Citing in the APA Style

APA Basics

• Authors’ full names are not spelled out. The first and middle names are represented only by initials.
• Capitalize only the initial word in an article/book title unless the title includes a proper name. If there is a subtitle, the first word of the subtitle is capitalized as well.
• Titles of books or periodicals are either underlined or italicized.
• Publication dates are presented in (Year, Month, Day) format.
• Place of publication includes the city only. If the city is not readily known, include the state.
• If there is no author, the title is listed first.
• No periods following URLs.

DOI

APA 6th edition now requires the addition of DOI numbers. A DOI or Digital Object Identifier is a unique number that allows the establishment of a permanent link to an article. When a DOI number is present, the database name and URL are left out. To find a DOI, try the following:

• Check the citation and abstract in the database.
• Check the first page of an article, especially in PDF format.
• Use DOI lookup.
• Cut and paste a citation into CrossRef Simple Text Query.
• Still confused? Consult the APA DOI and URL Flowchart [PDF].

Book Entry – Single Author

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.

Henderson, K. (1999). On line and on paper: Visual representations, visual culture, and computer graphics in design engineering. Cambridge: MIT Press.

In-text citations: (Last Name, Year, p. #)
(Henderson, 1999, p. 30)

Book Entry – Two or More Authors

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial., & Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of book. Place of publication: Publisher.

Pope Robbins, L. E., & Esposito, L. (2005). Understanding libraries. New York: McGraw-Hill.

In-text citations: (Last Name & Last Name, Year, p. #)
(Pope Robbins & Esposito, 2005, p. 25)

Book Entry – Edition

Last Name. First Initial. (Publication date). Title of book. (Edition statement). Place of publication: Publisher.

Henbest, N., & Martin, M. (1996). The new astronomy (2^nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

ERIC Document

Last Name, First Initial. (Publication date). Title of report (Report No.). Place of publication: Publisher. (ED#)

Mead, J.V. (1992). Looking at old photographs: Investigating the teacher tales that novice teachers bring with them (Report No. NCRTL-RR-92–4). East Lansing: National Center for Research on Teaching Learning. (ED346082)

Print Journal Entry

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Article title. Title of periodical, volume(issue), pages.

Mandrell, L. (1997). Zen and the art of grade motivation. English Journal, 86, 28–31.

In-text citations: (Last Name, Year, p. #)
(Mandrell, 1997, p. 30)

Periodical Entry – No Volume

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of periodical, pages.

LaRoe, L. M. (1997, May). LaSalle’s last voyage. National Geographic, 72–83.

Newspaper Entry

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of newspaper, p. #.

Dorsey, T. (1997, May 4). Florida’s space coast: All fired up! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, p. L1.

Online Journal with DOI

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of journal, volume, pages. doi: ##.####/abdc.

Wraga, W. G. (2010, February). From slogan to anathema: Historical representations of life adjustment education. American Journal of Education, 116, 185–210. doi: 10.1086/649456

Online Journal without a DOI

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of periodical, volume(issue), pages. Retrieved from URL

Hamfi, A.G. (1981). The funny nature of dogs. E-journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), 38–48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/fdo

If you retrieved the article from a database, you do not need to include the database name in the citation. Instead list the URL of the journal from the publisher’s web site. You may have to search the web to find this URL.

Website Entry

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of page. Retrieved from URL

Include a retrieval date (the date you looked at it) only for material that may change or be constantly updated.

Werrell, E. (1999, May 11). DORIL: The information literacy process. Retrieved July 6, 2001, from http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/il/process.html

In-text citations: (Last Name, Year) (Werrell, 1999)

Website – Online Newspaper

Last Name. First Initial. Second Initial. (Publication date). Title of article. Title of newspaper. Retrieved date you saw it, from URL

Shopping in palm of the hand is making its holiday debut. (2000, November 11). New York Times on the Web. Retrieved November 11, 2000, from http://www1.nytimes.com/

Additional Sources

• KnightCite Citation Service
  To create a single quick entry, try this. If you need to create a longer bibliography then use NoodleBib.

• Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide
  From the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL), a comprehensive guide to using the APA style covering formatting in-text citations, footnotes, reference lists and more.

• Citing ERIC Documents in APA
  From the Lydia M. Olson Library at Northern Michigan University.

• APA Wizard Form 6th Ed
  Automated style generator for when you need a single quick citation.

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