1. Stephen Lettic Highline Community College
APA Citation Style
Stephen Lettic
Highline Community College

2. When to cite?
Whenever you are referring to an idea that is not uniquely your own, one that has been drawn from another source, you must “cite” that idea as someone else’s. The most common example is from a periodical or book:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005).

3. When to cite?
The citation follows the expression of the idea; typically at the end of a sentence (an exception would be when you express two or more ideas in one sentence:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005).
This is the citation

4. When to cite?
The order of the citation is important, and should include, in parenthesis, the author’s name, a comma, and the year of publication:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005).
Author name
Year

5. When to cite?
You must cite the particular book each time you draw from it; not just the first time you use it in a text.

6. When to cite?
If your citation refers to a specific page or pages, you should also include that in your citation:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005, p. 48).
Page number

7. Note the gray portion is a direct quote from
When to cite?
Important: if you directly quote a text, you must put the quote in quotation marks:
“Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department” according to one source (Jones, 2005, p. 48).
Note the gray portion is a direct quote from
the Jones source

8. When to cite?
As mentioned earlier, you might have two ideas from two different sources (notice the placement of the first citation after the first idea):
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005, p. 48) as well as teaching citizens how to handle their own crime problems (Smith, 1998).
2nd “idea”

9. When to cite?
Almost without exception, your in-text citation should “connect” to an entry in your reference list toward the end of your paper. Reference list formats are covered later:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005, p. 48).
Reference list
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing.
Hartford, CT: Scholarly Publishers, Inc.

10. When to cite?
You may also at times refer to works without the parenthesis, if it “flows” better with your paper:
Jones has stated that community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (2005, p. 48).
Note the author is
left out because it
was mentioned earlier
in the sentence

11. When to cite? Here is another example of not using parenthesis:
In 1998, Jones reported that community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (p. 48).
In this instance the author and the year are mentioned in the
prior sentence. The page number (specific to the idea) is the
only citation listing. If you are referring to the entire work’s
idea, you might not even have the page number in parenthesis.

12. Examples: No authors
What if your source does not have an author listed anywhere? You will list the first few words of the title of the work:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (“Policing in Action”, 2005).
Title synopsis

13. Examples: No date
What if your source does not have a publish date listed anywhere? You will list the author, and “n.d.” for “no date”:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, n.d.).
n.d. = “no date”
Note: if you don’t have an
author or a date, your citation
might read:
(“Policing in Action”, n.d.)

14. Examples: Two authors
Your book or periodical might have more than one author. You must list both authors every time you draw and idea from that particular source:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones & Smith, 2005, p. 48).
2nd Author

15. Examples: Three to Six Authors
If you have three to six authors, you cite two different ways. The first time you cite the source, you list all authors:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, Smith, & White, 2005).
Each additional time you cite this source in your paper, you only list the first author, and follow it up with “et al.”:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, et al.).
“et al.” stands for “and others”

16. Examples: Agency as Author
Perhaps you have a source that lists an agency, such as a government agency, as the author (and not an individual). In this instance you simply list that agency within the citation:
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005).
Agency listed

17. Examples: Personal Communications
Personal communications, such as s, interviews, phone interviews, etc. are cited within your text, but they are NOT listed in the reference list:
Arthur Jones stated that community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (personal communication, May 8th, 2005).
This will NOT be listed in the
reference list

18. References
Recall that almost without exception, your in-text citation should “connect” to an entry in your reference list toward the end of your paper.
Community policing involves developing a relationship between citizens and the police department (Jones, 2005, p. 48).
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing.
Hartford, CT: Scholarly Publishers, Inc.

19. References - Formatting
References are formatted in the fashion below. The reference is in “hanging indent” style, with the first line not indented and all lines that follow indented.
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing. Hartford, CT: Scholarly Publishers, Inc.
“Hanging indent”

20. References - Formatting
In general, the author is listed first; last name first, first initial next. The year is listed in parenthesis after that. The title is then displayed in italics. If it is a book, the city (and possibly the state) of publication is offered, followed by a colon and the publishing company name.
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing. Hartford, CT: Scholarly Publishers, Inc.

21. References - Formatting
Reference lists are in alphabetical order by the author’s last name.
Multiple authors for the same reference are listed in alphabetical order.
If you have more than one reference by the same author, you list them in order by the year of publication.
Use “&” as opposed to “and” in listing multiple authors

22. Reference Examples: 2-6 authors
All authors (up to six) are listed in alphabetical order.
Anderson, M., Bell, J., & Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing. Hartford, CT: Scholarly Publishers, Inc.

23. Reference Examples: More than 6 authors
The first six authors are listed, every author after that is referred to as “et al.” (“and others”).
Anderson, M., Bell, J., Connors, G., Davis, L., Engram, P., Jones, A., et al. (2005). Community Policing. Hartford, CT: Scholarly Publishers, Inc.

24. Reference Examples: Periodical
A periodical, such a magazine or newspaper, is referred to like below. The title of the article is listed after the year. The name of the periodical is next, followed by the volume number and pages.
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing. River City Monthly, 55,
The periodical name and volume
number are in italics
Page #’s, not in
italics

25. Reference Examples: Periodical
A periodical, such a magazine or newspaper, is referred to like below. The title of the article is listed after the year. The name of the periodical is next, followed by the volume number and pages.
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing. River City Monthly, 55,
The periodical name and volume
number are in italics
Page #’s, not in
italics

26. Reference Examples: Internet/Print Periodical
An internet/print periodical is listed in a reference list like any other periodical, however it also includes the retrieval date and web address (Note: example is of a periodical that is also printed; note volume # and page #’s):
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing. Community Policing Weekly, 55, Retrieved May 8th, 2005, from
Note web address
and retrieval
date

27. Reference Examples: Internet only Periodical
An internet only periodical is listed in a reference list like any other periodical, however it also includes the retrieval date and web address. Note also the retrieval date may differ from the publish date (if known).
Jones, A. (2001). Community Policing. International Association of Community Policing, 55, Article 2. Retrieved May 8th, 2005, from
This can be a
“hyperlink”

28. Reference Examples: Govt. / Private Organization
Internet publications from organizations, government or private, will many times not display an author. The agency name is listed instead of the author.
U.S. Department of Justice (n.d.). Community Policing. Retrieved May 8th, 2005, from
Note: “n.d” for
“no date”. This can
be used for any
reference without
a date

29. Reference Examples: Govt. / Private Organization
What about a private organization? Here is an example:
Higgins Institute (1999). Community Policing. Retrieved May 8th, 2005, from

30. Reference Examples: Link from School Website
Some websites, such as college or university sites, have links to informative articles. These links are handled as follows:
Jones, A. (1999). Community Policing. Retrieved May 8th, 2005, from the University of Nebraska, Criminal Justice Research Section web site:
Note: the website (Nebraska) is distinct from the
article (authored by Jones), so it is noted
specifically in the reference list.

31. Reference Examples: Newspaper on the Web
Many newspaper have their articles on the web now. Here is how you list this in your reference list:
Jones, A. (2005). Community Policing Under Fire. River City Bugle. Retrieved May 8th, 2005, from

32. Important Points
You must “credit” others for their work; APA will do this for you
If this credit isn’t given, you might be committing plagiarism
You must connect your citations to a link in the reference list (with the exception of personal interviews)

33. Important Points
Consult the APA Publication Manual or (Purdue University’s English Lab APA website) for further information. This Powerpoint is merely a basic primer in APA formatting.