All About APA
Your One-Stop Citation Shop!
What's up with APA,
and Why Do You
Have to Follow It?The American Psychological Association (APA) provides standards for formatting articles for publication and consistently citing sources via in-text citations and a references list. You will most commonly use APA for research papers in the social sciences; however, many professors may ask for APA style papers across a wide variety of disciplines.
The reason for using citations is twofold:
1.) To give credit to original
sources of the information you use.
2.) To provide readers the information needed to find the same sources if they wish.
2.) To provide readers the information needed to find the same sources if they wish.
Citations are the on-ramps in the research superhighway. In-text citations lead readers to full citations on your references page, which help readers to find original sources in libraries and databases.
Providing citations connects your ideas to a larger body of knowledge, helping scholars and students further explore that subject. Using citations links us together as an academic and professional community, which is a very good thing in the long run because it means there are more ideas to explore, challenge, adapt, and grow.
Formatting Your APA Paper:
The formatting, structure, and content of your APA paper will in part depend on the kind of class you are taking and your instructor’s preferences. In the event that your instructor's preferences seem different than a guideline for APA formatting, you should favor your instructor’s preferences.
- Here are UMGC's video instructions for setting up your APA paper in Microsoft Word.
- Click here to download sample student
papers (with annotations) in APA style.
Typically, the title page of an APA paper will look like this:
Like the rest of your paper, title pages are double spaced. The info block should be in the upper half of the page. Titles may run onto two lines of text if necessary, but should not exceed that length.
The APA website has a great section on the formatting of headers and sub-headers: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/headings
In-Text Citations:
APA papers must cite the source of information within the text of your paper. Whether you summarize, paraphrase, or quote directly, you must provide an in-text citation to indicate use of source material.
The in-text citation can appear anywhere in the sentence, depending upon sentence construction. All APA in-text citations consist of the author’s last name, year of publication, and page number inside the parentheses.
Model 1:
(Author’s Last Name, Year of Publication, p. #)
(Author’s Last Name, Year of Publication, p. #)
If the source does not list a page number, use a paragraph number, section title or both to indicate where the reader may find the material.
Model 2:
(Author's Last Name, Year of Publication, Introduction, para. 3)
(Author's Last Name, Year of Publication, Introduction, para. 3)
When punctuating a sentence with an in-text citation at the end, remember that your sentence will still only have one period. It is placed on the outside of the closing parenthesis. Example:
| Velociraptor was a fierce predator, but not as fierce as its North American cousin Deinonychus (Grant, 2011, p. 50). |
Model 3:
Author’s Last Name (Year of Publication) wrote a famous study that . . . (p. #).
Author’s Last Name (Year of Publication) wrote a famous study that . . . (p. #).
When using a signal phrase like the one above, it is usually best to simply introduce the info using the author’s last name (rather than a title, publication, or organization.) Since the author’s name is something you must cite anyway, working it into your sentence eliminates wordiness. Example:
| According to Grant (2011), “The viciousness of the Velociraptor is overstated in comparison to its North American counterpart Deinonychus” (p. 50). |
The list of full citations at the end of an APA style paper is simply titled “References” (rather than “Works Cited,” or “Bibliography," as you'll see in other citation styles.)
Click here for UMGC Library's guide to formatting your APA References page.
The References list has its own page separate from the rest of the paper. Center the word "References" as the title of the page, list your sources in alphabetical order, and use hanging indentations for citations that require more than one line. This video demonstrates two methods of achieving hanging indentation in a Word document.
Model for how you would format a book on the references page:
Model 4:
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work in lower case: Initial capital letter also for subtitle after a colon. Location: Publisher.
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work in lower case: Initial capital letter also for subtitle after a colon. Location: Publisher.
Typical citation for Electronic Sources in the References List:
Model 5:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved month day, year, (if necessary) from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved month day, year, (if necessary) from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/
Websites will depend on the kind of website and the available info. Typically what you want to include, however, is . . .
