Graduation
APA Style Sample
Overview
American Psychological Association (APA) style is primarily used in the social science disciplines. It is
formatted like Modern Language Association (MLA), and shows many similarities, but is unique in several
key points. This paper discusses the APA in detail.
Discussion
APA uses parenthetical (or in-text) citations within sentences, but rather than indicating the author's name
and page number, APA includes author's name and date of publication. The page number, represented with a
p. or a pp., is only added to the citation when using a direct quote (not a summary or paraphrase). If the
author's name is mentioned in the sentence, then place the date of publication in parentheses directly after
the name. If the name is not mentioned include the author's name and date in parentheses at the end of the
source material. And, if you use a direct quote, place the page number after the publication date within the
parentheses.
Examples
Note the difference between the following three examples:
Terrence (1999) has presented poignant examples from 150 interviews. However, it has been pointed out
that the research was conducted in a selective, highly biased, way. (Strong & Porter, 1998) All of the
interviewees have been called “exceptions to the norm” (Strong & Porter, 1998, p. 5).
Note the first example paraphrases an author that is named in the sentence, the second example paraphrases
authors that are not named in the sentence, and the third example provides a direct quote (thus the inclusion
of the page numbers) but also does not identify the authors within the sentence. If the authors were identified
within the sentence in the third example, the authors' names would be followed by the year of publication
and only the page numbers would be in the parentheses at the end of the quote.
Format
Finally, the bibliographic page in APA style differs from MLA, what APA calls the Reference page. You
will notice a few immediate differences from the MLA Works Cited format. With APA you include the
initial of the author's first name rather than the complete name, the publication date immediately follows the
author's name in parentheses, and titles of articles are not surrounded with quotation marks. The lists are still
alphabetized by author's last name (or title in the absence of an author) and the first line is flush left while
subsequent lines in the same entry are indented in (approximately 5 spaces or one tab). A good resource to
help you with referencing is Notre Dame’s referencing guide at http://library.nd.edu.au/referencing/apa#slg-box-3040351. There is also a summary downloadable help document available at:
http://library.nd.edu.au/ld.php?content_id=8053459 In APA Style, you include a reference list rather than a
bibliography with your paper (APA, Bibliography Versus Reference List). A reference list consists of all
sources cited in the text of a paper whereas a bibliography may include resources that were consulted but not
cited in the text as well as an annotated description of each one.
Summary
The School of Education, University of Notre Dame Australia, uses the APA 6th referencing style for all
written documents. In addition to in text referencing and the reference list there are a number of formatting
requirements to ensure your essay complies with APA standards. Get to know the APA 6th.
References
APA.Bibliography versus reference list. Retrieved from http://www.apastyle.org/learn/quick-guide-onreferences.aspx#Bibliography
Weintraub, D.Graduation [photograph]. Retrieved from
http://quest.eb.com/search/139_1920759/1/139_1920759/cite
Terrence, H. S. (1999, November 1). Student Success in Community Colleges. Oregonian, p. A6.
Strong, R. L., Porter, M. (1998), Grammatical Combinations. In S. Parker & K. Gibson (Eds.), Language
and Literacy (p 540-578) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.