APA Style MLA Style

This guide gives basic examples of APA style for references in a research paper. For a complete overview of APA style, consult:

The following examples are taken from or are modified from examples from these guides. They are single-spaced to save space. See the References List at End of Paper section for the correct formatting.

Book Citation Format Periodical Article Format Full-text Journal Article from an Electronic Database
Internet Site Basic Format References List at End of Paper

Book Citation Format:

Author. (Date). Book title. Publisher City: Publisher.

• Multiple Authors
  Cone, J. D., & Foster, S. L. (1993). Dissertations and theses from start to finish:
          Psychology and related fields. Washington, DC: American Psychological
          Association.
• Edited Book
  Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L.N. (Eds.), (1991). Children of color: Psychological
          interventions with minority youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Entry in an Encyclopedia
  Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp.
          501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

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Periodical Article Format:

Author. (Date). Article title. Periodical Title, volume # (issue number), page #s.

• Journal Article, Continuous Pagination
  Bekerian, D.A. (1993). In search of the typical eyewitness. American Psychologist, 48,
          574-576.
• Journal Article, Journal Paginated by Issue, 2 Authors
  Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations.
          Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45 (2), 10-36.
• Magazine article (For date, give year, month for monthlies; year, month and day for weeklies)
  Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.
• Newspaper Article, Discontinuous Pages
  Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economics, social status. The
          Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.

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Full-text Journal Article from an Electronic Database:

Basic format: Author. (Date). Article title. Periodical Title, volume # (issue #), page #s. Retrieved [month, day, year] from database.

• Full-text Journal Article from Online (Web-delivered) Database
  Schneiderman, R. A. (1997). Librarians can make sense of the net. San Antonio
          Business Journal, 11 (31), pp. 58+. Retrieved January 27, 1999, from General
          Business File database.
  
  Schaefer, B. E. (1998, December). Meteors that changed the world. Sky and
          Telescope, 96, 68-75. Retrieved May 22, 2001, from Proquest PA
          Research II database.
  
  Chahbani, M. H., & Tondeur, D. (2001). Pressure drop in fixed-bed adsorbers.
          Chemical Engineering Journal, 81, 23-34. Retrieved May 22, 2001, from Science
          Direct database.

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Internet Site Basic Format:

Include the author (if listed), title of the Web page and, in some cases, the title of the site on which the page is located, and date of creation or last update. If no date is given on the page, use "n.d" ("no date") in its place. Then add "Retrieved [date page was accessed] from [URL of the page]." Always include a date of retrieval, as Web pages might change or be deleted from a site.

• Examples from APA Manual
  Chou, L., McClintock, R, Moretti, F, & Nix, D. H. (1993). Technology and education:
          New wine in new bottles: Choosing pasts and imagining educational futures.
          Retrieved August 24, 2000, from Columbia University, Institute for Learning
          Technologies Web site:
          http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/newwine1.html *
  * [NOTE: If the document is contained within a large and complex Web site (university or government agency), identify the host organization and the relevant program or department before giving the URL for the document itself. Precede the URL with a colon.]
  
  Glueckauf, R. L., Whitton, J., Baxter, J., Kain, J., Vogelgesang, S., Hudson, M., et al.
          (1998, July). Videocounseling for families of rural teens with epilepsy--Project
          update. Telehealth News, 2(2). Retrieved from
          http://www.telehealth.net/subscribe/newslettr_4a.html#1
  
  GVU's 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2000, from
          http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1997-10/
• Other Examples:

  Wessell, C. B. (1998). AIDS and HIV: Alternative medicine resources. The Alternative
          Medicine Homepage. Retrieved May 22, 2001, from
          http://www.pitt.edu/~cbw/hiv.html
  
  Greater New Milford (Ct) Area Health Community 2000, Task Force on Teen and
          Adolescent Issues. (n.d.) Who has time for a family meal? You do! Retrieved
          October 5, 2000, from http://www.familymealtime.org
  
  National Institute of Mental Health. (1997). Questions and answers about St. John's
          Wort. Retrieved May 22, 2001, from
          http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/stjohnswort.html
  
  Chamberlain, Ellen. (2001, January). Bare bones 101: A very basic tutorial on
          searching the web. University of South Carolina, Beaufort Library. Retrieved May
          22, 2001 from http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/bones.html

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References List at End of Paper

(See Chapter 4, "References List," in the APA Manual)

When writing a research paper in APA style, you need to list all your sources (cited as indicated in the examples above) in a References page that goes at the end of the paper.

"References" should appear as the heading on the first page containing the list of souces consulted. Entries should begin flush left, and the second and subsequent lines should be indented 5 spaces. Double-space the entire list as indicated in the example below:

Brown, H., & Milstead, J. (1968). Patterns in poetry: An

        introductory anthology. Glenview, IL: Scott,

        Foresman.

Alphabetize by author's last name. For anonymous authors or where no author is given, begin the entry with the title. Capitalize only the first word of title and subtitle and proper names. Use italics instead of underlining.

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Book Citation Format Periodical Article Format Full-text Journal Article from an Electronic Database
Internet Site Basic Format References List at End of Paper

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