APA STYLE/FORMAT-6 th

EDITION

By-Dr. Narendra Kr. Shrestha

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American Psychological Association
(APA) Style/ Format-6th Edition
APA requires that information be cited in two
different ways:
• Citation in the text
• Citation in a reference list at the end of the
paper/report

The reference list should be on a new page, double

spaced, and use the hanging indent method (all
lines after the first one are indented).

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(i) Citation in the text: When the
information is quoted in your
paper/report:
•If a direct quote is less than 40 words,
incorporate it into your text and use
quotation marks.
•If a direct quote is more than 40 words,
make the quotation a free-standing
indented block of text and DO NOT use
quotation marks.

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(1) Direct Quotation with Author as Part of
the Narrative:
(a)Work by one author.
•In one developmental study (Smith, 1990),
“Children learned...” OR
•In the study by Smith (1990), “Primary school
children...”
(b) Work by two authors.
When a work has two authors cite both names
every time you reference the work in the text.
•Gould and Brown (1991) explained that Darwin used the
metaphor of the tree of life "to express the other form of
interconnectedness– genealogical rather than ecological”.
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(c) Work by three to five authors.
When a work has three to five authors cite all the
author names the first time the reference occurs and
then subsequently include only the first author
followed by et al.
For example:
• First citation: Khanal, Shrestha, and Subedi (1990),
“The ...”
• Subsequent citations: Khanal, et al. (1989), “The ...”

(d) Work by more than six authors.

• For 6 or more authors, cite only the name of the first
author followed: by et al. and the year.
• Shrestha et al. (2010), “The…”

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(2) Direct Quotation with Parenthetical
Citation.

• Darwin used the metaphor of the tree of life "to

express the other form of interconnectedness–
genealogical rather than ecological"(Gould &
Brown, 1991).

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(3) Indirect Quotation with Author as Part of the
Narrative

• LaRue (2007) identified that intellectual freedom and

patron confidentiality as two key values held historically by
libraries.

• Two or more works in the same parenthetical citation:

Citations of two or more works in the same parentheses
should be listed in the order they appear in the reference list
(i.e., alphabetically, then chronologically).

• Several studies (Jones & Powell, 1993; Peterson, 1995,

1998; Smith, 1990) suggest that...

• Elci, sener and Alpkan (2011) recommended that

organization commitment … 7
(4) Indirect Quotation with Parenthetical Citation
• Libraries historically highly value intellectual freedom
and patron confidentiality (LaRue, 2007).

• Work ethics is important in today’s business because

employee’s behavior strongly contributes to the success
of an organization in the global market ( Ali & Azim,
1995;Valentine & Barnett,2007).

• Work ethics may not have any influences on

organizational commitment (Uygyr, 2009).

• Organization commitment, has an important influence

on organizational development ( Cullen, Parboteeah,
&Victor, 2003; Kurpis, Begiri, & Helgrson, 2008;
Valentine et al, 2011). 8
Works by no identified author:

•When a resource has no named author, cite the

first few words of the reference entry (usually the
title). Use double quotation marks around the title
of an article, chapter, or Web page. Italicize the
title of a periodical, book, brochure, or report.

For example:

•The site seemed to indicate support for

homeopathic drugs (“Medical Miracles,” 2009).
•The brochure argues for homeschooling
(Education Reform, 2007).

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(ii) Citation in a reference list at the
end of the paper:
In general, references should contain the
author name, publication date, title, and
publication information. (Author, A. A.
(Year). Title of work. Location: Publisher.)
The information is obtained electronically or
online includes Digital Object Identifiers
(DOI) in the journal articles. DOI is used in
your citation; no other retrieval information
is needed. Use this format for the DOI in
references: doi: xxxxxxx
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Books
•Alexie, S. (1992). The business of fancy
dancing: Stories and poems. Brooklyn,
NY: Hang Loose Press.
•Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979).
The guide to everything and then some
more stuff. New York, NY: Macmillan.
•Gregory, G., & Parry, T. (2006).
Designing brain-compatible learning
(3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

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Online Journal ,Magazine ,Newspaper and
Report Articles:
•Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C.
(Year). Title of article. Name of Journal, xx, xxx-
xxx. doi:xxxxxxxxxx

One Author
•Williams,J.H.(2008).Employee
engagement: Improving participation
in safety. Professional Safety, 53(12),
40-45.
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Two to Seven Authors [List all
authors]
•Keller, T. E., Cusick, G. R., & Courtney,
M. E. (2007). Approaching the transition to
adulthood: Distinctive profiles of
adolescents aging out of the child welfare
system. Social Services Review, 81, 453-
484.

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• Eight or More Authors [List the first six
authors, … and the last author]

• Wolchik, S. A., West, S. G., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J.-Y.,

Coatsworth, D., Lengua, L.,...Griffin, W. A. (2000).
An experimental evaluation of theory-based mother
and mother-child programs for children of divorce.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68,
843- 856.

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Journal Article with DOI
• Paivio, A. (1975). Perceptual comparisons
through the mind's eye. Memory &
Cognition, 3, 635-647. doi:10.1037/0278-
6133.24.2.225

• Senior, B., & Swailes, S. (2007). Inside

management teams: Developing a teamwork
survey instrument. British Journal of
Management, 18, 138-153.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2006.00507.x
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Journal Article without DOI (when DOI is not
available)

• Becker, L. J., & Seligman, C. (1981). Welcome

to the energy crisis. Journal of Social Issues,
37(2), 1-7.

• Hamfi, A. G. (1981). The funny nature of

dogs. E-journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2),
38 -48. Retrieved from
http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/fdo

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• Magazine and Newspaper

• Magazine Article

• Mathews, J., Berrett, D., & Brillman, D. (2005, May

16). Other winning equations. Newsweek, 145(20),
58-59.

• Lodewijkx, H. F. M. (2001, May 23). Individual-

group continuity in cooperation and competition
under varying communication conditions. Current
Issues in Social Psychology, 6(12), 166-182.
Retrieved from http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/
crisp.6.12.htm
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• Newspaper Article with No Author and
Discontinuous Pages

•Generic Prozac debuts. (2001, August 3). The

Washington Post, pp. E1, E4.

•Becker, E. (2001, August 27). Prairie farmers

reap conservation's rewards. The New York
Times.Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

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Encyclopedia Articles

•Brislin, R. W. (1984). Cross-cultural psychology. In R. J.

Corsini (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 319-
327). New York, NY: Wiley.

•Developmental genetics. (2005). In Cambridge

encyclopedia of child development. Retrieved from http://0-
www.credoreference.com.library. muhlenberg.edu:80/
Entry/cupchilddev/developmental genetics s.com

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Technical and Research Reports (often with
corporate authors)

•Hershey Foods Corporation. (2001, March

15). 2001 Annual Report. Retrieved from
http://www.hersheysannualreport.com/2000/i
ndex.htm

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Website with no author or date of publication
•Census data revisited. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9,
2009, from Harvard, Psychology of Population
website, http://harvard.edu/data/index.php
• GVU's 10th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved
July10,2010, from http://www
.cc.gatech.edu/user_surveys/ survey-1998-10/

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