APA STYLE

In-Text Citations and Reference Lists

Source: Edited from Gavilan College Writing Center

Presentation Overview
• Why APA?
• Crediting Sources: What and Why
• Formatting In-Text Citations
• Formatting Reference Lists
• Resources
Why APA?
Different professions use different manuals

Modern Language Association (MLA)

• English Studies
• Foreign Language and Literatures

American Psychological Association (APA)

• Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, Communications, etc.)
• Nursing

Chicago Style
• History
• Arts
• Sciences
What does it mean to credit sources?
• Crediting sources gives an author or resource credit for
original information. Crediting sources in your paper
includes two parts:

• In-Text Citations: When you present information in the body of

your paper, you briefly identify its source.

• Reference List: On a separate page at the end of your paper, you

write a detailed list of the sources cited in your paper.

• The in-text citations and reference list should credit the

exact same sources.
Why credit sources?

• Make the style consistent for readers

• Give credit where credit is due

• Enhance credibility as a writer

• Avoid plagiarism
What should you credit?
• Any information that you learned from another source
including facts, statistics, opinions, theories, photographs,
and charts

• Credit these sources when you mention their information

in any way (quotations, summaries, paraphrases)

• EXCEPTION: Information that is common knowledge

• Joe Biden is the president of the United States.
• The declaration of independence was signed July 4, 1776.
In-Text Citation Format
• An in-text citation usually includes the following information:

• Author’s last name (no first name or initial)

• Publication year (year only—even for electronic sources)
• Page number (required for quotations; optional for paraphrases)

• In-text citation:
• Rumbaugh (1995) reported that "Kanzi's comprehension of
over 600 novel sentences of request was very comparable to
Alia's" (p. 722).

• Entry on the References page:

• Rumbaugh, D. (1995). Primate language and cognition:
Common ground. Social Research, 62, 711-730.
In-text Citations: direct quotes
• All APA in-text citations must somehow include the following:
• Name of the author(s)
• Year of the publication
• Page or paragraph number

• In-text citation:
• Rumbaugh (1995) reported that "Kanzi's comprehension of
over 600 novel sentences of request was very comparable to
Alia's" (p. 722).

• Entry on the References page:

• Rumbaugh, D. (1995). Primate language and cognition:
Common ground. Social Research, 62, 711-730.
In-text citations: Indirect Quotes
• Even if the information is not a direct quotation, you must cite
information, data, and findings that are not your own

• Must still include the name of the author(s) and the year of
publication

• Not necessary to include page numbers if stating the theme or

general idea of a whole article or study

• Example:
• Though feminist studies focus solely on women's experiences,
they err by collectively perpetuating the masculine-centered
impressions (Fussell, 1975).
In-text citations: Two or more authors
• When referring to two or more authors within your
text, write out the word and. For example,
• Research by Alton and Davies (1990) supported…

• For the parenthetical citation, use an ampersand

(&) instead of and. For example,
• …(Alton & Davies, 1990, p. 567).
In-text citations: More than two authors

• When referring to a study with three or more authors…

• Use the first author’s name followed by “et al.”
• …(Dents et al., 1984)
In-text Citations: Online sources
For online sources, follow similar format used for print
media:
• For indirect quotation
• (Butler, 2000)
• For direct quotation
• (Butler, 2000, p. 5)

For online sources that contain no page number, use heading,

paragraph number, or both:
• (Butler, 2000, para. 2)
• (Butler, 2000, “Labels Ended,” para. 2)
In-text citations:
Long quotes
When quoting 40 or more words, create block quotations by…

• Indenting five spaces from left margin (or one-half inch)

• Typing the rest of the quotation on the new margin

• Double spacing throughout

• Omitting quotation marks

• Placing the parenthetical citation after the closing punctuation

mark
In-text citations:
Long quotes
Desmond (2000) described how Washoe tried signing to the other apes

when the Gardners returned her to an ape colony in Oklahoma:

One particularly memorable day, a snake spread terror through the

castaways on the ape island, and all but one fled in panic. This male sat

absorbed, staring intently at the serpent. Then Washoe was seen running over

signing to him "come, hurry up.” (p. 42)

This shows that Washoe truly understood the concept of sign language as a

means of communication.
In-text citations: secondary sources
• Sometimes, your source will cite someone else’s work.

• When you want to use that secondhand information, you

must give credit to both sources.

• Use the phrase “as cited in.”

• Example: McClelland’s investigation (as cited in Toner, 1998) found
that chimps…
• This in-text citation means that you learned about McClelland’s
investigation indirectly, using Toner’s text.
Altering a quotation
• You may want to add information to provide extra context or
background for your quotation.

• This is fine as long as you don’t alter the meaning of the

quote.

• Use square brackets to denote what information you add to

the quotation.

• Example:
• Seyfarth (2001) noted that "Premack [a scientist at the
University of Pennsylvania] taught a seven-year-old
chimpanzee, Sarah, that the word for 'apple' was a small, plastic
triangle" (p. 13).
Altering a quotation
• You may want to omit unnecessary or extraneous information from
a quotation.

• Make sure that this omission will not alter the original meaning
of the text.

• Use an ellipsis to show where you’ve left out words from the
original text.

