An APA Job Aid (updated Jan, 2011)
Note: APA 6th begins to ask for DOI of an article. Ignore it. It’s insane!
The second line of All references are indented, One Tab Space.
Retrieval date or no date?
Do not include retrieval dates unless the source material may change over time.
APA changes (6th edition): http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/24/
On citing online resources: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
APA Headings
Level Format
1
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase
Headings
2
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase
Heading
3
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a
period.
4
Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading
with a period.
5
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period.
Following are examples of common citation structures with which you should be familiar. But
this job aid IS ABSOLUTELY NOT DESIGNED to be the sole resource on which you rely. Our
website has a direct link to inexpensive but highly informatively APA guides you might want
to own.
Keep in mind that all of the examples are FICTITIOUS! As important, page references
refer to the FIFTH edition of the APA guide (not the 6th).
Magazine—as opposed to a peer-reviewed journal (#6, pg. 241):
Cleveland, J. A. (2003, November). The comprehensive exam: What does it really assess?
Training & Development, 17, 115-118.
Journal, two authors (#2, pg. 240):
Stevenson, B. A., & Russell, A. J. (2004). Working with the tired student who just submitted
the comprehensive exam. Journal of Educational Research, 55(2), 18-36.
Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations. Consulting Psychology
Journal: Practice and Research, 45, 10-36.
[Note: Comma after first author's initial. Period at the end of the reference.]
Caveat:
When an article has been authored by more than 6 people (egads!), list the first six
authors ... and then use et al. For example:
Stevenson, B. A., Russell, A. J., Cramer, L., Dolt, B. E., Shuster, E., Lewis, T. J., et al.
(2004). Working with the tired student who just submitted the comprehensive exam.
Journal of Educational Research, 55(2), 18-36.
Newspaper article, no author (#9, pg. 242):
School police plan for increased safety (2005, September 19). The San Diego Union-Tribune,
p. B6.
Newspaper article (ONLINE/no author; retrieved via a search of the archives) (#89, pg.
279):
School police plan for increased safety (2005, September 19). The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Retrieved from http://www.signonsandiego.com/ [note: APA 6th no longer asks for the
date of retrieval]
Letter to the editor/newspaper (#11, pg. 243)
Smith, L. V. (2005, October 25). How to write a good comps question: Help for professors
lacking creativity. [Letter to the editor]. The Los Angeles Times, p. C27.
Message posted to an online forum or discussion group (#86, pg. 278)
Dearborn, S. B. (2005, September 2). FEMA only adds to Louisiana’s misery. [Msg 12]. Message
posted to American Evaluation Association Discussion List (EvalTalk) at
EVALTALK@BAMA.UA.EDU
Book, edited (#25, pg. 249)
Gómez, V. R., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The United States in film: A sweep of the past 60 years. New
York: Longman.
Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological interventions with minority
youth. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Book (single author) that's in its third edition (#27, pg. 249)
Gómez, V. R., Jr. (1999). The United States in film: A sweep of the past 60 years (3rd ed.).
Augusta, GA: Longman.
Book, no author or editor ... like a dictionary (#26, pg. 249)
Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (200th ed.). Springfield, IL: Merriam-Webster.
[You'll want to review #30 as well ... pg. 250.]
Chapter in an edited book, one author/two editors (#34, pg. 252 )
Brazil, L. L. (1998). What it's like to take the comprehensive exam. In H. E. Green & B. L.
Jones (Eds.), My life as a test-taker (pp. 21-42). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Masaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In H.L. Pick, Jr., P. van den
Broek, & D.C. Knill (Eds.), Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84). Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
Electronic book retrieved from database:
Karch, A.M. (2009). Lippincott's nursing drug guide. [Books@OVID version]. Retrieved from
http://www.ovid.com/site/products/books_landing.jsp
[Date, year are no longer needed. No period at the end]
ERIC Report ... should be able to use this for a Digest as well (#43, pg. 257)
Osborne, K. A., & Kittner, B. (2001). Let's take the comps together (ERIC Digest No. 15).
Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. (ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. ED425672)
Unpublished paper, presented at a meeting/conference (#52, pg. 260)
Susans, J. B. (1994, February). Early results on home schooling. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of Computer Using Educators, Sacramento, CA.
Unpublished dissertation (#56, pg. 262)
Willey, T. E. (1997). Thank goodness I finished graduate school: I gained 50 pounds in the
process. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona.
Article in an Internet-only journal (#72, pg. 272)
Tobey, S. R. (2002). I need a vacation; I deserve one. Journal of the Exhausted, 35. Retrieved
from http://www.coe.edu/abcdef/index.htm
Sillick, T.J., & Schutte, N.S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate between
perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology,
2(2), 38-48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap
Article in an electronic version of a journal: (#71, pg. 271)
Tobey, S. R. (2002). I need a vacation; I deserve one [Electronic version]. Journal of the
Exhausted, 35, 17-34.
Article in a journal you’ve downloaded from a database such as WilsonWeb or EBSCO ...
where page #s are provided in the citation, but may not be within the download itself
(#90, pg. 279)
Tobey, S. R. (2002). I need a vacation; I deserve one. Journal of the Exhausted, 35, 17-34.
