BASIC GUIDE TO APA CITATION

by Hector West

Parenthetical Citation

The APA system of citing sources indicates the author's last name and the date, 
in parentheses, within the text of your paper. 

A. A typical citation of an entire work consists of the author's name and the year of 
publication. 
Example:
Charlotte and Emily Bronte were polar opposites, not only in their personalities but 
in their sources of inspiration for writing (Taylor, 1990).
Use the last name only in both first and subsequent citations, except when there is more than one author with the same last name. In that case, use the last name and the first initial. 

B. If the author is named in the text, only the year is cited. 
Example:
According to Irene Taylor (1990), the personalities of Charlotte. . .

C. If both the name of the author and the date are used in the text, parenthetical 
reference is not necessary. 
Example:
In a 1989 article, Gould explains Darwin's most successful. . .

D. Specific citations of pages or chapters follow the year. 
Example:
Emily Bronte "expressed increasing hostility for the world of human relationships, 
whether sexual or social" (Taylor, 1988, p. 11).

E. When the reference is to a work by two authors, cite both names each time the 
reference appears. 
Example:
Sexual-selection theory often has been used to explore patters of various insect 
mating (Alcock & Thornhill, 1983) . . . Alcock and Thornhill (1983) also 
demonstrate. . .

F. When the reference is to a work by three to five authors, cite all the authors the 
first time the reference appears. In a subsequent reference, use the first author's last
name followed by et al. (meaning "and others"). 
Example of a subsequent reference:
Patterns of byzantine intrigue have long plagued the internal politics of community 
college administration in Texas (Douglas et al., 1997)
When the reference is to a work by six or more authors, use only the first author's 
name followed et al. in the first and all subsequent reference. The only exceptions 
to this rule are when some confusion might result because of similar names or the same 
author being cited. In that case, cite enough authors so that the distinction is clear.
 
G. When the reference is to a work by a corporate author, use the name of the 
organization as the author. 
Example:
Retired officers retain access to all of the university's educational and recreational 
facilities (Columbia University, 1987, p. 54).

H. Personal letters, telephone calls, and other material that cannot be retrieved 
are not listed in References but are cited in the text.
Example:
Jesse Moore (telephone conversation, April 17, 1989) confirmed that the ideas. . .

I. Parenthetical references may mention more than one work, particularly when ideas 
have been summarized after drawing from several sources. Multiple citations should be 
arranged as follows. 
Examples: 
1. List two or more works by the same author in order of the date of publication:
(Gould, 1987, 1989)
 
2. Differentiate works by the same author and with the same publication date by adding 
an identifying letter to each date:(Bloom, 1987a, 1987b) 

3. List works by different authors in alphabetical order by last name, and use 
semicolons to separate the references:(Gould, 1989; Smith, 1983; Tutwiler, 1989). 
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REFERENCES

Reference: Single-Author Book
Alverez, A. (1970). The savage god: A study of suicide. New York: Random House. 

Reference: Book with More than One Author
Natarajan, R., & Chaturvedi, R. (1983). Geology of the Indian Ocean. Hartford, CT: 
University of Hartford Press.
 
Hesen, J., Carpenter, K., Moriber, H., & Milsop, A. (1983). Computers in the business 
world. Hartford, CT: Capital Press.

Reference: Edition Other Than First
Creech, P. J. (1975). Radiology and technology of the absurd (3rd ed.). Boston: 
Houghton-Mifflin. 

Reference: An Edited Volume
Stanton, D. C. (Ed.). (1987). The female autograph: Theory and practice of autobiography. 
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

If you are refering to an article or signed chapter in an edited volume, your reference would 
look like this: 
Pepin, R. E. (1998). Uses of time in the political novels of Joseph Conrad. 
In C. W. Darling, Jr., J. Shields, & V. B. Villa (Eds.), Chronological looping 
in political novels (pp. 99-135). Hartford: Capital Press. 

Reference: Book Without Author or Editor Listed
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. (1961). Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam.

Reference: Multi-Volume Work
To refer to a single volume, include only the relevant date and volume number; to 
refer to another volume in the work, create another entry. 

