THE DOCUMENTED ESSAY

APA Documentation Style

When writing a research paper, you must document everything from an outside source that you
incorporate within your text, including direct quotation, your summary of ideas, and any
paraphrased information. You must indicate the source of any appropriated material that readers
might otherwise mistake for your own.

The American Psychological Association (APA) supplies a guide to the style of citation and
documentation most commonly used in the social sciences. See the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 6th edition (2010). Referred to as an author-date method of
citation, this documentation style is primarily used in psychology, sociology, social work,
anthropology, and education courses. Other departments or instructors may require APA as well.
It is important to check with the instructor of any course to find out what style of documentation
he or she prefers.

Papers should be typed or printed from a computer on 8½ x 11 in. paper with uniform margins of
1 in. on all sides of every page. The first line of every paragraph is indented five spaces. Use one
space after all internal and concluding punctuation marks. Number all pages, including the title
page, abstract page (if required), text, and reference page(s), as well as tables, figures, and
appendices (if included). The entire manuscript, including block quotations and the References
section, should be double-spaced.

Note: In APA style, titles of books and names of journals or newspapers are italicized. Titles of
articles are neither italicized nor put in quotation marks. Only the first word of a book or article
title and the first word of a subtitle, if applicable, are capitalized.

IN-TEXT CITATION

In-text citations identify your sources and help a reader locate full bibliographic information in
your References section. A basic citation lists the last name of the author, followed by a comma
and the year in which the author published the cited information. This information is placed in
parentheses immediately following the cited material:

A number of experts now believe that cognitive development begins much earlier
than Piaget had thought (Gelman, 1978).

If the author’s name is included in your text, put the year of publication in parentheses
immediately following the author's name:

As Gelman (1978) points out, a number of experts now believe that cognitive
development begins much earlier than Piaget had thought.

Dr. Murray and Anna C. Rockowitz Writing Center, Hunter College, City University of New York 1
If you refer to a specific page or pages of a study, use the abbreviation “p.” or “pp.” preceded by
a comma:

Dean Rusk's exposure to Nazi power in Europe in the 1930s seemed to have
permanently influenced his attitude toward appeasement (Karnow, 1983, p. 179).

If the author’s name is included in your text, put page number(s) in parentheses after cited material:

Karnow (1983) maintained that Dean Rusk's exposure to Nazi power in Europe in the 1930s
“scarred his mind” (p. 179).

A quotation of 40 or more words should appear in block form without quotation marks.
Introduce the quote with a colon, and indent the entire quote five spaces. The author’s name and
the publication year follow the quote in parentheses, with no additional period. Note: The entire
quotation should be double-spaced.

At least one critic maintained that Dean Rusk’s exposure to Nazi power in Europe
in the 1930s permanently influenced his attitude toward appeasement:
Then came the moment that transformed his life and his thinking. He won a
Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. More important, his exposure to Europe in
the early 1930s, as the Nazis consolidated their power in Germany, scarred
his mind, leading him to share Acheson’s hostility to appeasement in any
form anywhere. (Karnow, 1983, p. 199)

If you are citing more than one work by the same author, make sure you give the dates for each
source:

One nuclear energy proponent for years has insisted on the importance of tight
controls for the industry (Weinberg, 1972).…He has gone so far as to call on utility
companies to insure each reactor with their own funds (Weinberg, 1977).

When you cite two or more sources by the same author from the same year, arrange the titles
alphabetically in the References section (see below) and identify each with a lowercase letter
placed after the date (1976a, 1976b, 1976c, and so on). Identify them the same way in your text.
Here the source referred to is Stephen H. Schneider’s The Genesis Strategy:

Those who advocate the “genesis strategy” would have the world store up food in
preparation for future climatic changes (Schneider, 1976b).

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If you refer to multiple works in the same citation, list the authors in alphabetical order, and
include the dates of the studies you cite. Use semi-colons to separate different sources.

Several studies (Bassuk & Gerson, 1978; Miller, 1977; Thompson, 1980) blamed
society for the plight of homeless mental patients.

When you cite a work discussed in a secondary source, identify the original work, but use the
secondary source in your in-text citation and the list of references.

Seidenberg and McClelland’s study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller,
1993)…

The corresponding entry in the References section is as follows:

Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P. & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud:
Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological
Review, 100, 589-608.

Sample In-Text Citations

A Work by Two Authors: if a source has two authors, cite them in the order in which their
names appear on the source material (not necessarily in alphabetical order). Use an ampersand
(&) in parenthetical citation but write out the word “and” if you mention the authors’ names in
your text:

Ex-mental patients released from institutions but given no follow-up care will
almost surely fail to cope with the stresses of living on their own (Bassuk & Gerson,
1978).

Bassuk and Gerson (1978) held out little hope for ex-mental patients who are
released from institutions but are given no follow-up care.

