USING APA CITATION

STYLE IN ACADEMIC
DOCUMENTS
DOCUMENT FORMAT AND CITATION RULES
 WHAT IS APA FORMAT

• APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources
within the social sciences, such as:
• Psychology, Linguistics, Sociology, Economics, and Criminology
• Business
• Nursing
• It establishes the standards of written communication concerning:
• the organization of content,
• writing style,
• citing references and
• Preparing a manuscript for publication in certain disciplines.
 GENERAL RULES

• Your essay should have the following criteria:

• Typed,
• Double-spaced,
• 1" margins on all sides,
• 12 pt. Times New Roman font,
• A page header at the top of every page. To create a page header, insert page
numbers flush right. Then, type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left
using all capital letters.
 4 SECTIONS OF YOUR PAPER

• There are four major components of APA paper, which are

• The Title Page,
• Abstract,
• Main Body and
• References.
 TITLE PAGE

• The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name,
and the institutional affiliation.
• Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half
of the page. APA recommends that your title should be no more than 12
words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words
that serve no purpose.
 TITLE PAGE: 2

• Authors’ name: Beneath the title, type the author's name: first name,
middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).
• Institutional affiliation: Beneath the author's name, type
the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where
the author(s) conducted their research.
 ABSTRACT

• On the first line of the abstract page, center the word “Abstract” (no bold,
formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation marks).
• Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your
research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research
topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and
conclusions.You may also include possible implications of your research and future
work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single
paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150 and 250 words.
MAIN BODY

• Double-spaced
• 1margins on all the sides
• 12 pt. Times New Romans
• Page header is at the top of the page.
 APA HEADINGS:

• APA Style uses a unique headings system to separate and classify paper sections.
There are 5 heading levels in APA.
Level Format
1 Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
2 Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
3 Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text
after the period.
4 Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin
body text after the period.
5 Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the
period.
 EXAMPLE: 1

Method (Level 1)
Site of Study (Level 2)
Participant Population (Level 2)
Teachers. (Level 3)
Students. (Level 3)
 EXAMPLE: 2

Results (Level 1)
Spatial Ability (Level 2)
Test one. (Level 3)
Teachers with experience. (Level 4)
Teachers in training. (Level 4)
Test two. (Level 3)
Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)
 IN-TEXT CITATION

• In-text citations provides the author’s last name and the year of publication. For
direct quotations and some paraphrases, a page number is also given. Then, a full
list of the references used in the text with all their publication information will be
provided at the end of the paper under the entry Reference.
• APA style requires to use the past tense or the present perfect tense of the
reporting verb. E.g. Smith (2008) reported, Smith (2005) has shown that
 AN EXAMPLE OF IN-TEXT CITATION

• Thompson and Hunston (2000: 5) defined evaluation as “the expression of the

speaker or writer’s attitude or stance towards, viewpoint on, or feelings about
the entities or propositions that he or she is talking about”.
• Thompson, G. and Hunston, S. (2000) Evaluation: An introduction. In:
Hunston, S. and Thompson, G. (eds) Evaluation in Text: Authorial stance and
the construction of discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1-27.
 IN-TEXT CITATION: QUOTATION

• Using long quotation in text should be done when it is necessary, such as quoting
long definitions or a unique description of a certain issue. Otherwise, paraphrasing
information from other sources is preferable.
• Your quote should not be necessary long or full sentences. It can be just a clause
or a phrase. E.g.
As researchers continue to face a number of unknowns about obesity, it may be
helpful to envision treating the disorder, as Yanovski and Yanovski (2009) suggested, “
in the same manner as any other chronic disease” (p. 592).
 BASIC FORMAT FOR A QUOTATION: 1

• Method 1: Introduce the quotation with the author’s last name, followed by
the year of publication in parenthesis.

• Crister (2003) noted that despite growing numbers of overweight

Americans, many health care providers still “remain either in ignorance or
outright denial about the health danger to the poor and the young” (p. 5).
 BASIC FORMAT FOR A QUOTATION: 2

• Method 2: if the author’s name is not in the single phrase, place the name, the
year and the page no. after the quotation. E.g.

