Making it easy!
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Sponsored by the American Psychological
Association
 Used in Behavioral and Social Sciences
 Shows importance of currency in these
disciplines by placing the date at the beginning.
 Provides consistency in the formatting of a
research paper.
 Provides a uniform way to document the sources
used in research (Remember PLAGIARISM!!)
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Consult Prentice Hall Reference Guide, 3rd custom ed.,
chapter on Paper Preparation (Tab 2/Section 6c 1-3.).
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Consult the chapter in Prentice Hall Reference Guide on
APA Documentation (Tab 12/Section 67.).
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Consult OCLS web page for further web links:
http://www.indwes.edu/ocls/style_guide.html.
Especially the APA Guide.
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Consult the authority for APA: Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 5th ed.
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APA style utilizes in-text citations, a References page, and
allows for the addition of tables and figures. The proper
order for these elements in a paper is:
Appendixes (each on a
separate page)
 Footnotes (together on a
separate page)
 Tables (each on a separate
page)
 Figure captions (together
on a separate page)
 Figures (each on a separate
page)
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Title Page
Text of paper
References (a separate
page)
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One inch margins on
all sides.
 Font should be 10,
preferably 12 point
font, of Times New
Roman (best one to
use).
 Entire paper is only
double spaced.
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All new sections, e.g.
body of paper,
References, start on a
new page. Use page
break in WORD.
 Use formal tone,
preferably 3rd person.
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When directly quoting a source, use quotation marks, and
give the author, year, and page numbers in parentheses:
-Various scholars have stated, “ The APA writing style is used
primarily in the various disciplines of the social sciences”
(Smith & Jones, 2008, p.15) so it is advisable to follow their
example.
 NOTE: If there is no author, then use the first few words of
the title, the year, pagination.
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When quoting anything longer than 40 words, use block
formatting . See the APA Guide for an example.
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Quotations should be used sparingly.
Use quotations when the way the writer says it can
not be stated as well by paraphrasing.
 Have a purpose for your quotations, using a variety
of signal words to introduce them.
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 See the APA Guide for ideas of signal words.
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If you partially quote, be sure you have a complete
sentence.
 Wrong example: Jones (2004) asserted that APA was the
choice of writing style “is used in the social sciences”
(p.15).
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When the author is mentioned but not
directly quoted in your writing, only use the
year in parentheses (if the year also appears
in the writing, leave this out):
 As Smith and Jones (2004) explain, the APA
writing style is used predominantly in the social
sciences.
 Smith and Jones, in their 2004 work on APA, insist
that this is the style used predominantly in the
social sciences.
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When the author is not mentioned in your
writing, provide the name and year separated
by a comma:
- The APA writing style is used predominantly in the social
sciences (Smith & Jones, 2004).
NOTE: If no author is listed for a cited work, use the first few
words of the title and the year.
Example: It was shown in “The Joy of Doing Research,” (2009),
that it is important to use quality, peer-reviewed sources.
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Remember that anyone can quote.
To paraphrase successfully, you must fully
understand what you are reading.
 Rewrite the information; summarize it and even
condense it. Don’t just use a thesaurus to substitute
a few words!
 You can’t paraphrase what you don’t understand.
 Read, understand meaning, highlight important
facts, then restate in your own words. It takes
practice!!
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Acknowledges…
Argues…
Asserts…
Comments…
Concludes…
Has found that…
Maintains…
Suggests
Writes…
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These are just some of
many examples of
“signal words” to add
variety to your writing.
A more complete list is
available in the APA
Guide, available from
the OCLS APA web
page.
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In–text citations for information from web
sites include the author and creation date, if
available.
If there is no author listed, use the first few
words from the title and the date.
If there is no date listed, use (n.d.).
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It is a list of all the sources you actually cite
or quote in the body of your paper.
It is not a list of all sources consulted in your
research process.
It is a separate listing at the end of your
paper.
The page has the title of:
References
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Be sure you gather all citation information as you go
along.
 Sort your bibliography, separating out the ones
that you did not quote or paraphrase from in the
body of your paper.
 Alphabetize by author’s last name OR title, if no
author is listed (drop a, an, the).
