1. APA Formatting & How to Avoid Plagiarism
Brookline College Online

2. Format of the Paper:
Running Head
Cover Page
References

3. Running Head: Click ‘Insert’ tab Select blank ‘Header’ option
Type “Running head: SHORT TITLE FOR YOUR PAPER” (Title must be capitalized)
Click ‘Close Header and Footer’ or double click in the middle of the Word document

4. Cover Page: Also known as a “Title Page”
Center align the text in the upper half of your first page
Must contain three important pieces of information: Your paper’s title, your name, and the name of your school (double spaced on three separate lines)
Each word in the title will be capitalized

5. References: Your Reference page will be the last page of your paper
References should be listed in alphabetical order according to the first Author’s last name
Multiple references from the same author should be listed in chronological order of the date publicized
For each reference you should have a ‘Hanging Indentation’ (Indent all remaining lines after the first line one-half inch from the left margin)
Utilize the same punctuation of the source being referenced

6. Formatting of References:
Single Author, Two Authors, Multiple Authors
Book
Website
Article

7. Single Author, Two Authors, Multiple Authors:
Single Author - Last name followed by author’s initials:
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
Two Authors - Last name followed by author’s initials separating the two authors by an ampersand (&):
Author, A. A. & Second Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
Three to Seven Authors - Last name followed by author’s initials separating each author with a comma & last author by an ampersand (&):
Author, A. A., Second Author, A. A., Third Author, A. A., Fourth Author, A. A., Fifth Author, A. A., Sixth Author, A. A. & Seventh Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.
More than Seven Authors - Last name followed by author’s initials separating each author with a comma. Use an ellipses (…) after the sixth’s authors name, then list last author:
Author, A. A., Second Author, A. A., Third Author, A. A., Fourth Author, A. A., Fifth Author, A. A., Sixth Author, A. A., Last Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

8. Book Reference:
The Title and Subtitle of the book should be in italics
The ‘Location’ for the book should be listed as city, state (e.g. Phoenix, AZ)
The ‘Publisher’ and ‘Year of Publication’ can be found within the first three pages of the textbook
Electronic books will also need to have the website address included:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of book. Retrieved from 

9. Website Reference: Follows similar guidelines as a book reference
Must contain website address by stating ‘Retrieved from’:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Retrieved from 

10. Article Reference: Articles and periodicals will need to have:
The title of the article is not in italics, it is in regular New Roman Times font.
Name of the journal in italic font.
New England Journal of Medicine
Volume of the journal.
Vol. 27
Issue number in parenthesis ( ).
Vol. 27 (4).
Page numbers either separated by a comma or hyphen.
P or P. 24,
Articles will also need to have either the URL or DOI.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved from ttp://

11. Article Reference:
There are two ways to cite an article using either the DOI or URL:
1) With the DOI:
Some websites or online articles contain a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which will need to be included in the reference:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range. doi: / or or
2) With the URL “Retrieved from:”
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved from ttp://

12. In-Text Citations: Quotations Summarizing or Paraphrasing
Citing Multiple Authors

13. Quotations:
Quoting an author means using the Author’s exact words (surrounded by “quotations”) to give credit to the author
Example: According to Author (2014), “some people find APA formatting to be extremely difficult” while others may not struggle (p. 72).
Example: Author (2014) stated that “some people find APA formatting to be extremely difficult” (p. 72).

14. Summarizing or Paraphrasing:
Summarizing or paraphrasing means taking the Author’s idea(s) and putting them in your own words
You still need to cite your source when summarizing or paraphrasing
Example: APA formatting is not easy and can be quite a challenge (Author, 2014)
You can also include a page number
Example: APA formatting is not easy and can be quite a challenge (Author, 2014, p. 72)

15. Citing Multiple Authors:
Citations: Include the author’s last name and the year of the publication (both found in your Reference List) and page number(s) if directly quoting (“exact words from Author”)
Single Author - Last name and year separated by a comma:
(Author, 2014) 
According to Author (2014),  
Two Authors - Last name and year, separating the two authors by an ampersand (&):
(Author & Second Author, 2014) 
Research by Author & Second Author (2014) states  
Three to Five Authors – First usage will list all authors, all future uses will contain “et al.”:
(Author, Second Author, Third Author, Fourth Author & Fifth Author, 2014)
(Author et al., 2014)
Research by Author et al. (2014) states . . .
More than Five Authors – First author & “et al.” at all times:

16. Helpful Resources: Learning Resource Center (LRC):
Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue: