Closed for Business . . .

With the introduction of the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the APA has introduced a blog with similar aims to the ones that this one was intended for. To this end, I will discontinue this blog and suggest you checkout the official APA blog at: http://blog.apastyle.org/.

Sorry that I did not produce more content here, I ran into a nasty case of writer's fatigue - trying to do my regular job and contribute/launch this and other online resources. I will be working on updating our APA handouts over the next couple of weeks, so look for them on our How to Guides & Handouts pages. Cheers!

Works by 2 authors or editors...

GENERAL RULES FOR NAMES ON A REFERENCE PAGE:

• Never list given names in the reference list – use initials only.
• Invert given names and surnames of authors in reference list (i.e., surname is followed by initials; e.g., Naomi Klein > Klein, N.; Daniel P. Krowchuk > Krowchuck, D. P.; Yen-Fei Lin > Lin, Y.-F.)
• If the author or editor has a multigenerational designation, give the generational designation after the initials (e.g., António Simões, Jr. > Simões, A., Jr.; Jens C. Appel, III > Appel, J. C., III).
• If the first name is hyphenated: give the first initial, followed by a period, then a hyphen, followed by the second initial, and ending with a period – there will be no space between the first period and the hyphen (e.g., Yen-Fei Lin > Lin, Y.-F.).
• If the book is edited, use "Ed." in parenthesis after the editors initials (e.g., Simões, A., Jr. (Ed.).) Use "Eds." in parenthesis if you have more than one editor.
• In instances where you have more than one author or editor, do not rearrange the order of their names - present the names in the order that they are given.
  

EXAMPLE 1: BOOK WITH TWO AUTHORS

The Complete Probate Kit – authored by: Jens C. Appel, III and F. Bruce Gentry

Click on image to enlarge:

• Gentry and Appel (1996) write that, “…” (p. 4). OR It has been written that, “…” (Gentry & Appel, 1996, p. 4). [Examples of a short quote.]
• Gentry and Appel have suggested that …. OR It has been suggested that … (Gentry & Appel, 1996). [Examples of a paraphrase.]

EXAMPLE 2: A BOOK WITH TWO EDITORS

Pediatric Dermatology: A Quick Reference Guide – edited by: Daniel P. Krowchuk and Anthony J. Mancini

Click on image to enlarge:





If you are quoting or paraphrasing from a title where the editors are credited, never set your phrasing up as though the editors were the writers. It is not necessary to place the "Eds." in the in-text citation - the editors' surnames are sufficient.

The book, Pediatric Dermatology: A Quick Reference, suggests that, "..." (Krowchuk & Mancini, 2007, p. 45). [Example of a short quotation.]

In the past, it has been suggest that ... (Krowchuk & Mancini, 2007). [Example of a paraphrase.]

Works by a single editor or author...

GENERAL RULES FOR NAMES ON A REFERENCE PAGE:

• Never list given names in the reference list – use initials only.
• Invert given names and surnames of authors in reference list (i.e., surname is followed by initials; e.g., Naomi Klein > Klein, N.; Daniel P. Krowchuk > Krowchuck, D. P.; Yen-Fei Lin > Lin, Y.-F.)
• If the author or editor has a multigenerational designation, give the generational designation after the initials (e.g., António Simões, Jr. > Simões, A., Jr.; Jens C. Appel, III > Appel, J. C., III).
• If the first name is hyphenated: give the first initial, followed by a period, then a hyphen, followed by the second initial, and ending with a period – there will be no space between the first period and the hyphen (e.g., Yen-Fei Lin > Lin, Y.-F.).
• If the book is edited, use "Ed." in parenthesis after the editors initials (e.g., Simões, A., Jr. (Ed.).)

EXAMPLE 1: BOOK WITH A SINGLE AUTHOR

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - authored by: Naomi Klein

Click on image to enlarge:




Naomi Klein (2007) writes that, “…” (p. 36). OR It has been written that, “…” (Klein, 2007, p. 36). [Examples of a short quote.]

Klein (2007) noted that …. OR It has been noted … (Klein, 2007). [Examples of a paraphrase.]

EXAMPLE 2: BOOK WITH A SINGLE EDITOR

The Bilingual Child: Research and Analysis of Existing Educational Themes – edited by: António Simões, Jr.

Click on image to enlarge:




If you are quoting or paraphrasing from a title where the editor is credited, never set your phrasing up as though the editor was the writer. It is not necessary to place the "Ed." in the in-text citation - the editor's surname is sufficient.

The book, The Bilingual Child: Research and Analysis of Existing Educational Themes, suggests that, "..." (Simões, 1976, p. 45). [Example of a short quotation.]

In the past, it has been suggest that ... (Simões, 1976). [Example of a paraphrase.]

