APA Style examples

APA stands for American Psychological Association, and APA is often the style of choice for papers in the social sciences, business, and sometimes health sciences. Always remember to ask your professor which style he/she prefers.

This guide is based on: American Psychology Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Copies of the APA manual are available on the Information Services Ready Reference shelves. Page numbers indicate where similar samples can be found in the manual. Sample citations and more details can be found in the "Reference List" section of the manual, pp. 215-281.

Special Notes:

• Sample citations are single spaced. Your citations should be double spaced. (p. 299)
• References should be in a hanging indent format: the first line of each reference is set flush with the left margin and subsequent lines are indented. (p. 299)
• Titles of books and periodicals should be in italics. If you are using a typewriter instead of a word processor you may use underlines in place of italics. (p. 100)

Reference to an entire book (one author) p. 248

Author. (Year). Book title Place: Publisher.

Dent, H. S., Jr. (1998). The roaring 2000s: Building the wealth and lifestyle you desire in the greatest boom in history. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Reference to an entire book (two or more authors) p. 248

Author, & Author. (Year). Book title. Place: Publisher.

Siegel, J. G., & Shim, J. K. (1990). Accounting handbook. New York: Barrons.

Reference to an entire book (edited book, one editor) p. 249

Editor (Ed.). (Year). Book title. Place: Publisher.

Magner, L. N. (Ed.). (1997). Doctors, nurses, and medical practitioners: A bio-bibliographical sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Reference to an entire book (edited book, two or more editors) p. 249

Editor, & Editor (Eds.). (Year). Book title. Place: Publisher.

Pohanish, R. P., & Greene, S. A. (Eds.). (1993). Hazardous substances resource guide. Detroit, MI: Gale.

Reference to an entire book (no author or editor) p. 249

Book title. (Year). Place: Publisher.

Webster's II new college dictionary. (1995). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Reference to an entry in an encyclopedia p. 254

Author (if given). (Year). Article title. In Encyclopedia title (volume, page numbers). Place: Publisher.

Baker, J. R. (1997). Insect. In Academic American encyclopedia (Vol. 11, pp. 186-193). Danbury, CT: Grolier.

Attorney Misconduct. (1998). In West's encyclopedia of American law (Vol. 1, pp. 287-290). New York: West Publishing Company

Reference to an article or chapter in an edited book p. 252

Article or chapter author(s). (Year). Article or chapter title. In Book editor's name(s) [editor name(s) not inverted] (Ed.(s)), Book title (article or chapter page numbers). Place: Publisher.

Appleyard, R. E., & Ringland, W. L. (1969). Alternating-current generators. In D. G. Fink & J. M. Carroll (Eds.), Standard handbook for electrical engineers (10th ed.). (pp. 6.2-6.42). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Reference to a scholarly journal (paginated by issue) p. 240

Article author(s). (Year). Article title. Journal title, volume number(issue number), page(s).

Russell, P. A. (2000). The aesthetics of rectangle proportion: Effects of judgment scale and context. The American Journal of Psychology, 113(1), 27-42.

Reference to a scholarly journal (continuous pagination) p. 240

Article author(s). (Year). Article title. Journal title, volume number, page numbers.

Kastner, J. W., & May, W. (2001). Relationship between language skills and academic achievement in first grade. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 92, 381-390.

Reference to a magazine article p. 241

Article author. (Date on publication year, month day). Article title. Magazine title, volume number, page numbers.

Tayler, J. (2001, May). Russia is finished. The Atlantic, 287, 35 - 52.

Reference to an anonymous article in a daily newspaper p. 242

Article title. (Date on publication year, month day). Newspaper title, Section and page number(s). [use p. or pp. before section and page numbers]

Whale blubber prices soar. (2001, May 12). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, p. A4.

Reference to a report available from the Government Printing Office (GPO), government institute as group author pp. 256-257

Agency. (Year). Title of government document (report number). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Note: There are government reports that are NOT published by the GPO. NTIS, ERIC, and NCJRS reports all fit in this category.

Reference to an article retrieved from an aggregated database like those in GALILEO p. 278-279

Article author(s). (Year). Article title. Journal title, volume number(issue number, if any), page number(s). Retrieved month day, year, from database.

Woessner, W. W., Ball, P. N., DeBorde, D. C., & Troy, T. L. (2001). Viral transport in a sand and gravel aquifer under field pumping conditions. Ground Water, 39(6), 886-894. Retrieved June 3, 2002, from ProQuest Research Library database.

Reference to an article in an internet-only journal p. 272

Article author(s). (Date of article year, month day). Article title. Journal title, volume number(issue number, if any), article designation, if any. Retrieved month day, year, from URL electronic address

Frederickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved August 24, 2004, from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html

Reference to an internet article based on a print source (not those in GALILEO) p. 271-272

Article authors(s). (Year). Article title [Electronic version]. Journal title, volume number(issue number, if any), page numbers.

Glisky, E. L., Rubin, S. R., & Davidson, P. S. R. (2001). Source memory in older adults: An encoding or retrieval problem? [Electronic version]. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27(5), 1131-1146.

Reference to a multipage internet document (one document with more than one URL) p. 273

Author(s). (Year, month day). Title. Retrieved month day, year, from URL for homepage.

Aquatic Exercise Association. (2000-2004). Trainer's corner. Retrieved August 24, 2004 from http://www.aeawave.com/trainers_corner.htm

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