APA formatting and documentation By: Matt Schering Writing Center Assistant Coordinator What is APA formatting? APA formatting is merely a set of rules to follow for writing academic papers. No one is expected to memorize all of the rules of APA, but you will find it beneficial to know where to go to find them! APA paper template and sample paper Perhaps the best tool for those new to APA style. This template is a mostly blank document, already set to the standards of APA 6th edition. The Template can be found on the writing center’s website. Additionally, a sample paper in APA style can also be found on the writing center’s website. This is a useful tool to acquaint yourself with how papers look when completed in APA style. Plagiarism and how to avoid it. Plagiarism (the intentional or unintentional theft of intellectual ideas), occurs whenever any information is used from another source without giving the author(s) of that source credit for the information. You must document sources every time you borrow any information, including facts, statistics, numbers, ideas, concepts, names, locations, or dates. In-text citations Paraphrased Citation – Traditional citations will ask you to include the author’s last name followed by the year of publication for that particular source within the body of your paper. End of sentence, one author ….. (Smith, 2010). of sentence, one author According to Smith (2010), ….. Beginning In-text citations Quoted Citation – If you are quoting information, be sure to include the page number from which the quote originates. If the information is coming from a website, you will use paragraph numbers instead of page numbers. End of sentence, one author “…..” (Smith, 2010, p. 5). of sentence, one author According to Smith (2010), “…..” (p. 5). Beginning of sentence, (website) “…..” (Smith, 2010, para. 2). End In-text citations Multiple Authors – When you have exactly two authors for one source, be sure to list both names in your in-text citation. When you have 3 or more authors, list each author’s last name in your in-text citation for the first time in your paper that you use them. For each time after that, list only the first author’s last name and then use “et al.” to indicate that there are other authors used. of sentence, 2 authors ….. (Smith & Essex, 2010). End of sentence, 2 authors According to Smith & Essex (2010), ….. Beginning In-text citations Source with No Date – If your source does not provide a publication date, use “n.d.” (indicating that no date is provided) in place of the publication year for your in-text citation. End of sentence ….. (Smith, n.d.). Beginning of sentence According to Smith (n.d.), ….. The same rules apply for sources with no page numbers as well. Use n.p. when citing direct quotes that lack pagination. Reference page entries Reference Page Entries – In addition to citing your information within the body of your paper, you should include a list of references as the last page of your paper. References should be listed in alphabetical order. Though the specific information for each style of citation (i.e. journal article, movie, book) may change slightly, you will likely always needs the following: Author’s name, date of publication, title of piece, medium of publication. Documentation styles: additional help For help with a variety of questions of documentation styles, be sure to visit the writing center’s website at govst.edu/owl Click on the documentation styles side bar to find the paper template, sample paper, and a variety of links for citations.