APA STYLEIn-Text Citations and Reference Lists

Gavilan College Writing Center

Presentation Overview• Introductions• APA: What and why?• Crediting Sources: What and why?• Formatting In-Text Citations• Formatting Reference Lists• Resources

APA—What and why?Different professional communities use different style guides, that include rules for crediting sources, organization, style, and formatting.

• Ask your instructor which style guide you should use.

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Guide

English Studies - Language and LiteratureForeign Language and Literatures

American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide

Social SciencesNursing

Chicago Style

Literature, history, and the artsSciencesSocial sciences

Giving Credit: Why, What, and When

Why? • Give authors credit for their ideas

• Increase credibility and transparency

• Avoid plagiarism

What? • Any information that you learned from another source including facts, statistics, opinions, theories, photographs, and charts

• EXCEPTION: Information that is common knowledge

• Barack Obama is the president of the United States.

• The Declaration of Independence was signed July 4, 1776.

When? Cite sources immediately after mentioning their information in any way (quotations, summaries, paraphrases).

Crediting Sources gives an author or resource credit for original information.

Crediting Sources

Crediting Sources includes two parts:

• In-Text Citations: These are “in-text”, meaning in body of your paper. When you present information, you briefly identify its source.

• Reference List: On a separate page at the end of your paper, you write a detailed list of the sources cited in your paper.

The in-text citations and reference list should credit the exact same sources.

IN-TEXT CITATIONS

Purpose of In-Text Citations• To acknowledge the source of the information right where

it is written• To allow the reader to look up the full reference at the end

of the paper

In-Text Citation Format• An in-text citation usually includes the following information:

• Author’s last name (no first name or initial)• Publication date (year only—even for electronic sources)• Page number (required for quotations; optional for paraphrases)

• The rest of the information about the source appears in the reference list.

In-Text Citations with Paraphrases

1. Author’s name and publication year at end of sentence

• People with bipolar disorder often have lower wages, higher unemployment, work absenteeism, reliance on workmen’s compensation, higher rates of divorce, lower levels of educational attainment, higher arrest rates, and hospitalization (Leahy, 2007).

2. Author’s name in the sentence immediately followed by year

• According to Leahy (2007), people with bipolar disorder often have lower wages, higher unemployment, work absenteeism, reliance on workmen’s compensation, higher rates of divorce, lower levels of educational attainment, higher arrest rates, and hospitalization.

In-Text Citations with Quotations (under 40 words)

1. Author’s name, year, and page number immediately following quotation

• Genres are “abstract, socially recognized ways of using language” (Hyland, 2003, p. 21).

2. Author’s name in the sentence immediately followed by year

Page number immediately following quotation

• According to Hyland (2003), genres are “abstract, socially recognized ways of using language” (p. 21).

Let’s Practice!Author’s last name: Gee

Year of publication: 2005

Page number: 8

 • Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social practices.”

• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

• Gee believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Gee’s theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

Let’s Practice!Author’s last name: Gee

Year of publication: 2005

Page number: 8

 • Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social (Gee,

2005).

• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social practices.”

• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

• Gee believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Gee’s theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

Let’s Practice!Author’s last name: Gee

Year of publication: 2005

Page number: 8

 • Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social (Gee,

2005).

• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8).

• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

• Gee believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Gee’s theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

Let’s Practice!Author’s last name: Gee

Year of publication: 2005

Page number: 8

 • Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social (Gee,

2005).

• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8).

• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8) lends support for social learning theories.

• Gee believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Gee’s theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

Let’s Practice!Author’s last name: Gee

Year of publication: 2005

Page number: 8

 • Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social (Gee,

2005).

• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8).

• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8) lends support for social learning theories.

• Gee (2005) believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Gee’s theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” lends support for social learning theories.

Let’s Practice!Author’s last name: Gee

Year of publication: 2005

Page number: 8

 • Another viewpoint is that the meaning of language is inherently social (Gee,

2005).

• Another viewpoint is that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8).

• The recent theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (Gee, 2005, p. 8) lends support for social learning theories.

• Gee (2005) believes that the meaning of language is inherently social.

• Gee’s (2005) theory that “language has meaning only in and through social practices” (p. 8) lends support for social learning theories.

In-Text Citations: Variations in AuthorBasic Author Names in Sentence

2 Authors (Verhaak & de Haan, 2007) Verhaak and de Haan (2007)

3-5 Authors

first citation(Zandt, Prior, & Kyrios, 2006)

subsequent citations(Zandt et al., 2006)

first citationZandt, Prior, and Kyrios (2006)

subsequent citationsZandt et al. (2006)

6+ Authors (Storch et al., 2006) Storch et al. (2006)

Group as Author

(University of Texas, 2007) University of Texas (2007)

No Author (“Study Finds,” 2007)(College Bound Seniors, 2008)

“Study Finds” (2007)College Bound Seniors (2008)

In-Text Citations: Other VariationsBasic Author Name(s) in Sentence

No Publication Date (Basham, n.d.) Basham (n.d.)

