American Psychological Association Reference Styles

APA style is the de facto standard in Social Work and most of the journals for which you might write. 

This page contains an introduction to the "when and why" of using references, gives some examples, and then ends with what I think of as my APA cheat sheet. I keep this sheet handy on my computer so that I can quickly search for each type of reference as I need it. Hope it helps. 

Table of Contents

When and why must I use a reference? 
Examples of usage
Citation and reference formats:
   Journal article, one author
    Journal article, two authors
    Journal article, more than 2 authors
    Journal article, 6 or more authors
    Journal article, in press
    Popular Magazine article
    Newspaper article, with author
    Newspaper article, no author
    Book
    Book, 2nd ed
    Book, corporate author
    Book, no author
    Chapter in book
    Paper Presented at Conference
    Personal Communication
    On-line materials
    Book Review - Untitled
    Record/CD

When and why must I use a reference?

You use a reference whenever you make a statement which is not a fact directly observable by everyone ("The sun rises is the East"), a fact which you observed directly ("I watched the Titanic sink from view"), or something you were born knowing ("I am hungry"). While these woul dnot need a citation, the statement "Child negativly impacts children" would need one or more citations in support of your claim.

When you do put a reference in your text what you are doing is "citing" a previous work and therefore the material in parenthesis (APA, 1997) is called a citation to a reference, or citation for short.

You use citations to provide a way for the curious reader (such as me) to learn more about a subject you have raised in your paper. For example, if you claim that an article or author makes this or that general point, you then tell me in which work by what author's I can read more about that point and how they came to it and what evidence they have mustered in its support.

You enclose material taken word for word from another source in quotation marks to avoid allegations of plagiarism. When you use direct quotes you give not only a citation to the author and the work, but also to the page so that this curious reader can go look up that fabulous quote and read more about your topic.

Examples of Usage?

The whole business of citing works in the body of a paper can get quite complicated. Let’s start simple. If I just want to indicate support for my claim I might write: Domestic violence is illegal in most states of the Union (Bogus, 1998). If I want to use a quote from that work to make my point then I would write: According to one source, "domestic violence is illegal in 59.0% of these contiguous United States" (Bogus, 1998, p. 234). Note that the quote mark goes before the citation (otherwise it would like that cite was part of the material you were quoting) and that the punctuation for the quoted sentence follows the citation. I know it is weird, but a lot less weird than op cit, ibid, & etc..

Note also that you always use page numbers with direct quotes.

There are many times when you do not need the author’s name within your citation. For example, you could write: Ross contends that Wayne Gretzky’s phenomenal scoring resulted in part from his unconscious use of an atavistic dissociative induction (1989). Because it is clear I’m talking about Ross’s contention, I don’t need to repeat his name in the citation. I also don’t have to repeat information if I’m just adding in a quote from the work last cited before the quote. For example: Ross’s contention that Gretzky creatively employed dissociation in his play (Ross, 1989) pales beside his claim that the obliteration of extensive body of knowledge of trauma which had developed by 1909 "occurred so suddenly that it cannot be attributed to passive scholarly forgetting. In fact the field developed a dissociative disorder" (p. 44). Note that in this case I leave out both the year and author.

I may also omit the author’s name if I make successive citations to the same work. For example: One could argue that dissociation must have been advantageous not only in dealing with traumatic situations (Ross, 1989), but also in confusing competitors (1989). If I cite Ross, then Ellenson, and then Ross again (even the same work by Ross) I have to give the full citation to Ross for the second citation.

Omitting the author’s name requires some judgment. I certainly would NOT omit the name if I were writing a new section of my paper (as indicated by a new subheading), or even if significant time had elapsed and I feared the reader might not instantly know which author I was referring to. Basically I want to avoid repeating unnecessary material OR forcing the reader to flip back to locate names.

Reference for: Journal article, one author
Appear in body of text as: (Beahrs, 1983)
Appears in Reference List as: Beahrs, J. O. (1983). Co-consciousness: A common denominator in hypnosis, multiple personality, and normalcy. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 26, 100-113.
   Notes: Journa name &l volume, but not page number, is italicized.
   If Journal is paginated by issue (rather than continuing cumulatively from issue to issue for the whole year) then include issue: 26(2) NOT italicized and pages are preceded with pp. 100-113.

