APA BooT Camp
Briar Cliff University
Writing Center
Heelan Hall 050
712-279-5520
WRITING.CENTER@BRIARCLIFF.EDU
What is APA?

APA = American Psychological Association

APA regulates:
◦ Style and Formatting
◦ In-text citations and a Reference List
 Attention to detail is key to working
with APA citation!
Do I have to memorize APA rules?

Not at all! It’s more important to
know where to look for
information.
◦ The Purdue OWL is the best place for
APA.
◦ Bookmark it!
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/reso
urce/560/01/
 Note: The OWL doesn’t cover every special
case. If a student can’t find what they’re
looking for, they can always ask a Writing
Center mentor for help.
Navigating OWL

OWL’s APA section is divided into the Intext citations and the Reference citations.
◦ The references area is divided up depending
on the type of source.
◦ The In-text Citations: Author/Authors will
have most in-text citation information.

Check out the sample paper on OWL
OWL at Purdue Field Trip
APA Stylistics Basics

Point of View and Voice
◦ third person point of view
◦ active voice
Be Clear
 Be Concise
 Be Plain Spoken

In-text Citations
In-text citations direct the reader to the
references page.
 Common appearance: (Smith, 2009).
 Exceptions

◦ No author
◦ No date
In-text Citations

There are special rules for in-text citation
for multiple authors (2, 3-5, 6 and above).
• Pay special attention to 3-5 authors
In-text citations are part of the sentence,
so the period goes after (author, date).
 In-text citations don’t carry over into the
next paragraph.

References

The reference entry format depends on
source type.
◦ Electronic versions of sources should be
treated the same way.

Best Practices for creating Reference list
◦ Start with sources of the same type
◦ Alphabetize by first word in entry

Reference list is for works cited only, not
works consulted.
References

The Reference Citation always contains the
same information. Exceptions:
◦ No date
◦ No author

Last name, First Initial. (date). Title of
article. Book/Journal Title. Publication
information or issue information.
Retrieved from URL.

Periods separate each piece of information
in the reference citation.
What is one-to-one correspondence?
One-to-one correspondence means that
◦ all of the references in your reference list can
be found in the paper’s body and vice versa.

The citations and references need to
match, like puzzle pieces:
◦ In your text (Smith, 2010).
◦ Smith, E. (2010). The world according to Erin.
Smithsonian, 1(2). Retrieved from
www.erinsmitharticles.com

The highlighted items must match!
What about Citation Machines?
Many of these sites are not updated to
the newest version of APA
 These entries are easy to identify because
they have empty spots
 If students take the time to learn the
citations, they will know them for future
assignments!
 Use these with EXTREME caution!!!

Top Mistakes for In-text Citations
and References
Not including in-text citations for
everything that’s not common knowledge.
 Using the wrong format for 3-5 author
sources in the in-text citation.
 Missing an in-text citation for a source
listed in the References or vice versa.
 Using a citation machine and NOT
correcting mistakes

Questions?