A Work by Multiple Authors: if a cited work has between three and five authors, use all the
last names in your first citation. In subsequent citations, use the first author’s name and “et al.”
which means “and others.” If a book has more than five authors, use the first author’s name and
“et al.” even in the first reference. Remember to include a period after the abbreviation (et al.):

Dr. Murray and Anna C. Rockowitz Writing Center, Hunter College, City University of New York 3
 In one study, the IQs of adopted children were found to correlate more closely with
the IQs of their biological mothers than with those of their adoptive mothers (Horn,
Loehlin, & Wellerman, 1975)….Later studies have challenged the genetic view
advanced by Horn et al. (1975) by citing, among other things, selective placement on
the part of adoption agencies.

A Work by a Corporate, Institutional, or Governmental Author: include the full

name of the identifying author (e.g., American Red Cross) in your text or in parentheses,
followed by its abbreviation, in brackets, year of publication, and page number(s), if appropriate.

There are three types of oxygen deprivation (American Red Cross, 1974).

Clearly, it is of paramount importance to stop the spread of mosquito-borne

diseases (Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 1986, p. 25).

Note: For additional citations for the same source as above, use only the abbreviation and the
date: (DHHS, 1986).

A Work with No Author Identified or a Work Listed by Title: when you cite a work
with an unknown author, such as a pamphlet or an unsigned newspaper article, identify it by full
or shortened title and date:

There are questions people can ask themselves if they suspect their drinking has
gotten out of hand (Alcoholism, 1986).

A Work in an Electronic or Audiovisual Medium: mention electronic and audiovisual

sources (television, radio, broadcast news, electronic media, etc.) in the same style as print
sources, i.e., source’s name and date of publication, transmission, broadcast, etc.

Note: For film and television programs, use the name(s) of the producer(s) or director(s) as your
source.

A Personal Communication: because they do not provide recoverable date, personal

communications, including email, discussion groups, telephone conversations, interviews, letters,
memos, etc., are generally not included in the References section at the end of your paper. In
your text, however, you should include the initial(s) as well as the surname of the person with
whom you communicated and provide as exact a date as possible:

C. G. Sherwood (personal communication, September 29, 1986) had specific

suggestions about the market in Belgium.

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THE LIST OF REFERENCES

In APA style, the references section provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve
each source cited in your text. The list of references begins on a separate page at the end of your
paper with the title References centered at the top of the page. Entries in the references section
should be listed alphabetically by author’s surname or by title if there is no author.

In your references section, give the name(s) of the author(s), followed immediately by the year
of publication in parentheses. For first and middle names, use only initials. For periodicals,
include month and date, if applicable, following the year of publication.

For books, the author and date are followed by the title, the city of publication, and the full
name of the publisher. For periodicals, the article title, name of periodical, volume, issue or
date (as appropriate), and page number(s) follow the author and date.

If you use multiple works from the same author, list each work in order of year of publication,
starting with the earliest.

Upenieks, V. (2003).

Upenieks, V. (2005).

When you cite two or more sources by the same author from the same year, arrange the titles
alphabetically in the reference list and identify each with a lowercase letter placed after the date:

Schneider, S. H. (1976a). Climate change and the world predicament: A case study for
interdisciplinary research. Boulder, CO: National Center for Atmospheric
Research.

Schneider, S. H. (1976b). The genesis strategy: Climate and global survival. New
York: Plenum Press.

One-author entries precede multiple-author entries (even if the multiple-author work was
published first):

Alleyne, R. L. (2001).

Alleyne, R. L., & Evans, A. J. (1999).

Note: The list of references section should be double-spaced. Each entry should have a hanging
indent (all lines after the first line are indented five spaces). Entries should not be numbered. Pay
close attention to the conventions for punctuating reference-list entries as shown in the examples.

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Citing Nonperiodical Print Publications

A Work by a Single Author

Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study of computer dependency. London,
England: Taylor & Francis.

A Work by Two or More Authors: for a work with two or more authors, write all authors’
names, last name first, in the order in which they appear on the source document, and separate
them with commas.

Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., & Pribram, K. H. (1960). Plans and the structure of behavior.
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

A Work by a Corporate, Institutional, or Governmental Author: use the name of the

group or organization in place of an author’s name. Provide the date of publication, the title (and
author, if known), identifying number, and publishing information.

American Red Cross. (1974). Lifesaving: Rescue and water safety. New York:
Doubleday.

Department of Health and Human Services. (1986). Mosquito control measures in Gulf
Coast states (DHHS Publication No. F 82-06000). Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office.

A Work by an Editor, Compiler, or Translator: begin with the name of the editor or
translator followed by “Ed.” or “Comp.” or “Trans.” in parentheses.

VandenBos, G. R. (Ed.). (2007). APA dictionary of psychology. Washington, DC:

American Psychological Association.

A Work with No Author Identified or a Work Listed by Title: list books, pamphlets, or
news articles by an unknown author by their full titles.

Alcoholism and you. (1986). Pearl Island: Okra Press.

Several Volumes in a Multivolume Work

Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959–1963). Psychology: A study of science (Vols. 1–6). New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill.

