APA Style The Short Version

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APA StyleThe Short Version

• National Center for the Twenty-first Century
  Schoolhouse
• San Diego State University

T. DeVere Wolsey February 2007
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APA Format

• APA style can be daunting, but the big ideas are
  
• Use sources to support what you write and discuss
• Identify those sources so others can locate or
  refer to them.
• If you keep this in mind, your written work will
  be fine. The rest are nuances you will learn over
  time.

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Main Idea Agreement

• Every work you refer to in the text of your
  assignment must be cited.
• Every work you cite in your assignment must
  appear in the reference list.
• The works cited in the text of your assignment
  should agree with the reference list that is, a
  reader can match the authors last name and
  publication date from your text with the
  reference list.
• (Publication Manual of the APA, 5th ed., p. 215).

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Citations

• In the text of your assignments, you will want to
  cite the work of others. When you do so, include
  the authors name and the date of publication.

The authors name and the date may appear in
parentheses
Or the authors name may appear in the text with
the date in parentheses.
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The Reference List

• The reference list should contain full
  information for every book or other source cited
  in the text of your assignment.
• The elements of the reference list entry for a
  periodical are
• Author, Initial. Initial. (year). Title of
  article. Title of Periodical, volume, number,
  pages.

Note the hanging indents
Book and journal titles in italics
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The Reference List

• The elements of the reference list entry for a
  book are
• Author, Initial. Initial. (year). Title of work.
  Location Publisher.
• Note where and of what type the punctuation is
  for each entry. These are nuances, so do your
  best but dont worry.
• Reference lists are double-spaced if you submit a
  word-processed document.

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Reference List Hint

• Keep a document on your hard drive with all the
  course texts you normally use as a reference.
  Then, instead of retyping each reference each
  week, copy and paste as needed.

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The Reference List

• Generally, capitalize only the first letter of
  the title and any proper names that appear in the
  title. Journal titles are an exception.
• For examples of referencing electronic media,
  read more at http//www.apastyle.org/elecmedia.ht
  ml
• For a citation generator, go to
  http//citationmachine.net/

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Bibliographies and Reference Lists Trivia

• Purists use the term bibliography when they
  refer to a list of works that includes titles
  and sources that may not be directly cited in the
  text of the manuscript (or your assignment).
• The term reference list is used when only the
  works actually cited in the manuscript are
  provided.

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Discussion Boards

• Reference lists and formal citations are not
  necessary for most discussion board posts. Since
  all course participants are familiar with the
  texts, mentioning the authors name is
  sufficient
• Example As I read Myers and Robertson (2004) on
  community engagement, I thought of a recent
  experience at my firm

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Reference list

• American Psychological Association. (2001).
  Publication Manual of the American Psychological
  Association (5th ed.). Washington, D. C. Author.
  
• Myers, N. Robertson, S. (2004). The CEFPI
  Guide for Educational Facility Planning
  Creating Connections. Phoenix, AZ The Council
  of Educational Facility Planners, Intl.