Running head: APA HELP GUIDE
APA Help Guide
September 2015
Authors should use this resource as a supplemental resource to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. This guide
does not replace the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
© 2015 Royal Roads University
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Table of Contents
Formatting Guidelines .....................................................................................................................7
Alignment ....................................................................................................................................7
Bulleted/Numbered Lists .............................................................................................................7
Font ..............................................................................................................................................7
Footnotes .....................................................................................................................................7
Headings ......................................................................................................................................8
Indentation ...................................................................................................................................9
Line-Spacing ...............................................................................................................................9
Margins ........................................................................................................................................9
Page Numbers..............................................................................................................................9
Running Head ..............................................................................................................................9
Tables and Figures Formatting ..................................................................................................10
Title Page ...................................................................................................................................10
More Information ......................................................................................................................11
Quoting and Paraphrasing ..............................................................................................................11
Adding Words or Emphasis ......................................................................................................11
Block Quotations .......................................................................................................................11
Changes in Quotations Requiring No Explanation ...................................................................12
Incorrect Grammar or Spelling within a Quotation...................................................................12
Omitting Words in Quotations ..................................................................................................12
Paraphrasing ..............................................................................................................................12
Quotation Punctuation ...............................................................................................................13
More Information ......................................................................................................................13
In-Text Citations ............................................................................................................................13
One Work by One Author .........................................................................................................14
Corporate or Group Author .......................................................................................................14
Two Authors ..............................................................................................................................15
Three to Five Authors................................................................................................................15
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Six or More Authors ..................................................................................................................15
Two or More Works by the Same Author and in the Same Publication Year ..........................15
Multi-Author Citation................................................................................................................16
Citing an Ebook Without Page Numbers ..................................................................................16
Secondary Source Citations.......................................................................................................16
Works by Anonymous or Without a Listed Author ..................................................................16
Personal Communication (e.g., RRU discussion forum postings, email, interviews) ..............17
Citing Results of Original Research ..........................................................................................17
More Information ......................................................................................................................18
References: General Information ...................................................................................................18
Alphabetize References .............................................................................................................19
Author and Editor Information ..................................................................................................19
Publication Date ........................................................................................................................19
Title Information .......................................................................................................................20
Publication Information .............................................................................................................20
More Information ......................................................................................................................21
Reference Examples.......................................................................................................................21
Periodicals .................................................................................................................................21
Periodicals – General Reference Format ...................................................................................22
Journal Article with DOI ...........................................................................................................22
Journal Article without DOI ......................................................................................................22
Daily Newspaper Article, No Author ........................................................................................23
Online Newspaper Article .........................................................................................................23
Non-Periodicals .........................................................................................................................23
Entire Book, Print Version ........................................................................................................24
Book Chapter, Print Version .....................................................................................................24
Ebook.........................................................................................................................................24
Ebook Chapter ...........................................................................................................................25
Entry in an Online Reference Work, No Author or Editor .......................................................26
Technical and Research Reports ...............................................................................................26
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Authored Report from a Governmental Department .................................................................26
Report from a Private Organization ..........................................................................................26
Report from a Private Organization, Available on Organization Website ................................26
Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis from a Database Service ..........................................27
Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis ..........................................................................................27
Master’s Thesis, from a University Outside the United States, Retrieved from a Commercial
Database ....................................................................................................................................27
Specific Section of Website ......................................................................................................27
Specific Section of Website, No Identified Author, No Date ...................................................27
Information Retrieved from a Website, e.g., blog postings, press releases, tweets ..................27
