Using APA Style

taken from Bank Street College Graduate School Writer's Handbook

The following explanations from the American Psychological Association will guide you in setting up bibliographies, reference lists, and citations in the text of your work. If you are accustomed to using another style sheet, you will find some striking differences between APA style and the others with which you may be familiar. Most notably, in the APA style sheet, capitalization in the title of an article or of a book follows the same rules as capitalization in a common sentence. According to most other style sheets, each important rule in any title should be capitalized. In APA style, capitalization of each important word applies only to titles of journals.

The following definitions are in keeping with APA style:

A reference list appears on a separate page at the end of an article. Titled "References," it documents books and articles actually used in the preparation of an article or essay and provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source. The writer should include only the sources that were used in the research and preparation of the article.
A bibliography cites works for background or for further reading. Often a bibliography is annotated; that is, it includes a brief objective description of the article or book.
A reference citation in text, in preference to footnotes, briefly identifies the source of information for readers, and enables readers to locate the source in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the article.

Content footnotes are discouraged because they are distracting to the reader, and because important information merits inclusion in the text.

Citing References in the Body of the Paper *

Each time you quote a source directly, paraphrase an idea, or refer to something that another person said or wrote, identify the original source by inserting the author's last name and the date within the text of your paper. Each source you cite must also appear in the reference list at the end of your paper.

These arguments against standardized education (Duckworth, 1986) explore science as a process of discovery.

Give page numbers for direct quotations. Note that any sentence punctuation comes after the closing parenthesis.

As Dewey (1938) noted, the educational continuum was united by this "connectedness in growth" (p.75).

If the author's name is used in the text, only the date needs to be inside parentheses. When both the author and the date are used in the citation, separate them with a comma. If the author's last name and the date both happen to appear in the text, there is no need to give further reference.

Duckworth (1986) discussed this.

In 1986, Duckworth argued…

You need include the year only once when referring to a particular study within a paragraph as long as the study will not be confused with other studies.

In her study of how individuals learn about density, Duckworth (1986) makes a critical case…

Duckworth also found…

When referring to a particular part of a source, give the page number, chapter, figure, or table at the appropriate place in the text. Abbreviate page and chapter.

(Meyers & Jackson, 1991, p.78)

(Johnson, 1990, chap. 5)

When a work has more than two authors and fewer than six, cite all the authors the first time the reference occurs; subsequently, only the last name of the first author followed by "et al." and the year. If there are six or more authors, cite only the first author and replace the rest with the abbreviation "et al."

Marra, Jacobson, Hardy, Krance, and Center (1982)…[first citation]

Marra et al. (1982)…[subsequent citations]

When citing two authors in the text, join their names by the word "and." In parenthetical material, in tables, and in the reference list, join the names by an ampersand (&):

As Keisel and Drapewski (1990) demonstrated…

As has been shown (Keisel & Drapewski, 1990)…

If you are referring to a source cited by another author, use the following form:

Ainsworth's study (cited in Kagan, 1984) demonstrated…

Note: Be sure to list Kagan's work, not Ainsworth's, in your reference list, since you found the information in Kagan.

Reference Lists and Bibliographies

General Style Preferences

List all sources alphabetically by the author's last name. The first line of a bibliography or reference list is flush with the left margin; all subsequent lines are indented 3 spaces.

Authors

List the author's last name first, comma, then the author's initial(s). With two or more authors, separate each author's name with a comma and use an ampersand (&) before the last author. If the work has no author, list the title first. Write the full name of a corporate author.

Date of publication

Give the year the work was copyrighted.

Periodicals

Periodical example:

Radens, E.C., & Schwimmer, S. (1990). Thinking together: The value of discussion in the five-year-old's classroom. Thought and Practice: The Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education, 2(2), 16-26.

Article title

The title is written as a sentence would be: only the first word is capitalized, as are any proper names and any word following a colon. The title has no quotation marks around it, nor is it italicized (or underlined):

Looking beyond test scores: An approach to reading assessment.

Journal title and publication information

A journal title is written in full with all important words capitalized. The title is italicized (or underlined):

Thought and Practice: The Journal of the Graduate School of Bank Street College of Education, 2(2), 16-26.

Italicize (or underline) the volume number. Do not use "Vol." before the number. If, and only if, each issue begins on page 1, give the issue number in parentheses immediately after the volume number, but do not italicize (or underline) it. Give inclusive page numbers. Use "pp." before the page numbers in references to newspapers and magazines, but not in reference to journal articles.

EXAMPLES OF HOW TO LIST PERIODICALS IN REFERENCE LISTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Journal article

Meier, D. (1992). Reinventing teaching. Teachers College Record, 93, 594-609.

Journal article, two authors, journal paginated by issue

Brinton, B., & Fujiki, M. (1993). Communication skills and community integration in adults with mild to moderate retardation. Topics in Language Disorders, 13(3), 9-19.

Magazine article

Sacks, O. (1993, May 10). A neurologist's notebook: To see and not see. The New Yorker, pp.59-73.

BOOKS

Book example:

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Authors or editors

List the author by last name first, then initial(s). To refer to an edited book, put the editor's names first and enclose the abbreviation "Ed." or "Eds." in parentheses after the last editor.

Tate, G., & Corbett, E. P. J. (Eds.). (1988). The writing teacher's sourcebook (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Book title

The title is written as a sentence would be. Only the first word is capitalized, as are any proper names and any word following a colon. The book title is italicized (or underlined).

Cognitive development (2nd ed.).

Other information necessary for identification and retrieval (e.g., 2nd ed. or Vol.4) goes in parentheses right after the title without any period or comma separating this information from the title.

Publication information

Write the name of the city. If the city could be confused with another location, also name the state (or country). The state is identified by its two-letter postal code, such as NY. Give the name of the publisher in a brief form. Omit unnecessary terms such as Publishers, Co., or Inc. If more than one publisher location is given, give the location listed first in the book.

EXAMPLES OF HOW TO LIST BOOKS IN REFERENCE LISTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Book, third edition, Jr. in name

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (3rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

Edited book

Wing, L. (Ed.). (1976). Early childhood autism: Clinical, educational and social aspects (2nd ed.). Oxford: Pergamon.

Referring to an article or chapter in an edited book

Yarrow, L. J., & Messer, D. J. (1983). Motivation and cognition in infancy. In M. Lewis (Ed.), Origins of intelligence: Infancy and early childhood (2nd ed., pp. 451-478). New York: Plenum.

With two or more names, use an ampersand (&) before the last name. Identify the editor by the abbreviation "Ed." in parentheses after the surname. To identify a translator, use "Trans." Give initials and surnames for all editors, regardless of the number of editors. When an editor's name is not in the author position, write the name initial(s) first, then last name (note the placement of M. Lewis in the example above). When referring to a specific section of an edited book, use the abbreviation for page or chapter.

Research Report from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)

ERIC example:

Howe, R. W., & Kasten, M. (1992). Students at risk in mathematics: Prevention and recovery in elementary schools. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 350 175)

Note: Give the ERIC number in parentheses at the end of the entry.

*Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). See the Publication Manual for further explanations and examples.

Another good guide to APA style can be found online at:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_apa.html

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