Nadeau, B. M. (Ed.). (1994). Studies in the history of cutlery. (Vol. 4). 
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
 
Reference: Multi-Author Article in a Multi-Author Volume
Pepin, R.E., Darling, C.W., & Villa, V. (1997). Poe and the French symbolistes. 
In P. Wursthorn, Jr., J. Darling, & J. Brother (Eds.), The era of decadence (pp. 110-145).
Hartford, CT: Woodland Press. 

Reference: Secondary Resources
To use material that is quoted or paraphrased elsewhere when you do not use the original 
resource, your reference will include the source of your language (or idea) 

Affleck, M., Allen, R., & DeLoatch, K. (Eds.) (1997). Whatever happened to the 
humanities? Studies in Byzantine Intrigue, 77, 235-278.
 
Note: the underlined "77," above, is a volume number, not a page number. 
In your text, you would quote or paraphrase the idea that Affleck has quoted or used, 
as follows: 
As Villa trenchantly points out, "Perhaps the conflict seems so strong because the 
stakes are so low." (as cited in Affleck, Allen, & DeLoatch, 1997).

Reference: Dissertation or Dissertation Abstract
When you have used an abstract of the dissertion found on microfilm in Dissertation 
Abstracts International (DAI): 

Darling, C. W. (1976). Giver of due regard: the poetry of Richard Wilbur. Dissertation 
Abstracts International, 44(02), 221A. (University Microfilms No. AAD44-8794) 

When you have used the actual dissertation (usually from the shelves of the University 
where it was written, sometimes obtained through interlibrary loan): 

Darling, C. W. (1976). Giver of due regard: the poetry of Richard Wilbur. 
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storrs. 

Reference: Journals/Periodicals
Use inclusive page numbers. Do not use the abbreviations "p." or "pp." 
Heyman, K. (1997). Talk radio, talk net. Yahoo!, 3, 62-83. 
Maddux, K. (1997, March). True stories of the internet patrol. NetGuide Magazine, 88-92.
 
Reference: Periodicals Without Volume Numbers
Include month and day (if any) as well as the year. Months are not abbreviated. Military 
style is not used for dates (not 2 April; instead, April 2). 

Page numbers are not condensed (not 178-88; instead 178-188). Discontinuous pages 
are cited in full (1A, 9A; not 1A+).
 
Grover, R. (1988, September 19). A megawatt power play. Business Week, 34-35. 

Reference: Brochure or Pamphlet
The Writing Center of Capital Community-Technical College. (1997). Writing: the goal 
is variety (4th ed.) [Brochure]. Hartford, CT: Author.
 
Treat pamphlets created by corporate authors in the same way you would treat an entire 
book written by a corporate author. Don't forget to identify your resource as [Brochure] 
or [Pamphlet] within brackets. 

Reference: Newspaper Articles
If the article is "signed" (that is, you know the author's name), begin with that 
author's name. (Notice the discontinuous pages.) 

Poirot, C. (1998, March 17). HIV prevention pill goes beyond 'morning after'. 
The Hartford Courant, pp. F1, F6. 

If the author's name is not available, begin the reference with the headline or title 
in the author position. New exam for doctor of future. (1989, March 15). The New York 
Times, B-10. 

Reference: Nonprint Media
(film):
Redford, R. (Director). (1980). Ordinary people [Film]. Paramount. 
(film of limited circulation):
Holdt, D. (Producer), & Ehlers, E. (Director). (1997). River at High Summer: 
The St. Lawrence [Film]. (Available from Merganser Films, Inc., 61 Woodland Street, 
Room 134, Hartford, CT 06105) 

(Cassette):
Lake, F. L. (Author and speaker). (1989). Bias and organizational decision 
making [Cassette]. Gainesville: Edwards. (Musical recording):

Barber, S. (1995). Cello Sonata. On Barber [CD]. New York: EMI Records Ltd. 

Reference: Personal Interview, Phone Conversation
Because this material is not recoverable (i.e., it is not possible for someone else 
to see or hear it), it should not be listed in the list of References. It can, however, 
be listed parenthetically within the text. It is extremely important that what is cited 
in this way be legitimate and have scholarly integrity.
 
