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TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
USING THE APA FORMAT
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This brief guide provides examples of how to cite some of the most commonly used types of information resources: periodicals, books, and electronic publications. Detailed explanations and additional types of examples are available in the following handbooks located at the Evans Library Reference Desk. Check LibCat for more locations: The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition, is a guide for psychologists and other authors who wish to write and submit an article for publication in one of the APA’s journals. It contains detailed instructions and examples for manuscript preparation, including reference lists. BF76.7 P83 2001 Concise Rules of APA Style is a pocket guide meant to be used as a supplement to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. BF76.7 C66 2005 The World’s Easiest Guide to Using the APA, 3rd edition, is a step-by-step guide designed primarily for undergraduate students who are writing research papers in psychology or related social sciences disciplines. Examples illustrate how to format an entire research paper, including citations and references. BF76.7 A547 2002 IN TEXT (parenthetical citations) • Follow author-date citation method (i.e., author's last name and publication year).
o Walker (2000) compared reaction times . . . o In a recent study of reaction times (Walker, 2000) . . . o In 2000, Walker compared reaction times . . . o Several studies (Balda, 1980; Kamil, 1988; Pepperberg & Funk, 1990) show that… o According to Jones (1993, p.24), as society continues to undergo…
REFERENCE LIST • List, in alphabetical order by author’s last name, all references cited in the text. • Note that personal communications (i.e., letters, memos, telephone conversations,
interviews, E-mail, discussion groups, etc.) are cited in text only. • Use authors’ last names, first initials (and middle initials, if available); for books, use “et
al” to credit seventh through last authors. • For journal articles, use first initials only for third through last authors. PERIODICALS Journal Article, One Author Mellers, B. A. (2000). Choice and the relative pleasure of consequences. Psychological Bulletin, 126,
910–924.
Journal Article, Two to Six Authors Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations. Consulting
Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10–36.
Magazine Article Kandel, E. R., & Squire, L. R. (2000, November 10). Neuroscience: Breaking down scientific barriers to
the study of brain and mind. Science, 290, 1113–1120.
Newsletter Article, No Author The new health-care lexicon. (1993, August/September). Copy Editor, 4, 1–2.
Daily Newspaper Article, No Author New drug appears to sharply cut risk of death from heart failure. (1993, July 15). The Washington
Post, p. A12.
Using the APA Format (continued)
INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES HTTP://LIBRARY.TAMU.EDU/HANDOUTS FALL 2005
Monograph with Issue Number and Serial (or Whole) Number Harris, P. L., & Kavanaugh, R. D. (1993). Young children’s understanding of pretense. Monographs of
the Society for Research in Child Development, 58(1, Serial No. 231). BOOKS One Author Gerhardt, S. (2004). Why love matters: How affection shapes a baby’s brain. New York: Brunner-
Routledge.
Two Authors, Edition, “Jr.” in Name Mitchell, T. R., & Larson, J. R., Jr. (1987). People in organizations: An introduction to organizational
behavior (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Edited Book Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological interventions with minority
youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Article or Chapter in an Edited Book, Two or More Editors Massaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In
H. L. Pick Jr., P. van den Broek, & D. C. Knill (Eds.), Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51–84). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Report from Government Printing Office (GPO), Government Institute as Group Author National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS Publication
No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Encyclopedia Article, with author Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508).
Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. ELECTRONIC RESOURCES Journal Article from a Database
Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L. A. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 443–449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from the PsycARTICLES database.
Journal Article from a Web Site
Fredrickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3, Article 0001a. Retrieved November 20, 2000, from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html
Journal Article from a Web Site, based on a print source
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117–123. Retrieved October 13, 2001, from http://jbr.org/articles.html {OR}
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117–123.
Document from a Web Site, without an author or date
GVU's 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.). Retrieved August 8, 2000, from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/ usersurveys/survey1997-10/
See also: APA’s Web site http://www.apastyle.org for additional help and updates. Electronic references (how to cite) http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html Style tips http://www.apastyle.org/styletips.html