APA Style
APA Style
APA Style
I. Pagination: The body of the paper begins on a new page (page 3). Subsections of the body
of the paper do not begin on new pages.
II. Title: The title of the paper (in uppercase and lowercase letters) is centered on the
first line below the running head.
III. Introduction: The introduction (which is not labeled) begins on the line following
the paper title.
IV. Headings: Five levels of headings are available to be used to organize the paper
and reflect the relative importance of sections. For example, many empirical
research articles utilize two levels of headings: Main headings (such as Method,
Results, Discussion, References) would use Level 1 (centered, boldface,
uppercase and lowercase letters), and subheadings (such as Participants,
Apparatus, and Procedure as subsections of the Method section) would use Level
2 (flush left, boldface, uppercase and lowercase letters).
V. Example of APA-formatted Headings:
http://www.vanguard.edu/uploadedFiles/Psychology/headings.pdf
II. Text citations: Source material must be documented in the body of the paper by citing the
author(s) and date(s) of the sources. The underlying principle is that ideas and words of
others must be formally acknowledged. The reader can obtain the full source citation from
the list of references that follows the body of the paper.
I. When the names of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the sentence,
the year of publication appears in parentheses following the identification of the
authors. Consider the following example:
Wirth and Mitchell (1994) found that although there was a reduction in insulin
dosage over a period of two weeks in the treatment condition compared to the
control condition, the difference was not statistically significant.
[Note: and is used when multiple authors are identified as part of the formal
structure of the sentence. Compare this to the example in the following section.]
II. When the authors of a source are not part of the formal structure of the
sentence, both the authors and year of publication appear in parentheses. Consider
the following example:
Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some types
of religious behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health
(Gartner, Larson, & Allen, 1991; Koenig, 1990; Levin & Vanderpool, 1991; Maton &
Pargament, 1987; Paloma & Pendleton, 1991; Payne, Bergin, Bielema, & Jenkins,
1991).
[Note: & is used when multiple authors are identified in parenthetical material.
Note also that when several sources are cited parenthetically, they are ordered
alphabetically by first authors' surnames and separated by semicolons.]
III. When a source that has two authors is cited, both authors are included
every time the source is cited.
IV. When a source that has three, four, or five authors is cited, all authors are included
the first time the source is cited. When that source is cited again, the first author's
surname and "et al." are used. Consider the following example:
Reviews of research on religion and health have concluded that at least some types
of religious behaviors are related to higher levels of physical and mental health
(Payne, Bergin, Bielema, & Jenkins, 1991).
V. When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the first author's
surname and "et al." are used every time the source is cited (including the first
time).
VI. Every effort should be made to cite only sources that you have actually read. When
it is necessary to cite a source that you have not read ("Grayson" in the following
example) that is cited in a source that you have read ("Murzynski & Degelman" in
the following example), use the following format for the text citation and list only
the source you have read in the References list:
Grayson (as cited in Murzynski & Degelman, 1996) identified four components of
body language that were related to judgments of vulnerability.
IX. To cite the Bible, provide the book, chapter, and verse. The first time the
Bible is cited in the text, identify the version used. Consider the following example:
"You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you"
(Psalm 86:5, New International Version).
II. Quotations: When a direct quotation is used, always include the author, year, and page
number as part of the citation.
I. A quotation of fewer than 40 words should be enclosed in double quotation marks and
should be incorporated into the formal structure of the sentence. Consider the following
example:
Patients receiving prayer had "less congestive heart failure, required less diuretic
and antibiotic therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had fewer cardiac
arrests, and were less frequently intubated and ventilated" (Byrd, 1988, p. 829).
II. References: All sources included in the References section must be cited in the body of the
paper (and all sources cited in the paper must be included in the References section).
1. Authors: Authors are listed in the same order as specified in the source,
using surnames and initials. Commas separate all authors. When there are
eight or more authors, list the first six authors followed by three ellipses
(...) and then the final author. If no author is identified, the title of the
document begins the reference.
2. Year of Publication: In parentheses following authors, with a period
following the closing parenthesis. If no publication date is identified, use
"n.d." in parentheses following the authors.
3. Source Reference: Includes title, journal, volume, pages (for journal article)
or title, city of publication, publisher (for book). Italicize titles of books,
titles of periodicals, and periodical volume numbers.
4. Electronic Retrieval Information: Electronic retrieval information may
include digital object identifiers (DOIs) or uniform resource locators
(URLs). DOIs are unique alphanumeric identifiers that lead users to
digital source material. To learn whether an article has been assigned a
DOI, go to http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/.
IV. Example of APA-formatted References: Go to
http://www.vanguard.edu/uploadedFiles/Psychology/references.pdf
V. Examples of sources
4. Book
II. Footnotes: Content footnotes are occasionally used to support substantive information in
the text. A content footnote may be placed at the bottom of the page on which it is
discussed or on a separate page following the References.