 For more than one work by an author, arrange in
date order.
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The first line of the citation starts on the
left margin. Each following line is
indented 5 spaces. The whole page is
double spaced.
Jones, M., Jr., & Smith, J. (1997). Using APA at IWU.
Marion, IN: IWU Press.
Moe, M. (1998). Useful research strategies.
Marion, IN: IWU Press.
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LastName, Initials. (copyright date). Title of book is
always in small case and italics. City, State Postal
Code: Publisher.
LastName, Initials, & LastName, Initials. (copyright
date). Title of book: One with a subtitle. City, State
Postal Code: Publisher.
Title of book for Indiana Wesleyan University.
(Copyright date). City, State Postal Code: Publisher.
[Note that book titles are in italics and small case except for the
first word, first word after a colon and any proper names. For
common cities, do not use state codes, e.g. New York.]
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LastName, Initials. (Date). Title of the
article. Journal Title, volume#(issue#), pp#.
 Usually there is an actual date on the journal, e.g.
month/year; month/day/year. If so, use this format:
(2001); (2001, April 26).
 Use actual pagination, since you have the article in front
of you, e.g. 39-46.
 See the variations for journals, magazines, and
newspapers on p. 475.
 Note that the journal title and the volume # are in italics.
You should include the issue #, too, but not italicized, i.e.
Time, 42(5), 46-47.
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Author/producer. (Date). Title of page. Retrieved [Access date]
from [url address]
Note that each line is double spaced.
Heckman, J. W. (n.d.). APA done right. Retrieved January 4,
2009, from http://www.indwes.edu/ ~heckman.htm
Note: For urls, there is no punctuation at the end of the
citation. Give a retrieval date as the page could change.
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Articles with a Digital Object Identifier
 The DOI is an article’s unique address on the
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internet.
They are publisher supplied.
Most articles do not yet have them assigned.
The DOI will be evident in the citation, the end of
the abstract or on the 1st page of the article.
If there is no DOI, go to slide 20.
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Here is an example of how it looks in the
database:
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Here is the References list entry:
Abdel-Raouf, F. (2009). How competitive is the U.S.
manufacturing sector? Eastern Economic Journal, 35(1),
52-70. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eej.9050043
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If no DOI is identified, but you get the article from a
library database, e.g. Business Source Premier, General
Business File, Emerald Insight, etc., then cite the
database with no retrieval date.
Use this general format:
LastName, Initials. (Date of publication).
Title of article. Title of Magazine, volume #(issue #),
page numbers. Retrieved from database name.
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How it would look in the References list. It was
obtained from Business Source Premier.
Cunningham, M. G. (2008). Reflections on doing
business in China: A case study. International
Journal of Management, 25(1), 119-123. Retrieved
from Business Source Premier database.
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Some articles are available without a password and are open to
anyone to download. These are cited by using the actual URL
for the article.
Author. (Date of Article).Title of article. Title of
Journal, Vol.#(Iss. #), pp. Retrieved], from
[URL].
Hale, J. R., & Fields, D. L. (2007). Exploring servant leadership
across cultures: A study of followers in Ghana and the USA.
Leadership, 3(4), 397-417. Retrieved from
http://lea.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/3/4/397
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Also on PHRG, pp. 480-484, examples are
given for other electronic sources such as live
performances, online video recordings,
lecture notes or PowerPoint presentations,
online lecture, online broadcasts, etc.
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Take a look at PHRG, p. 502 to see how your
References page should look.
Use entire sample paper for a model of your
papers (p. 482-503).
Download the APA Guide,
http://www.indwes.edu/ocls/style_guide.html
for another sample References.
If you have further questions,
please call OCLS at
1.800.521.1848.
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APA style guide to electronic references. (2007). Washington,
D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Harris, M. (2008). Prentice Hall reference guide (3rd custom
ed.). New York: Pearson Custom Publishing.
Off Campus Library Services. (2009). APA guide. Marion, IN:
Author. Retrieved from
http://www.indwes.edu/ocls/APA/APAREferences6e.pdf
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association
(5th ed.). (2005). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological
Association.
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