APSA Style (2018 Edition)
(printable version here)

By Adam Webster, Writing Consultant

APSA (American Political Science Association) style is the standard writing and publishing style used by students, scholars, and editors in the field of political science.

The following are highlights of some of the more important aspects of APSA formatting, but do not constitute the whole of APSA style. Please consult the manual (held on reserve at Boatwright Library) for a complete explanation of publishing guidelines.

For an in-depth example of how an APA-style paper should look like, check out this Sample APA Paper for Students Interested in Learning APA Style 6th Edition http://my.ilstu.edu/~jhkahn/APAsample.pdf by Dr. Jeff Kahn from the University of Illinois.

In-Text Citations: General Guidelines

When to Cite

• You should cite authors when you are directly quoting, paraphrasing, or expressing facts or opinions that cannot be reasonably assumed to be universally known.
• Remember, it's always better to over-cite than to under-cite.
• That said, you should not cite authors indirectly (only cite authors whose works you have personally consulted, not those whose works were mentioned in something else you read).

In-Text Citations: Format

• In-text citations are parenthetical, meaning they are set off by parentheses.
• The usual format of the citation will be the last name of the author/editor/translator only, followed by the year of publication. There should be no comma between the last name and the year of publication.
• For direct quotations, page numbers should follow the publication year. These can either be consecutive, nonconsecutive, or a range of pages, and should be set off by a comma after the publication year.

One Work by One Author

• Include author's last name followed by the year of publication. If you are directly quoting an author, also include the page number(s). Ending punctuation goes outside the parentheses:
  
  The study aimed to measure the participants' preferences in political candidate based on their age (Johnson 2012).
  
  The study noted that "older participants tend to prefer more conservative candidates" (Johnson 2012, 44).
  
  
• If you mention the author's name in your sentence, then put the publication year immediately following the name:
  
  Johnson (2008) measured correlations between age and candidate preference.

One Work by Two Authors

• Include both authors' last names and the article's date of publication in parenthesis. Separate the authors' last names with and, then follow the same rules as with one author.
  
  Interestingly, politicians in authoritarian regimes have repeatedly received higher approval ratings than those in democratic ones (Gleeson and Bamberger 1991).
  
  A study by Gleeson and Bamberger (1991) shows that authoritarian regimes ..."
  
  Although democracies scored higher in most economic indices, authoritarian regimes had higher approval ratings across the board" (Gleeson and Bamberger 1991, 90-91).

One Work by Three Authors

• Include all three authors' last names every time. Use commas between each name, and use "and" before the last one.
  
  The results of the survey did not indicate any correlation between sexuality and political affiliation (Smith, Harvey, and Lockwood).

One Work by Four or More Authors

• Cite only the last name of the first author, followed by "et al." as in this example:
  
  The result of these wars was widespread famine and political unrest (Kerrigan et al. 2006) .

Multiple Sources Cited in the same Parentheses

• If multiple sources are being cited together, they should be included within the same parentheses and separated by semicolons. They should appear in alphabetical order.
  
  These trends have been corroborated in research by a multitude of legal scholars (Abel 1995; Christian and Maple 2001; Noone, Nixon, and Webster 2005).

Multiple Sources by the Same Author

If one author wrote two or more of the sources that are being cited in one set of parentheses, omit the name beyond the first source.

(Clemson 1971; 1985) (Clemson 1971, 15; 1985, 25-30)

If two or more sources are published by the same author and in the same year, add a lowercase letter (a, b, c...) suffix to the year, alphabetized by title.

(Clemson 1971a, 1971b)

Supreme Court Cases

The name of the case should be written in italics (but not the "v"), followed by the year (not in italics).

(Dobbs. v. Jackson Women's Health Organization 2022)

Also Remember

If two authors share a last name, include a first initial to distinguish them from one another.
- If the same source is used multiple times in a paragraph, alone, then only the page numbers are required for the second citation and on.

Reference List

Your parenthetical citations will direct readers to a comprehensive reference list at the end of the paper. Every source used in your research and writing must be included in the reference list. Each reference in the reference list must also be linked to at least one parenthetical citation within the paper (i.e., the reference list must be made of sources you actually used). An APSA reference list generally follows the same author-date format as the Chicago Manual of Style.

General Rules

• Reference list should begin on the page immediately following the paper's conclusion.
• The title, "References," should be typed flush against the left marginn--not in the center or indented.
• Each reference should be formatted with a hanging indent- the first line should be flush against the left margin, and the subsequent lines should be indented.
• Each reference should be single spaced, and there should be a full empty line between each reference. - The author's name (last name, first name) starts each reference.
  -- If there is no author, use the editor's name.
  -- If there is no editor, use the book or article title.
  -- If there are multiple authors, list the second and third author's names (these should be: first name, last name).
  -- If there are four or more, use "et al." as in the parenthetical citations.
  
• The reference list is arranged alphabetically by last name.
  -- If the same author wrote multiple sources, they should be in chronological order of publication, from oldest to newest.
• The date follows author name. It is the second element of every reference.
• The titles of books and periodicals should be in italics; the titles of chapter and articles should be within "quotation marks."

Reference List Format

Note that hanging indents may not work perfectly on all screens: second and subsequent lines of all citations should be indented)

Books

Marconi, Jackson. 1976. The American Presidency as a Mirror. New York: Schocken Books.

Two Authors

Smith, Bradley K., and Augustus Walters. 2004. A History of Local Politics in New York's Boroughs.

New York: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter from a Book

Wilson, Graham K. 1996. "The Clinton Administration and Interest Groups." In

The Clinton Presidency: First Appraisals. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers.

Journal Article, printed

Alden, Chris, and Maxi Schoeman. 2013. "South Africa in the Company of Giants:

The Search for Leadership in a Transforming Global Order."

Journal of Modern African Studies 43 (3): 367-392.

Journal article, online version (the same as above, but include the DOI and date accessed at the end)

Tilly, Charles. 2001. "Mechanisms in Political Processes." Annual Review of Political Science

4(1): 21-41. doi: 10.1146/annurev.polisci.4.1.21.

Printed Newspaper article

Jarvis, Brooke. 2017. "When Rising Seas Transform Risk Into Certainty." The New York Times.

Online Newspaper Article

Plumer, Brad, Nadja Popovich, and Brian Palmer. 2020. "How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left

Neighborhoods Sweltering." The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/24/climate/racism-redlining-cities-global-warming.htm

(March 4, 2022).

Government Report

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. 2004. Crime and Safety in America's

Public Schools: Selected Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety.

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004370.pdf (July 23, 2005).

Court Case

U.S. v. Miller. 1939. 307 U.S. 174. LexisNexis Academic (October 1, 2022)

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