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Purdue OWL - APA Formatting and Style Guide

This document provides guidelines for citing sources in APA style, including rules for citing authors, works with multiple authors, unknown authors, personal communications, indirect sources, and electronic sources. For works with two authors, include both names every time the work is cited. For works with three to five authors, include all names the first time and only the first author's name plus "et al." for subsequent citations. Use the title in place of the author for works with no author. Provide publication dates for all works except personal communications.

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Camae Snyder Gangcuangco
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2K views3 pages

Purdue OWL - APA Formatting and Style Guide

This document provides guidelines for citing sources in APA style, including rules for citing authors, works with multiple authors, unknown authors, personal communications, indirect sources, and electronic sources. For works with two authors, include both names every time the work is cited. For works with three to five authors, include all names the first time and only the first author's name plus "et al." for subsequent citations. Use the title in place of the author for works with no author. Provide publication dates for all works except personal communications.

Uploaded by

Camae Snyder Gangcuangco
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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12/10/2016

PurdueOWL:APAFormattingandStyleGuide

GeneralWritingResearchandCitationTeachingandTutoringSubjectSpecificWriting
JobSearchWritingESL
ThispageisbroughttoyoubytheOWLatPurdue(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/).Whenprintingthis
page,youmustincludetheentirelegalnoticeatbottom.

InTextCitations:Author/Authors
Summary:
APA(AmericanPsychologicalAssociation)styleismostcommonlyusedtocitesourceswithinthesocialsciences.Thisresource,
revisedaccordingtothe6thedition,secondprintingoftheAPAmanual,offersexamplesforthegeneralformatofAPAresearch
papers,intextcitations,endnotes/footnotes,andthereferencepage.Formoreinformation,pleaseconsultthePublicationManualof
theAmericanPsychologicalAssociation,(6thed.,2ndprinting).
Contributors:JoshuaM.Paiz,ElizabethAngeli,JodiWagner,ElenaLawrick,KristenMoore,MichaelAnderson,LarsSoderlund,
AllenBrizee,RussellKeck
LastEdited:2014120210:08:04
APAstylehasaseriesofimportantrulesonusingauthornamesaspartoftheauthordatesystem.Thereareadditionalrulesfor
citingindirectsources,electronicsources,andsourceswithoutpagenumbers.

CitinganAuthororAuthors
AWorkbyTwoAuthors:Namebothauthorsinthesignalphraseorintheparentheseseachtimeyoucitethework.Usetheword
"and"betweentheauthors'nameswithinthetextandusetheampersandintheparentheses.
ResearchbyWegenerandPetty(1994)supports...

(Wegener&Petty,1994)

AWorkbyThreetoFiveAuthors:Listalltheauthorsinthesignalphraseorinparenthesesthefirsttimeyoucitethesource.Use
theword"and"betweentheauthors'nameswithinthetextandusetheampersandintheparentheses.
(Kernis,Cornell,Sun,Berry,&Harlow,1993)

Insubsequentcitations,onlyusethefirstauthor'slastnamefollowedby"etal."inthesignalphraseorinparentheses.
(Kernisetal.,1993)

Inetal.,etshouldnotbefollowedbya
period.
SixorMoreAuthors:Usethefirstauthor'snamefollowedbyetal.inthesignalphraseorinparentheses.
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Harrisetal.(2001)argued...

(Harrisetal.,2001)

UnknownAuthor:Iftheworkdoesnothaveanauthor,citethesourcebyitstitleinthesignalphraseorusethefirstwordortwo
intheparentheses.Titlesofbooksandreportsareitalicizedorunderlinedtitlesofarticles,chapters,andwebpagesareinquotation
marks.
Asimilarstudywasdoneofstudentslearningtoformatresearchpapers("UsingAPA,"
2001).

Note:Intherarecasethe"Anonymous"isusedfortheauthor,treatitastheauthor'sname(Anonymous,2001).Inthereference
list,usethenameAnonymousastheauthor.
OrganizationasanAuthor:Iftheauthorisanorganizationoragovernmentagency,mentiontheorganizationinthesignalphrase
orintheparentheticalcitationthefirsttimeyoucitethesource.
AccordingtotheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation(2000),...

Iftheorganizationhasawellknownabbreviation,includetheabbreviationinbracketsthefirsttimethesourceiscitedandthenuse
onlytheabbreviationinlatercitations.
Firstcitation:(MothersAgainstDrunkDriving[MADD],2000)

Secondcitation:(MADD,2000)

TwoorMoreWorksintheSameParentheses:Whenyourparentheticalcitationincludestwoormoreworks,orderthemthe
samewaytheyappearinthereferencelist(viz.,alphabetically),separatedbyasemicolon.
(Berndt,2002Harlow,1983)

AuthorsWiththeSameLastName:Topreventconfusion,usefirstinitialswiththelastnames.
(E.Johnson,2001L.Johnson,1998)

TwoorMoreWorksbytheSameAuthorintheSameYear:Ifyouhavetwosourcesbythesameauthorinthesameyear,use
lowercaseletters(a,b,c)withtheyeartoordertheentriesinthereferencelist.Usethelowercaseletterswiththeyearintheintext
citation.
ResearchbyBerndt(1981a)illustratedthat...

Introductions,Prefaces,Forewords,andAfterwords:WhencitinganIntroduction,Preface,Foreword,orAfterwordsintext,
citetheappropriateauthorandyearasusual.
(Funk&Kolln,1992)

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PersonalCommunication:Forinterviews,letters,emails,andotherpersontopersoncommunication,citethecommunicator's
name,thefactthatitwaspersonalcommunication,andthedateofthecommunication.Donotincludepersonalcommunicationin
thereferencelist.
(E.Robbins,personalcommunication,January4,2001).

A.P.SmithalsoclaimedthatmanyofherstudentshaddifficultieswithAPAstyle
(personalcommunication,November3,2002).

CitingIndirectSources
Ifyouuseasourcethatwascitedinanothersource,nametheoriginalsourceinyoursignalphrase.Listthesecondarysourcein
yourreferencelistandincludethesecondarysourceintheparentheses.
Johnsonarguedthat...(ascitedinSmith,2003,p.102).

Note:Whencitingmaterialinparentheses,setoffthecitationwithacomma,asabove.Also,trytolocatetheoriginalmaterialand
citetheoriginalsource.

ElectronicSources
Ifpossible,citeanelectronicdocumentthesameasanyotherdocumentbyusingtheauthordatestyle.
Kenneth(2000)explained...

UnknownAuthorandUnknownDate:Ifnoauthorordateisgiven,usethetitleinyoursignalphraseorthefirstwordortwo
ofthetitleintheparenthesesandusetheabbreviation"n.d."(for"nodate").
Anotherstudyofstudentsandresearchdecisionsdiscoveredthatstudentssucceeded
withtutoring("TutoringandAPA,"n.d.).

SourcesWithoutPageNumbers
Whenanelectronicsourcelackspagenumbers,youshouldtrytoincludeinformationthatwillhelpreadersfindthepassagebeing
cited.Whenanelectronicdocumenthasnumberedparagraphs,usetheabbreviation"para."followedbytheparagraphnumber(Hall,
2001,para.5).Iftheparagraphsarenotnumberedandthedocumentincludesheadings,providetheappropriateheadingandspecify
theparagraphunderthatheading.Notethatinsomeelectronicsources,likeWebpages,peoplecanusetheFindfunctionintheir
browsertolocateanypassagesyoucite.
AccordingtoSmith(1997),...(MindoverMattersection,para.6).

Note:NeverusethepagenumbersofWebpagesyouprintoutdifferentcomputersprintWebpageswithdifferentpagination.

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