APA Style Basics

1
APA Style Basics

• The Academic Support Center
• Workshop Series
• John F. Kennedy University

2
Why cite sources?

• To honor intellectual property rights
• To avoid plagiarism
• To provide a roadmap back to sources

3
Why use APA style?

• to follow the standardized citation format for
  your field
• to bring a professional quality to your
  coursework

4
APA Style Formatting

• 3 parts title page, text, references page
• 12-point serif font
• double spacing
• header and page number on each page
• 1 margins on all sides
• paragraphs indented ½ inch
• in-text parenthetical citations

5
APA Style Citations
6
A Two-part System

• In-text (Lamott, 1994, p. 22)
• References page
• Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by bird Some
  instructions on writing and life. New York
  Pantheon Books.
• In-text (Amnesty International, 2002, para.
  8)
• References page
• Amnesty International. (2002, October 29).
  Russian Federation fails to uphold post-Soviet
  rights. Retrieved on November 6, 2002, from
• http//www.amnestyusa.org/news/2002rf92002.html

7
In-text Citations

• always
• 1. authors last name
• 2. year of publication
• sometimes
• 3. page number(s)

8
Direct Quotations

• Authors name used in sentence
• Novelist Anne Lamott (1994) discussed the
  agony that even the best writers face when they
  sit down to write We all often feel like we are
  pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose
  ends up being the most natural and fluid (p. 22).

9
Direct Quotations

• Authors name NOT used in sentence
• The two central tenets of Freuds theories are
  the formative importance of infantile sexuality
  and the existence of an unconscious mind that
  works on principles quite distinct from those of
  the conscious mind (Mitchell, 1986, p. 12).

10
Block Format Quotations

• Quotations 40 words or longer
• The researcher described her instructor as an
  ideal prototype of a connected teacher
• She was intensely, genuinely
  interested in everybodys feelings about things.
  She asked
• a question and wanted to know what
  your response was. She wanted to know because
• she wanted to see what sort of
  effect this writing was having. She wasnt using
  us as a
• sounding board for her own feelings.
  (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger,
• Tarule, 1986, p. 225)
• Note block quotations are double spaced

11
Secondary Sources

• Source cited within another source
• In discussing how the story was written,
  Stevenson explained,
• For two days I went about racking my brains
  for a plot of any
• sort and on the second night I dreamed the
  scene at the
• window, and a scene afterwards split into
  two. All the rest
• was made awake, and consciously, although I
  think I can trace
• in much of it the manner of my Brownies.
  (as cited in
• Garfield, 1974, p. 48)

12
Paraphrases

• Authors name used in sentence
• Sakamoto and Miura (1976) have shown that
  those who are emotionally close to the patient
  tend to have slower recognition of the patients
  illness than those who are emotionally distant.

13
Paraphrases

• Authors name NOT used in sentence
• In Japanese culture, problems are supposed to
  be kept within the family thus, problem solving
  occurs within the family structure (Ina, 1997).

14
Paraphrases

• Directing readers back to specific location
• Amnesty International (2002) reported that
  human rights violations, instead of decreasing
  since the early, more intense days of the war,
  have become a routine part of the militarys
  operations ( 4).

15
Personal Communications

• Interviews, course lectures, emails, etc.
• The term leprosy, as used in the King James
  translation of the Bible, actually refers to a
  wide variety of skin ailments ranging from
  athletes foot to Hansens disease (D. Ashburn,
  personal communication, February 16, 2003).
• Note personal communications do NOT appear on
  the references page

16
Exercise 1

• Much research has been conducted to try to
  understand what is involved in the transition to
  motherhood. Bolen (1985) spoke of an archetypal
  dimension to motherhood, which is typically
  activated automatically (gradually or
  instantaneously) after the birth of a child, and
  often in other caregiver-child relationships as
  well. This image of maternal behavior and
  emotion (p. 14) is at play in the psyches of
  both mother and child, each of whom will notice,
  and long for it, if it is in absent.