(interview):
(R. Wilbur, personal communication, March 28, 1968) 

(phone conversation):
According to Connie May Fowler, the sources for her novel Sugar Cane were largely 
autobiographical (personal communication, July 22, 1997).
 
Reference: Government Documents
Report from the Government Printing Office, corporate author. 
Example:
National Institute of Mental Health. (1982). Television and behavior: Ten years of 
scientific progress (DHHS Publication No. A 82-1195). Washington, DC: U.S. Government 
Printing Office.

Reports from a Document and Deposit Service (NTIS, ERIC) other than U.S. government 
Examples:
Tandy, S. (1980). Development of behavioral techniques to control hyperaggressiveness 
in young children (CYC Report No. 80-3562). Washington, DC: Council on Young Children. 
(NTIS No. P880-14322). 

Gottfredson, L. S. (1980). How valid are occupational reinforcer pattern scores? 
(Report No. CSOS-R-292). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. Center for Social 
Organization of Schools.(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 182 465) 

Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography will have the same basic layout as a Reference page. There 
are three major differences, however. First, you can include in your bibliography 
works that you think would be useful to your reader that you might not have used in 
the writing of this particular paper or article. Second, you can break down the 
references into useful categories and arrange those categories in ways that you 
think would be helpful to your reader. Third, you can add commentary to the references, 
telling your reader the particular virtues (or, if necessary, the shortcomings) of that 
resource. Commentaries should be concise, economical summaries, written in sentence 
fragments; if related, fragments should be connected with semicolons. The commentary 
should begin on a new line, indented slightly from the preceding line. 
Example:
National Institute of Mental Health. (1982). Television and behavior: Ten years 
of scientific progress (DHHS Publication No. A 82-1195). Washington, DC: U.S. 
Government Printing Office. 

Documents connections between children's lack of attention in school 
and hours of television watching; provides scientific evidence of 
changed viewing habits over ten years.

Reference: Electronic Resources
Most of this material is taken from Purdue University's Online Writing Lab and is used 
here with the Purdue OWL's kind permission. See copyright information at the bottom of 
the page. We also recommend Li and Crane's Electronic styles: A Handbook for citing 
electronic information (1996). The advice on citing an article is modified from the 
American Psychological Association's own page at
http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html 

A. General Information 
Electronic correspondences, such as e-mail or discussions on bulletin boards or 
discussion groups, is regarded by the APA as personal communication (like phone 
conversations or memos), because it is not recoverable by others. Personal 
communications are cited only within the text and not the reference page.

Personal Communication
In the text, give the initials and surname of the author and provide as exact a date as 
possible: 
R.W. Runyon (personal communication, April 18, 1993)
(M. Kohel, personal communication, June 28, 1993) 
However, if the information is, in fact, retrievable, the following elements are 
necessary for the reference page: 
Author, I. (date). Title of article. Name of periodical : (On-line), xx.available: 
specify path The date should be the year of publication or the most recent update. 
If the date of the source cannot be determined, provide the exact date of your search. 
The path information should be sufficienct for someone else to retrieve the material. 
For example, specify the method used to find the material: the protocol (Telnet, FTP, 
Internet, etc.), the directory, and the file name. Do not end the path statement with a 
period.

B. Sample References
Online journal, FTP 
Funder, D.C.(1994, March). Judgmental process and content: Commentary on Koehler on 
base-rate [9 paragraphs] Pscyoloquy [Online serial]. 5(17). Available 
FTP: Hostname:princeton.edu Directory: pub/harnad/Psycholoquy.94.5.17.base-rate.12.
funder 

Online article 
Klein, Donald F. (1997). Control group in Pharmacoptherapy and psychotherapy 
evaluations. Treatment, I. Retrieved November 16, 1997 from the World Wide Web: 
http://www.apa.org/treatment/vol1/97_a1.html 

On-line journal, subscriber-based 
Central Vein Occlusion Study Group. (1993. October 2). Central vein occlusion study of 
photocoagulation: Manual of operations [675 paragraphs]. Online Journal of Current 
Clinical Trials [On-line serial]. Availabe: Doc No. 92 