Entire Website (Not a Specific Document) ...............................................................................28
Online Video (e.g., YouTube or Ted Talks) .............................................................................28
Canadian Legislative Documents ..............................................................................................28
More Information ......................................................................................................................28
APA Style Resources .....................................................................................................................28
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List of Figures
Figure 1. The hanging indent option used to format a paragraph. ............................................... 19
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APA Help Guide
The goal of the APA Help Guide is to provide an introductory overview of the APA Style
rules. While the APA Help Guide reflects the information provided in the Publication Manual of
the American Psychological Association (2010) (hereafter referred to as the APA manual), this
guide does not replace the APA manual. Rather, the guide aims to provide sufficient information
for authors to start using the rules, as well as show where authors can find more information. If
you have a question that is not answered within this document, it is your responsibility to search
out the information you need. For more information on APA Style, please refer to the APA Style
section of the Writing Centre website. To search FAQs on APA Style or contact the Writing
Centre for assistance, please visit WriteAnswers. This document has been formatted according to
the APA Style rules, but in the interests of shortening the overall length of the document, 1.5-line
spacing has been used instead of the standard double-spacing.
The APA Style rules usually align with the expectations of RRU programs, but if your
instructor or your thesis/major paper has a different requirement, your program’s requirements
take precedence over the APA Style rules. If your program’s requirement is that you follow the
APA Style rules, then the program’s rules and those of the APA manual are the same thing. If
you are unsure of what is expected in your work, please check with your instructor or supervisor.
The APA Help Guide has been organized into the same sections as those provided within
the Writing Centre’s Introduction to APA Style video: formatting, quoting and paraphrasing, intext citations, and references. For easy navigation through the document, please click the
“Navigation Pane” option under View in Microsoft Word:
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Formatting Guidelines
Alignment
Align the text in the body of your paper flush against the left margin with a ragged right
margin (e.g., the alignment of this page). Do not use justified alignment (when the text is equally
spread across the width of the page) (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 229).
Bulleted/Numbered Lists
When considering the use of a bulleted or numbered list in your academic writing, please
take a moment to consider if the list will encourage understanding of the topic, or if the list is a
technique to avoid using full sentences to explain a concept. As you might imagine, the latter
isn’t a valid reason to use a bulleted or numbered list in a formal academic paper because
bulleted lists do not generally include analysis, but instead only provide surface-level
information. Since the focus of academic writing is to demonstrate your critical thinking, you
will more fully communicate your ideas by writing complete sentences. However, should you
choose to use bullets to separate three or more elements within a sentence, “capitalize and
punctuate the list as if it were a complete sentence” (American Psychological Association, 2010,
p. 64). Please refer to pages 63 and 64 for more information about using bulleted and numbered
paragraphs or lists in your writing.
Font
Serif fonts (Times New Roman, Century Schoolbook etc.) are preferred over sans serif
fonts (Arial, Comic Sans etc.). The preferred font within APA style is Times New Roman in a 12
point font (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 228).
Footnotes
The APA divides footnotes into two categories: content or copyright permission
footnotes. Content footnotes “supplement or amplify substantive information in the text; they
should not include complicated, irrelevant, or nonessential information. Because they can be
distracting to readers, such footnotes should be included only if they strengthen the discussion”
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 37). The APA guide further notes that, “in most
cases, an author integrates an article best by presenting important information in the text, not in a
footnote” (p. 38).
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Use a copyright footnote to indicate that you have received permission from a publisher
to reproduce another author’s table or figure in your text. Attaining copyright permission is only
required for documents that will be published outside of RRU (e.g. major research project or
thesis). For assistance with attaining copyright permission, please contact the RRU Copyright
Office. For the correct wording for a copyright permission footnote, please refer to page 38 in the
APA manual.
Headings
Section headings help to give structure to your document and allow your reader to
understand the levels of organization within your paper:
Levels of heading establish the hierarchy of sections via format or appearance. All topics
of equal importance have the same level of heading throughout a manuscript. For
example, in a multiexperiment paper, the headings for the Method and Results sections in
Experiment 1 should be the same level as the headings for the Method and Results
sections in Experiment 2.
Avoid having only one subsection heading and subsection within a section, just as
you would in an outline. Use at least two subsection headings within any given section,
or use none. (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 62)
Please see below for the five levels of headings and their respective formatting:
Centred, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading (1)
Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading (2)
Indented, boldface, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (3)
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (4)
Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (5)
(p. 62)
When using paragraph headings, begin your paragraph text on the same line after the heading.
Use Word styles to format your headings, and format them consistently within each level
throughout the entire document. Use the levels sequentially; that is, use heading one for your top
level of heading, heading two for your next level of heading, and so forth. For example:
Literature Review
Definitions
Historical perspective
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Pre-1700s.
Modern history. (Sentence text starts on same line as the heading)
Indentation
Indent each line of a new paragraph one tab space, which should be set at 1.27 cm or ½
inch (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 229).
Line-Spacing
Unless directed otherwise by an instructor or a program handbook, double-space
“between all text lines of the manuscript. Double-space after every line in the title, headings,
footnotes, quotations, references, and figure captions” (American Psychological Association,
2010, p. 229).
Margins
For regular assignments, format margins to 2.5 cm or one inch at the top, bottom, and on
both sides of the text (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 229).
Page Numbers
Place all page numbers in the top right-hand corner in the document header. Include your
title page within the total page count; however, do not provide a number on the title page. Use
Arabic numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3) throughout the document, and continue the page numbers
sequentially to the end of the report, including all appendices.
Running Head
The running head is an abbreviated title that is printed at the top of the pages of a
published article to identify the article for readers. The running head should be a
maximum of 50 characters, counting letters, punctuation, and spaces between words. It
should appear flush in all uppercase letters at the top of the title page and all subsequent
pages. (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 229)
In this document, you can see the running head in the top left corner of each page. Note that the
running head has a different format on the title page than on the other pages. For another
example, please see the APA’s sample papers. Please also see Aligning the running head and
page numbers for instructions on how to create the running head.
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Tables and Figures Formatting
Present tables and figures according to the rules provided in the APA manual. Please see
below for more information about formatting tables and figures, and refer to the APA manual for
detailed instructions.
Tables. Please refer to pages 127-150 of the APA manual for rules for formatting tables.