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Citing a Work within a Book

A Selection from a Collection or Anthology: for a selection from a book with an editor,
begin with the author, year of publication, and title of the article or chapter, followed by the word
In, the editor(s) name(s) with first and middle initials as below, Ed. or Eds. in parentheses, book
title, page numbers in parentheses, city of publication, and publisher.

Lewontin, R. C. (1976). Race and intelligence. In N. J. Block & G. Dworkin (Eds.), The
IQ controversy (pp. 78–92). New York: Pantheon.

An Entry in a Reference Work (Encyclopedia, Dictionary, or Atlas): detailed

publication information for a signed or unsigned entry is not required, except for the edition
number, if any, and the year of publication. For a signed entry, see under Electronic Media.

Melodeon. In Encyclopedia Americana (1985 ed.).

Citing Periodical Print Publications

An Article in a Print Journal, Author(s) Given: for an article paginated by volume,

italicize both the title and volume number of the journal.

Bumpus, M. F., & Rodgers, K. B. (2009). Parental knowledge and its sources: Examining
the moderating roles of family structure and race. Journal of Family Issues, 30,
1356–1378.

Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673–674.

For an article paginated by issue (e.g., each issue begins on page one), volume number is
followed by issue number in parentheses without space. Parentheses and issue number are not
italicized or underlined:

Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations.
Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10–36.

An Article in a Newspaper
Auerbach, J. D. (1986, June 22). Nuclear freeze at a crossroads. The Boston Globe, p.
A19.

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Alphabetize works with no author by the first significant word in the title (in the example below,
“New”):

New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July 15). The
Washington Post, p. A12.

Note: The abbreviations “p” and “pp” are used before page numbers of newspaper articles and
articles in edited books, but not before page numbers of articles appearing in scholarly journals.

Citing Electronic Media

Citation of electronic media follows a format similar to that for print sources. However, some
information commonly found in print sources is often unavailable online. All references should
begin with the same information that would be provided for a print source (or as much of that
information as is available). An online reference should provide a document title or description,
date of publication or update, and an address: either a digital object identifier (DOI), if one is
assigned, or a uniform resource locator (URL), using the format “Retrieved from http://...”

As with any published reference, the goals of an electronic reference are to credit the author and
to enable the reader to find the material. When citing online sources, observe the following
guidelines: (1) whenever possible, refer to specific documents within a site rather than to a home
or menu page; and (2) if you provide a URL address, check it yourself to make sure it works.

Note: Since online materials are subject to change, APA recommends providing a DOI, if
available, in place of a URL. An article’s DOI can be found either on the first page of the
electronic journal article or on the database landing page for the article. A DOI always begins
with the letters “doi” followed by a colon and a numbered address.

For an article originally published in print, include all publication information as you would for
the print version. To indicate that you used an electronic version, especially if you have reason to
believe the electronic version differs from the print version or that it may have been altered after
publication, you will need to include the DOI or URL address.

An Online Version of a Print Book

Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook: A guide to
healing, recovery, and growth [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi:10.1036
/0071393722

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An Online Work by a Corporate, Institutional, or Governmental Author

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools
(NIH Publication No. 02-2650). Retrieved from
http://www.nhibi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/asth_sch.pdf

An Entry in an Online Reference Work (Encyclopedia, Dictionary, or Atlas)

Graham, G. (2005). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of
philosophy (Fall 2007 ed.). Retrieved from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaiorism/

An Online Journal Article with DOI

Bumpus, M. F., & Rodgers, K. B. (2009). Parental knowledge and its sources: Examining
the moderating roles of family structure and race. Journal of Family Issues, 30,
1356–1378. doi: 10.1177/0192513X09334154

An Online Journal Article without DOI

Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate
between perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied
Psychology, 2(2), 38–48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap

An Online Magazine Article

Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of
research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(5), 26–29.

An Online Newspaper Article

Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

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An Online Journal Article from an Electronic Database
Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L. A. (1993).
Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of
Applied Psychology, 78, 443–449. Retrieved from PsycARTICLES database.

An Online Abstract as a Secondary Source from an Electronic Database

Hare, L. R., & O’Neill, K. (2000). Effectiveness and efficiency in small academic peer
groups. Small Group Research, 31, 24–53. Abstract retrieved from Sociological
Abstracts database. (Accession No. 200010185)

Citing Audiovisual Media

Audiovisual sources appear alphabetically in your list of references along with other sources. If
you know location and name of the distributor, they appear at the end of your citation. Identify
the medium, e.g., Motion picture, Videocassette, DVD, in brackets following the title.

A Motion Picture
Scorcese, M. (Producer), & Lonergan, K. (Writer/Director). (2000). You can count on me
[Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.

A Television Series
Miller, R. (Producer). (1989). The mind [Television series]. New York: WNET.

A Single Episode from a Television Series

Restak, R. M. (Writer), & Spielberg, S. (Director). (1989). Depression and mood
[Television series episode]. In R. Miller (Producer), The mind. New York:
WNET.
A Podcast
Van Nuys, D. (Producer). (2007, December 19). Shrink rap radio [Audio podcast]. Retrieved
from http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/

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