APA Reference Citation Basics

Author. (Publication date). Title. Publication information.

What if? 1 Author 2 – 7 Authors > 7 Authors Institutional Author No Author What if? Article Online Video, Transcript, or Blog Book, eBook, or Report Interview What if? Year Only Year, Month Day Year, Season No Date What if? Journal Article Online Non-Periodical Content Online Periodical Article eBook Print Book

Author. Author. (Publication date). Title. Publication information. 1 Author The last name goes first, followed by a comma and the author’s initials. Apellido, P. 2 – 7 Authors List the authors’ names and initials with a comma and a space between them. An ampersand “&” precedes the final name. Apellido, P., & Surname, F. M. Apellido, P., Surname, F. M., Nomdefamille, N., & Achternaam, N. > 7 Authors List the names the same as for 2-7 authors, but after the sixth name use an ellipsis “... ” followed by the final name. First, F., Second, S. S., Third, T. T., Fourth, F., Fifth, F. F., Sixth, S. S.,... Final, F. F. Institutional Author The name of the institution or organization should be written without abbreviation and in title case. American Psychological Association. No Author If there is no author, the title of the source should be placed at the beginning of the citation. Title of my article: Subtitle of my article. (Publication date). Publication information.  List authors’ names in the order they appear in the source.  Pay attention to where the commas and spaces are.

(Publication date). Author. (Publication date). Title. Publication information. Year Only The year should be placed in parentheses, followed by a period. (2000). Year, Month Day In parentheses, the year is followed by a comma, a space, the month, a space, and the day. (2000, June 20). Year, Season In parentheses, the year is followed by a comma, a space, and the season. (2000, Spring). No Date If, after a thorough search no date is found, the abbreviation “n.d.” is put in parentheses. (n.d.).  Use the publication date of the version I used, usually the most recent. publication information  The publication date is not the same as an access date. I only need to provide an access date (as part of the publication information) for a source that changes often, like a wiki.

Title. Author. (Publication date). Title. Publication information. Article (e.g., from an Academic Journal, a Non-Academic Periodical, a Chapter Title) Only proper nouns and the first word of the title and subtitle are capitalized. NO italics. NO quotation marks. The grammar gallimaufry: Teaching students to challenge the grammar gods. Humanities education in the United States. Online Video, Transcript, or Blog (also Downloadable Files, e.g., PDF, PowerPoint) Capitalization and format are the same as articles, but the type of source is included in brackets at the end of the title. Grammar’s great divide: The Oxford comma [Video file]. A hydra-headed question [Blog posting]. Book, eBook, Report Capitalization is the same as articles, but the title should be italicized. The grammar of English grammars. Interview (Personal Communication) APA style does not include personal communications like interviews in the references list. Instead, information is cited using a signal phrase or a parenthetical in-text citation. L. Handley (personal communication, August 20, 2000) observed that for many writing.... For many writing instructors, grammar instruction is a catch-22, they can see how teaching grammar can help their students polish their writing, but grammar instruction takes time and causes a lot of frustration (L. Handley, personal communication, August 20, 2000).  I may need to change the original format of titles for my references list.  The formatting rules for titles I refer to within my paper are different from the reference citation rules.

Publication information. Author. (Publication date). Title. Publication information. Journal Article (Scholarly Articles from Library Databases) Publication information includes the title of the journal in title case, the volume and issue numbers, and the page range. The journal title and volume number are italicized. The issue number is in parentheses after the volume number without a space. The English Journal, 98(3), If published in an online journal or with a DOI number, add the phrase “Retrieved from” and the stable URL or DOI number: CQ Researcher, 23(43), Retrieved from British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 32(4), doi: /bjdp Online Non-Periodical Content (e.g., Videos, Blog Postings, Downloadable Files) Use the stable URL, permalink, or DOI number provided by the website when possible. Otherwise, provide the URL to the web page that posts the download link—avoid using the download link itself. Retrieved from Retrieved from Online Periodical Article (e.g., popular news sources like the Times, CNN, New York Tribune ) Publication information includes the periodical title in italics and title case, followed by the URL. Times. Retrieved from eBook or Print Book Citations for books include information about editions, translations, multi-volume publications, editors, translators, in addition to the publisher, place of publication, and a DOI or stable URL. Consult an additional source like Purdue’s Online Writing Lab APA Style Guide.  In academic research, I should avoid periodical news articles.  Pay attention to where the commas, spaces, and italics are.

What if? I don’t know who the author is? Look around for an “About Us” link or for the name of an organization, academic institution, or government department. When multiple options exist, choose the organization most closely responsible for the publication. Center for Disease Control: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Harvard University: School of Public Health: Department of Nutrition My source uses a different format for its title? Since I am following APA guidelines, I need to format titles according to those guidelines. The only exception is if the original title or subtitle ends in a question mark, the question mark replaces the colon or period in my reference citation. Grammar and effective communication: Do they really go hand-in-hand? Does learning have to be fun? Addressing student misconceptions and predilections. I don’t know what the title is? Look around the website a bit to get a feel for how it organizes and publishes articles. Pay particular attention to special formatting decisions that indicate headings or descriptions that are not part of the title. Times Times EDUCATION: From the NCLB to the Common Core: When will politicians stop trying to be teachers? [cover story] I forget how to create the hanging indent? I do not know what title case is? I have a different kind of source than I think was reviewed here (film, book chapter, anthology, dissertation, etc.)? I have to use MLA? Turabian? Chicago? CSE? Use the resources available to me on the Internet. Use the “Help” function in my word-processor. Ask someone who knows. This guide is meant to help me recognize an underlying order to APA citation and to help me self-correct my citations accurately and efficiently.

URL or No URL Provide a URL if I did not find my source using an EBSCOhost, JSTOR, or SAGE Online database My source was published in an online journal Do NOT provide a URL if I found my source using an EBSCOhost, JSTOR, or SAGE Online database My source has a DOI number

Journal Article vs Online Journal Article Journal articles tend to have a conservative font and layout. Journal articles will have information about the journal they are published in on a cover page, the title page, or in the page headers and footers. The journal might break up the information on even and odd pages. Even if you find a pdf file using a Google search, if you can identify the journal publication information, you should provide it in your citation.

Journal Article vs Online Journal Article Online journals publish, long articles without page numbers. These articles often include hyperlinks to help readers access related material or different sections of the article or journal. Some online journals, like CQ Researcher, have html and pdf versions of their articles. An article from an online journal is different from an article on a website because it provides information about the journal title and volume/issue number. When citing an article from an online journal, I should look for a stable URL or permalink towards the top or bottom of the page.

Journal Article with a DOI Some journal articles are published online with a DOI number. A D igital O bject I dentifier works like a URL, but links to a specific document rather than a web page. If my article has a DOI number, I should provide it. Even if I retrieved it from an EBSCOhost, JSTOR, or SAGE Online database. DOI

Online Article from a Non-Periodical Source Online articles are published in web pages without any connection to a journal, magazine, or newspaper source. Online articles do not usually have a single author. Content is provided by a staff of copy writers and editors for an organization, business, or government agency.

Online Article from a Periodical Periodicals refer to magazines, newspapers, and non- academic journals that publish on a frequent basis. At least once a month, if not weekly, or even daily. Online periodical articles tend to be short and information. Multiple hyperlinks, pop-ups, multimedia content, and advertisements surround the content of the article itself.

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