Literature Review

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APA Quick Reference Sheet Format Spacing: Double space all text, after each line in the title, headings, quotations, and references. All terminal punctuation (e.g., period, question mark) is followed by two spaces. One space is used in reference citations, initials, abbreviations, and with commas, colons, and semicolons. Margins: one-inch all 4 sides of the page Indentation: Indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch (5 spaces). Set paragraph alignment in Word to “align left” Running Head: The Running head is automated and appears in the header on the title page only, is left justified, and on the same line as the page number on the title page

o The words Running head is in upper and lowercase o The running head title always appears in all capital letters. o The running head title should be the first 2-3 words of the paper title, not a different

one. Headings: Five sequential levels. The title of the paper appears on the first page (centered and in upper and lower case letters), and does not count as a level of heading. The rest of the headings are as follows:

Centered, Bold, Upper and Lower Case Heading Left Justified, Bold, Upper and Lower Case Heading Indented, bold, lower case, paragraph heading ending with a period.

Indented, bold, italics, lower case paragraph heading ending with a period. Indented, italics, lower case paragraph heading ending with a period.

In-text Citations Provide a context to your citations with a lead-in sentence. This applies to short (less than 40 words) and long (more than 40 words) quotations.

• Enclose quotations of less than 40 words in quotations marks -- “” -- and blend them into the body of your text.

• Quotations of more than 40 words (block quotes) are not enclosed in quotation marks.

These quotations are formatted in a double-spaced, stand-alone block, beginning on a new line. The entire block of the quotation is indented one-half inch (5 spaces) from the left margin. Below is an example of what a long quote will look like:

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Hjortshoj (2001) highlighted the importance of plagiarism in the academic world and

drew similarities to theft and fraud:

Derived from the Latin word for kidnapping, plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s

"brainchild" — that person’s language, ideas, or research — and the origin of the word

conveys the seriousness of such offenses in the view of college teachers and

administrators. The reason is that words, ideas, and research are the main forms of

currency in academic life. Because they represent the "intellectual property" with which

scholars have built their careers, using that property without permission or credit is a

form of larceny. Teachers also assume that the writing and other work students turn in is

the product of their own effort, and because grades (another form of academic currency)

are based on that work, "borrowing" language and ideas from someone else constitutes

cheating. (p. 172)

In-text Citations for Direct Quotations The parenthetical citation for all quoted material must include the page number – using the notation “p.” for a single page and “pp.” for a quotation that spans more than one page. Place parenthetical citations for quoted material immediately after the final set of quotation marks, before the punctuation mark. Always use the past tense in the signal phrase. The signal phrase precedes the direct quotation. It takes the form: Jones (1998) concluded, . . . For example,

Wilson (2004) stated, “while the endeavor of the Academic is to cover the syllabus, the

Educator seeks to uncover it. Thus an Academic has no use for his students outside the

classroom while for the Educator, old-fashioned that she is, the entire world of her pupil is her

classroom” (p. 32).

The parenthetical citation for a direct quotation from a printed source should contain (author, year of publication, page number). If the quotation comes from a source that does not have page numbers, the citation should contain (author, year, and sufficient information to allow the reader to locate the quotation). Sufficient information would be (a) the paragraph number – if the

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paragraphs are numbered, or (b) the section heading and number of the paragraph in which the quotation is located, if such information is available. Examples for these citations are as follows: (Wruck, 2010, ¶ 4) (Wruck, 2010, Conclusion section, ¶ 2)

If page numbers, paragraph numbers, or section headings are not available, this information can be omitted from the citation. In-text Citations for Paraphrased Material Citation of paraphrased material gives proper credit to the ideas of other authors. Place the citation for paraphrased material at the end of the sentence, before the punctuation mark. Position the final punctuation mark for the sentence to the right of the closing parenthesis (author, year). Note that page numbers are not required for paraphrased material but are recommended. The extent of attribution must be clear for all paraphrased or summarized material. Punctuation and Citations If a citation appears mid-sentence, it is not followed by any punctuation except what may be required by the sentence. If a citation appears at the end of a sentence, the appropriate punctuation mark for the sentence is placed after the closing parenthesis (author, year). Unlike short quotations that appear in the body of the document (which are punctuated as described above), long quotations are punctuated just as in their original text. The final punctuation mark is followed by the parenthetical citation; there is no punctuation after the closing parenthesis for the citation. Reference Page

• Reference Page is a stand alone page • Authors are listed in alphabetical order by last name. • First line of reference entry begins flush left from the margin. Subsequent lines should be

indented by ½ inch. • References should align with in-text citations and vice versa • Book titles and article titles must be in sentence case. Only the first word of the title and

the first word after the colon (where applicable) should be capitalized unless the word is a proper noun.

• Book title, journal title, and volume number must be italicized. • Journal title must in title case. All major words should be capitalized. • Retrieval date for electronic references is no longer required unless the source has been

accessed from a location where information is likely to change. • DOI number, when available, should be used in place of retrieval information for

electronic resource

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• *Note that there are many additional changes to APA 6th Edition that are not covered in this handout, which is primarily designed for quick reference. Please refer to the APA Style manual(6th edition) for topics not covered in this handout or for additional details on the topics covered here.