Tables may be single- or double-spaced, depending on what is best for readability
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 141)

Include a table title (p. 133), table headings (pp. 133-137), the table body (pp. 137138), and a table note (general, specific, probability) (pp. 138-141)

Limit the use of ruling, or lines, “to those that are necessary for clarity” (p. 141).

Using tables from another source in a thesis or major project requires copyright
permission; note the granted permission in the table note (see p. 38).

See pages 129-149 for sample tables

See page 150 for a table checklist
Figures. Please see pages 150-167 of the APA manual for the rules for formatting figures.

Figures are any type of illustration other than a table, including graphs, charts, maps,
drawings, and photographs (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 151)

See pages 152-156 for the standards for figures

Legend and caption required (p. 158-159)

o
“Figure legend should be positioned within the borders of the figure” (p. 159)
o
Italicize “Figure x.” that precedes the caption but not the caption text (p. 159)
Lettering in a figure should be in a simple typeface (e.g., Arial), and should be no
smaller than 8 points and no larger than 14 points (p. 161)

Using figures from another copyrighted source in a thesis or major project requires
copyright permission; give credit in the figure caption (p. 167)

See pages 152-166 for sample figures

See page 167 for a figure checklist
Title Page
Instructors may have individual preferences for title page content, so use the title page
approved by your instructor. The title page may include, but not be limited to, the “title, running
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head, author byline, [and] institutional affiliation” (American Psychological Association, 2010,
p. 229). For your thesis or major project, check with each of your supervisors and sponsors who
are listed on your title page to see what academic degrees they would like listed after their name.
For information regarding creating an effective title for a paper, see page 23 in the APA manual.
More Information

Formatting (3:04 section of the Introduction to APA Style video)

APA Style Formatting Checklist

Search WriteAnswers by keyword or see the APA Formatting topic within
WriteAnswers.
Quoting and Paraphrasing
Quoting from another source involves integrating words or phrases taken directly from
another author’s work. In order to avoid plagiarizing material, be sure to enclose short quotations
(fewer than 40 words) within double quotation marks and properly cite the source material (see
In-text Citations within this document). Format a quotation of 40 words or more as a block
quotation; see “Block quotations” within this section, and page 170 in the APA manual for more
information.
Adding Words or Emphasis
To insert material in a quotation, “use brackets, not parentheses” (American
Psychological Association, 2010, p. 173). To “emphasize a word or words in a quotation,
italicize the words or words. Immediately after the italicized words, insert within brackets the
words emphasis added, that is, [emphasis added]” (p. 173). For example, “They [the judges]
were convinced that the swimmer had missed the two-handed [emphasis added] turn.”
Block Quotations
A quotation 40 words or more in length must be formatted as a block quotation
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 171). Do not use quotation marks, and indent the
quotation 1.27 cm or one-half inch from the left margin (i.e. the same position as a new
paragraph) (p. 171). When a block quotation exceeds one paragraph, indent the first line of each
paragraph a further 1.27 cm or one-half inch (p. 171). If there is a quotation within the block
quotation, use double quotation marks to indicate the quotation (p. 92). The parenthetical citation
should follow the last punctuation mark in the quote, and as with all quotations, the author, year,
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and location reference (e.g., page or paragraph number) must be provided. Double-space the
entire quotation (p. 171). Please see the block quotation under Running Head for a sample block
quotation.
Changes in Quotations Requiring No Explanation
In order to better integrate your quotation into your text, you can change the
capitalization of the first letter of the first word without indicating that you changed the text
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 172). As well, the closing punctuation mark at
the end of a quoted sentence may also be changed, and single and double can quotation marks be
exchanged, where appropriate (p. 172). Note all other changes according to APA rules. Please
refer to page 172 for more information.
Incorrect Grammar or Spelling within a Quotation
If “incorrect spelling, grammar, or punctuation in the source might confuse readers, insert
the word sic, italicized and bracketed, immediately after the error in the quotation” (American
Psychological Association, 2010, p. 172). For example, “they made they're [sic] lunches.”
Omitting Words in Quotations
If you remove words from the middle of quotation, use three spaced ellipsis points (. . .)
to indicate the change from the original quotation (American Psychological Association, 2010, p.
172). If you remove text from the end of a sentence but continue quoting from the following
sentence, use four spaced ellipsis points (. . . .) to indicate the removal of material from between
the sentences (pp. 172-173). Start your quotation at the point where the text is relevant; ellipses
are not necessary at the beginning or end of a quotation (p. 173).
Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing refers to summarizing or presenting another author’s work in your own
words. Accordingly, quotation marks are not necessary around the paraphrased text, but it is
important that the text is significantly different from the original; simply rearranging words or
changing a couple of words is not sufficient to qualify as paraphrasing. When preparing the
citation, “you are encouraged to provide a page or paragraph number, especially when it would
help an interested reader locate the relevant passage in a long or complex text” (American
Psychological Association, 2010, p. 171).
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Quotation Punctuation
For a quotation of 39 words or fewer in the text, place the sentence punctuation after the
closing bracket of the reference: “A terrible storm started last night as I took the dog for our
nightly walk” (Jamieson, 1999, p. 12). For a block quotation, the closing punctuation appears
before the reference citation. See the block quotation under Running Head in this document for
an example.
More Information

Quoting and paraphrasing (2:11 section of the Introduction to APA Style video)

