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Citing Your Sources - APA Style

Basic Rules

  • All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented 0.5" inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
  • Authors' names are inverted (last name[surname], first name[given name]); provide the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work for up to and including seven authors. If the work has more than seven authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.
  • Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work (or the first significant word if a group/organization is the author). If no author is provided, then the title takes the place of the author field; alphabetize by the first significant word of the title.
  • For multiple articles by the same author, or a group of authors listed in the same order, list the entries in chronological order, from earliest to most recent.
  • Present the journal title in full and capitalize all major words in the title.
  • Maintain the punctuation and capitalization that is used by the journal in its title.
    For example: ReCALL not RECALL or Knowledge Management Research & Practice not Knowledge Management Research and Practice.
  • When referring to books, chapters, articles, or webpages, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns.
  • Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals. The journal volume number also gets italicized (but NOT the issue number).
  • Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.

Author/Authors

Type of citation Reference list example
One author Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.
Two authors Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.
Three to seven authors Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S. (1993). There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.
More than seven authors Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical Communication, 57, 323-335.
Organization/Group author National Cancer Institute. (2016). Taking part in cancer treatment research studies (Publication No. 16-6249). Retrieved from https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/CRS.pdf
Unknown author Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

Acceptable Abbreviations

Abbreviation Book or publication part
ed. edition
Rev. ed. Revised edition
2nd ed. second edition
Ed. (Eds.) Editor (Editors)
Trans. Translator(s)
n.d. no date
p. (pp.) page (pages)
Vol. Volume (e.g. Vol. 4)
Vols. Volumes (e.g. Vol. 1-4)
No. Number
Pt. Part
Tech. Rep. Technical Report
Suppl. Supplement

 

  • Last Updated: Jan 18, 2019 12:47 PM
  • URL: https://libguides.daemen.edu/APA-style
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