It is noted that despite growing numbers of overweight Americans Many

health care providers still “remain either in ignorance or outright denial
about the health danger to the poor and the young” (Critser, 2003, p. 5).
 BASIC FORMAT FOR A SUMMARY OR A
PARAPHRASE
• If you choose to paraphrase the quote or summarize it, you can either introduce
the author’s name and the year in a phrase before the material or in a parenthesis
following the material. A page no. is not required, but include one to help the reader.

Yorkey (1974) explained that the chief characteristics of an Arab's written English is
his infrequent use of subordination and the overuse of co-ordinate constructions.
This is likely due to the Arabic WA 'and', which is exceedingly used as a sentence-
connector (p. 14).
 LONG QUOTATION

• When quoting more than forty word, you need to follow these rules.
1- set off the quotation by indenting it five spaces from the left margin.
2- Introduce the quotation by an informative sentence, usually followed by
a colon.
3- Don’t use quotation marks because the indentation tells the reader
that words are cited from external source.
 EXAMPLE

• Yanovaki (2002) have described earlier treatments of obesity that focused on

behavior modification:
With the advent of behavioral treatments for obesity in the 1960s, habits
would lead to sustained weight loss, and that time-limited programs would
produce permanent changes in weight. Modifications for the treatment of
obesity were proposed as short-term adjuncts for patients, who would
presumably then acquire the skills necessary to continue lose weight, reach
“ideal body weight” and maintain a reduced weight indenfinitely (p. 592).
 CITING A WORK WITH TWO AUTHORS

• If the cited information belongs to a work of two authors, name the two
authors in the same phrase or the parenthesis whenever you cite their
work. In parenthesis use &; in the phrase use “and”. E.g.

• According to Sothern and Gordon (2003), “ Environmental factors

may contribute as much as 80% to the childhood obesity” (p. 104).
• Obese children often engage in limited physical activity ( Sothern &
Gordon, 2003, p. 104).
 A WORK WITH THREE OR FIVE AUTHORS

• If the cited information is mentioned for the first time in the text, you
need to identify their names in the single phrase or parenthesis. E.g.
• In 2003, Berkowitz, Wadden, Tershakovec and Cronquist concluded “
Sibutramine….must be carefully monitored in adolescents, as in adults, to
control increases in [blood pressure] and plus rate” (p. 1811).
 A WORK WITH THREE OR FIVE AUTHORS: 2

• In subsequent citations, use the first author’s name followed by “et al.”
in either the single phrase or in the parenthesis.
• As Berkowitz et al. (2003) advised “ Until more extensive safety and
efficacy data are available, ….weight-loss medication should be used
only on an experimental basis for adolescents” (p. 1811).
 TWO OR MORE WORKS IN THE SAME PARENTHESIS

• When the cited information is mentioned by more two or more works, put
them inside parenthesis in alphabetical order and arranged from oldest to
newest. E.g.
• Research into the impact of reflective writing demonstrates its role in
promoting apprentices’ professional identity and discovering their critical
voice (Fund, Court and Kramarski, 2002; Shapiro, Kasman and Shafer,
2006; Wong and Trollope-Kumar, 2014).
 PRACTICE

• Use the list of references, given below, to cite the sources in the texts.
• Hilts (2002) claimed that the medication was related to the deaths of 19 people. [Source A]
• Gibson, Sturgess and Bates (1989) have claimed that in fact elephants do not fear cheese at all, but
instead fear the mice which are attracted to cheese. (p.125). [Source B page 125]
• References
• Hilts, P. J. (2002, March 20). Petition asks for removal of diet drug from market. The New York Times, p.
A62.
• Gibson, C. N., Sturgess, M.N., & Bates, A.T. (1989). Experiments with cheese effects on Elephants
maximus and Elephants Africans. Journal of Elephantology, 18, 120-134. Retrieved October 27, 2004,
from Academic Search Elite database.