Quoting, Summarizing, and Paraphrasing

Search WriteAnswers by keyword or see the Quotations topic within WriteAnswers
In-Text Citations
An in-text citation provides sourcing information about quoted or paraphrased text. The
purpose of the citation is to indicate that the preceding information originated with someone else
and to give your reader sufficient information that they can then find the corresponding entry in
your reference list. Please note that, “if the quotation appears in mid-sentence, end the passage
with quotation marks, cite the source in parentheses immediately after the quotation marks, and
continue the sentence” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 171). The same approach
would also apply to paraphrased information. The standard format for a citation is (Author’s last
name/corporate or group author, year of publication/copyright, location reference). For a printed
resource or a document in PDF format, the location reference will be a page number. For
electronic resources that are not paginated, use a paragraph number (e.g. para. 4) or “if the
document includes headings and neither paragraph nor page numbers are visible, cite the heading
and the number of the paragraph following it” (p. 172). For example: (Government of Canada,
1968, p. 5), (Bell, 2008, para. 7), or (Jones, 2006, Recommendations section, para. 4). For more
information, please see page 177 in the APA manual for a chart that compares the basic citation
styles, as well as the information provided below. For information on how to create a citation
when source information such as the author name or date is missing, please see “Writing in-text
citations in APA Style”.
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When presenting information in a paragraph, you may find that you’re citing repeatedly
from the same resource. While APA style doesn’t use ibid., you can use a shortened citation that
provides only the page number after the first full citation, as long as you don’t introduce another
resource into the paragraph or begin a new paragraph. For more information and examples,
please see page 174 in the APA manual, Section 6.04 (“One Work by One Author”).
One Work by One Author
When citing a resource by one author, provide the last name of the author and the date of
publication at the appropriate point. To decide the placement of the citation, “if the name of the
author appears as part of the narrative…cite only the year of publication in parentheses.
Otherwise, place both the name and the year, separated by a comma, in parentheses” (p. 174).
For example, “According the APA (2010), …” (p. 4), or “cite only the year of publication in
parentheses” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 174).
Corporate or Group Author
You may use a corporate or group author name in place of a person’s name. When using
a source that uses an abbreviation as its title, you must spell out the full title in the first citation
of that source and insert the abbreviation in parentheses after the full title. Regarding whether to
abbreviate the title of the author,
the names of groups that serve as authors. . . are usually spelled out each time they appear
in a text citation. The names of some group authors are spelled out in the first citation and
abbreviated thereafter. In deciding whether to abbreviate the name of a group author, use
the general rule that you need to give enough information in the text citation for the
reader to locate the entry in the reference list without difficulty. If the name is long and
cumbersome and if the abbreviation is familiar or readily understandable, you may
abbreviate the name in the second and subsequent citations. If the name is short or the
abbreviations would not be readily understandable, write out the name each time it
occurs. (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 176)
Use the full name of the author in the reference list. See page 176 in the APA manual for more
information.
First citation: (Royal Roads University (RRU), 2001)
Second and following citations: (RRU, 2001)
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Reference list entry:
Royal Roads University. (2001). The university. Retrieved from
http://www.royalroads.ca/about-rru/the-university/
Two Authors
If a work has two authors, insert an ampersand (&) between the authors’ names in the
citation. Cite both authors every time the resource is referenced (American Psychological
Association, 2010, p. 175). For example, (Green & Doble, 1988, p. 34).
Three to Five Authors
Cite all the authors in the first reference citation, but “in subsequent citations, include
only the surname of the first author followed by et al. (not italicized and with a period after al)”
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 175).
First citation of source: The study concluded that the sky is not actually blue (Smith, Robertson,
& White, 1999, p. 14).
Second citation of source: Smith et al. (1999) further concluded that clouds are not actually white
(p. 16).
Reference list entry:
Smith, A., Robertson, B., & White, C. (1999). What colour is your sky? Victoria, Canada:
Authors.
Six or More Authors
For documents that have six or more authors, “cite only the surname of the first author
followed by et al. … and the year for the first and subsequent citations” (American Psychological
Association, 2010, p. 175). If you have two references that shorten to the same form, please refer
to page 175 in the APA manual for instructions on the proper citation format. Please refer to
