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Basic information about copyright and education for Sonoma State faculty, staff, and students.

Citing Sources Using APA Style

APA Overview

APA (American Psychological Association) is the style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the social sciences and sciences.

Citation guides and websites

In-text Citations

In order to avoid plagiarism, all information which you gather from someone else’s research or knowledge needs to be both cited in a References page as well as through in-text citations (also called parenthetical citation). In-text citations are inserted directly into an essay using parentheses. In-text citations must be used to give credit to the original author for paraphrases, summaries, as well as direct quotes. Generally, they are placed at the end of a sentence. 

In-text citations:  

  • allows your reader to know which source each idea/fact came from
  • gives you credibility as a writer
  • protects you from plagiarism
  • points your reader to the proper entry in your References.

 

Examples of in-text Citations

The format for creating an in-text citation in APA Style is to include the last name of the author of the work, followed by the page number of the content used.

Direct Quote:

"In the Caribbean the successful planting of new varieties of crops owed much to the Amerindian, who carefully nurtured each newly introduced food source." (Mackie, 42)

Lead-in Reference with quote:

Christine Mackie notes that "in the Caribbean the successful planting of new varieties of crops owed much to the Amerindian, who carefully nurtured each newly introduced food source." (42)

Paraphrase:

The success of new varieties of crops planted in the Caribbean was due in part to the careful tending by the Amerindians. (Mackie, 42)

References

APA style requires a References page at the end of your research paper. All entries (except personal email) in the References page must correspond to the sources cited in your main text, in other words -- your in-text citations.

Basic Rules

  • Begin your References page on a separate page at the end of your research paper. 
  • Label the page References (do not italicize the words References or put them in quotation marks) and center the word References at the top of the page.
  • Double space all citations, but do not skip spaces between entries.
  • Indent the second and subsequent lines of citations by 0.5 inches to create a hanging indent.

 

APA References Sample

The reference for the previously cited source would include a full bibliographic citation to the Mackie work that looks like:

Mackie, C.. (1992). Life and food in the Caribbean. New York: New Amsterdam Books

Sample Citations

A reference list entry generally has four elements:

  • Author: who is responsible for the work?
  • Date: when was the work published?
  • Title: what is the work called?
  • Source: where can I retrieve the work?

Answering these four questions will help you create a reference entry for any type of work, even if you do not see a specific example in that matches it. Consistency in reference formatting allows readers to understand the types of works you consulted and the important reference elements with ease.

See the figure below to see the reference elements of a journal article, and how to locate them.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Example of Where to Find Reference Information for a Journal Article. [Infographic]. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/basic-principles

Below are sample references for textual works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on APAStyle.org

General template for a textual source
Author(s) Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of Shorter Work. Title of Longer Work, page numbers. website or DOI.

Article

Example: Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

Book

Example: Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

Book Chapter

Example: Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129). Routledge.

Conference Presentation

Example: Evans, A. C., Jr., Garbarino, J., Bocanegra, E., Kinscherff, R. T., & Márquez-Greene, N. (2019, August 8–11). Gun violence: An event on the power of community [Conference presentation]. APA 2019 Convention, Chicago, IL, United States. https://convention.apa.org/2019-video

Dissertation

Example: Zambrano-Vazquez, L. (2016). The interaction of state and trait worry on response monitoring in those with worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/620615

Below are sample references for textual works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on APAStyle.org

Material in an Archival Collection

General template for an archival source
Author last name, First Initial. (year month day). Title [Description of material]. Name of collection (Collection number or identifier, Box number, Folder number). Name of repository, Location of repository. Retrieved from URL if applicable.

Example: Ninomiya Photography Studio. (1950). [Photograph of Yasuko Nishida]. Ninomiya Studio Collection (nino_50-156_01). Gerth Archives and Special Collections, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA. https://cdm16855.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16855coll4/id/14111/rec/40

Below are sample references for textual works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on APAStyle.org

General template for an artistic source
Creator(s) Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of Shorter Work [Format]. Title of Longer Work [Format]. Publisher. website or DOI.

Artwork

Example: van Gogh, V. (1889). The starry night [Painting]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States. https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/

Film

Example: Fleming, V. (Director). (1939). Gone with the wind [Film]. Selznick International Pictures; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Episode of a TV Show

Example: Favreau, J. (Writer), & Filoni, D. (Director). (2019, November 12). Chapter 1 (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In J. Favreau, D. Filoni, K. Kennedy, & C. Wilson (Executive Producers), The Mandalorian. Lucasfilm; Golem Creations.

Podcast Episode

Example: Hannah-Jones, N. (Host). (2019, September 13). How the bad blood started (No. 4) [Audio podcast episode]. In 1619. The New York Times. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-4-how-the-bad-blood-started/id1476928106?i=1000449718223

Clip Art or Stock Image

Example: Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/

Below are sample references for textual works. Additional reference examples for other formats is available on APAStyle.org

General template for online content
Author(s) Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title. Publisher. website or DOI.

Social Media Post

Example: Washington Post [@washingtonpost]. (2019, December 3). News is all around us #frozen #newsroom #newspaper [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@washingtonpost/video/6765886712896818437

Webpage on a Website

Example: Bologna, C. (2019, October 31). Why some people with anxiety love watching horror movies. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/anxiety-love-watching-horror-movies_l_5d277587e4b02a5a5d57b59e

Webpage on a Website with an Organizational Group Author

Example: World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death