On-line abstract
Meyer, A.S., & Bock, K.. (1992). The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Blocking or partical
activation? [On-line]. Memory & Cognition, 20. 715-726. Abstract from: DIALOG File: 
PsychINFO Item: 80-16351

Abstract on CD-Rom
Bower, DL. (1993). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics 
of referring and nonreferring supervisors [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: 
Dissertation Abstracts Item: 9315947

No Author Listed
On the World Wide Web, the author's name is not always available. If you have determined
that the material nonetheless has scholarly integrity (because, say, it was published 
on the web-site of a responsible scholar or prestigious university), you would list that 
resource in your Reference page the same way you would treat a book without an author: 
begin your reference with the title. Parenthetically, within your text, use the title 
of the document so that your reader can find the list on your References page and 
discover, then, how to find that document. 

Guide for Citing Electronic Information 

The examples below use characteristics of APA citation style, but exact APA protocols 
are not yet defined. 

Basic Format:  
 (references section)

Author's Lastname, First initial. (date of publication or "NO DATE" if unavailable). 
Title of article or section used [Number of paragraphs]. Title of complete work. 
[Form, such as HTTP, CD-ROM, E-MAIL]. Available: complete URL [date of access]. 
(within text of paper)
So-called "ethnic cleansing" is not specifically associated with armed conflicts, 
but may occur as politics in a country are in turmoil (Preece, 1998). 

 
Online Journal Article:  
 (from Project MUSE)

Preece, J. (1998, November). Ethnic cleansing as an instrument of nation-state 
creation: Changing state practices and evolving legal norms [25pp]. Human Rights 
Quarterly [Online serial], 20(4). Available: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/human_rights_
quarterly/ v020/20.4jackson-preece.html [1999, Jan. 3]. 
(from The Journal of Chemical Physics Online)


Inauen, A., Hewel, J. & Leutwyler S. (1999, January). Intermolecular bonding and 
vibrations of phenol-oxirane [11pp]. The Journal of Chemical Physics [Online serial], 
110(3). Available: http://ojps.aip.org/journals/doc/ JCPSA6-ft/vol_110/iss_3/1463_1.html
[1999, Jan. 3].  

Online Magazine Article:  
 (from ProQuest Direct)

Paul, A. (1998, Nov. 23). Is this the face of Russia's future? [26 paragraphs]. 
Fortune [Online]. Available: ProQuest Direct [1999, Jan. 12]. 
The URL of articles retrieved from database searches such as the one above will 
not function in subsequent online sessions and should not be used. Use just the 
name of the database.  
 
Online Newspaper Article:  
 (from The Record Online)

Slater, E. (1999, Jan. 5). Ex-wrestler sworn as governor [30 paragraphs]. The Record 
Online [Online]. Available: http://www.bergen.com/news/ jesse05199901058.htm [1999, 
Jan. 5]. 
(from The Washington Post Online)


Pressley, S. (1999, Jan. 6). Miami's Cubans find good in easing of restrictions 
[19 paragraphs]. The Washington Post [Online]. Available: http:// www.washingtonpost.
com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/cuba/cuba.htm [1999, Jan. 6].  
Online Reference Book:  
 (From Elements of Style Online)

Strunk, W. (1918; 1995, May). The elements of style [Online]. Bartleby Library. 
Available: http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/strunk/ [1999, Jan. 5]. 
(From Encyclopedia Britannica Online)


Prion. (1999). In Encyclopedia Britannica [Online]. Available: http:// www.eb.com:180/
cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/481/90.html [1999, Jan. 5].  

Web Sites:  
 (from the WWW)

NAACP (1998, Dec. 10). NAACP image awards: 30 years of celebrating & 90 years of 
courage [Online]. Available: http://www.naacp.org/image_awards/ [1999, Jan. 5]. 
(from the WWW)


Hill, E. & Marsh, K. (1998, Dec. 11). Maine folklife center & Northeast archives of 
folklore and oral history [Online]. Available: http://www.umaine.edu/folklife/ [1999, 
Jan. 5]. 
 
E-mail:  
Carrol, Roger (carrolr@parsec.columbia.edu). (1998, May 10). Re: distance learning. 
E-mail to Karen Burghoff (burghoff@hotmail.com).  

Original Source from: APA