Reference for: Journal article, two authors
Appears in body of text as: (Sanders & Green, 1994)
Appears in Reference List as: Sanders, B., & Green, J. A. (1994). The factor structure of the dissociative experiences scale in college students. Dissociation, 7, 23-27.
   Notes: No comma before ampersand in reference list.
   Always cite both authors in references in text.

Reference for: Journal article, more than 2 yet less than 6 authors
Appears in body of text as: (Bryer, Nelson, Miller, & Krol, 1987) 1st time, (Bryer et al., 1987) for all subsequent citations.
Appears in Reference List as: Bryer, J. B., Nelson, B. A., Miller, J. B., & Krol, B. A. (1987). Childhood sexual and physical abuse as factors in adult psychiatric illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1426-1430.
   Notes: In text, cite all authors the first time, first author and et al. (no period after et, no comma after author name) for subsequent cites.
   Note comma before ampersand in citation and reference list.

Reference for: Journal article, in press
Appears in body of text as: (Adams, in press)
Appears in Reference List as: Adams, D. (in press). Femenist interventions with batterers.
   Notes: The "in press" is not capitalized

Reference for: Popular Magazine article
Appears in body of text as: (Gardner, 1994)
Appears in Reference List as: Gardner, R. G. (1994, December). Playing with fire: Pyromania explodes. Psychology Today, pp. 33-36.
   Notes: Note use of pp. here not in professional journals.
   If it is a weekly, include day of week in the date (1994, December 4).

Reference for: Newspaper article, with author
Appears in body of text as: (Angier,1995)
Appears in Reference List as: Angier, D. (1994, December 5). Raising aggression to an art form. The New York Times, pp. C1, C5.
   Notes: if on discontinuous pages, give all pages, separated by commas.
                if on continuous pages, use "pp."

Reference for: Newspaper article, no author
Appears in body of text as: ("Social Agency," 1997)
Appears in Reference List as: Social Agency stops urging girls to marry. (1997, January 26). The New York Times, p. 19.
    Notes: Use as short a title as will be comprehensible and clear in citations.
   Alphabetize by first significant word in the title

Reference for: Book
Appears in body of text as: (Ross, 1989)
Appears in Reference List as: Ross, C. (1989). Multiple personality disorder: Diagnosis, clinical features, and treatment. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
   Notes: If the city is not well known for publishing used city and state as in: Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
   Name of publisher should be as brief as is intelligible so omit words like "Publishers, Inc." However, keep the words "Press" and "Books" [don't ask]              
   If two cities are listed, use first or location of home office.

Reference for: Book, 2nd edition
Appears in body of text as: (Longres, 1995)
Appears in Reference List as: Longres, J. F. (1995). Human behavior in the social environment (2nd ed.). Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock
   Notes: no punctuation after the title,

Reference for: Book, no author
Appears in body of text as: (Oxford English Dictionary, 1934)
Appears in Reference List as: Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). (1934). London: Oxford University Press. [I made this up]
   Notes: In text, use title or just a few words of title if it is long.

Reference for: Chapter in book
Appears in body of text as: (Kluft, 1986)
Appears in Reference List as: Kluft, R. P. (1986). Personality unification in multiple personality disorder: A follow-up study. In B. G. Braun (Ed.), Treatment of multiple personality disorder (pp. 123-345). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc.
   Notes: Note editor(s) name(s) with initials first followed by (Ed.) or (Eds.), pages in parentheses after title.

Reference for: Personal Communication
Appears in body of text as: (J. W. Herman, personal communication, September 28, 1997)
Appears in Reference List as: Does not go into reference list as it is not capable of being looked up
   Notes: note no caps on personal communication

Reference for: On-Line Materials
The APA has recently changed it's recommendations for citing on-line material. Please check their site, Electronic Reference Formats, for the latest information. Basically, give enough information so that your reader can go fetch the material with as little hassle as possible.

Last updated on 04/16/09
Please sends comments, suggestions & etc to
jpeters@maine.edu or call me at (207) 581-2355