Currently in its 7th edition. APA Style is a citation format established by the American Psychological Association. The format was developed to ensure consistency and to provide style rules for scientific writing.
This format is used mostly for:
APA Style Includes:
Top Five Reasons to Use APA Style:
This guide is an adaptation of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), not a substitute for it.
For some sources, you may need to consult the APA Manual and interpret the rules to the best of your own ability. Copies of the manual are located at the Research Help desk.
Always refer to the APA Manual for specific authorized examples of citations.
Some of the citation examples in this guide are from the manual and others are examples from the Amelia V. Galluci-Cirio Library Librarians.
Integrating sources into a paper can be challenging. How much of a source do you use? When should you use quotation marks? It is important to remember that you are the author of a paper, so sources are properly used to back up your own arguments, not state an argument in themselves, so how you use them depends on the structure of your paper/project and your argument.
Here is a paragraph from a scholarly article:
These results suggest that morning people, or early chronotypes—as measured on the morningness–eveningness continuum are more proactive than are evening types. Additionally, the misalignment of social and biological time, as assessed by the difference between rise times on weekdays and on free days, correlated with proactivity, suggesting that people with a high misalignment of social and biological time may be less able to act in a proactive manner, probably because of sleep delay. Their biological schedules seem not to fit neatly into social demands (e.g., school, university, work schedules) as do those of less misaligned people.
Randler, C. (2009). Proactive people are morning people. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39(12), 2787-2797.
See examples of how to quote, paraphrase and summarize this paragraph below:
Examples using the paragraph above:
Randler (2009) states that late risers have “a high misalignment of social and biological time” which results in a mismatch between their natural schedules and the normal workday (p. 2793).
or
“People with a high misalignment of social and biological time may be less able to act in a proactive manner, probably because of sleep delay” (Randler, 2009, p. 2793).
Notice that there are two ways to incorporate a source:
Examples using the paragraph above:
Randler (2009) states that people who are naturally morning people often also display traits that are considered proactive. He also suggests that late risers may not show as many proactive traits because they naturally operate on a different sleep schedule.
or
People who are naturally morning people have been shown to also display traits that are considered proactive, and late risers display fewer of these traits because they don’t get enough sleep on days when they have to go to work or school. (Randler, 2009).
Notice that there are two ways to incorporate a source:
Examples using the paragraph above:
Recent research shows that people who are not naturally early risers often have persistent issues adjusting themselves to the morning-oriented schedule of most schools and workplaces, and because of this may be less proactive in their behaviors (Randler, 2009).
or
The natural alignment of sleep schedules to work and school schedules allows early risers to have more energy and display proactive traits, while people who are natural late risers, and thus often combating sleep delay in adhering to regular schedules, display fewer of these traits (Randler, 2009).
Notice that with a Summary we do not have to include the page number as we are summarizing the findings from the whole study, rather than just a small part of it.
An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and other documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph.
The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.
Abstracts are the purely descriptive summaries often found at the beginning of scholarly journal articles or in periodical indexes.
Annotations differ in that they are descriptive and critical; they discuss the author's point of view, clarity and appropriateness of expression, and authority. You act as the critic, evaluating the article for relevance to your topic.
Creating an annotated bibliography calls for a variety of intellectual skills: concise exposition, succinct analysis, and informed library research.
Cite the book, article, or document using the appropriate style. (See below.)
The following example uses the APA format for the journal citation.
Waite, L. J., Goldschneider, F. K., & Witsberger, C. (1986). Nonfamily living and the erosion of traditional family orientations among young adults. American Sociological Review, 51(4), 541-554.
The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living. This article directly relates to my topic and the supposition that family relationships affect development of traditional gender roles.
The following example uses the MLA format for the journal citation.
NOTE: Standard MLA practice requires double spacing within citations.
Waite, Linda J., Frances Kobrin Goldscheider, and Christina Witsberger. "Nonfamily Living and the Erosion of Traditional Family Orientations Among Young Adults." American Sociological Review 51.4 (1986): 541-554. Print.
The authors, researchers at the Rand Corporation and Brown University, use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Young Women and Young Men to test their hypothesis that nonfamily living by young adults alters their attitudes, values, plans, and expectations, moving them away from their belief in traditional sex roles. They find their hypothesis strongly supported in young females, while the effects were fewer in studies of young males. Increasing the time away from parents before marrying increased individualism, self-sufficiency, and changes in attitudes about families. In contrast, an earlier study by Williams cited below shows no significant gender differences in sex role attitudes as a result of nonfamily living. This article directly relates to my topic and the supposition that family relationships affect development of traditional gender roles.
Sections highlighted in red demonstrate evaluative content, which differs from purely descriptive content.
Note: Content adapted from: Michael Engle, Amy Blumenthal, and Tony Cosgrave. Olin & Uris Libraries. Cornell University, 2010. http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill28.htm