How to Use APA FORMAT

APA Structure• Unlike MLA, your heading will not go on the same page

as your essay. Instead it will have its own title page.• The APA manual does not provide specifics for how to

organize your title page, so you should always follow your instructor’s requirements.

• The title page should contain the title of the paper in the center of the page, and then your name, class, instructor’s name and date on the bottom of the page.

• Include a short version of the title and page number flush right at the top of the page of every page. You will number the title as Roman numeral i. All other pages will have Arabic numbers.

EXAMPLE OF TITLE PAGEi

MLA vs APA

• Other than the title page, the main difference between MLA format and APA format is the way sources are cited and documented.

The following slides will show you how citations work with APA format.

APA CITATIONS• Once you find good research, you must properly cite

- or document - this source.• Make sure to write this information down once you

find a good source so that you don’t lose it.• The next few slides will just provide information for

the basic sources.• There are many, many rules in the APA manual.

These are just the basics. For clarification, consult Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference.

• Rules for documenting sources in APA format will be found on pages 433-446.

• Rules for in-text citations in APA format will be found on pages 427-431.

BASIC CITATIONSBOOK

Author, A. T. (Year of publication). Title of work. City of Publication: Publisher.

Calfee, R. C. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. New York: American Psychological Association.

Note: APA style dictates that authors are named last name followed by initials; publication year goes between parentheses, followed by a period.

PERIODICAL

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55(2), 893-896.

Note: The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the title are capitalized. Do not put the title of the article in quotation marks. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized.

WEBSITESAuthor, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication).

Title of article. Title of Website. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Smyth, A. M., Parker, A. L., & Pease, D. L. (2002, March 15). A study of enjoyment of peas. Journal of Abnormal Eating.. Retrieved from

http://www.articlehomepage.com/full/url/

• Note: Date is written as year first, month and then date.

DATABASES

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, (issue number),page

range. doi (digital object identifier) #

Holiday, R.E., & Hayes, B.K. (2001). Dissociating automatic and intentional processes in children’s eyewitness memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 75(1): 1-42. doi: 10.1006/jecp.1999.2521

Howard, K.R. (2007, Nov. 10). Childhood overweight: Parental perceptions and readiness for change. The Journal of School

Nursing, 23(2),73-79. Retrieved from PsycINFO database. (2007-05057-003).

• Note: If there is no DOI, include the name of the database and the document number assigned by the database, if any.

Film/ Documentary

Last, A. T. (Director). (Year of release). Title of work. [Motion picture]. Country: Name of the studio.

Spurlock, M. (Director). (2004). Super size me. [Motion picture]. United States: WGBH.

USE IN-TEXT CITATIONS:– Remember… In-text citations are in the body of

your paper. When incorporating information, quotes, or ideas from a credible source into a paragraph or sentence, you must cite the source that you have used.

– The following slides include a few ways on how to incorporate in-text citations in APA format:

In- Text Citations Continued…1. If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include

the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by "p."). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

• For example:

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199).

Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?

2. If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses directly after the quotation, even if the sentence hasn’t ended.

For example:

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

In- Text Citations Continued…

IN-TEXT CITATIONS CONT…

3. If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.)

For example: According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.

4. How to cite long quotes: Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

For example: Jones's (1998) study found the following:

Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199)

IN-TEXT CITATIONS CONT…

The reference page will look exactly as the works cited– Alphabetical order– Hanging indents

Use a REFERENCE PAGE at the end(This is the same as the Works Cited Page, but it

is called “Reference Page”)

Sample of a Reference page