page 198 in the APA manual for a sample reference list entry with more than six authors.
Two or More Works by the Same Author and in the Same Publication Year
To distinguish between works by the same author with the same publication date, use the
suffixes a, b, c, etc. after the year (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 178). This
format must also be used in the corresponding references. To determine which resource gets
what suffix, order the resources alphabetically by the title of the article (excluding "a" or "the").
The first resource would be (2013a), the second resource would be (2013b), etc. You can append
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the lowercase letters to n.d. as well: n.d.-a, n.d.-b. In your in-text citations, please make sure
that you're using the same lower-case letter as you did in your references. For example, (Royal
Roads University, n.d.-a, para. 3) and (Royal Roads University, n.d.-b, para. 2) would
correspond to the following references:
Royal Roads University. (n.d.-a). Education & technology. Retrieved
from http://www.royalroads.ca/prospective-students/programs/education-technology
Royal Roads University. (n.d.-b). Humanitarian studies. Retrieved
from http://www.royalroads.ca/prospective-students/programs/humanitarian-studies
Multi-Author Citation
Use a semi-colon between authors in a multi-author citation; listing of authors must be in
alphabetical order: (Raise the Dam, 1988; Roy, 1999; Smart & Weston, 2001) (p. 178).
Citing an Ebook Without Page Numbers
Citing from an ebook can be a bit tricky because some ebooks don't have page numbers.
Please see “Ebook” and “How do you cite an e-book (e.g., Kindle Book)?” for information and
examples of how to cite an ebook.
Secondary Source Citations
When referencing a secondary source, name the text where you found the information
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 178). For example, if you quote Souper’s text,
which you found in Green’s book, you should reference Green because you read Green’s book:
“Souper (as cited in Green, 1999) notes that…”. Please note that it is always best to work with
original research, so if, for example, Souper’s study is important to your study, read Souper’s
original work so that you can derive your own conclusions, rather than relying on Green’s
interpretation. If you need help finding primary sources, please contact the RRU librarians.
In the reference list, provide the author of the secondary text that you read, not the
primary author (i.e. reference Green). Do not list the primary source (e.g. Souper) in your
reference list unless you directly refer to it elsewhere in your text.
Works by Anonymous or Without a Listed Author
If your document was authored by “Anonymous”, instead of the author’s last name, cite
“Anonymous” in the citation (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 177). For example,
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(Anonymous, 2005, p. 42). “Anonymous” would also appear in the author field in the reference
list.
If the work you are referencing does not name an author, you can instead use the first few
words of the title (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 176). Enclose the title of an
article or chapter in double quotation marks, and italicize the title of all other resource types (p.
176). For example, “the current reservoir capacity is insufficient for the water use needs of the
community” (Raise the Dam, 1988, p. 12), or as stated in Raise the Dam (1988), “the current
reservoir capacity is insufficient for the water use needs of the community” (p. 12). The
reference list entry is as follows:
Raise the Dam Higher. (1998). Sooke, Canada: Concerned Sooke Community Members
Coalition.
Personal Communication (e.g., RRU discussion forum postings, email, interviews)
Personal communication (e.g., a phone call, conversation, interview, email, lecture, nonarchived discussion group posting) does not provide recoverable data; therefore, the resource is
only cited within the text but not in the reference list (American Psychological Association,
2010, p. 179). When citing personal communication, provide the first initial and last name of
your contact, “personal communication”, and the date the communication took place. It is
unnecessary to specify the type of communication within your citation. For example, (J.
Greenwood, personal communication, January 15, 2004), or J. Greenwood (personal
communication, January 15, 2004).
Citing Results of Original Research
If you’re writing up the results of your original research for your major project or thesis,
please check with your academic supervisor to see how he or she would prefer that you present
quoted or paraphrased information taken from your research. The usual approach is that a
citation isn’t necessary; rather, please provide sufficient information within the text so that your
reader can tell that the information came from your original research. A citation isn’t necessary
since the information is a product of your original and as yet unpublished research. For example,
“In response to the first survey question, Participant A noted that, ‘insert response here’, whereas
Participant B stated that, ‘insert statement here’”. If you have promised anonymity to your
research subjects in your ethical review, please make sure that you use pseudonyms or otherwise
APA HELP GUIDE
18
mask your participants’ identity when you provide the attribution to the quoted or paraphrased
information.
More Information

