. Do not
abbreviate months. Magazine titles get italicized.
4. Newspaper A rticle:
Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country
Today, pp. 1A, 2A.
ª
Note: Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a
newspaper reference in APA style.
5. L etter to E ditor, Review, E ditorial:
Moller,G. (2002, August). Ripples versus rumbles [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American,
287(2), 12.
Angell, M. (2009, January 15). Drug companies and doctors: A story of corruption [Review of
the book Shyness: How normal behavior became a sickness, by C. Lane]. The New York
Review of Books, 56(1),12.