Apa formatting

APA
Formatting and Style
Guide

What is APA?

The American Psychological Association (APA) citation
style is the most commonly used format for manuscripts
in the social sciences.

APA regulates:
• Stylistics
• In-text citations
• References

APA Style: Point of View and Voice

Use:
• personal pronouns where appropriate
Try: We conducted an experiment…
Avoid: The authors conducted an
experiment….

• the active voice rather than passive voice
Try: We asked participants questions.
Avoid: The participants have been asked
questions by the researchers.

APA Style: Language

Language in an APA paper is:
• clear: be specific in descriptions and explanations

• concise: condense information when you can

• plain: use simple, descriptive adjectives and
minimize figurative language

Types of APA Papers

The literature review:
• Contains a summary of what the scientific
literature says about the topic of your research

• Includes a title page, introduction, and list of
references

The experimental report:
• Describes your experimental research

• Includes a title page, abstract, introduction,
method, results, discussion, list of references,
appendices, tables, and figures

Types of APA Papers

If your paper fits neither of the categories above:

• follow the general format

• consult the instructor

• consult the APA Publication Manual

General Format

Your essay should:
• be typed and double-spaced be printed on
standard-sized paper (8.5”x11”)
• use 1” margins on all sides
• use 10-12 pt. Times New Roman or a similar font
• include a page header (title) in the upper left-hand
of every page and a page number in the upper right-
hand side of every page
Note: If you are writing a manuscript draft, APA
suggests using two spaces between sentences to
aid readability (see pp. 87-88 in the APA manual).

General Format

Your essay should References
References
include four major
sections:
Main Body
Main Body

Abstract
Abstract

Title page

Title Page

Page header:
(use Insert Page
Header)
title flush left +
page number flush
right.
Title:
(in the upper half of
the page, centered)
name (no title or
degree) + affiliation
(university, etc.)

Abstract Page

Page header: do
NOT include
“Running head:”

Abstract:
centered, at the
top of the page

Write a 150- to 250-
word summary of
your paper in an
accurate, concise,
and specific manner.

Main Body (Text)

• Number the first text page as page number 3

• Type and center the title of the paper centered, at
the top of the page

• Type the text double-spaced with all sections
following each other without a break

• Identify the sources you use in the paper in
parenthetical in-text citations

• Format tables and figures

References Page
• Center the title
(References) at the top of
the page. Do not bold it.

• Double-space reference
entries

• Flush left the first line of
the entry and indent
subsequent lines

• Order entries
alphabetically by the
author’s surnames

References: Basics

• Invert authors’ names (last name first followed by
initials: “Smith, J.Q.”)

• Alphabetize reference list entries the last name of
the first author of each work

• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a
title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a
dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not
capitalize the first letter of the second word in a
hyphenated compound word.

References: Basics

• Capitalize all major words in journal titles

• Italicize titles of longer works such as books and
journals

• Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around
the titles of shorter works such as journal articles
or essays in edited collections

Making the References List
APA is a complex system of citation. When compiling
the reference list, the strategy below might be useful:

1. Identify the type of source: Is it a book? A journal
article? A webpage?

2. Find a sample of citing this type of source in the
textbook or in the OWL APA Guide:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

3. “Mirror” the sample

4. Make sure that the entries are listed in the
alphabetical order and the subsequent lines are
indented (Recall References: Basics)

In-text Citations: Basics

In-text citations help readers locate the cited source
in the References section of the paper.

Whenever you use a source, provide in parenthesis:

• the author’s name and the date of publication

• for quotations and close paraphrases, provide
the author’s name, date of publication, and a
page number

In-text Citations:
Formatting Quotations
When quoting, introduce the quotation with a signal
phrase. Make sure to include the author’s name, the year
of publication, the page number, but keep the citation
brief—do not repeat the information.

Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response
frequently entails a “delayed, uncontrolled
repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other
intrusive phenomena” (p.11).

A traumatic response frequently entails a
“delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of
hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena”
(Caruth, 1996, p.11).

In-text Citations:
Formatting a Summary or Paraphrase

Provide the author’s last name and the year of
publication in parenthesis after a summary or a
paraphrase.

Though feminist studies focus solely on women's
experiences, they err by collectively perpetuating
the masculine-centered impressions (Fussell, 1975).

In-text Citations:

Include the author’s name in a signal phrase followed
by the year of publication in parenthesis.

