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APA Citation Style (5th edition)
Reference Lists: Overview

  Basic Elements

General Guidelines

Selected Examples 		Library Handouts with Examples
See also: About APA Citation Style | Reference Citations in Text | APA Style.org: Electronic References
All works mentioned in a scholarly paper should be included in an alphabetical list of references at the end of the text. Each entry contains the same basic elements (author, date, title of work, publication information), and are organized alphabetically by the first word in the entry (author's surname or title of work).

Elements of Common Types of Entries

The exact format for a reference list entry varies with the type of work being cited (articles, books, websites, etc.). For more examples, see the APA General Forms Handout or consult pages 224-231 of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (APA manual).

Periodical Article
Author, I. (Date). Article title. Periodical Title, volume, pages.

Book Chapter
Author, I. (Date). Chapter Title. In Editor, I. Book title. Place: Publisher.

Website
Author, I. (Date). Title of page. Retrieved date, from URL

Entire Book
Author, I. (Date). Book title. Place: Publisher.

General Guidelines

Physical Layout (spacing, indentation, order)
Author | Date | Title | Page # | Place | Publisher | Retrieval
See also the Reference List Entries handout.

Physical Layout
  • Order: place entries in alphabetical order. Use the first word in the citation to determine the order. (APA manual, pp. 219 – 222)
  • Spacing: double space all reference entries (APA manual, p. 299) or see p. 35 of CSUS thesis guidelines manual
  • Indentation: use hanging indent (1st line of each reference is flush left; subsequent lines are indented a few spaces)
Author
  • Format: Surname, Initial(s)
  • Join names of authors by &. (APA manual, pp. 224 – 225)

    Example: Masters, W.H. & Johnson, V.E.
Date
  • Books and journal articles: list the year in parentheses (2003)
  • Articles in magazines and newspapers: include issue date (2000, November 10); (1993, Spring)
  • Date not give: (n.d.)
  • Website: give date of publication and date of access. (APA manual, pp. 271 – 279)
Titles
  • Titles of books and articles: Capitalize the first word of the title and capitalize the first word of a subtitle (after a colon).
  • Capitalize proper nouns in all titles.
  • Titles of periodicals: Capitalize all the major words.
  • Italicize the titles of books, periodicals, and web sites. Also italicize the volume number of a periodical.

    Example: Negotiation behavior when cultures collide: The United States and Japan. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86
Page numbers
  • Chapter in a book: put the page numbers in parentheses preceded by pp.
  • Article in a periodical: list the page number range; do not use pp. or put in parentheses
  • With electronic documents, cite paragraph numbers and/or headings if given (APA manual, p. 120)
Place of Publication
  • For nonperiodicals, list publisher's location. If more than two are given, list only the first one. (APA manual, p. 231)
  • For the following selected major publishing cities, include the name of the city only (APA manual, p. 217):
    Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Jerusalem, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tokyo, Vienna.
  • For other U.S. cities, include the two-letter state abbreviation. (APA manual, p. 218)
  • For other non-U.S. cities, include state or province (if applicable) and the name of the country.

    Examples:
    • San Francisco
    • Modesto, CA
    • Victoria, BC, Canada
    • Melbourne, Australia
Publisher
  • For nonperiodicals, list name of publisher.
  • Include the words Association, Corporation, University Press, Books, Press
  • Omit superfluous terms: Publishers, Co., Inc. (APA manual, pp. 230)
Retrieval Information (Web Address)
  • Format: Retrieved (date of retrieval), (URL)

    Example: CSU Stanislaus Library. (n.d.). APA citation style. Retrieved January 23, 2003 from http://library.csustan.edu/gorenstein/helpguides/apa.htm

Selected Examples

Journal Articles (Print | Online | Database)

Magazine Article | Newspaper Article 		Books (Entire Book | Chapter in a Book)

ERIC Document | Master's thesis 		Eletronic (Web Page | Journal Article | Email)

Audio Visual Materials (Motion Picture, TV)
For more examples, see: How to Cite Information from Print Sources
How to Cite Information from the Internet/WWW
JOURNAL ARTICLE (PRINT) (APA manual, p. 240)
If each volume paged continuously:
Rios, A. P. (1993). Spatial perception during adolescence. Social Psychology Quarterly, 10, 230–237.

If each volume paged separately:
Howell, P. L., & Miller, B. B. (1997). Sources of funding for schools. Future of Children, 7 (3), 39–50.

JOURNAL ARTICLE (ONLINE) official online version (APA Manual, p. 271)
VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117 – 123.

JOURNAL ARTICLE (TEXT RETRIEVED FROM A DATABASE) (APA Manual, p. 279)
Moses, L. J. (2001). Executive accounts of theory-of-mind development. Child Development, 72, 688 - 690. Retrieved November 2, 2001, from Expanded Academic ASAP database.

MAGAZINE ARTICLE (APA manual, p. 241)
Highsmith, S. A. (1997, November 15). Backpacking through the wilderness in Canada. Travel Magazine, 35, 65–70.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE (APA manual, pp. 242-243)
Campbell, C. (1998, November 10). Sea otters coming back. San Francisco Chronicle, p. A2.

BOOK (APA manual, p. 248)
Tufte, E.R. (1983). The visual display of quantitative information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press.

CHAPTER IN A BOOK (APA manual, p. 252)
Miller, J. E. (1995). Stress and the unborn. In S. J. Clark (Ed.), Psychology of pregnancy (pp. 157-197). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

ERIC DOCUMENT (APA manual, p. 257)
Mead, J. V. (1992). Looking at old photographs: Investigating the teacher tales that novice teachers bring with them (Report No. NCRTL-RR-92-4). East Lansing, MI: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED346082)

MASTER’S THESIS (APA manual, pp. 260-264)
Torres, A. R. (1983). A comparative study of causes for teenage use of alcohol. Unpublished master’s thesis, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock.

WEB PAGE (APA Manual, p. 274)
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2000, November 28). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved January 23, 2003, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilstandardlo.html

If no author, date or organization is specified:
GVU’s 10th WWW user survery. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2001, from http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/user_surveys/survey-1998-10/

EMAIL MESSAGE (APA Manual, p. 214, p. 276)
If the message is personal and not part of an archived discussion list, cite the message in the text only. Do not include it in the Reference List.
(M. Hughes, personal communication, January 22, 2003)

AUDIO VISUAL MATERIALS (APA Manual, pp. 266-268)
Motion Picture
Concept Media (Producer). (1999). Human development: The vulnerable young child. Irvine, CA: producer.

Television Broadcast
Zeesman, M. (Producer). (1991). Psychotherapies [Television series episode]. In Zbar, L. (Producer), Zeesman, M. (Producer), & Levine, T.K. (Director), The world of abnormal psychology. South Burlington, VT: Annenberg/CPB Collection.

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About APA Citation Style
Reference Lists: Overview | Basic Elements | General Guidelines | Selected Examples
Citations in Text: Overview | Guidelines

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Materials prepared by G. Orenstein, S. Cole, L. Boyer, J. Brandt, A. Buell, and B. Santos, 1998-2003.
This document is maintained by: the CSUS Library(wwwlibrary@wwwlibrary.csustan.edu)
Page updated: 10/31/2008