A guide to citing and documenting sources using APA
Claire McMurray, Ph.D., KU Writing Center
Why are there different citation styles?
MLA Format
APA Format
• in-text style
• humanities
• how writings influence one
another, authorship
• Highlights author’s name,
pg #
• in-text style
• social sciences
• how research has evolved and
dates of publication
• Highlights author’s name, year,
page #
Chicago Format
• footnote style
• historical research
• helps reader focus on evidence
and source origins
• very flexible
• can mix discursive and
bibliographic footnotes
Resources (on handout)
 KU Writing Center (face-to-face
consultations, email feedback,
videoconferences, quick questions, writing
guides)
www.writing.ku.edu
 APA Handbook
 Purdue Owl APA Overview website
 http://blog.apastyle.org/
 When in all else fails: google the question,
search for reputable sources
Why cite using APA?
 Acknowledge those you’ve
learned from
 Build credibility (for yourself
and the people you work
with)
 Guide readers to further
information
What is included in the APA format?
 Document guidelines
(formatting)
 Writing style and tone
 Organization and structure
 In-text citation guidelines
 References guidelines
*Hint: use Zotero, EndNote, or
Word “References” to
organization your citations
Types of Papers
Literature Review
• Title page
• Introduction section
• List of references
•
•
•
•
•
Other Papers
•
• Use general format guidelines •
• Consult your advisor
•
• Consult APA Handbook
•
Experimental Report
Title page
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References
Appendices (if necessary)
Tables/Figures (if necessary)
APA Style
 Expectations for writing style,
tone and organization
 Explicit (thesis up front with
“map”)
 Concise
 Values standardization of
papers so that research can
easily be compared
Avoiding Bias in Language
 Be descriptive and specific:
 Describe individuals and groups as they describe themselves,
including them in the decision when possible.
 Find alternatives to the generic “he” and “man.”
 Age: be specific and avoid pejorative terms (e.g. elderly)
 Person-first language:
 “person with neurosis”
 “person who lives with bi-polar disorder”
 “Sexual orientation” rather than “sexual preference”
 Racial & Ethnic groups are capitalized
 “Black” rather than “black”; “White” rather than “white” etc.
Verbs
 Use past tense or present perfect in literature review and
to present your results:
 Sanchez (2004) has reported that…
 We found that 65% of the participants adopted more formal
speech…
 Use present tense to discuss or synthesize:
 Overall analysis suggests that…
 The majority of researchers seem to support the hypothesis…
Verbs
Passive and active voice
“Verbs are vigorous, direct communicators”
Prefer the active voice
The survey was conducted in a controlled
setting.
We conducted the survey in a controlled
setting.
Use passive judiciously to focus the object or
recipient of action rather than the actor
The speakers were attached to either side of
the chair.
Numbers
 Expressed in numerals:
 Numbers 10 and above
 Numbers below 10 grouped for comparison with numbers 10 and
above
 Numbers preceding a unit of measurement or statistical function
 Numbers representing time, date, age, population size, etc.
 Numbers in series, such as Tables, Chapters, etc.
 Expressed as words:
 Numbers below 10
 “Zero” and “one” when words would be easier to comprehend than
numerals
 Any number that begins a title, text heading, or sentence
 Common fractions (two-thirds)
 Numbers expressing approximate lengths of time (about three
hours)
Punctuation
 Use commas between all elements of a
series:
A, B, and C.
 Use comma to set off the year in dates
and in parenthetical reference citations.
(Lastname, 2010)
 Use a semicolon to separate elements in a
series already containing commas.
Punctuation
 Use a colon between a complete
introductory clause and a final phrase or a
complete sentence, as in These are the
options: Introduce a single-payer system or
create a government insurance pool.
 Hyphenate compound words used as
adjectives, as in same-day appointment or
two-time winner.
 Do not use dashes; instead, use
parentheses, as in Studs Terkel (author of
the classic Working) died recently.
Formatting: Title Page
 Running Head on every page
Running head: SHORT TITLE ALL CAPS IN HEADER
1
No more
than 50
characters
Full Title of Paper: Sentence Case, Centered Left to Right
Name of Author
Institutional Affiliation
Author Note
Departmental affiliation
Changes of Affiliation (if any)
Acknowledgments
Special circumstances
Person to contact (mailing address, email)
Full title is centered
and positioned in
upper half of the
page, Times New
Roman, 12 pt font
Formatting: Heading Levels
 Use levels consecutively, meaning that, if your paper has
three levels, use levels 1, 2, and 3
 Levels have slightly different formatting
Level of
Heading
Formatting of Heading
1
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
2
Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3
Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
4
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
5
Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
Formatting Levels: like an outline
Outline
I.
How it would look in your paper
Method
Method
In this paper I used two types of methods to figure out the results of
a. First type
my experiment.
i.
Part One
First Type: Sand Collecting
ii.
Part Two
b. Second Type
II.
i.
Part One
ii.
Part Two
Results
The first type of method I used was the sand collecting method.
Part one of the sand collecting method: collection.
This part included collecting sand and putting it into giant buckets
to be sorted by grain size.
Part two of the sand collecting method: testing.
This part included…
In-Text Citation: Paraphrases
If you mention the author in the sentence,
place the publication year in parenthesis
directly after name:
Walter (2000) found that the strengths
perspective worked well with…
If you do not mention the author’s name,
save parenthetical reference for the end:
Many researchers have studied the
strengths perspective (Walter, 2000; Davis,
1998).
In-Text Citation: Quotations
Author in sentence:
Miele (1993) found that “the ‘placebo
effect’ disappeared when [only the first
group’s] behaviors were modified” (p. 276).
Author not in sentence:
She stated that “The ‘placebo
effect’…disappeared when behaviors were
studied in this manner” (Miele, 1993, p.
276).
Reference Page
 Title the page “References.”
 Double space the entire
reference page—no extra
space between entries.
 List alphabetically.
 List works by the same
author chronologically from
earliest to latest.
Common Problems: Citing Websites
In Text
 When referring in passing to a website within your text, the url
is sufficient. Don’t add it to the references list.
 Ex: Gussie Fink-Nottle has set up a discussion forum for newt
fanciers (http://gfnnfg.livejournal.com/).
 List (author, date) or (title, date) at the end of the sentence for
more in-depth discussion of a website.
Common Problems: Citing Websites
References
 When citing a document or piece of information from a website,
you need to put it on the references list.
Author, A. (date). Title of document [Format description].
Retrieved from http://URL.
 When a doi (digital object identifier) exists, use instead of url.
Author, A.A, & Author, B.B. (Date). Title of article. Title of
journal, vol. #, page range. doi:000000/0000000.
 Something missing? Check the APA Style Blog. Often there are
no dates or authors for websites.
 Consider purchasing APA Style Guide to Electronic
References.
Common Problems: Tables and Figures
 Check APA Manual: Section
5 (Displaying Results) pg.
125-167
Chart Title
6
5
 Check Purdue Owl website
(on handout)
 Decide the table’s or figure’s
purpose (exploration,
communication, calculation,
storage, decoration)
 Consider using a standard
(canonical) form when
possible
4
3
2
1
0
Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Common Problems: A Source w/in a Source
In Text
 (as cited in Author, date).
Ex: In his e-mails, Smith
argued that asynchronous line
dancing would be the next
Internet meme (as cited in
Jones, 2010).
References
 List only the SECONDARY
source (source in which you
found the quote) on your
references list.
Questions?
Don’t feel ashamed if you still have a question. No one can
memorize all of the APA rules and guidelines. Everyone needs to
look them up from time or to figure it out with someone else’s
guidance. Come visit the Writing Center for more help!