APA (American Psychological Association) style is the standard method of publishing one’s writing in psychology as well as other social sciences such as nursing, anthropology, sociology, business and gender studies (APA, 2010, p. xv).

• You should cite authors who have directly influenced your writing, whether it be their ideas, theories, or empirical data.
• Citing an article implies that you have read the work you cited, so do not cite authors indirectly (i.e., citing author A whom you saw cited by author B, without reading author A’s paper).
• Cite any facts or figures that are not common knowledge.

• For a standard empirical article, aim for 1 - 2 sources that best represent each key point you want to make.
• For a literature review, you will probably use more. This is because reviews are meant to introduce readers to the spectrum of information written about a certain topic.

In-Text Citations: Format

Include author’s last name followed by a comma, then the year of publication. If you are directly quoting an author, also include the page or paragraph number. Ending punctuation goes outside the parentheses.

The study aimed to measure the participants' preferences in different types of music based on their age (Baker, 2008).

Baker (2008) measured correlations between age and music genre preference.

One Work by Two Authors

When citing more than two authors a second time, use the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” (which means “and others”).

Children have been shown to imitate the aggressive behaviors of adults as young as two years of age (Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1961).

A classic study by Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) showed strong evidence that children as young as two imitate the observed aggressive behavior of adults.

Mean aggression scores for children exposed to aggressive adult models were significantly greater than those of children in non-aggressive or control conditions (Bandura et al., 1961).

One Work by Six or More Authors

Nokes et al. (2012) found that nurses who used self-efficacy interventions for HIV patients showed a slight increase in patient adherence to retroviral treatment, though these effects were impacted by patient depression and lack of social capital.

A study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) found that...

(Ellsworth, 2002; Rylie, Short, Morgan & Christoff, 1996; Wang, Peterson & Morphey, 2002; Wang et al., 2007).

When citing more than one work by the same first author, add a suffix of a, b, c, etc. according to the order of works in the reference list.

Several studies (Rylie, 2002a; Rylie 2002b; Melsworth & Rylie, 2003a, Mellsworth & Rylie, 2003b) suggest...

When and how to use direct quotes (“”)?

• Use when you are reproducing word-for-word information from others’ work or your own previous writings. This should be done sparingly.
• Also, use them when you are stating test items or participant directions verbatim.

When using direct quotes, always list in parentheses the authors’ last names, year of the article’s publication, and page number in this format:

(Purcell, 1997, pp.111-112) or (Purcell, 1997, p. 111)

Direct quotes less than 40 words

Put quotation marks around the quoted material, and incorporate the quote into your sentence. Try not to quote an entire sentence, as it makes the writing very choppy and usually comes off as lazy.

Since the quote is in “the middle of this sentence” (Zhou et. al, 2013, p. 10), I would format the sentence this way.

If the quote comes at the end of the sentence, put the end quotation marks after the final word, insert the parenthetical citation, and end with the period (or exclamation/question mark, if you’re getting fancy).

Since the quote is at the end of this sentence, I would “format the quote this way” (Smith, 1992, pp. 10-12).

Place the quote in a freestanding block of text on a new line, indented ½ inch from the left margin. If there are subsequent paragraphs in your block quote, indent them another ½ inch from the first indent. Place the parenthetical citation at the end of the block, after the end punctuation. Double-space all of the quote.

Since my block quote had 40 words that you can’t see here, I’m going to end the quote this way. (Loving, 2000, pp. 111-115)

Only put the page number in parentheses if you already mentioned the author’s name; always put the year immediately following an author’s name when you refer to them in-text.

Since I’m mentioning Shields (2003) said “something related to psychology,” I only need to put the page number at the end of this sentence (p. 24).

In your parenthetical citation, give the author, year, and page numbers if possible. If there is no pagination, refer to the paragraph a quote was taken from. Use the abbreviation “para.”

Since I got this from a blog with no page numbers, “I’m going to cite using the paragraph number” (Doling, 2005, para. 4).

Alphabetization Rules. Alphabetize by the author’s last name, followed by the first and middle initial. Remember that “nothing precedes something” (e.g. Carter, T. S. precedes Carters, A. K.).

Order of Several Works by One Author. Give the author’s name in the first and following entries.

Bargh, J. D. (1996).
Bargh, J. D. (2003).

Single-author entries come before multiple-author entries beginning with the same last name, regardless of publication year.

Cooke, R. D. (1995).
Cooke, R. D., Feders, G. K. & Tolman, E. M. (1984).

References should contain the author(s') name(s), publication date, title, and publication information. For each cited work, list the authors in the order they are presented on the manuscript. The order of author names signifieswhat type of contribution they made to the work, and should not be alphabetized.

If no DOI has been assigned to the content, then provide the home page URL of the journal, book, or report author/publisher. Do not add any punctuation to the URL, such as a period at the end or a hyphen across line breaks. You do not need to include database information, or retrieval date information unless the content material has changed over time.

Important note: When listing references, keep the first line left-aligned at the margin, and indent every line thereafter 1/2 inch. Due to online formatting restrictions we could not model the format here, but check the APA manual for an example.

Ruiz, V. L., & Sánchez Korrol, V. (Eds.). (2006). Latinas in the United States: A historical encyclopedia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Journal article, online version

Printed Newspaper article

Smith, P. (2001, August 3). New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. The Washington Post, p. A12.

National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

Nelson, E. (Producer), Herzog, W. (Director). 2005. Grizzly man. USA: Real Big Films.