Introduction to APA Style video
-
In-text citations (6:01)
-
Personal communication (3:08)
-
Secondary source citations (1:47)

APA Style Citations Checklist

Search WriteAnswers by keyword or see the APA In-Text Citations topic within
WriteAnswers
References: General Information
When formatting a document according to APA style, include a reference list rather than
a bibliography or a works cited page. Remember that all the reference list entries must be
formatted according to APA rules, and all recoverable resources cited in the text must be
included in the reference list. Likewise, all resources listed in the reference page must be cited
within the text.
Unless your program or instructor directs you to do otherwise, your references should be
double-spaced (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 180) and the title of the page
should be “References” in regular font without bolding or underlining. If only one reference
appears on the page, the title should be “Reference”. Format each reference with a hanging
indent, which means that the first line of each reference entry is aligned flush with the left
margin and each subsequent line is indented 1.27 cm or 0.5 inches (p. 180). The text must be
able to wrap naturally; do not hit “enter” at the end of each line of information. To format a
hanging indent, use the appropriate path for your version of Microsoft Word to access the
Paragraph format options, and choose the “hanging indent” option.
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Choose “Hanging” for
indent style.
Figure 1. The hanging indent option used to format a paragraph.
Alphabetize References
Alphabetize your references by the last name of the author (American Psychological
Association, 2010, p. 181). You may encounter situations where you are unsure of how to order
your references; please refer to pages 181-183 in the APA manual for more information and
examples.
Author and Editor Information
Please refer to page 184 in the APA manual for detailed instructions on presenting
authorial information.
Publication Date
In general, “give in parentheses the year the work was published” (American
Psychological Association, 2010, p. 185). Please refer to page 185 in the APA manual for more
information regarding presenting the publication date of resources, including magazines,
newsletters, and newspapers, as well as in-press publications and papers and posters presented at
meetings. If it’s appropriate to provide the full date of publication, the order of information in the
is (year, Month day) without any abbreviations or suffixes: (2013, October 31). For resources
where no date is available, use (n.d.), which stands for “no date” (p. 185).
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Title Information
In an article or chapter title, “capitalize only the first word of the title and of the subtitle,
if any, and any proper nouns; do not italicize the title or place quotations marks around it. Finish
the element with a period” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 185). In a periodical
title (e.g., journals), “give the periodical title in full, in uppercase and lowercase letters. Italicize
the name of the periodical” (p. 185). In a non-periodical title (e.g., books and reports), “capitalize
only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns; italicize the title”
(p. 185). For materials found on a web page, use the formatting outlined above. For example, the
title of an article would use sentence case but wouldn’t be italicized; the title of a report would be
presented using sentence case but would be italicized (see “How do you reference a web page
that lists no author?”). For more information about formatting more complicated titles (e.g.,
edition or volume number) and other non-routine information, please refer to pages 185-186 in
the APA manual.
Publication Information
Provide the italicized volume number after the periodical title (American Psychological
Association, 2010, p. 186). Only provide an issue number “along with the volume number if the
journal is paginated separately by issue…. Give the issue number in parentheses immediately
after the volume number; do not italicize it. Give inclusive page numbers on which the cited
material appears” (p. 186).
When referencing books and reports (non-periodicals), “give the location (city and state
or, if outside the United States, city and country) where the publisher is located as noted on the
title page” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 186). If two or more locations are
provided, note the first location in your reference list (p. 187), and “use a colon after the
location” (p. 187).
When providing the publisher name, be as brief as possible: “Write out the names of
associations, corporations, and university presses, but omit superfluous terms, such as
Publishers, Co., and Inc…. Retain the words Books and Press” (American Psychological
Association, 2010, p. 187).
Please see pages 186-187 in the APA manual for more detailed information about
presenting publication information.
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More Information

References (11:33 section of the Introduction to APA Style video)

APA Style References Checklist

Search WriteAnswers by keyword or see the APA References topic within WriteAnswers
Reference Examples
For detailed information on how to reference authors, publication dates, titles, and
publication information, and electronic sources and locator information, please refer to pages
184-192 of the APA manual. See the examples below for some common resource types, but if
you do not see your resource type, please look at the comprehensive index on pages 193-198 in
the APA guide and/or refer to pages 198-224 in the manual. For assistance with all reference
types, please refer to WriteAnswers.
Periodicals
A periodical is anything that is published on a regular, predictable schedule, such as a
journal, a report from an annual conference, or a corporate annual report. For examples of many
types of periodical references, please see pages 198-202 of the APA manual. The primary
method used by the APA manual to identify the retrieval location of electronic periodical articles
is the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) system. A DOI “is a unique alphanumeric string assigned
by a registration agency (the International DOI Foundation) to identify content and provide a
persistent link to its location on the Internet” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p.
189). The DOI may “be hidden under a button labeled Article, Crossref, PubMed, or another
full-text vendor name” (p. 189) when you retrieve the article from one of RRU’s electronic
databases. Click on the button to see the DOI. If a DOI is available for an article, no other
retrieval information is required; however, if the article hasn’t been assigned a DOI but was
retrieved from a password-protected database, provide the name of the database instead of a
DOI. For more information on DOIs, please view the short video here. To check if your resource
has a DOI, use this search tool: http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/. To check your entire
reference list for available DOIs, give this tool a try: http://www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/.
You’ll need to sign up for that function, but it’s free. If you’re unsure whether you should be
providing a DOI or URL, please see this flowchart for help. Finally, “do not include retrieval
dates unless the source material may change over time (e.g., Wikis)” (p. 192).
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Periodicals – General Reference Format
Author, A.A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx, pppp. doi: xxxxxxxxx
Please refer to page 198 for more information regarding referencing periodicals.
Journal Article with DOI
Godfrey, D. (2005). Adapting historical citations to APA style. Journal of Broadcasting &
Electronic Media, 49(4), 544-547. doi: 10.1207/s15506878jobem4904_15
OR
Godfrey, D. (2005). Adapting historical citations to APA style. Journal of Broadcasting &
Electronic Media, 49(4), 544-547. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem4904_15

See page 198, e.g. #1, of the APA manual.

In this example, “49” is the volume number, and “(4)” is the issue number of the journal.
As per APA rules, “if each issue of a journal begins on page 1, give the issue number in
parentheses immediately after the volume number” (American Psychological
Association, 2010, p. 198).

In-text citation: (Godfrey, 2005, p. X)

CrossRef, which is one of the organizations that assigns DOIs to resources, recently
switched the format for DOIs to include http://dx.doi.org/ before the identifier (HumePratuch, 2014, para. 4) to "insure that [the DOI] resolves into a working link" (para. 5).
To reflect this shift while also allowing for a period of adjustment to the new approach,
the APA is allowing either DOI format in a reference. See "What is a DOI and how is it
used in APA style?" in WriteAnswers for more information.
Journal Article without DOI
Cuddy, C. (2002). Demystifying APA Style. Orthopaedic Nursing, 21(5), 35-42. Retrieved from
https://www.ebscohost.com/academic/academic-search-premier
OR
Cuddy, C. (2002). Demystifying APA style. Orthopaedic Nursing, 21(5), 35-42. Retrieved from
the Academic Search Premier database.