Model 6:
Author Last Name, First Initial. (Date of Publication). Title of Document. Retrieved from FULL URL
Author Last Name, First Initial. (Date of Publication). Title of Document. Retrieved from FULL URL
Check out this page from UMGC's Library for even more info on in-text citations and the references page.
Citation Machines
These web tools have become popular because you can simply fill in a series of blanks then the citation machine will produce the formatted in-text citation, reference citation, or both. Care must be taken to enter information correctly and, after copying and pasting the citation into your paper, to ensure the citation is double spaced, in the correct font and type size, and has hanging indentation. Popular versions of these machines include: CiteFast, KnightCite, and Citation Builder.
Tips, Tricks, & Special Cases:
There are many kinds of sources, exceptions, and weird situations that come up while trying to adhere to a citation style. If only it were as easy as just following those standard primary rules reviewed above.
No worries. We're going to briefly review some of the most common exceptions and variations that you're likely to encounter while formatting citations in the 21st century!
NO Author
Your source has no author? No problem!
When info such as author’s name is unavailable, simply move the title of the source to the front of your in-text citation and the reference citation on the references page. For the in-text citation, use only a part of the title (enough so that the reader can identify it on the references page):
In-Text Citation
One significant impact of prison overcrowding has been the need for early release of prisoners to make room for the newly convicted ("Catch and Release," 2014, p. 12).
Reference Citation
Catch and release: The revolving door of America's new prisons [Electronic version]. (2014, February). The Atlantic Magazine, 62(2), 11-13.
One significant impact of prison overcrowding has been the need for early release of prisoners to make room for the newly convicted ("Catch and Release," 2014, p. 12).
Reference Citation
Catch and release: The revolving door of America's new prisons [Electronic version]. (2014, February). The Atlantic Magazine, 62(2), 11-13.
If you are citing a web site run by a specific organization like The Environmental Protection Agency, use that as your title.
According to the Environmental
Protection Agency (2011), “Smog has increased by . .
. .” (para. 2).
LOTS of Authors
When you have a source authored by three or more people, you want to make use of the abbreviation et al. (meaning “and others”). This is a great way to prevent long, complex citations from breaking up the flow of your paper. You may use et al. any time there is a list of more than two authors’ names.
Notice how much simpler a citation can become if you shorten it:
According
to Grant, Harding, Malcolm, and Sattler (1997), “The InGen
incident represents an evolving kind of science: one with
no regard for disastrous consequences and no respect for
life” (p. 35).
In subsequent citations, the list of authors can be shortened to:
According
to Grant et al. (1997), “The InGen incident represents an
evolving kind of science: one with no regard for
disastrous consequences and no respect for life” (p. 35).
The in-text citation properly directs the reader to the full citation on the references page without clogging up the sentence with a cumbersome list of names. Note that you should not use et al. on the references page where you must properly list the full names of all the authors.
SAME Author/SAME Date
What happens when you have multiple sources with the same author and the same year of publication? How do you distinguish these different sources on your references list and in your text?
This is something that comes up in APA, so there is a formal way to deal with it. Whenever you have different sources that have the same author and year of publication you add a lower-case letter to the ends of those years. Example:
Smith, Judy. 2011a. The Dangers of Smoking.
Retrieved October 18, 2011, from
http://www.website.com/full/url/
Smith, Judy. 2011b. Smoking When Pregnant. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from http://www.website.com/full/url/
Smith, Judy. 2011c. Smoke in the Womb. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from http://www.website.com/full/url/
Smith, Judy. 2011b. Smoking When Pregnant. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from http://www.website.com/full/url/
Smith, Judy. 2011c. Smoke in the Womb. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from http://www.website.com/full/url/
Notice that in those hypothetical articles, the lower case “a, b, c” come at the end of the year of publication. That’s because Judy Smith wrote three distinct articles in the same year, and I want to use all of them. The “a, b, c” after the year distinguishes the three articles from each other.