• Example:
• In a recent New York Times article, Eckholm (2004) argued that "a 4 year-old
pygmy chimpanzee . . . has demonstrated what scientists say are the most
human-like linguistic skills ever documented in another animal" (p. A1).
References Page: Formatting
• “References” centered at the top
of the page (no bolding or italics)

• Authors listed in alphabetical

order by last name of the first
author in the study

• First line of the reference is flush

against left margin
• Its subsequent lines are indented
(hanging indent)

• Double-spaced throughout
 Referencing Books
• Include the following information in this order:
1) Author Last Name, First Initial.
2) (Date of Publication).
3) Title and subtitle: Capitalize the first letter.
4) Publisher.

Example:

- Highmore, B. (2001). Everyday life and cultural theory. Routledge.

 Referencing Books
•

Example

- Matson, J. L. (2017). Handbook of social behavior and skills in

children. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64592-6

 Referencing articles
• For an article, include:
1) Author Last Name, First Initial.
2) (Date of Publication).
3) Title of article is not italicized and is without quotation marks.
4) Name of Periodical Capitalized and Italicized, volume(issue),
5) Page-Page.
6) DOI (doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx) or http://url.com.
 Referencing articles

Example:

Kohnke, L., & Moorhouse, B. L. (2022). Facilitating synchronous online language

learning through zoom. RELC Journal, 53(1), 296–301.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220937235

Article without DOI or in print:

Scroggins, W. A., Thomas, S .L., & Morris, J. A. (2008). Psychological

testing in personnel selection, Part II: The refinement of methods and

standards in employee selection. Public Personnel Management, 37(2),

 Referencing online sources

Organization name as author (Group author):

National Institutes of Mental Health. (2015, May). Anxiety disorders.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.
Note: when the author and the name of the website are the same, you
don’t need to list it as the name of the website.
No author, no date:
What is psychology? (n.d). BestPsychologyDegrees.com.
https://www.bestpsychologydegrees.com/what-ispsychology/
Integrating Sources
• Why is it important to incorporate sources
effectively?
• It builds credibility with the reader.
• It provides the paper or argument with
necessary support that helps prove your thesis.
• It provides a factual basis for your argument.
• It demonstrates a certain level of effort and
scholarship from the writer.
Steps to Incorporating Sources
• Step 1: Understanding the source’s strengths and
limitations.
• Multi-step process:
• Read your assignment carefully so that you
understand what you are being asked to do.
• Select appropriate sources for your argument.
• Think about what role your sources will play in your
argument/assignment. (Ex: Does the source serve
as an authoritative voice in support of your claim?)
• Decide whether to summarize, paraphrase, or quote
the source.
Steps to Incorporating Sources
• Step 1: Continued
• Tips for choosing a source
• When selecting and using sources, do not forget that this is
your paper, not the source's paper.
• When selecting sources, do not merely read the abstract and
decide to use the source.
• Do not ignore a source because it disproves your argument!

• Questions to ask when evaluating online sources

• Who wrote the source? Is the author listed, and if so, do they
have credibility problems?
Steps to Incorporating Sources
• Step 2: Integrating the source into your writing
• Framing:
• Framing a source is introducing the source in your own
words and giving a brief analysis.
• This gives the reader an idea of the purpose of the source in
your paper, and a transition from your ideas to the support
provided by the source.
• This should occur throughout the document, starting with the
topic sentence.
• Example: Mandelbum's historiography of Major League
Baseball can prove useful to the creation and utilization of
symbolic capital in the National Basketball Association.
Steps to Incorporating Sources
• Step 2: Continued
• Signal Phrases:
• Signal Phrases are introductory clauses that signals to the
reader a shift in point of view from you to your source.
• They are like transitions for sources! Think of them like turn
signals for sources: they are marking when you want to make
a transition from the scholars’ viewpoints to your own.
• Example Sentence: Celeste Jones notes the apparent
contradictions in the existing literature.
• Example Signal Phrases: Argues, Notes, Observes,
Acknowledges, Suggests. Addresses, Asserts, Believes,
Claims, Comments, Compares, Confirms, Contends,
Declares, Denies, Disputes, Emphasizes, Notes, Observes,
Refutes
Steps to Incorporating Sources
• Step 2: Continued
• Quoting and Paraphrasing:
• Quoting: Using or coping words from a source such as a book,
with acknowledgment of the source
• Paraphrasing: A restatement of a text or passage in another
form or other words, with acknowledgement of the source
• Quoting or paraphrasing without citing the source is plagiarism!
• Why paraphrase?
• It is better than quoting information from an undistinguished
passage.
• It helps you control the temptation to quote too much.
• The mental process required for successful paraphrasing helps
you to grasp the full meaning of the original.
Practice
Create an in-text citation and a reference for the following
quote:
• “Both cities have…a documented movement of middle-
class residents to an ever-widening outer ring of suburbs.”
from page 47

Publication Information
• Authored by Setha M. Low
• Excerpted from an article entitled “The Edge and the
Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban
Fear” (pages 45-58)
• Published in 2001 in the 5 th volume of American
Anthropologist
Answers
• In-text Citation
• “Both cities have…a documented movement of middle-class
residents to an ever-widening outer ring of suburbs” (Low, 2001, p.
47)
Or
• According to Setha Low (2001), “[b]oth cities have…a documented
movement of middle-class residents to an ever-widening outer ring
of suburbs” (p. 47).
• Reference

• Low, S. M. (2001). The edge and the center: Gated

communities and the discourse of urban fear. American

Anthropologist, 5, 45-58.
Practice

Create an in-text citation and reference

for one of the sources in your essay.
 Rules of Thumb A Writer’s Reference

Gavilan College Writing Center

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