Recently, the history of warfare has been
significantly revised by Higonnet et al. (1987),
Marcus (1989), and Raitt and Tate (1997) to
include women’s personal and cultural responses to
battle and its resultant traumatic effects.

In-text Citations:

When including the quotation in a
summary/paraphrase, also provide a page number in
parenthesis after the quotation:

According to feminist researchers Raitt and Tate
(1997), “It is no longer true to claim that women's
responses to the war have been ignored” (p. 2).

In-text Citations:
Signal Words

Introduce quotations with signal phrases, e.g.

According to X. (2008), “….” (p. 3).

X. (2008) argued that “……” (p. 3).

Use such signal verbs as:
acknowledged, contended, maintained,
responded, reported, argued, concluded,
etc.

Use the past tense or the present perfect tense of
verbs in signal phrases

In-text Citations:
Two or More Works

When the parenthetical citation includes two or
more works, order them in the same way they
appear in the reference list—the author’s name,
the year of publication—separated by a
semi-colon.

(Kachru, 2005; Smith, 2008)

In-text Citations:
A Work with Two Authors

When citing a work with two authors, use “and”
in between authors’ name in the signal phrase yet
“&” between their names in parenthesis.

According to feminist researchers Raitt and Tate
(1997), “It is no longer true to claim that women's
responses to the war have been ignored” (p. 2).

Some feminists researchers question that “women's
responses to the war have been ignored” (Raitt &
Tate, 1997, p. 2).

In-text Citations:
A Work with Three to Five authors

When citing a work with three to five authors, identify all
authors in the signal phrase or in parenthesis.

(Harklau, Siegal, and Losey, 1999)

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last
name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.

(Harklau et al., 1993)

In-text Citations:
A Work with Six and More Authors

When citing a work with six and more authors, identify
the first author’s name followed by “et al.”

Smith et al. (2006) maintained that….

(Smith et al., 2006)

In-text Citations:
A Work of Unknown Author

When citing a work of unknown author, use the
source’s full title in the signal phrase and cite the
first word of the title followed by the year of
publication in parenthesis. Put titles of articles and
chapters in quotation marks; italicize titles of books
and reports.

According to “Indiana Joins Federal
Accountability System” (2008), …
Or,
(“Indiana,” 2008)

In-text Citations:
Organization
When citing an organization, mention the organization
the first time when you cite the source in the signal
phrase or the parenthetical citation.

The data collected by the Food and Drug
Administration (2008) confirmed that…

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation,
include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the
source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in
later citations.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
confirmed … FDA’s experts tested…

In-text Citations:
The same last name/the same author

When citing authors with the same last names, use first
initials with the last names.

(B. Kachru, 2005; Y. Kachru, 2008)

When citing two or more works by the same author
published in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b,
c) with the year of publication to order the references.

Smith’s (1998a) study of adolescent immigrants…

In-text Citations:
Personal communication
When citing interviews, letters, e-mails, etc., include the
communicator’s name, the fact that it was personal
communication, and the date of the communication. Do
not include personal communication in the reference
list.

A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students
had difficulties with APA style (personal
communication, November 3, 2002).
Or,

(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4,
2001).

In-text Citations:
Electronic sources

When citing an electronic document, whenever
possible, cite it in the author-date style. If electronic
source lacks page numbers, locate and identify
paragraph number/paragraph heading.

According to Smith (1997), ... (Mind over Matter
section, para. 6).

APA Headings

APA uses a system of five heading levels

APA Headings

Here is an example of the five-level heading system:

APA Tables

Label tables with an Arabic numeral and provide a
title. The label and the title appear on separate lines
above the table, flush-left and single-spaced.

Cite a source in a note below the table.
Table 1
Internet users in Europe
Country Regular users
France 9 ml

Note: The data are adapted from “The European
Union and Russia”(2007). Retrieved from
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu

APA Figures

Label figures with an Arabic numeral and provide a
title. The label and the title appear on the same line
below the figure, flush-left .

You might provide an additional title centered above
the figure.

Cite the source below the label and the title.

Figure 1. Internet users in Europe. Adapted from
The European Union and Russia: Statistical
comparison by Eurostat Statistical Books, 2007,
Retrieved from http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu

Additional APA Resources

• The Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu

• Purdue Writing Lab @ HEAV 226

• Composition textbooks

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association, 6th ed.

• APA’s website http://www.apastyle.org

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