Issues in Contemporary Psychology
Frank Winstan
last revised November, 2010
Some common problems with APA bibliographic citations and how to avoid them
1. The format and content required for a citation varies, depending on the nature of the
source (article from academic journal vs. book vs. magazine article, etc.). Some
information needed for one type of source is not needed (and should, in fact, not
be used) for a different type of source; e.g., you state the city of publication for a
book, but you don’t include this information for a periodical. There are a few types of
sources that will come up again and again in your academic papers. It’s well worth your
while to learn their formats well.
2. The information you need to include in an APA citation may appear in a
different form in your source material (e.g., a ProQuest header for the article), and
may include information that is not needed (and should not be included) in an
APA citation (see examples below). Learn what you need and what you don’t in
commonly used APA citations, and what to modify when necessary (e.g., changing full
first name to just the initial).
3. The most common error that I’ve been seeing recently is the failure to include
complete source information for articles found in online databases. When the
article is accessed through a database, you append a statement giving the name
of the database (and in some cases, the date of access.) You append it to the
same information (in the same format) that you would have used if you had
accessed the print version of the journal. Of particular importance is the name of the
journal. Without that information, your citation is virtually useless. (Note: If a DOI is
available for the cited document, you can use it instead of the name of the database,
and you need not include a “retrieved” date.)
Here is an example of how an academic journal article should be cited in APA format in
your References list (bibliography). Some common errors are pointed out below.
Young, A. W., Newcombe, F., Haan, E. H., Small, M. & Hay, D. (1993). Face perception
after brain injury: Selective impairments affecting identity and expression. Brain
and Behavior,116, 941–959.
1. Error with names:
Young, Andrew. W., Newcombe, Freda, Haan, Edward H., Small, Marian & Hay,
Dennis. (1993) Face perception after brain injury: Selective impairments affecting
identity and expression. Brain and Behavior,116, 941–959.
Don’t use the full first name even if you know it. APA format (for virtually all
types of sources) uses initials only.
2. Error with names:
Young, A. W. et al. (1993). Face perception after brain injury: Selective impairments
affecting identity and expression. Brain and Behavior,116, 941–959.
I know, there are a lot of names to type for this reference, but sorry!: You don’t
get to use the “et al.” shorthand in a reference list under any circumstances
anymore. Everybody (or almost everybody) gets his 15 minutes of fame here. For
one to seven authors, name all authors, separating the last two authors’ names with an
“&”. If there are more than 7 authors, name the first six, type a comma followed by 3
dots (to indicate that something is being omitted) then give the name of the last author;
e.g. for a 10-author article where James Aaronson is the lead author and
Doris R. Hay is the last-named (10th) author, the citation would appear as:
Aaronson, J., Young, A. W., Newcombe, F., Haan, E. H., Shering, L.P.,
Maas, H., ...Hay, D.R. (2003). Neurological underpinnings of schizophrenia:
A Review. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, 234-254.
Misunderstandings about the use of “et al.” to indicate multiple authors arises first, from
the fact that it was previously used under certain circumstances in the references list,
and, because you can shorten the list of authors to just the name of the senior (lead)
author followed by “et al.” in your in-text citations the second and subsequent times you
refer to a work. For example, the authors of the article I’ve been citing might be
mentioned initially in your essay as follows: “The first such study (Young, Newcombe,
Haan, Small & Hay, 1993) found that brain-injured patients...”. But later in your essay, in
referring to the same study, you could simply say, “It was also found in the Young et al.
(1993) study that repeated testing........”
Please note: When ProQuest lists hits for a search, it uses a format in which only
the first 4 authors for the article are listed (followed by “et al.” if there are more).
It’s advisable to get out of the habit of using this listing as your source for
citation information. Get your information from the article itself (preferably,
the “Page image - PDF” version).
3. Error with the date:
Young, A. W., Newcombe, F., Haan, E. H., Small, M. & Hay, D. (1993, August). Face
perception after brain injury: Selective impairments affecting identity and
expression. Brain and Behavior,116, 941–959.
Yes, the issue of Brain and Behavior in which the article appeared was published
in August. But you don’t include anything other than the year in a citation
for an academic/scientific journal (which Brain and Behavior most certainly is).
4. Error with the position of the date:
Young, A. W., Newcombe, F., Haan, E. H., Small, M. & Hay, D. Face perception after
brain injury: Selective impairments affecting identity and expression. Brain,116,
941–959 (1993).
Yes, ProQuest lists it near the end. But that’s not where it goes in an APA
citation.
5. Including information that’s not supposed to appear in the APA format citation
because you’re simply copying citation information given in another format. This is a big
problem with information sourced from ProQuest, particularly when you get the
information as part of a list of hits on your search term. This information is not in any
standard citation format. Most of the underlining is present because the underlined
names are hyperlinked. Look at the following citation. All of the highlighted items are
incorrect:
Face perception after brain injury: Selective impairments affecting identity and
expression.
Andrew W. Young, Freda Newcombe, Edward H. Haan, Marian Small, et al. Brain,
Oxford: Aug 1993. Vol.116, Iss. 4: pg. 941, 19 pgs.
See a lot of yellow highlighting? That’s because this citation bears little
relationship to APA format. Don’t copy ProQuest citations. Here are just some
of the errors:
a) all of the underlinings are inappropriate. They’re there so you can click on links
to information on the ProQuest site.
b) Article title should follow authors and year of publication, not precede this info.
c) First names should not appear; “et al.” should not have been used (see
above).
d) name of journal should be italicized, not bolded or underlined.
e) “Oxford” (the city where the journal is published) should not appear. This is
used in a book citation, not one for a journal.
f) “Aug” (the month) should not be used for academic journal (see above)
g) Don’t use “Vol” or “Iss” or “Pg” or “Pgs”. (Look at the APA format example.)
h) Give the page range (941-959), not the starting page and the number of
pages. That’s ProQuest-speak again. (BTW, the end page for the page range
can be calculated from this Proquest information by taking the start page, adding
the number of pages and subtracting 1 (941+ 19 -1=959)). But you don’t need to
do this. Look at the PDF version of the article. (You are supposed to have read
it!) You’ll see the page numbers.