In-text Citation
|
Book, |
In-text citation rule: For paraphrasing and quotations, always include the author's last name and the date published. Paraphrases do not have to include page numbers (and some instructors may prefer this method, so check with them). However, in the new edition of the APA Manual, they are recommended. Referring the author in the text: According to Ball (2001), the earth contains many bright colors (p.10). Author not referred to in the text: The earth contains many bright colors (Ball, 2001, p.10). |
|
Book, |
If a work has only two authors, cite both names each time you reference the material. EXAMPLE: According to Bird and Martin (2005), Robert Oppenheimer led a tragic life. If a work has three, four, or five authors, you should cite all of the authors by last name in the first in-text reference. In a subsequent reference, you would cite the name of the first author listed followed by et al. EXAMPLES: Johnson, Lee, and Martin (2010) attempted this experiment. [first in-text citation] Johnson et al (2010) confirmed the number of participants. If a work has six or more authors, only cite the first author's last name followed by et al for all in-text citations. Vidal et al (2010) concluded that working in a library is the best job a student can have. |
|
Works with no author |
For an in-text citation for a source with no identified author, your in-text citation will include the first part of your reference, usually the title. EXAMPLE: When research is completed in a timely manner, student grades are better ("How To Succeed," 2010). |
|
Corporate author (easily identified by acronym) |
EXAMPLES: According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2007), high cholesterol levels are affecting children as well as adults. In subsequent in-text citations, you should use NIMH (2003). |
Creating a Works Cited Page
Your list of works cited should begin at the end of the paper on a new page with the centered title, References. Alphabetize the entries in your list by the author's last name, using the letter-by-letter system (ignore spaces and other punctuation.) Only the initials of the first and middle names are given. If the author's name is unknown, alphabetize by the title, ignoring any A, An, or The.
For dates, spell out the names of months in the text of your paper, but abbreviate them in the list of works cited, except for May, June, and July. Use either the day-month-year style (22 July 1999) or the month-day-year style (July 22, 1999) and be consistent. With the month-day-year style, be sure to add a comma after the year unless another punctuation mark goes there.
When reports were written on typewriters, the names of publications were underlined because most typewriters had no way to print italics. If you write a bibliography by hand, you should still underline the names of publications. But, if you use a computer, then publication names should be in italics as they are below. Always check with your instructor regarding their preference of using italics or underlining. Our examples use italics.
All APA citations should use hanging indents, that is, the first line of an entry should be flush left, and the second and subsequent lines should be indented 1/2".
The APA guidelines specify using sentence-style capitalization for the titles of books or articles, so you should capitalize only the first word of a title and subtitle. The exceptions to this rule would be periodical titles and proper names in a title which should still be capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized.
If there is more than one author, use an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author. If there are more than six authors, list only the first one and use et al. for the rest.
Place the date of publication in parentheses immediately after the name of the author. Place a period after the closing parenthesis. Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works within longer works.
| Books | Format: Author's last name, first initial. (Publication date). Book title. Additional information. City of publication: Publishing company. Examples: Allen, T. (1974). Vanishing wildlife of North America. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. Searles, B., & Last, M. (1979). A reader's guide to science fiction. New York: Facts on File, Inc. |
| Encyclopedia & Dictionary | Format: Author's last name, first initial. (Date). Title of Article. Title of Encyclopedia (Volume, pages). City of publication: Publishing company. Examples: Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.Format: |
| Magazine & Newspaper Articles |
Format: Examples: Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896. Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31. |
| Website or Webpage | Format: Online periodical: Author's name. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number, Retrieved month day, year, from full URL Online document: Examples: Devitt, T. (2001, August 2). Lightning injures four at music festival. The Why? Files. Retrieved January 23, 2002, from http://whyfiles.org/137lightning/index.html Dove, R. (1998). Lady freedom among us. The Electronic Text Center. Retrieved June 19, 1998, from Alderman Library, University of Virginia website: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/subjects/afam.htm |
There are many tools for importing citations from sources like article databases and automatically integrating them into your research paper and bibliography. Some examples are:
A Citation Management Tool is software that allows you to store and organize citation information (e.g. title, author, publication date, etc.). Most also allow users to create a reference list, bibliography, or work cited page from the citations stored in the management tool and some even assist with in-text citations, creating annotated bibliographies, organizing research, and more. Most tools offer assistance with citing sources in a variety of styles like APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.
Please note that when working with citation management tools it's extremely important that the citation information stored in these tools is correct. For example, if a citation is exported to a citation management tool in all UPPER CASE LETTERS when that citation is output as a source on a reference list it will be listed in all UPPER CASE LETTERS. Typically, that type of detail is NOT corrected by the citation management tool, so users should always double check the citation information that they are entering into or exported to the citation management tool.
As with any tool, there are benefits and drawbacks to using citation management tools that you should consider:
Benefits:
Drawbacks: