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G 9-12 Citing Science and Psychology Using APA: Home

Overview

The APA style of referencing is specifically designed for scientific writing.  Use this style at ASW for your science and psychology classes.  Use OWL Purdue as your bibliography bible.  If you have any questions, please contact Ms McComb in the library.

APA Posters

NOTE: There are a few small errors that you should notice:

1. Only capitalize the first word and proper nouns in article and book titles. (Journal titles are capitalized).

2.  The date should appear right after the author's name: Lewis (2013)

 

THANK YOU to the UWCSEA library for developing and sharing these wonderful posters.

Basic Rules

  • Title your bibliography with the word References (no italics or bold)
  • Alphabetize list by the author's last name (or article title if no author)
  • Invert author's name (Last name, author's initials)
  • Use an ampersand & for and ( Smith, J.K., & Wright, K.)
  • For 5 or more authors in your text, use et al. (Latin for and others):  Smith et al. (2015) argued...
  • Place the date immediately after the author's name: Smith (2017) claims that......
  • Capitalize only the first word in the title, the first word in the subtitle, and proper noun  (EXAMPLE: Physics of car crashes: A long term study)
  • Capitalize journal titles
  • Do not use quotation marks around article titles
  • Include the DOI (digital object identifier) if possible. If not, include the URL

APA Patterns

Book with one author
Author last name, first name initial. (Year of publication). Title in italics. Place of publication: Publisher.

Book with two authors
Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Title in italics. Place of publication: Publisher.

Book chapter in edited book with three to six authors
Author, A., Author, B., Author, C., Author, D., & Author, E. (Year). Chapter title. In A. Editor and B. B. Editor (Eds.)  Title in italics.(pp.). Place of publication: Publisher.

Work with more than seven authors
Author, A., Author, B., Author, C., Author, D., Author, E., Author F., ... Author Z. (last author listed) (2017). Title...

Article from a print magazine
Author’s last name, Initial. (year, month) Article title no quotation marks. Magazine title in italics, volume (issue), page numbers.

Article from an online magazine or journal
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Journal  and in italics, volume number in italics(issue number if available). DOI: if available OR Retrieved month date, year, from URL

Article from an online journal in a database
Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Article title. Journal  Title in italics, volume(issue), page numbers. DOI: if available OR Retrieved Month date, year,  from URL.  
NOTE: APA does not include the URL or name of the database; IB requires the URL or DOI: so you need to add it manually.

Article from a newspaper
Author’s last name, Initial. (year, month date) Article title no quotation marks. Newspaper Title with capitals and italics, pp. xx, x.

Blog
Author, A. (Year and date of post). Title of post [Blog post]. Retrieved date, from URL

Datasets
Author, A. or name of organization. (Year). Title in italics (Report series and number). Retrieved date, from URL

Personal communication (email, letters, unpublished interviews, class lectures)
In-text citation only: (J. Smith, personal communication, October 1, 2017).  Do not put in Reference list.

Photograph
Photographer surname, Initial. (year, month date). Title of work in italics [Photograph]. Retrieved date, from URL.

Translated work
Author, A. (Year). Title in italics. Name of translator, Trans. Place of publication: publisher.

Transliterated work example
“Blocking Other Brands to Enter” (다른 브랜드 못들어오게). (2016, 15 Feb). Segye Ilbo ('편의점 + 편의점'" 세계일보). Retrieved Dec. 2, 2016, from http://m.segye.com/view/20160215003872

Tweet
Author, A. and/or [Screen name]. (Year, month day). Title of page [Tweet]. Retrieved date, from URL.
NOTE: Note: reproduce the full text of the tweet in place of a title

TWIG Videos (two options)
Twig World. (n.d.). What is DNA? Retrieved 19 March 2018, from https://twig-world.com/film/what-is-dna-1049
What is DNA? (n.d.). Retrieved 19 March 2018, from https://twig-world.com/film/what-is-dna-1049

YouTube (if you know the author and screen name)
Author, A. [Screen name]. (year, month day). Title of video in italics [Video file]. Retrieved date, from URL

Apsolon, M. [markapsolon]. 2011, September 9). Real ghost girl caught on video tape 14 [Video File]. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from http://ww.youtube.com/watch?=6nyGCbxD848

Note: If screen name is not capitalized, do not capitalize. For retrievability, use the name of the uploader, not the creator. The name of the person or entity uploading the video is easier to find on a search of the site. Also, the creator of a video is often not known.

YouTube (if you only know the screen name or person who uploaded it) 
Screen name. (year, month day). Title of video in italics [Video file]. Retrieved date, from URL

Bellofolletti. (2009, April 8). Ghost caught on surveillance camera [Video file]. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq1ms2JhYBI&feature=related

Web page with an author
Author, A.  (Year, month date of publication). Article title. Retrieved date, from URL

Web page with no author
Title of web page with no quotation marks or italics. (Year, month date). Retrieved date, from URL.
NOTE: for the in-text citation, use a short title in quotation marks ("Solar car," 2017)