In-text citation: (Cuddy, 2002, p. X)
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23
The standard APA Style approach to referencing resources without DOIs from a
subscription-based database is to provide the database’s home page URL after the
“Retrieved from” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 191). However, if you
accessed a subscription-based database by going through the RRU Library’s website,
rather than directly from that database’s home page, you had to log in to gain that access.
The requirement to log in means providing the database’s home page URL isn’t a useful
step for RRU students, and providing a direct URL to the resource via the Library's
access isn’t useful to anyone outside the RRU community. Therefore, to simplify the
process of creating references, students can provide either the home page URL for the
database or name the database as shown above. This advice is based on the American
Psychological Association's (2009) DOI and URL flowchart.

See p. 200, e.g. #9, of the APA manual.
Daily Newspaper Article, No Author
New drug helps Alzheimer patients. (2002, October 30). The Times Colonist, p. A2.

In text, “use a short title (or the full title if it is short) enclosed in quotation marks for the
parenthetical citation” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 200). For example:
(“New Drug”, 2002).

See p. 200, e.g. #10, of the APA manual.
Online Newspaper Article
Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

“Give the URLs of the home page when the online version of the article is available by
search to avoid nonworking URLs” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 201).

See pages 200-201, eg. #11, of the APA manual.

In-text citation: (Brody, 2007, para. X)
Non-Periodicals
A non-periodical is a resource that is a unique resource, such as a book or audio-visual
media such as a movie. Please see pages 202-210 of the APA manual for more information.
Entire book. For more information, please see page 202 in the APA manual.
Author, A. A. (year). Title of work. Location: Publisher.
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Author, A. A. (year). Title of work. Retrieved from http://www.xxxxx
Author, A. A. (year). Title of work. doi:xxxx OR http://dx.doi.org/xxxxx
Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (year). Title of work. Location: Publisher.
Chapter in a book or entry in a reference book. For more information, please see
pages 202-203 in the APA manual.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C.
Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Location: Publisher.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C.
Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Retrieved from http://www.xxxxxx
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title of chapter or entry. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C.
Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). doi:xxxxxxx OR http://dx.doi.org/xxxxx
Entry in a reference book with no byline. Please see page 203 in the APA manual for
more information.
Title of entry. (year). In A. Editor (Ed.), Title of reference work (xx ed., Vol. xx, pp. xxx-xxx).
Location: Publisher.
Title of entry. (year). In Title of reference work (xx ed., Vol. xx). Retrieved from
http://www.xxxx
Entire Book, Print Version
Fforde, J. (2001). The Eyre affair. London, England: New English Library.

See page 203, e.g. #18 of the APA manual.

In-text citation: (Fforde, 2001, p. X)
Book Chapter, Print Version
Maasing, X. (1982). Foreign affairs in Canada. In J. D. Sampson & M.M. Millstone (Eds.),
International trade Canada (pp. 1009-1020). Boston, MA: Oxford University Press.

See page 204, e.g. #25 of the APA manual.

In-text citation: (Maasing, 1982, p. X)
Ebook
Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from
Amazon.com
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Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for
talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). Retrieved from
http://www.books24x7.com/books24x7.asp
OR
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for
talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). Retrieved from the Books24x7 database.

Keep in mind that, "if the book was read or acquired through an online library (e.g.,
Google Books, ebrary, NetLibrary) and not on an e-reader device, omit the bracketed
information from the reference” (Lee, 2011, para. 2). Therefore, if you accessed the
ebook through the RRU Library’s subscription to an online database, such as Books24x7
or ebrary, you don’t need to note the version of the book after the title of the resource in
the reference.

See “Journal Article with DOI” for information regarding how electronic retrieval details
should be presented for resources with assigned DOIs.

See “Journal Article without DOI” for information regarding how electronic retrieval
details should be presented for resources that don’t have DOIs.

See “How do you cite an e-book (e.g., Kindle Book)?” for more information on
formatting an ebook in-text citation or reference

First in-text citation: (Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, & Switzler, 2012, Chapter 2,
Dialogue)

Subsequent in-text citation: (Patterson et al., 2012, Chapter 9, How to choose)
Ebook Chapter
Rogers, K. (2009). Leadership giftedness: Is it innate or can it be developed?. In L. Shavinina
(Ed.), International handbook on giftedness (pp. 633-645). Houten, Netherlands: Springer
Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4020-6162-2_31

See “Ebook” and “How do you cite an e-book (e.g., Kindle Book)?” for information and
examples on formatting an ebook reference and in-text citations

In-text citation: (Rogers, 2009, p. X)
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Entry in an Online Reference Work, No Author or Editor
Heuristic. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/heuristic

See page 205, e.g. #30, in the APA manual.

