APA Citation Help

Below are citation examples for the most commonly cited kinds of resources using APA rules. For MLA and Chicago (Turabian), please see our MLA Citation Help page or the Chicago (Turabian) Quick Guide.

ALWAYS: check with your instructor if you have questions about citation or other format issues.

APA References

Books

Authors. (Year of publication). Title of book, sentence style capitalization. Place of publication: Name of publisher.

Rule 7.02 on page 202 (6th ed.)

Gaines, L. K., & Miller, R. L. (2003). Criminal justice in action.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

See Rule 7.02, Example 18 on page 203 (6th ed.)

Goode, E. (2002). Drug legalization. In D. Levinson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of crime and punishment (Vol. 2, pp. 559-65). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

See Rule 7.02 on pages 202-203 (6th ed.)

Periodicals

Authors. (Date of Publication). Title of article, sentence style capitalization. Title of Publication, Headline Style Capitalization, volume number(issue number if not continuously paginated), inclusive page numbers. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx

Note: Do not give the volume number of a newspaper even if it is listed.

Rule 7.01 on page 198 (6th ed.)

Fodor, J. (2006). How the mind works: What we still don't know. Daedalus, 135(3), 86-94.

See Rule 7.01, Example 3 on page 199 (6th ed.)

Côté, S., & Bouchard, S. (2009). Cognitive mechanisms underlying virtual reality exposure. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12, 121-129. doi:10.1089/cpb.2008.0008

See Rule 7.01, Example 1 on page 198 (6th ed.)

Ishitani, T. T. (2006). Studying attrition and degree completion behavior among first-generation college students in the United States. The Journal of Higher Education, 77, 861-865. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

APA style modification as preferred by most WTAMU faculty. For exact information, see Rule 7.01, Example 3 on page 199. Use doi if available.

A counselor's resounding cry, even from her hospital bed: Go directly to college. (2005, December 28). The New York Times, p. B10.

See rule 7.01, Examples 9 and 10 on page 200 (6th ed.) If author is known, use the author, date, article title sequence.

Kalb, C. (2006, March 27). The therapist as scientist. Newsweek, 147(13), 50-51.

See Rule 7.01, Example 7 on page 200 (6th ed.)

Other

Bank, J., & Jackson, B. (2006, April 4). Can you prevent global warming? Retrieved from http://www.factcheck.org/society/can_you_prevent_global_warming.html

See Rule 7.03, Examples 32-34 on page 206 (6th ed.) Include as much information as possible.

United Nations. (1991). Consequences of rapid population growth in developing countries. New York, NY: Taylor.

See Rule 7.03, Example 31 on page 205 (6th ed.)

Hearings on the "Equal Rights" Amendment: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Committee on the Judiciary, 91st Cong. 1 (1970).

See Appendix 7.1 Example 13 on page 221. Other governmental forms can vary widely. See the full appendix on pages 216-224 (6th ed.)

Specific examples provides in Appendix 7.1, p. 216-221 (6th ed.) with reference to The bluebook for additional detail.

APA In-Text Citation

When you present someone else's ideas in your research papers, you should insert citations within your text so that others will be able to understand how you reached your conclusions.

Your citation will be inserted before the period at the end of a sentence in which you have presented information you gathered from one of your reference sources. For example, if you were using the APA style a citation may look like this: Sam was unable to convince his companion to eat green eggs and ham (Seuss, 1988).

The following outlines some of the more common variations of in-text citation, but it does not list every possible variation. If you have any questions about a particular citation please see the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. This manual is kept at the Research & Access Desk in the Cornette Library.

  • In parentheses give the author's last name, a comma and the year of publication.
    • Example: (Nguyen, 2001) See Rule 6.11 on page 174.
  • Include page numbers in citations for direct quotations. See Rule 6.03 on page 170.
  • For multiple sources with authors sharing the same last name. See Rule 6.14 on page 176.
  • For works by two authors list each one's last name, separated by an "&" symbol, then a comma and the year of publication.
    • Example: (Marx & Lennon, 1966)
  • For works by 3-5 authors list all authors the first time you cite the source. Subsequently list only the last name of the first author followed by "et al.," a comma, and the year of publication for first citations within a paragraph.
    • Examples: (Bradley, Ramirez, & Soo, 1994) for the first citation, followed by (Bradley et al., 1994) for later citations.
  • For works with six or more authors list only the first author's last name, followed by "et al.," a comma, and the year of publication.
    • Example: (Littletree et al., 2002)
  • See Rule 6.12 on page 175-177
  • Include page numbers in citations for direct quotations. See Rule 6.03 on page 170
  • If no author is given, use the title in your citation instead. Use quotation marks around the title of an article and italicize the title of a book.
    • Example: (Manual on the Use of Thermocouples in Temperature Measurement, 1974.)
  • See Rule 6.15 on page 176
  • Include page numbers in citations for direct quotations. See Rule 6.03 on page 170.

Paper Format and Manual

APA Paper APA Manual

For More Information

Our Recommended Web Sites: Citing Sources page links to web sites with more detailed citation information, as well as other citation styles.

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