Module: Research methodology
Level: 3rd year English
Teacher: DOUADI Fatima
APA Style Reference Citations
A reference citation is the documentation needed to make your paper acceptable for
academic purposes. It gives authoritative sources for your statements, helps the reader
gain access to those sources, and acknowledges the fact that the information used in a
paper did not originate with the writer.
APA style uses the author/date method of citation in which the author's last name and the
year of the publication are inserted in the actual text of the paper. It is the style
recommended by the American Psychological Association and used in many of the social
sciences.
1. Text citations: Source material must be documented in the body of the paper by
citing the author(s) and date(s) of the sources. The underlying principle is that ideas and
words of others must be formally acknowledged. The reader can obtain the full source
citation from the list of references that follows the body of the paper.
A. When the names of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the
sentence, the year of publication appears in parentheses following the identification of
the authors. Consider the following example:
Wirth and Mitchell (1994) found that although there was a reduction in insulin dosage
over a period of two weeks in the treatment condition compared to the control
condition, the difference was not statistically significant. [Note: and is used when
multiple authors are identified as part of the formal structure of the sentence. Compare
this to the example in the following section.]
B. When the authors of a source are not part of the formal structure of the
sentence, both the authors and year of publication appear in parentheses. Consider
the following example:
Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some types of
religious behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health (Gartner,
Larson, & Allen, 1991; Koenig, 1990; Levin & Vanderpool, 1991; Maton & Pargament,
1987; Paloma & Pendleton, 1991; Payne, Bergin, Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991). [Note: & is
used when multiple authors are identified in parenthetical material. Note also that when
several sources are cited parenthetically, they are ordered alphabetically by first authors'
surnames and separated by semicolons.]
C. When a source that has two authors is cited, both authors are included every time
the source is cited.
D. When a source that has three, four, or five authors is cited, all authors are
included the first time the source is cited. When that source is cited again, the first
author's surname and "et al." are used. Consider the following example:
Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some types of
religious behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health (Payne,
Bergin, Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991).
Payne et al. (1991) showed that ...
E. When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the first author's surname
and "et al." are used every time the source is cited (including the first time).
F. Every effort should be made to cite only sources that you have actually read.
When it is necessary to cite a source that you have not read ("Grayson" in the following
example) that is cited in a source that you have read ("Murzynski & Degelman" in the
following example), use the following format for the text citation and list only the
source you have read in the References list:
Grayson (as cited in Murzynski & Degelman, 1996) identified four
components of body language that were related to judgments of
vulnerability.
G. To cite a personal communication (including letters, emails, and telephone
interviews), include initials, surname, and as exact a date as possible. Because a personal
communication is not "recoverable" information, it is not included in the References
section. For the text citation, use the following format:
B.F. Skinner (personal communication, February 12, 1978) claimed ...
H. To cite a Web document, use the author-date format. If no author is identified,
use the first few words of the title in place of the author. If no date is provided, use
"n.d." in place of the date. Consider the following examples:
Degelman (2009) summarizes guidelines for the use of APA writing style.
Changes in Americans' views of gender status differences have been
documented (“Gender and Society,” n.d.).
I. To cite an entire website, give the address of the site in the text. Example:
Eric Chudler’s excellent Neuroscience for Kids
(http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html) is definitely not
only for kids! [Note: No entry in the References list is needed for the
website.]
2. Quotations: When a direct quotation is used, always include the author, year,
and page number as part of the citation.
A. A quotation of fewer than 40 words should be enclosed in double
quotation marks and should be incorporated into the formal structure of the sentence.
Example:
Patients receiving prayer had "less congestive heart failure, required less
diuretic and antibiotic therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had
fewer cardiac arrests, and were less frequently intubated and ventilated"
(Byrd, 1988, p. 829).
B. A lengthier quotation of 40 or more words should appear (without
quotation marks) apart from the surrounding text, in block format, with
each line indented five spaces from the left margin.
3. References: All sources included in the References section must be cited in
the body of the paper (and all sources cited in the paper must be included in the
References section).
A. Pagination: The References section begins on a new page.
B. Heading: “References” (centered on the first line below the running head)
C. Format: The references (with hanging indent) begin on the line
following the References heading. Entries are organized alphabetically
by surnames of first authors. Most reference entries have the following
components:
1. Authors: Authors are listed in the same order as specified in the
source, using surnames and initials. Commas separate all
authors. When there are eight or more authors, list the first six
authors followed by three ellipses (…) and then the final author.
If no author is identified, the title of the document begins the
reference.
2. Year of Publication: In parentheses following authors, with a
period following the closing parenthesis. If no publication
date is identified, use "n.d." in parentheses following the
authors.
3. Source Reference: Includes title, journal, volume, pages (for
journal article) or title, city of publication, publisher (for book).
Italicize titles of books, titles of periodicals, and periodical
volume numbers.
