Documenting References Using the APA Format

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APA-Style In Text Citations

The American Psychological Association (APA) endorses a name-year in-text parenthetical reference the citation system for articles published in its journal. “Name-year” means that only the surname of the author and the copyright year are used. “In-text” means that the citation is within the text itself (as opposed footnote references In other systems, such as the University of Chicago/Turabian System, where the citations are given at the bottom of the page). “Parenthetical reference” means that the citations are (often) enclosed in parentheses.

1. Paraphrased or summarized sources. A paraphrase is the replacement of technical or difficult-to-understand words with similar but simpler words (or those closer to the author's writing style). A summary is a short version of the reference containing only the important points; it is about one-third (1/3) of the length of the original. Both paraphrases and summaries are the researcher(s)' own words. A reference, whether paraphrase or summary, should be cited.

People from the Mediterranean prefer an elbow-to-shoulder distance from each other (Morris, 1977, p. 131). [Author's name, date, and page cited in parentheses]

Desmond Morris (1977, p. 131) notes that people from the Mediterranean prefer an elbow-to-shoulder distance from each other. [Author name cited in text; date and page cited in parentheses]

2. Short quotations. Quotations are exact copies of the original author's work. These are enclosed in quotation marks (“ ”). Quotations should be used sparingly, only if the author's words are so perfectly written that these would lose their power when paraphrased or summarized. Generally, quotations in the APA format should only be four (4) lines long. Quotations should be preceded by some introductory words. The in-text citation should follow immediately the quotation.

A recent report of reductions in SAD-related “depression in 87 percent of patients” (Binkley, 1990, p. 203) reverses the findings of earlier studies.

Binkley reports in SAD-related “depression in 87 percent of patients” (1990, p. 203).

3. Long quotations. Quotations longer than four lines (or forty words) should be written as “displayed quotations”. Displayed quotations are not enclosed in quotation marks but placed one single space (SS) after the introductory words. Displayed quotations are also written single-spaced (as opposed to the body of the research paper, which is written double-spaced (DS). Displayed quotations are also written one (1) tab mark after the left margin.

Jet lag, with its characteristic fatigue and irregular sleep patterns, is a common problem among those who travel great distances by jet airplane to different time zones:

Jet lag syndrome is the inability of the internal body rhythm to rapidly resynchronize after sudden shifts in the timing. For a variety of reasons, the system attempts to maintain stability and resist temporal change. Consequently, complete adjustment can often be delayed fir several days—sometimes for a week—after arrival at one's destination. (Bonner, 1991, p. 72).

Interestingly, this research shoes that the number if flying hours is not the cause of jet lag.

4. One Author. Give the surname of the author, the year of publication, and the page number; separated by a comma and a space.

Examples: (Ramos, 2005); (Ty, 2006, p. 3); According to Ramos (2005)....

5. Two authors. Give the surnames of both authors, separated by an ampersand (&).

Examples: (Ramos & Ty, 2006, pp. 114-115); Ramos and Ty (2005) claim that...

6. Three, Four, or Five authors. Give the name of all authors in the first citation; for subsequent citations, use the symbol et al. (Latin, et alii, 'and others').

First citation: (Ramos, Ty, & Uy, 2005, pp. 164-165)

Subsequent citations: (Ramos, et al., 2005)

7. Six or more authors. Give the name of the first author (as it appears in the list of authors) followed by et al., even in the first citation.

8. Author(s) with two or more works in the same year. Alphabetize the titles of their works (in the References List) and assign letters in alphabetical order to the years: (1996a), (1996b), (1996c) and so on.

Most recently, Jones (199c) draws new conclusions from the results of 17 sets of experiments (Jones, 1996a, 1996b).

9. Two or more authors with the same surname. For each citation, include the initials of each author who share the same surname.

R. A. Smith (1997) and C. Smith (1989) both confirm these results.

10. Work with group or corporate author. Use the name of the corporation, agency, group, etc. as the “author”. Give the full name of the group in the first citation with the initials enclosed in square brackets ([ ]). In the subsequent citations, use the initials of the group.

First citation: This exploration will continue into the 21^st century (National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA], 1996).

Subsequent citations: (NASA, 1996)

11. Works listed by title (Publications and articles). If no author is cited, use the title of the reference. If the title is long, use the first three (3) significant words of the title.

“All students are expected to be in proper uniform and display their school IDs while on campus” (Philippine Christian University Student Manual, 2009).

(In the following example, the title of the full article is “Are You a Day or Night Person?”)

The “morning lark” and the “night owl” connotations are typically used to categorize the human extremes (“Are You,” 1989).

12. Reference to more than one source. If multiple has contributed to an idea, give the citations within the same parenthetical citation, each separated by a semicolon (;).

Conceptions of personal space vary among cultures (Morris, 1977; Worchel & Cooper, 1983).