Multiple Pages (Gee, 2005, pp. 8-9) Gee (2007)…(pp. 8-9)

No Page Numbers (Brown, 2007, para. 6) Brown (2007)…(para. 6)

Multiple works by the same author in the same citation

(Gogel, 1990, 2006) Gogel (1990, 2006)

Multiple works by different authors in the same citation

(Minor, 1999; Shafranske & Mahoney, 1998)

N/A

In-Text Citations: Secondary Sources• Often sources cite other sources that interest you.

• If you can, locate the original material and cite the original source. You can look up the reference information in the reference list of the source you are reading.

• If you cannot easily access the original source, use:

1. Author’s name of original source in your sentence

2. The source you read in parentheses

3. Only the source you read in your reference list

In-Text Citations: Secondary Source Example

In Ferris and Hedgcock (2005) you read:• That is, not all writers need to execute direct planning strategies by

writing ideas, plans, or outlines on paper or on a computer screen (Matsuda, 2003).

In your paper you write:• According to Matsuda, not all students use written plans in

preparation for writing (as cited in Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005, p. 259).

• In your reference list you include an entry for Ferris & Hedgcock (not Matsuda).

REFERENCES

The Purpose of a Reference List• To show where you found the information you used

• To give others a reliable way of finding the same sources you used

Reference List Format

• Starts on a new page

• Title: References• Centered• No other changes to type

• ½ inch hanging indent

• Double spaced

• Alphabetized by author last name

Alphabetical OrderReference Entry

Basic: By last name

Basham, C. (n.d.). Gee, J. P. (2005).

Multiple entries by same author: Earliest first

Kaplan, R. B. (1966). Kaplan, R. B. (1988).

Different authors with same last name: By first intital

Light, L. (2008).Light, M. (2006).

No author: By title Office of institutional research. (n.d.)

Four Parts of a Reference Entry• A reference entry generally includes the following four

elements in this order:

1. Author’s name

2. Date of publication

3. Title of the work

4. Publication information

1. Author’s NameReference Entry

1 Author Gee, J. P.

2 Authors Verhaak, L., & de Haan, E.

3-7 Authors Yoshida, T., Taga, C., Matsumoto, Y., & Fukui, K.

8+ Authors Gilbert, D. G., McClernon, J. F., Rabinovich, N. E., Sugai, C., Plath, L. C., Asgaard, G., … Botros, N.

Group as Author University of Pittsburgh.

No Author Six sites meet for comprehensive anti-gang initiative conference.

2. Publication DateReference Entry

Book, Journal Article

(2005).

Magazine, Newspaper

(2008, June 5).(2008, June).(2008, June/July).(2008, Summer).

No Publication Date

(n.d.).

3. Title of WorkReference Entry

Article or Chapter Peer victimization in children with obsessive-compulsive disorder: Relations with symptoms of psychopathology.

Periodical (Journal, Newspaper, Magazine)

British Journal of Psychology.

Book Discourse analysis: Theory and method.

The history of the Supreme Court.

4. Publication InformationReference Entry

Book New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Pretoria, South Africa: Unisa.

Journal, Magazine British Journal of Psychology, 97(1), 95-114.

volume number(issue number)

Reference Entry Examples• Book• Website• Newspaper Article—print and online• Journal Article—print and online

Book

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work. Location: Publisher.

Website• Author, A. A. (Publication Year, Month Day). Title of

document. Retrieved from http://Web address of home page

Newspaper Article: Print• Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of

Newspaper, pp. x, x.

Newspaper Article: Online• Author, A. A. (Publication Year, Month Day). Title of article.

Title of Newspaper. Retrieved from http://Web address of newspaper homepage

Journal Article: Print

Author, A., & Author, B. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), x-xx.

Journal Article: Online• Do not include database retrieval date or other database

information

• Most online journals are identified with a DOI (digital object identifier) instead of a URL

• Before the DOI write: http://dx.doi.org/

• The DOI can be found on the database retrieval page or on the first page of the electronic article

Journal Article: Online

Author, A., & Author, B. (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), x-xx. http://dx.doi.org/xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Journal Article: Online without DOI• If DOI is not available, include journal homepage URL

Let’s Practice• You find an article by searching on EBSCO Host and this

is the page that comes up…

Let’s Practice• Your reference entry should look like this:

• Bickel, W. K. (2012). The emerging new science of psychopathology. Addiction, 107(10), 1738-1739. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03968.x

Resources: APA Manual (6th Edition)

Rules of Thumb A Writer’s Reference

Purdue OWL

Gavilan College Writing Center

Gavilan Library

Gavilan College Writing Center• Writing Assistants trained to guide you through citing

sources and formatting a reference list• Computers available to access research databases• Helpful advice for APA reference books and websites• Schedule an appointment or drop in• Hours: Monday thru Thursday 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Friday 8:00 AM-1:00 PM

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