Citing Video Weblog Posts [e.g., YouTube, etc.]...

In 2007 the American Psychological Association created the APA Style Guide for Electronic References. This document was created to amend and update material from the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association which was published in 2002. Some of the new sources include: blogs, online dictionaries, video blogs (e.g., YouTube), wikis, etc. This particular entry will cover video weblog posts, which includes sources such as YouTube.

GENERAL FORM:

Author's name/screen name. (Year, Month ##). Title of post [Video file]. Video posted to http://...

NOTE:

• if possible, give the name of the author(s) first in the traditional APA style (surname followed by initials); failing this, use the "screen identity/name" (the author's pseudonym)
  
• none of the text will be italicized
• double space
• employ the hanging indent if necessary
• use "n.d." if no date is available
• the posting's title will be like any other article title - the first word capitalized in the title and subtitle; all others are lowercase unless the proper name of a person, place, or organization appears in the title

EXAMPLES (click on image to enlarge):






IN-TEXT CITATION (based on examples):

Simon Cowell, a notoriously difficult judge, said that Paul Potts's performance on Britain's Got Talent, "was a complete breath of fresh air" (myredroom, 2007). Cowell went on to say that, "I thought you were absolutely fantastic".

NOTE: No page or paragraph numbers could be assigned in the in-text citation because the quote was transcribed from the video. Your audience will have to refer to the video to confirm the quoted text. Additionally, a second in-text citation was not included in the second quote because it should be evident to the audience that it came from the same source as the preceding quotation.

Source:
American Psychological Association. (2007). APA Style Guide for Electronic References. Washington, DC: Author.

Citing a Wiki...

In 2007 the American Psychological Association created the APA Style Guide for Electronic References. This document was created to amend and update material from the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association which was published in 2002. Some of the new sources include: blogs, online dictionaries, video blogs (e.g., YouTube), wikis, etc. This particular entry will cover wikis.

GENERAL FORM:

Article title. (Year, Month ##). Retrieved Month ##, year, from Wiki's Name: http://...

NOTE:

• none of the text will be italicized
• double space
• employ the hanging indent if necessary
• use "n.d." if no date is available
• page/article title will be like any other article title - the first word capitalized in the title and subtitle; all others are lowercase unless the proper name of a person, place, or organization appears in the title
  

EXAMPLES (click on image to enlarge):








IN-TEXT CITATION (based on examples):

The article "American Psychological Association" (2008) states that, "...". [quote]

OR

The American Psychological Association was created ... ("American Psychological Association", 2008). [paraphrase]

NOTE: Since neither article has numbered paragraphs, we cannot place the paragraph symbol (¶; or the text "para." in place of ¶) and its associated paragraph number with our in-text citation for direct quotations. The readers can go to the article's page to verify the information for themselves if material is directly quoted.

Source:
American Psychological Association. (2007). APA Style Guide for Electronic References. Washington, DC: Author.

Major publishing cities...

You are required to present the name of the city for a publisher in a reference page citation for a book. The rules of how to properly document the cities on your reference page are as follows:

CITY IN USA

• If the city is in the United States of America (USA), then you only need to give the city name and official postal abbreviation.
• e.g., St. Louis, MO; Detroit, MI, etc.
• Click here for a list of official USA postal abbreviations.
  

CITIES OUTSIDE THE USA

• If the city is located outside of the USA, then you need to give the city name, province/state/territory, and country of origin.
• The province/state/territory and country of origin must be spelled in complete text - postal abbreviations are not acceptable.
  
• e.g., Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Berlin, Germany [NOTE: Berlin is a state/city unto itself.], etc.

EXCEPTIONS

• There are certain cities that do not require you display the province/state/territory and country of origin - these are major publishing cities.
• Major publishing cities in the USA include:
• Baltimore
• Boston
• Chicago
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Philadelphia
• San Francisco
• Major international publishing cities include:
• Amsterdam
• Jerusalem
• London [NOTE: If it is London, Ontario, Canada, you will need to document the difference.]
  
• Milan
• Moscow
• Paris
• Rome
• Stockholm
• Tokyo
• Vienna

MORE THAN ONE CITY LISTED

• It is not stated in the APA manual, but the general rule is to use the first city listed on the title page as the publisher's city of origin.
  
• If no cities are given on the title page, but are listed on the publisher's information page, use the city that serves as the home office for the publisher.
  

The rules can be viewed in section 4.03 (p. 217) of the APA Manual.

So many editors: How to credit…

What happens when I have a large editorial board with a variety of editor types (i.e., Editors, Associate Editors, Executive Editors, Senior Editors, etc.) to credit? The short answer, as the APA Manual (2001) says, is credit “the lead editor followed by et al.” (p. 229).

