American Psychological Association (APA) Style is a set of rules that authors use when submitting papers for publications

in APA journals. The APA states that they were developed to assist reading comprehension in the social and behavioral sciences, for clarity of communication, and to "move the idea forward with a minimum of distraction and a maximum of precision. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association contains guidelines for every aspect of writing, especially in the social sciences, from determining authorship to constructing a table to avoiding plagiarism and constructing accurate reference citations. The APA style guide prescribes that the Reference section; bibliographies and other lists of names should be accumulated by surname first, and mandates inclusion of surname prefixes. For example, "Martin de Rijke" should be sorted as "Rijke, de M." and "Saif AlFalasi" should be sorted as "Al-Falasi, S." For names in non-English languages, follow the capitalization standards of that language. For each of the source types below a hanging indent should be used where the first line is flush to the left margin and all other lines are indented.

Print sources
Book by one author

Sheril, R. D. (1956). The terrifying future: Contemplating color television. San Diego, CA: Halstead.

Book by two authors

Kurosawa, J., & Armistead, Q. (1972). Hairball: An intensive peek behind the surface of an enigma. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: McMaster University Press.

Chapter in an edited book

Mcdonalds, A. (1993). Practical methods for the apprehension and sustained containment of supernatural entities. In G. L. Yeager (Ed.), Paranormal and occult studies: Case studies in application (pp. 4264). London, England: OtherWorld Books.

Dissertation (PhD or masters)

Mcdonalds, A. (1991). Practical dissertation title (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.

Article in a journal with continuous pagination (nearly all journals use continuous pagination)

Rottweiler, F. T., & Beauchemin, J. L. (1987). Detroit and Narnia: Two foes on the brink of destruction. Canadian/American Studies Journal, 54, 66146. Kling, K. C., Hyde, J. S., Showers, C. J., & Buswell, B. N. (1999). Gender differences in self-esteem: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 470500. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.4.470

Article in a journal paginated separately Journal Pagination

Crackton, P. (1987). The Loonie: God's long-awaited gift to colourful pocket change? Canadian Change, 64(7), 3437.

Article in a weekly magazine

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 2831.

Article in a weekly magazine with DOI

Hoff, K. (2010, March 19). Fairness in modern society. Science, 327, 14671468. doi:10.1126/science.1188537

Article in a print newspaper

Wrong, M. (2005, August 17). "Never gonna give you up," says mayor. Toronto Sol, p. 4.

Electronic sources
For electronic references, websites, and online articles, APA Style asserts some basic rules, including to

direct readers specifically to the source material using URLs which work include retrieval date ONLY when content is likely to change (e.g., wikis) include all other relevant APA Style details for the source

Online article based on a print source, with DOI (e.g., a PDF of a print source from a database)

Krueger, R. F., Markon, K. E., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Externalizing psychopathology in adulthood: A dimensional-spectrum conceptualization and its implications for DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 537-550. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.114.4.537

Online article based on a print source, without DOI (e.g., a PDF of a print source from a database)

Marlowe, P., Spade, S., & Chan, C. (2001). Detective work and the benefits of colour versus black and white. Journal of Pointless Research, 11, 123127.

Online article from a database, no DOI, available ONLY in that database (proprietary contentnot things like Ovid, EBSCO, and PsycINFO)

Liquor advertising on TV. (2002, January 18). Retrieved from http://factsonfile.infobasepublishing.com/

OR

Liquor advertising on TV. (2002, January 18). Retrieved from Issues and Controversies database.

Article in an Internet-only journal

McDonald, C., & Chenoweth, L. (2009). Leadership: A crucial ingredient in unstable times. Social Work & Society, 7. Retrieved from http://www.socwork.net/2009/1/articles/mcdonaldchenoweth

Article in an Internet-only newsletter (eight or more authors)

Paradise, S., Moriarty, D., Marx, C., Lee, O. B., Hassel, E., Thyme, E. J., . . . Bradford, J. (1957, July). Portrayals of fictional characters in reality-based popular writing: Project update. Off the Beaten Path, 7. Retrieved from http://www.newsletter.offthebeatenpath.news/otr/complaints.html

Article with no author identified (the title moves to the "author" position)

Britain launches new space agency. (2010, March 24). Retrieved from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/1031221/britain-launches-new-spaceagency

Article with no author and no date identified (e.g., wiki article)

Harry Potter. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Potter&oldid=380786432

Entry in an online dictionary or reference work, no date and no author identified

Verisimilitude. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster's online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verisimilitude

E-mail or other personal communication (cite in text only)

(A. Monterey, personal communication, September 28, 2001)

Book on CD

Nix, G. (2002). Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr [CD]. New York, NY: Random House/Listening Library.

Book on tape

Nix, G. (2002). Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr [Cassette Recording No. 1999-19991999]. New York, NY: Random House/Listening Library.

Movie

Gilby, A. (Producer), & Schlesinger, J. (Director). (1995). Cold comfort farm [Motion picture]. Universal City, CA: MCA Universal.