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PPA 2008 – American Government

and Public Administration

APA Formatting and Style Guide

 General format;

 Reference page;

 In-text citations.

(Adapted from Dr. Daniels’s Lectures)

What is APA?

APA (American Psychological

Association) is the most

commonly used format for

manuscripts in the Social

Sciences.

What does APA regulate?

APA regulates:

Stylistics

In-text citations

References (a list of all

sources used in the paper)

APA stylistics: Basics

 Use the third person point of view rather than using

the first person point of view;

The study showed that…, NOT

I found out that….

 Use the active voice rather than passive voice.

The participants responded…, NOT

The participants have been asked…. 4

 Language in an APA paper is:

• clear: be specific in descriptions and explanations;

• concise: condense information when you can;

• plain: use simple, descriptive adjectives and

minimize the figurative language.

APA stylistics: Language

APA: General Format

Your essay should:

 be typed, double-spaced, with two spaces after

punctuation between sentences;

 with 1” margins on all sides;

 in 12 pt. Times New Roman;

 include a page header (title) in the upper left-hand

of every page and a page number in the upper

right-hand side of every page.

References

Main Body

Abstract

General Format (cont’d)

Title page

Your essay should

include four major

sections:

Title Page

Page header (use Insert Page

Header):

title flush left;

page number flush right.

Title (in the upper half of the

page, centered);

name (no title or degree);

affiliation (university, etc.).

Abstract Page

Page header: do NOT include

“Running head:”

Abstract (centered, at the top of

the page)

Write a brief (between 150 and 250

words) summary of your paper in an

accurate, concise, and specific

manner. Should contain: at research

topic, research questions,

participants, methods, results, data

analysis, and conclusions. May also

include possible implications of your

research and future work you see

connected with your findings. May

also include keywords. 9

Main Body (Text)

 The first text page is page number 3;

 Type the title of the paper centered, at the top of the page;

 Type the text double-spaced with all sections following

each other without a break;

 Identify the sources you use in the paper in parenthetical

in-text citations;

 Format tables and figures.

References: Basics

 Center the title – References – at the top of the page;

 Double space reference entries;

 Flush left the first line of the entry and indent

subsequent lines;

 Order entries alphabetically by the author’s surnames;

References: Basics (cont’d)

 Invert authors’ names (last name first followed by

initials);

 Alphabetize reference list entries the last name of the first

author of each work;

 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. Do not capitalize the first letter of

the second word in a hyphenated compound word;

References: Basics (cont’d)

 Capitalize all major words in journal titles;

 Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals;

 Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles

of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in

edited collections.

Making the references list

When compiling the reference list, the strategy below

might be useful:

 Identify a type source: Is it a book? A journal article? A

webpage?

 Find a sample of citing this type of source in the

textbook;

 “Mirror” the sample;

 Make sure that the entries are listed in the alphabetical

order and the subsequent lines are indented (Recall

References: basics).

In-text Citations: Basics

 In-text citations help readers locate the cited source in

the References section of the paper.

 Whenever you use a source, provide in parentheses:

• the author’s name and the date of publication;

• for quotations and close paraphrases, provide a

page number as well.

In-text Citations: Format for a quotation

 When quoting, introduce the quotation with a signal phrase. Make sure to include the author’s name, the year of publication, the page number, but keep the citation brief – do not repeat the information. For example,

Caruth (1996) states that a traumatic response frequently entails a “delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena” (p.11).

A traumatic response frequently entails a “delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive phenomena” (Caruth, 1996, p.11). 16

In-text Citations: Format for a summary or paraphrase

There are several formats for a summary or paraphrase:

 Provide the author’s last name and the year of publication

in parentheses after a summary or a paraphrase. For

example:

Though feminist studies focus solely on women's

experiences, they err by collectively perpetuating the

masculine-centered impressions (Fussell, 1975).

In-text Citations: Format for a summary or paraphrase (cont’d)

 Include the author’s name in a signal phrase

followed by the year of publication in parentheses.

For example,

Recently, the history of warfare has been significantly

revised by Higonnet et al. (1987), Marcus (1989), and

Raitt and Tate (1997) to include women’s personal and

cultural responses to battle and its resultant traumatic

effects.

In-text Citations: Format for a summary or paraphrase (cont’d)

 When including the quotation in a

summary/paraphrase, also provide a page number in

parentheses after the quotation. For example,

According to feminist researchers Raitt and Tate

(1997), “it is no longer true to claim that women's

responses to the war have been ignored” (p. 2).

In-text Citations: Signal words

 Use the past tense or the present perfect tense of

verbs in signal phrases.

 Introduce quotations with signal phrases, e.g.,

According to X. (2008), “….” (p. 3).

X. (2008) argued that “……” (p. 3).

 Use such signal verbs as:

acknowledged, contended, maintained,

responded, reported, argued, concluded, etc.

In-text Citations: Two or more works

• When the parenthetical citation includes two or more

works, order them in the same way they appear in the

reference list – the author’s name, the year of publication

– separated by a semi-colon:

(Kachru, 2005; Smith, 2008)

In-text Citations: A work with two authors

 When citing a work with two authors, use “and” in

between authors’ name in the signal phrase, yet “&”

between their names in parentheses:

According to feminist researchers Raitt and Tate

(1997), “It is no longer true to claim that women's

responses to the war have been ignored” (p. 2).

Some feminists researchers question that “women's

responses to the war have been ignored” (Raitt &

Tate, 1997, p. 2).

In-text Citations: A work with 3 to 5 authors

 When citing a work with three to five authors, identify

all authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses:

(Harklau, Siegal, & Losey, 1999)

 In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last

name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in

parentheses:

(Harklau et al., 1993)

In-text Citations: a work with 6 and more authors

 When citing a work with six and more authors,

identify the first author’s name followed by “et al.”:

Smith et al. (2006) maintained that….

(Smith et al., 2006)

In-text Citations: A work of unknown author

 When citing a work of unknown author, use the

source’s full title in the signal phrase and cite the first

word of the title followed by the year of publication in

parentheses. Put titles of articles and chapters in

quotation marks; italicize titles of books and reports:

According to “Indiana Joins Federal Accountability

System” (2008), …

(“Indiana,” 2008)

In-text Citations: Organization

 When citing an organization, mention the organization the

first time when you cite the source in the signal phrase or

the parenthetical citation: The data collected by the Food and Drug Administration

(2008) confirmed that …

 If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the

abbreviation in parentheses the first time the source is cited and

then use only the abbreviation in later citations:

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed … FDA’s

experts tested…

In-text Citations: The same last name/the same author

 When citing authors with the same last names, use first

initials with the last names:

(B. Kachru, 2005; Y. Kachru, 2008)

 When citing two or more works by the same author

published in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b,

c) with the year of publication to order the references:

Smith’s (1998 a) study of adolescent immigrants…

In-text Citations: Personal communication

 When citing interviews, letters, e-mails, etc., include the

communicator’s name, the fact that it was personal

communication, and the date of the communication. Do

not include personal communication in the reference list:

A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had

difficulties with APA style (personal communication,

November 3, 2002).

(E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

In-text Citations: Electronic sources

 When citing an electronic document, whenever

possible, cite it in the author-date style.

According to Smith (1997), ...

 If electronic source lacks page numbers, locate and

identify paragraph number/paragraph heading:

(Mind over Matter section, para. 6).

APA Formatting and Style Guide

If you need help with the APA format, consult the

Publication Manual of the American Psychological

Association (6th ed.), visit http://www.apastyle.org, or

use other reliable sources.

http://www.apastyle.org/