It should be noted that “et al.” is not italicized and a period (.) follows “al”. Additionally, if “et al.” follows one name, a comma (,) is not required. If the “et al.” follows a string of names, then a comma must precede it. Though this is not stated implicitly, it can be inferred from examples in section 3.95 (pp. 208-209) of the APA Manual.

For example, the Graphic Arts Manual has a senior editor, five consulting editors, and an executive editor. So which, if not all, of those 7 names do we credit? In this case, we will credit the senior editor, since that individual arguably oversees the others working directly on the title. The executive editor will sometimes outrank the senior editor, but they are a more executive class of editor that oversees the publishers many lines of titles – in this case, the senior editor is responsible for the editorial direction of this particular book.

Our reference page citation will appear as:

Field, J. N. et al. (1980). Graphics art manual. New York: Arno Press.

Our in-text citation will appear as:

It has been suggested that … (Field et al., 1980, p. #).
The Graphics Art Manual says, “…” (Field et al., 1980, p. #).

NOTE: With an edited book, never frame your paraphrase or quote as though the editors made the statement (e.g., Field et al. said that, “…” (p. #).) The editors are simply the editors, with edited books there are many contributors and the editors did not necessarily write the script, so do not credit them as if they did. In this book, there were 96 contributors so if you use a particular passage that identifies one of those contributors as the writer, credit them accordingly.

EXAMPLE (AUTHOR FOR A CHAPTER/SECTION OF AN EDITTED BOOK)
Reference page citation:
Romano, F. J. (1980). Phototypesetting. In J. N. Field et al. (Eds.), Graphics art manual (pp. 209-218). New York: Arno Press.

Our in-text citation will appear as:

• SHORT QUOTE 1: Romano (1980) said that, “…” (p. 214).
• SHORT QUOTE 2: According to the Graphics Art Manual, phototypesetting is “…” (Romano, 1980, p. 209).
• PARAPHRASE 1: It has been suggested that phototypesetting is … (Romano, 1980).
• PARAPHRASE 2: Romano (1980) suggested that phototypesetting is ….
  

The APA Manual does discuss this case in sections 4.13 (p. 229) and 4.14 (example 30, p. 250), though no practical example is given when you are faced with this type of resource. You can also refer to section 3.95 (pp. 208-209) for how to format “et al.”.

Question marks in titles...

The question is: how are questions marks in titles to be documented in the references list? This is one of those issues that are not clearly defined by the APA Manual. This is my best suggestion based on the example that I found in the book:

EXAMPLE
“What's Gender Got to Do with It? Women and Foreign Relations History” by Kristin Hoganson from OAH Magazine of History. One could reasonably assume that “Women and Foreign Relations” could be treated as a subtitle, however, if this is the case, should a colon follow the question mark? The short answer is, “no”. Unless the author explicitly places the colon in this type of title, do not add it.

SUGGESTED SOLUTION
Hoganson, K. (2005, March). What’s gender got to do with it? Women and foreign relations history. OAH Magazine of History, 19(2), 14–18. Retrieved February 13, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

NOTE: Sorry, I could not format a hanging indent or double space in this document, but you get the idea. The original article can be found by clicking here.

EXPLANATION
The explanation is based on citation example 75 (p. 273 of the APA Manual). It is possible to document the article as suggested because the title ends with a question mark (which is atypical of an article), so treat it as you would a colon – the formal title ends at the question mark. The next passage (“Women and Foreign Relations History”) acts a subtitle, so it begins with a capital letter and all others are lowercase unless a proper noun is present in the reference list. You should, however, include the colon if it is expressed in the original article title.

EXAMPLE 2
Another such example can be found at: http://www.whatisrss.com. You can site this page as:

What is RSS? RSS explained. (n.d.). Retrieved February 13, 2008, from http://www.whatisrss.com

EXAMPLE 3
The following example is of a chapter title that has the colon following the question mark. In this case, display the colon as the authors originally intended.

Franklin, S., & Graesser, A. (1997). Is it an agent, or just a program?: A taxonomy for autonomous agents. In J. P. Müller, M. J. Wooldridge, & N. R. Jennings (Eds.), Intelligent agents III: Agent theories, architectures, and languages: ECAI '96 Workshop (ATAL), Budapest, Hungary, August 12-13, 1996: Proceedings (pp. 21-36). Berlin, Germany: Springer.

Apostrophes, how to use them…

This is not strictly an APA rule, but here are some tips on the proper use of the apostrophe. Apostrophes (‘) usually indicate one of two things: a contraction, or a possessive state for a noun or proper noun.

EXAMPLE 1: POSSESIVE SINGLE NOUN
Simply add an apostrophe and an s after the noun to indicate a possessive state.