17
Exercise 2

• Stern and Bruschweiler-Stern (1998) expanded
  on this concept, describing a change in mindset
  as a result of motherhood, which alters not only
  a womans identity and sense of self, but her
  relationships, both with her husband and other
  women, her place in society, and her
  sensibilities and intuition (p. 22). They
  argue seeing to the survival of the baby, the
  relationship with the baby, and the need for
  validation and encouragement from other women
  (p. 22).

18
Exercise 3

• The significance of reconciling fantasies with
  reality, of support from other women, and of the
  birth itself is echoed by other researchers. One
  study conducted by a group of researchers at
  Stanford University found that many women
  experienced a gap between their expectations
  (fantasies) and the reality of new motherhood,
  which contributed to feelings of incompetence
  that they tried to hide behind the mask of the
  supermom (Choi, Henshaw, Baker, Tree, 2005).

19
The References Page

• alphabetized
• hanging indented
• double spaced
• different formats for each source type

20
Books by a Single Author

• Authors last name, first middle initials.
  (Year of publication). Book title (edition).
  Place of publication Publisher.
• Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by bird Some
  instructions on writing and life (2nd ed.). New
  York Pantheon Books.

21
Chapters in an Edited Book

• Chapter authors last name, first middle
  initials. (Year of publication). Chapter title.
  In Book editors first middle initials and last
  name (Ed.), Book title (chapter page numbers).
  Place of publication Publisher.
• Jing, A., Wan, C. (1997). Socialization of
  Chinese children. In H. S. R. Kao D. Sinha
  (Eds.), Asian perspectives on psychology (pp.
  59-73). Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications.

22
Journal Articles from an Electronic Database

• Authors last name, first middle initials.
  (Date of publication). Article title. Journal
  title, volume(issue), page numbers or indicator
  of length. Retrieved month date, year, from
  Database name.
• Schneiderman, R. A. (1997). Librarians can make
  sense of the Net. San Antonio Business Journal,
  11(31), 58-60. Retrieved June 20, 2000,
• from Proquest Research Library.

23
Websites

• Authors last name, first middle initials.
  (Date of publication). Title. Retrieved month
  date, year, from Organizations Web site URL
• Chou, L. (2004). Technology and education
  Choosing past and imagining educational futures.
  Retrieved June 20, 2000, from Columbia
  University, Institute for Learning Technologies
  Web site
• http//www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/t
  echanded.html

24
Exercise 1

• Authors last name, first middle initials.
  (Year of publication). Book title (edition).
  Place of publication Publisher.
• Elbow, P. (1981). Writing with power Techniques
• for mastering the writing process. New York
  
• Oxford University Press.

25
Exercise 2

• Chapter authors last name, first middle
  initials. (Year of publication). Chapter title.
  In Book editors first middle initials and last
  name (Ed.), Book title (chapter page numbers).
  Place of publication Publisher.
• Carter, R. T., Boyd-Jackson, S. (1998). Racial
  identity and psychotherapy. In R. L. Jones (Ed.),
  African American identity development (pp.
  99-120). Hampton, VA Cobb Henry Publishers.

26
Exercise 3

• Authors last name, first middle initials.
  (Date of publication). Article title. Journal
  title, volume(issue), page numbers or indicator
  of length. Retrieved month date, year, from
  Database name.
• Allen, J., Hermann-Wilmarth, J. (2004, June).
  Cultural construction zones. Journal of Teacher
  Education, 55(3), 214-226.

27
Exercise 4

• Authors last name, first middle initials.
  (Date of publication). Title. Retrieved month
  date, year, from Organizations Web site URL
• Wilber, K. (n.d.). On the nature of a
  post-metaphysical spirituality to Habermas and
  Weis. Retrieved January 24, 2006, from Shambhala
  Publications Web site http//wilber.shambala.com/
  
• html/misc/haberman/index.cfm/xid,1546927/yid,
  16750067

28
Still have questions?

• Use the
• Academic Support Centers
• APA Hotline!
• Call (925.969.3530)
• or e-mail (asc_at_jfku.edu)
• us with your question