Retrieved from Academic Search Elite (EBSCO) database.
Document available on a university or department website ... messy, but this should work
(#78, pg. 274)
Cintas, B. E. (2001). TE 925 -- Helping the young child: Week 8. Retrieved November 2, 2004,
from San Diego State University, College of Education, School of Teacher Education
website: http://coe.sdsu.edu/lmnop/index.html
Stand-alone document, no author, no date ... SO, probably not your best choice of a
reference! (#77, pg. 274)
Technology user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved August 25, 2000, from
http://www.abc.com/users/user_survey/survey.htm
FINALLY, APA 5 does a fine job of covering ...
•
how you incorporate secondary sources into your narrative ... and then handle them in
your reference list -- on pg.247. This is the one that will get you in trouble; I
ENCOURAGE you to review this section before submitting ANY paper to us for
grading.
•
how to reference personal communications within the narrative and what constitutes a
personal communication -- on pg. 214.
•
when it is or isn’t necessary to cite the database from which an article is downloaded ...
(see pgs 271 and 278). APA does recognize that today's materials are available from
multiple venues.
Major Changes in APA 6th (from 5th)
1) Book or article with 3-7 authors [include all authors]--Used to be 6 Authors.
(Pratkanis, Breckler, & Greenwald, 1989) first citation
(Pratkanis et al., 1989)subsequent citations
--First time in-text, list all authors; afterwards, First Author et al., year).
For the reference list: List by last names and initials; commas separate author names, while the last author name
is preceded again by ampersand.
Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S. (1993). There's more to self-esteem than
whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65,
1190-1204.
More Than Seven Authors {List the 1st 6 author, & list the last author}
Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H. (2009).
Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical Communication 57, 323-335.
2) Web page with no author listed:
New child vaccine gets funding boost. (2001). Retrieved March 21, 2001, from
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_13178.asp
[Still need retrieval Date and Year]
Census data revisited. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Harvard, Psychology of
Population website, http://harvard.edu/data/index.php
Blog post:
Lincoln, D. S. (2009, January 23). The likeness and sameness of the ones in the middle.
[Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.blogspace.com/lincolnworld/2009/1/23.php
A Special Section for Proceedings of Conferences & Symposia
1) Conference paper as part of a book of proceedings:
Capitalize the name of the conference/symposium.
Barlow, D. H., Chorpita, B. F., & Turovsky, J. (1996). Fear, panic, anxiety, and disorders of emotion.
In R. Dienstbier (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 43. Perspectives on anxiety,
panic, and fear (pp. 251-328). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Shobhadevi, Y. J., & Bidarakoppa, G. S. (1994). Possession phenomena: As a coping behaviour.
In G. Davidson (Ed.), Applying Psychology: Lessons from Asia-Oceania (pp. 83-95). Carlton, Vic.,
Australia: Australian Psychological Society.
Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995). Proceedings from CSCL '95: The First
International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum. [From http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/09/]
2) Proceedings published regularly (format similar to periodicals): LNCS is published
regularly.
Wassenaar, L. I., & Hobson, K. A. (1998). Natal origins of migratory monarch butterflies at wintering
colonies in Mexico: New isotopic evidence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ,
USA, 95, 15436-15439.
Meetings and Symposia
According to APA (p. 206, 7.04), Proceedings of meetings and symposia published in a book
format should be formatted as a book citation. Proceedings of meetings and symposia published
in journals (or regularly) should be formatted as journal article citations. When the contribution or paper
has not been formally published, then APA provides a template to use for formatting.
#39 Author. (Year,). Title of paper. In Editor (first initial, last name) (Ed.) Title of conference
proceedings (page numbers). Place of publication: Publisher.
the place of printing as the place of publication
3).Unpublished symposium:
Title of paper. In E. E. Chairperson (Chair), Title of symposium. Symposium conducted at the
meeting of Organization Name, Location.
Martins, J. R. (2004, April). Working with the terminally ill: An integrated theoretical model. In J.
R. Tunon (Chair), Cooperative health care in the 21st century. Symposium conducted at the meeting
of the American Counseling Association World Conference, San Diego, CA.
• The month is included after the year for symposia, papers, and poster sessions that have not been formally
published. APA manual, (p. 206, 7.04).
Work Discussed in a Secondary Source
List the source the work was discussed in:
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and paralleldistributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608.
NOTE: Give the secondary source in the references list; in the text, name the original work, and give a
citation for the secondary source. For example, if Seidenberg and McClelland's work is cited in Coltheart
et al. and you did not read the original work, list the Coltheart et al. reference in the References. In the
text, use the following citation:
In Seidenberg and McClelland's study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993), ...
Citing From a Webpage (Include
While citing from a webpage, you may not be able to find a page number to refer to, i.e., there is no
pagination. Instead, refer to the paragraph number from which you are citing where you would usually
insert a page number by using “para.” instead of “p.”. Be sure to include the author’s/s’ name/s and year,
too, if applicable.
“The Purdue University Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) assist clients in their
development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online
participation, and community engagement” (Purdue OWL, 2010, “Mission,” para. 1).
“Mission” is used here to refer to the section in which this quote was found.