• The poet’s intent is to….
• The wolf’s prey….

EXAMPLE 2: POSSESIVE PLURAL NOUN ENDING IN S
Add an apostrophe after the s to indicate a possessive form of the pluralized noun – a second s is not required after the apostrophe.

• The doctors’ research….
• The wolves’ prey….

EXAMPLE 3: POSSESIVE PLURAL IRREGULAR NOUN NOT ENDING IN S
Certain pluralized nouns do not end in s (e.g., men, feet, phenomena). For those terms, add the apostrophe and an s after the irregular pluralized noun.

• The women’s duties included….
• The deer’s diet consists of….

EXAMPLE 4: SINGULAR PROPER NOUN
Add an apostrophe and s after any single proper noun.

• Hercules’s strength was….
• Leibowitz’s photography….

NOTE: Even if the singular proper noun ends with an s, add the apostrophe and s. Some texts will suggest that simple writing Hercules’ (without the ’s) is also acceptable.

EXAMPLE 5: POSSESSIVE PROPER NOUNS IN A SERIES (JOINT POSSESSION)
Add an apostrophe and s after the last proper noun in a sequence of proper nouns.

• Carter and Seybold’s paper outlines….
• Prokopiev, Turner, and Chen’s work….

You will use this form when you have multiple authors contributing to the same work.

EXAMPLE 6: POSSESSIVE PROPER NOUNS IN A SERIES (INDIVIDUAL POSSESSION)
Add an apostrophe and s after the each proper noun in a sequence of proper nouns.

• U2’s and INXS’s songs differed in….
• Shakespeare’s and Marlowe’s plays were….

Since the works were not collaborations, each proper noun must indicate an individual possessive state.

EXAMPLE 7: POSSESSIVE PLURALIZED PROPER NOUNS
If a proper noun is pluralized, only add the apostrophe.

• The Kravitzes’ investments were….
• The MacGregors’ land included…

WHEN WILL YOU NOT USE AN APOSTROPHE
Do not use an apostrophe for the pluralizing of abbreviations or numbers.

• PDFs
• PhDs
• 1980s

You will not use an apostrophe and s to indicate the possessive form of personal and relative pronouns.

INCORRECT FORM	CORRECT FORM
their’s	theirs
it's (contraction meaning: it is)	its
who's (contraction meaning: who is)	whose
That is her’s.	That is hers.
Our’s are over there.	Ours are over there.

CONTRACTIONS
It is STRONGLY advised that you never use contractions in an academic paper. It is considered poor form/style to do so. Use cannot instead of can’t; use do not and not don’t; and despite ain’t being in some dictionaries, it should never be used in an academic setting.

EXCEPTIONS
Some proper nouns employ an apostrophe, but do not indicate a possessive state or contractions (e.g., O’Neil, D’Angelo, etc.). O’clock (meaning: according to the clock) also employs the apostrophe, but neither a contraction nor a possessive state are implied.

Sources:
Flick, J., & Millward, C. (1993). Handbook for writers (2nd Canadian ed.). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Canada.

Gibaldi, J. (2003). MLA Handbook for writer’s of research papers (6th ed.). New York: Modern Language Association of America.

Checklist of essentials...

When submitting/writing an APA style paper, keep the following essentials in mind:

PAPER TYPE

• 8.5 x 11 inch (letter size) good quality white paper

FONT STYLE

• 12-pt Times Roman or 12-pt Courier

JUSTIFICATION

• The text will be left justified - text will appear square on left-hand side and jagged on the right-hand side.

SPACING

• Double space throughout the essay.
• Triple and quadruple spacing is allowable around graphics and tables.

MARGINS

• 1 inch margins
• WARNING: Microsoft Word defaults to a 1.25 inch margin on the left and right-hand side.

INDENTATION

• Each paragraph should be indented .5 inch (or 5-7 spaces for the typewriter generation).

PUNCTUATION

• Only one space is required after all punctuation marks.

ORDER OF PAPER

• title page
• abstract
• text
• references
• appendices (optional element)

PAGE HEADERS

• This is the only element on the page that will be outside the normal 1 inch margins.
• Appears first on the title page and on every subsequent page - it will be right justified.
• The header is .5 inch from the top of the page and 1 inch from the right margin.
• The header is typically the first 2-3 words from the title and followed by the page number - there are 5 spaces between the abbreviated title and the number.

REFERENCES

• All in-text reference citations will have a corresponding reference page citation.

GRAPHICS & TABLES

• Any graphs, photographs, and tables will be be accompanied by a label (either: Figure or Table), a number corresponding the order in which the figure/table is presented/mentioned in the paper, and a title that concisely describes the graphic element.