In text, this technique would look like this:
In her research, Smith (2011b) notes that in
spite of widespread knowledge of the dangers of smoking,
“10% of expectant mothers still smoke while pregnant”
(para. 4). This is surprising considering that in a 2011
poll, almost 100% of expectant mothers admitted to
knowing this was harmful to their child (Smith, 2011a,
para. 2).
Citing the Same Source in Quick Succession
What happens when you cite the same source in a paragraph multiple times in a row? Do you have to keep providing the same citation over and over again?
This is one of the more confusing technicalities behind citing your sources in text. Here’s the best way to break it down when thinking about those repeat sources within the same paragraph…
IF your first mention of the author is in
a signal phrase, then subsequent uses of the same source
also in signal phrases do NOT require the year…
Grant (1992) was the first to note that Velociraptors may have had feathers (p. 23). Grant also hypothesized that they were highly intelligent and likely good problem solvers (p. 24).
IF subsequent mentions are parenthetical—no signal phrase—then you DO need the year.
Grant (1992) was the first to note that Velociraptors may have had feathers (p. 23). Theoretically they were highly intelligent and good problem solvers (Grant, 1992, p. 24).
IF the first mention is in parentheses/no signal phrase, then all subsequent mentions require the year.
Most scientists agree that Velociraptors probably had feathers (Grant, 1992, p. 23). Grant (1992) also hypothesized that they were highly intelligent and likely good problem solvers (p. 24).
Grant (1992) was the first to note that Velociraptors may have had feathers (p. 23). Grant also hypothesized that they were highly intelligent and likely good problem solvers (p. 24).
IF subsequent mentions are parenthetical—no signal phrase—then you DO need the year.
Grant (1992) was the first to note that Velociraptors may have had feathers (p. 23). Theoretically they were highly intelligent and good problem solvers (Grant, 1992, p. 24).
IF the first mention is in parentheses/no signal phrase, then all subsequent mentions require the year.
Most scientists agree that Velociraptors probably had feathers (Grant, 1992, p. 23). Grant (1992) also hypothesized that they were highly intelligent and likely good problem solvers (p. 24).
TWO Sources in ONE Sentence
On the rare occasion that you must cite two different sources within one sentence, you use a semicolon in your in-text citation to set the two apart.
While some experts feel that Tyrannosaurus was
a scavenger, others disagree and assert its predatory
lifestyle (Grant, 2012, p. 45; Sattler, 2011, p. 32).
Notice that both citations appear in only one set of parentheses, and they are both held until the end of the sentence. Do not insert a standard citation in the middle of your sentence.
Source Within a Source
It almost sounds like a kind of citation sorcery, but sometimes it's necessary to cite a source that you found within another source.
Imagine you read an article by Smith. Within Smith's article, Smith cites an article by Apple. What Apple says is great, and you want to use it in your paper. However, you haven't read Apple's article, only Smith's. Whom do you cite and how do you cite it?
First, since you did not read Apple’s original work or use it as a direct source of information, you cannot cite Apple on the references list. You must cite Smith on the reference page because it was in Smith's work that you found the information.
However, the in-text citation does give credit to Apple by using the “as cited in” convention. Example:
According to Apple, “Dogs come in all sizes
and some are lazier than others” (as cited in Smith,
2001, para. 6).
"As cited in” tells the reader that Apple's idea was found in a work published by Smith.
However, if you find that you are relying heavily on an indirect, secondhand source and you realize that you keep "quoting Apple through Smith…" then maybe you should drop that Smith book and go check out Apple for yourself. Citations are like the glue that connects all the best information together, so sometimes you can use it as a road map to a better source. If you’re getting fantastic info from a certain author, it’s usually best to go directly to his or her work.
If there's an exception, rule, or clarification you'd like to know more about, remember that you can always email the writing center directly with a quick question: