APA Style Citation and Documentation

Heather Lail

Supervisor and Professional Writing Consultant

What is Graduate-Level Writing?• Entering a conversation in the academic

community and in your specific discipline• Original critical thought

– Builds on existing knowledge– Contributes something new to the field

• Developing and demonstrating expertise in – Your writing– Your subject– Your discipline

Standards of Grad-Level Writing• Written for a professional audience

– Suitable for publication • Clear, concise, logically structured writing

– Free of grammatical errors• Extensive analysis (critical evaluation of sources) • Extensive synthesis (combining information from

multiple sources)• Rigorous research using acceptable sources

– Follows specific citation format (APA)

Why American Psychology Association (APA) Style?

• Focuses on dates and titles instead of the author– Current research/data– Previous “watershed” studies in the literature

• Was developed to standardize scientific writing• Emphasizes your own words and ideas

– Prefers paraphrase to quotation

Basic Formatting in APA

Basic Formatting in APA

• Use 1” margins all around• Double-space the entire paper• Use a 11 or 12 point serif font for text

– Times New Roman or Cambria• Use a sans-serif font for figure labels

– Arial or Calibri• Align all paragraphs to the left

– Indent the first line of each paragraph

Title Page• Running head: includes a shortened title or

assignment description – Use in the header of every page – The words RUNNING HEAD will only appear on the

title page • Center full title of the paper, your name, and

your institutional affiliation near top half of page• If instructor requests, add class information,

instructor’s name, and date centered at bottom

Abstract• If your paper requires an abstract, include on a

new page after the title page• Center ABSTRACT at the top of the page• Give a brief summation (between 250 and 500

words) of the focus and findings of the paper, including major research covered and findings

• The words RUNNING HEAD do not appear, but the shortened title does

First Page• Center the full title at top of page• Do not write INTRODUCTION unless specifically

required by your instructor• Begin section headings on this page, if

appropriate– Refer to the APA Style Guide, 6th Edition, for

formatting of different heading levels

In-Text CitationsAuthors and types of sources

Basics of In-Text Citations• Cite all works you referenced or used• APA style uses the author-date citation system

– Place the name followed by the year at the beginning of the sentence

“Doe (2007) found that rats cannot vomit.”– Place the name and year in a parenthetical

citation at the end of the sentence“A recent study of rats found that they cannot vomit (Doe, 2007).”

Citing Personal Communications• Includes interviews, correspondence, person-to-

person communication, etc.• Not considered recoverable data, so cite in text but

do not include in References list“ (personal communication, August 15, 2009).”

• Only use short samples (a sentence or two) in text of paper

• Full transcript of personal communications may appear in Appendix.

Citing Two Authors• For two authors, cite the last names of both

authors each time the source is used

“Doe and Koenig (2007) note that modern Western political idealism has its basis in the writings of Immanuel Kant.”

“Modern Western political idealism has its basis in the writings of Immanuel Kant (Doe & Koenig, 2007).”

Citing Three to Five Authors• Cite the last names of all authors the first time it

is used“Doe, Koenig, and Porpora (1998) note that constructivism is becoming a more popular theory in political science.”

• For all citations afterward, use ET AL.“Doe et al. (1998) found that most political scientists prefer synthesizing political theories.”

Citing Six or More Authors• Cite only the first author followed by ET AL. for

each citation

“Mearsheimer et al. (2008) assert that neo-realism as a theoretical paradigm is experiencing a backlash.”

“Neo-realism as a theoretical paradigm is experiencing a backlash (Mearsheimer et al., 2008).”

Authors with Multiple Works• For authors with multiple works published in the

same year – Alphabetize the sources based upon the title of

the work and assign a lowercase letter for each source

“Doe (2008a) notes that Egyptian death rituals were highly complex. In the case of Tutankhamen, the boy pharaoh was adorned in a highly ritualized fashion with precious metals and jewelry (Doe, 2008b).”

Electronic Sources• Electronic sources are cited in the same fashion

as print sources– Never put a website URL in an in-text citation

• When using an online source, you will need– Name of the author (person or organization)

• If an author is not identified, use the name of the article

– Year of publication– Section of internet document– Paragraph number

Electronic Sources• Using the section or paragraph number of an

electronic source

“Dolce and Gabanna had to change their 2004–2005 advertising campaign after the profuse level of complaints from consumers (Herneckli, 2006, Trends section, para. 3).”

“Prada was favored 7/10 over Oakley (Herneckli, 2005, para. 5).”

Reference ListCiting sources in the References pages

Reference List• References begin on a new page after the last

page of your paper• Include all the research you referenced or used• Arrange alphabetically by author (person or

organization)• Do not divide your sources based upon type or

category • Use a hanging indent for each entry

Reference List• Author(s) name(s)

– Last name first, then first/middle initial– For sources without named authors, use the first letter of

the title• Publication date in parenthesis• Title of the work (do not use italics or quotation marks)• Publication data

– Journal titles in italics (but not volume or issue number)– Book titles in italics

• Include page numbers if did not reference entire book• Include publication location and publisher

Basic Print Sources• Journal article

Doe, J. (2001). Realism: An examination of its efficacy. Journal of International Relations, 82(5), 19–27.

• Journal article from author with multiple publications Doe, J. (2008a). Egyptian death rituals. Journal of Egyptian

History, 9(2), 90–123.

• BookDoe, J. (2001). Egyptian death rituals and their historical

significance. Cairo: National Publishing.

Basic Electronic Sources• Whole website

National Kleptomaniacs Association [NKA]. (2008). Who has time to buy anything? Retrievedfrom http://kleptomaniacal.org/stealing

• Section of a websiteNational Kleptomaniacs Association [NKA]. (2008).Why

stealing isn’t stealing. In Who has time to buy anything? Retrieved from http://kleptomaniacal.org/stealing

Appendices and Visual Elements

Appendices• Include materials that supplement the paper,

such as visual elements, secondary research, data sets, transcripts, surveys, etc.

• Appear after References list on a new page• Center APPENDIX, APPENDIX A, etc. at top of page• Double space entire page (like rest of paper)• Refer to appendices in body of the paper

“Byrne’s survey showed that (See Appendix A for more data from the survey).”

Using Visual Elements• APA typically requires large figures, graphs,

tables, charts, and photographs to be placed in an Appendix after the References List

• However, you may include smaller visual elements in the text of the paper

• You must distinguish between visuals youcreated and those borrowed from an outside source

Visuals You Created• Label (Graph 1, Graph 2, Table 1, etc.) and

refer to them in the paper– As shown in Table 8, most respondents

indicated a preference for Prada.• Your own visuals will not include source notes

Visuals from Outside Sources• You must include a source note below the

element that includes the title, author, date, publication, pub. info, page number, and copyright

Note. From “Title of Article,” by J. Doe and J. Horrocks, 2008, Journal of Ethology Studies , 50(6), p. 92. Copyright 2008 by Name of Copyright Holder.

Other Resources

• APA Manual, 6th Edition• Our very own Writing Center APA style handouts

(available on our website and in the Center on campus)

http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/Centers/writing/resources/Pages/guides.aspx

The Writing Center

• For more information please visit us:– Denver Campus, North Classroom Building– Anschutz Medical Campus, Health Sciences

Library– Campus Village Apartments, North 3rd Floor

Common Room– Synchronous Online Consultations– http://writingcenter.ucdenver.edu