13. Non-retrievable sources (e.g., e-mail, telephone calls, personal letters, interviews, etc.). Non-retrievable sources are references that the readers cannot access or retrieve. Use the words “personal communication” and the complete date in the in-text citation, but not in the References List entries.

Recalling his first summer at camp, one person said, “The proximity of 12 other kids made me—an only child with older, quiet parents—frantic for the entire eight weeks” (A. Weiss, personal communication, January 12, 1996).

14. Online sources. When quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing an online source, cite the reference as if it is a print reference. If no author is cited, use the name of the website or the title of the online article. In the in-text citation, indicate the URL using “Retrieved: <http://example.com>” and the date it was viewed using “Accessed: (Exact date)”.

(Guerrero, July 24, 2014, Retrieved: <http://instructionalminutes.blogspot.com/how-to-use-instructional-minutes.html>, Accessed: January 29, 2015).

All references used in the research paper should be cited in the References List (except for non-retrievable sources in number 13).

APA-Style References List Entries

In the American Psychological Association format, the References List (also called a Bibliography in other systems) list down all retrievable references cited in the whole research paper, whether quoted, paraphrased, or summarized. (Non-retrievable sources, such as those marked as “personal communication”, are not included.) The References List begins on a new page, and lists down the references in alphabetical order by the surname of the authors (or the title of the publication, or the name of the corporate author as the case may be). Entries are written using a hanging indent style; that is, the first line is flush to the left margin while any subsequent lines are one (1) tab mark after the left margin. An entry is typically composed of: 1) author's surname and initials, 2) date of publication, 3) title of the publication, 4) Place of publication and publisher. For online sources, it also includes the access date and the URL.

In the APA format, titles of publication are written in italics (or in underlining) with lowercase letters, except for the first letter of the title, any proper nouns, and the first letter of subtitles (separated from the main title with a colon [:]). Titles of articles are enclosed in not enclosed in quotation marks (“”) and not italicized.

1. Book by one author.

Troyka, L. Q. (2002). Simon & Schuster handbook for writers (6^th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

2. Book by two authors. Use the ampersand (&) between the names of the two authors.

Strunk, W. Jr. & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style (4^th ed.). MA: Allyn & Bacon.

3. Book by three or more authors. List the name of the first six authors; substitute et al. for all subsequent authors.

Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2010). Introduction to Linguistics. Singapore: Cengage Learning Asia.

4. Two or more authors by the same author(s). The titles of the publications from the same author(s) should be arranged alphabetically.

Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York: Basic Books.

Gardner, H. (1999). Intelligence reframed: Multiple intelligences for the 21^st century. New York: Basic Books.

5. Book by group or corporate author.

Philippine Christian University. (February 2009). Philippine Christian University student manual. Dasmariñas, Cavite.

6. Book with no author named (cited only by title).

The Chicago manual of style (14^th ed.). (1993). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

7. Signed article (with author) in a reference book. Cite the name of the article (e.g., “Freud, Sigmund” below) and the title of reference book.

Burnbam, J. C. (1996). Freud, Sigmund. In The encyclopedia of psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis. New York: Holt.

8. Unsigned article (without author cited) in a reference book. Use the title of the article in place of the author.

Russia. (1994). The new encyclopaedia Britannica. (Vol. 10, pp. 253-255). Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.

9. Unpublished thesis, dissertation, or research paper. Include the words "Unpublished undergraduate thesis" (or "graduate thesis" for master's degree or "doctoral dissertation" for the doctoral level, etc.) and the name of the school it was submitted to.

Arcibal, N. C. (April 2013). Housewives' exposure to Koreanovelas on GMA 7 and their perception on marriage. Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Cavite State University, Indang, Cavite.

10. Article from periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals, etc.). The title of the article should be written in normal case, without quotation marks; followed by the title of the periodical. Give the exact date of the publication (daily, weekly, or monthly, as the case may be.) Note the date format as year-month-day. The place of publication and the publisher do not need to be cited.

Wyatt, E. (1999, December 3). A high school without a home. The New York Times, pp. B1, B7.

Bonner, J. T. (1999, March). The evolution of evolution. Natural History, 103(3), 20-21.

The numbers after the title of the periodical are the volume number (italicized) and the issue number (in parentheses), followed by the page numbers.

11. Online sources. If the article was written by a group or corporate author, see 5. above. If only the name of the website was cited, see 6. above. If only the article title was given, give the title of the article and the name of website as in 8. above. Give the retrieval date and the URL (web address).

Guerrero, G. T. (2014, July 24). How to use Instructional Minutes. Instructional Minutes. Retrieved: January 29, 2015 from: http://instructionalminutes.blogspot.com/how-to-use-instructional-minutes.html.

R E F E R E N C E

Troyka, L. Q. (2002). Simon & Schuster handbook for writers (6^th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.