In-text citation: (Heuristic, n.d.)
Technical and Research Reports
Author, A. A. (date). Title of work (Report No. xxx). Location: Publisher.

“For reports retrieved online, identify the publisher as part of the retrieval statement
unless the publisher has been identified as the author: Retrieved from Agency name
website: http://www.xxxx” (American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 205).
Authored Report from a Governmental Department
Milko, R., Dickson, L., Elliot, R., & Donaldson, G. (2003). Wings over water: Canada's
waterbird conservation plan (Catalogue no.: CW66-219/2003). Ottawa, Canada:
Canadian Wildlife Service.

First in-text citation: (Milko, Dickson, Elliot & Donaldson, 2003, p. X)

Subsequent citations: (Milko et al, 2003, p. X)
Report from a Private Organization
Employee Reform Office. (1988). Sources of unrest in the private sector (Issue Brief No. 344).
Victoria, Canada: Author.

“Use this form for issue briefs, working papers, and other corporate documents”
(American Psychological Association, 2010, p. 206). Use the appropriate document
number where the “issue brief number” is listed in the example above.

See page 206, e.g. #35, in the APA manual.

In-text citation: (Employee Reform Office, 1988, p. X)
Report from a Private Organization, Available on Organization Website
Imperial Oil Limited. (2006). Energy leadership: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Retrieved
from http://www.esso.ca/Canada-English/Files/Investors/2006_AR.pdf

In-text citation: (Imperial Oil Limited, 2006, para. X)
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Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis from a Database Service
Author, A. A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis (Doctoral dissertation or
master’s thesis). Retrieved from Name of database. (Accession or Order No.)

In-text citation: (Author, year, p. X)

See pages 207-208 in the APA manual
Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis
Author, A. A. (year). Title of doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis. (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation or master’s thesis). Name of Institution, Location.

In-text citation: (Author, year, p. X)
Master’s Thesis, from a University Outside the United States, Retrieved from a
Commercial Database
Aspirot, S. (2004). Academic coaches and leadership (Master’s thesis, Royal Roads University,
Victoria, Canada). Available from Proquest Dissertations and Theses database.
(Publication No. AAT MQ93716)

See page 207 in the APA manual.

In-text citation: (Aspirot, 2004, p. X)
Specific Section of Website
Royal Roads University. (2013). Create a preliminary document plan. Retrieved from
http://library.royalroads.ca/writing-centre/writing-essay-start-here/create-preliminarydocument-plan

In-text citation: (Royal Roads University, 2013, para. X)
Specific Section of Website, No Identified Author, No Date
Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://management.about.com/od/leadership/Leadership.htm

In-text citation: (“Leadership”, n.d., para. X)
Information Retrieved from a Website, e.g., blog postings, press releases, tweets
Please see “How to cite something you found on a website in APA Style” for more
information. Note that as per “When do you include a retrieval date in a citation?”, including a
retrieval date in the reference is only necessary when the source material may change over time
(e.g., wiki).
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Entire Website (Not a Specific Document)
Cite the website in the text. For example, “Royal Roads University has a many great
pictures on the university’s website (http://www.royalroads.ca/about-rru/life-at-rru/hatleypark/image-gallery-02.htm)”. Refer to “How do you cite an entire website (but not a specific
document on that site)? for more information regarding this type of citation.
Online Video (e.g., YouTube or Ted Talks)
Creator of video (e.g. Company/individual). (copyright year). Title of video. Retrieved from URL

In-text citation: (Creator of video, year, time of quoted material within video e.g. 1:25)
Canadian Legislative Documents
Appendix 7.1 of the APA manual explains that legal materials are referenced in a
different manner than what is provided in the APA manual. Appendix 7.1 provides the rules for
referencing American documents, but to cite the Canadian versions (e.g. House of Commons
proceedings (Hansard), Parliamentary committees, bills, statutes), please refer to Citing
Canadian statutes, cases, and legislation to be directed to resources and examples. Please note
that the Canadian Guide to Legal Citation (7th edition) uses footnotes rather than in-text
citations.
More Information

References (11:33 section of the Introduction to APA Style video)

APA Style References Checklist

Search WriteAnswers by keyword or see the APA References topic within WriteAnswers
APA Style Resources
APA Style (Royal Roads University)
APA Style Blog (American Psychological Association)
APA Style citations checklist (Royal Roads University)
APA Style formatting checklist (Royal Roads University)
APA Style references checklist (Royal Roads University)
Introduction to APA Style [Video file]
APA HELP GUIDE
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.) (American
Psychological Association)
29
APA HELP GUIDE
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References
American Psychological Association. (2009). DOI and URL flowchart. Retrieved from
http://blog.apastyle.org/files/doi-and-url-flowchart-8.pdf
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Hume-Pratch, J. (2014, July 25). How to use the new DOI format in APA Style [Blog post].
Retrieved from http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2014/07/how-to-use-the-new-doi-formatin-apa-style.html
Lee, C. (2011, June 3). How do you cite an e-book (e.g., Kindle book)? [Blog post]. Retrieved
from http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2011/06/how-do-you-cite-an-e-book.html