For more detailed information and examples, please see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). Call number: BF76.7 .P83 2020. A sample student paper can be found on pages 61-67; a sample professional paper for publication can be found on pages 50-60.
Before submitting your paper to the instructor, be sure to review these tips and make corrections to your reference list.
If your instructor’s preferred style differs from this suggested style, always follow your instructor’s directions.
Do not indent the first line in each citation, but indent all the following lines, which is called a hanging indent. (Ctrl+T in MS Word or Cmd+T Word for Macs.)
Use initials for first and middle names, even if the entire name is provided.
In the article and book title, capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, and any proper nouns.
In the article title, do not underline or use quotation marks.
Italicize the book/journal/magazine/newspaper name and the volume number.
Italicize the title of a web page, but not the title of a full web site.
Journal, magazines, and newspaper titles are in title case and in italics. Web site names are only title case.
Include month and year for monthly magazines; include date for weekly magazines, daily newspapers, or Web pages (if available).
p. [page] and pp. [pages] are included only in newspaper articles, book chapters, and journals that do not use volume numbers.
Months are spelled out rather than abbreviated.
Do not end the citation with a period if it ends in a URL or DOI.
Space once after commas, colons, semicolons, punctuation marks at the ends of sentences, periods that separate parts of a reference citation, and after the periods of the initials in personal names.
Do not manually break DOIs or URLs. If your word processor does it automatically, that's fine. If it moves it to a new line, that's fine.
Journal/magazine/newspaper title is title case, but article title nor book title is in title case.
All URLs or DOIs should be functional. It may use the default blue underline in word processors or it may be plain text.
Below are several templates in order of APA's preference. Use the most relevant one for you and plug in the citation information. Examples follow the templates. All citations should be double-spaced with a hanging indent (Ctrl+T).
Templates of Journal Article Citations (in order of preference)
Author(s). (year). Article title. Name of Journal, volume(issue), page-page. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxx
Author(s). (year). Article title. Name of Journal, volume(issue), page-page.
Author(s). (year). Article title. Name of Journal, volume(issue), page-page. Name of Site. http://URL_copied_specifically_from article
All citations should be double spaced and with a hanging indent (Ctrl+T).
|
Citation Type |
Example |
|---|---|
|
One Author, Journal Article with DOI |
Sorrell, E. (1999). Information competency programs in the CSU system. Journal of Higher Education, 32(2), 33-52. https://doi.org/1080.146JHE.32abcxyz |
|
Two Authors, Monthly Magazine Article, article URL |
Wobick, K., & Hernandez, J. (2020, July). Business sources for education majors. Education Graduate Students Magazine, 127, 12-19. http://coe.csusb.edu/edgradmag/article |
|
No Author, Newspaper Article |
Self-esteem linked to regular exercise. (2000, January 2). Coyote Express. http://www.coyoteexpress.edu/self-esteemexercise.html |
|
Web Page, Undated |
Bartle, L. (n.d.). Explanation of awards. Database of Award-Winning Children's Literature. http://www.dawcl.com/awards/html |
Templates of Books, Essays, and ERIC Documents
Author(s). (year). Book title (edition if given). Publisher.
Author(s). (year). Book title (edition if given). Publisher. https:xxxxx
Author(s). (year). Essay title. In Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. #-#). Publisher.
All citations should be double spaced and with a hanging indent. (Ctrl+T)
|
Citation Type |
Example |
|---|---|
|
E-book with edition |
Tschabrun, S. (1995). African history resources on the continent (2nd ed.). Divine Press. |
|
Book with edition, no author |
New York Public Library American history desk reference (4th ed.). (2010). Macmillan. |
|
Corporate author same as publisher |
American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). |
|
Essay in edited book, signed forewords, prefaces, introductions, afterwords, and two editors |
Vassilakos-Long, J. (1990). Effective use of government documents. In C. A. Caballero & B. Barrett (Eds.), Collected essays on library resources (pp. 35-48). Library Press International. |
|
ERIC document (ED), three authors |
Bourquin, D., Bartle, L., & Quarton, B. (1978). A resource for graduate students, instructors, and librarians (ED875222). American Association for Counseling and Development. ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED87522.pdf |
If the open-access journal does not have continuous pagination, but uses article numbers instead, format it as shown below:
McIntosh, K., Girvan, E. J., Horner, R. H., & Smolkowski, K. (2014). Education not incarceration: A conceptual model for reducing racial and ethnic disproportionality in school discipline. Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 5(2), Article 4. ERIC. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1188503.pdf