APA Citations 101 Basic Rules 1. Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a

particular work unless the work has more than six authors. If the work has more than six authors, list the first six authors and then use et al. after the sixth author's name to indicate the rest of the authors.

2. Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work. 3. If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or multiple-author

references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest.

4. When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

5. Capitalize all major words in journal titles. 6. Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals. 7. Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles

or essays in edited collections. Books Elements of a reference to an entire book Authors or editors, (Date of publication). Book title. (book edition) Publication information Examples of references to entire books Beck, C. A. J., & Sales. B. D. (2001). Family mediation: Facts, myths, and future prospects (3rd ed.).

Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Book, no author or editor Book title (Alphabetize books with no author or editor by the first significant word in the title), (Publication date), Publication information. Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. Hint: In text, you should use a few words of the title, or the whole title if it is short, in place of an author

name in the citation: (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate, 1993).

Elements of a reference to an article or chapter in an edited book Author (Publication date). Article or chapter title. Book editors. Book title. (Article page number).

Publication information Example: Massaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In H. L. Pick, P.

van den Broek, & D. C. Knill (Eds.) Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

Brochure, corporate author Authors. (Publication date). Title. (edition) [Brochure]. Publication information: Author Research and Training Center on Independent Living. (1993). Guidelines for reporting and writing about

people with disabilities (4th ed.) [Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: Author. Brochure, no author Brochure title (Alphabetize books with no author or editor by the first significant word in the title), (Publication date), Publication information Teaching effective parenting styles (2004) [Brochure]. New York, MA: Person Inc. Hint: Format references to brochures in the same way as those to entire books. In brackets, identify the

publication as a brochure. Report from a university Author. (Date). Report title, University, Name of department or organization that produce the report Example: Broadhurst, R. G., & Maller, R. A. (1991) Sex offending and recidivism (Tech. Rep. No.3). Nedlands,

Western Australis: University of Western Australia, Crime Research Centre. Hint: If the name of the state, province, or country is included in the name of the university, do not repeat

the state, province, or country in the publisher location. Report from a private organization Name of organization. (published date). Article title. Publishing information: Author Example: Employee Benefit Research Institute. (1992, February). Sources of health insurance and characteristics

of the uninsured (Issue Brief No. 123). Washington, DC: Author.

Web-based article Author (Posting date). Article title. Retrieved date, from website name: URL. Example: Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Retrieved October 8, 1997, from Psi Phi:

Bradley's Science Fiction Club Website: http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/503r.html.

If you cannot find a date for the article, use (nd). for “no date.” Citing a complete website Name of the website sponsor or creator. Name of the website. Website: URL iVillage Total Health Network. Pregnancy and parenting for today’s mom—iVillage.

http://parenting.ivillage.com/. Article in an Internet-only newsletter Authors, (Posting Date). Article title. Newsletter title, Volume(Number_) Retrieved date, from URL. Example: Gluekauf, R. K., Whitton, J. Baxter, & Hudon, M. (1998, July). Video counseling for families of rural

teens with epilepsy – Project update. Telehealth News, 2(2). Retrieved June 6, 2000, from http://www.telehealth.net/newsletter_4a.htm#1

Hint: Use the complete publication date on the article. There are no page numbers needed. Volume and

issue numbers can be omitted if they are not available for your article. URL should link directly to the article.

Report from an organization, available on organization website Name of organization (Posting date). Report Title. Retrieved date, from URL. Example: Canarie, Inc. (1997, September 27). Towards a Canadian health IWAY: Vision, opportunities and future

steps. Retrieved November 8, 2000, from http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/pdf/health/healthvision.doc.