By: Matt Schering

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APA formatting and documentation

• By Matt Schering
• Writing Center Assistant Coordinator

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What is APA formatting?

• APA formatting is merely a set of rules to follow
  for writing academic papers.
• No one is expected to memorize all of the rules
  of APA, but you will find it beneficial to know
  where to go to find them!

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APA paper template and sample paper

• Perhaps the best tool for those new to APA style.
• This template is a mostly blank document, already
  set to the standards of APA 6th edition.
• The Template can be found on the writing centers
  website.
• Additionally, a sample paper in APA style can
  also be found on the writing centers website.
  This is a useful tool to acquaint yourself with
  how papers look when completed in APA style.

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Plagiarism and how to avoid it.

• Plagiarism (the intentional or unintentional
  theft of intellectual ideas), occurs whenever any
  information is used from another source without
  giving the author(s) of that source credit for
  the information.
• You must document sources every time you borrow
  any information, including facts, statistics,
  numbers, ideas, concepts, names, locations, or
  dates.
• Even if you are paraphrasing or summarizing
  information, you must still provide a citation
  for that information.
• Remember, anytime you use ideas, thoughts, or
  figures that are not your own, you MUST cite
  where this information is coming from.

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In-text citations

• Paraphrased Citation Traditional citations will
  ask you to include the authors last name
  followed by the year of publication for that
  particular source within the body of your paper.
  
• End of sentence, one author ? .. (Smith, 2010).
  
• Beginning of sentence, one author ? According to
  Smith (2010), ..

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In-text citations

• Quoted Citation If you are quoting information,
  be sure to include the page number from which the
  quote originates. If the information is coming
  from a website, you will use paragraph numbers
  instead of page numbers.
• End of sentence, one author ? .. (Smith, 2010,
  p. 5).
• Beginning of sentence, one author ? According to
  Smith (2010), .. (p. 5).
• End of sentence, (website) ? .. (Smith, 2010,
  para. 2).
• Beginning of sentence, (website) ? According to
  Smith (2010), (para. 2).

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In-text citations

• Multiple Authors When you have exactly two
  authors for one source, be sure to list both
  names in your in-text citation. When you have 3
  or more authors, list each authors last name in
  your in-text citation for the first time in your
  paper that you use them. For each time after
  that, list only the first authors last name and
  then use et al. to indicate that there are
  other authors used.
• End of sentence, 2 authors ? .. (Smith Essex,
  2010).
• Beginning of sentence, 2 authors ? According to
  Smith Essex (2010), ..
• End of sentence, 3 authors ? .. (Smith, Vega
  Karlov, 2010, p. 5)
• Beginning of sentence, 3 authors ? According to
  Smith et al. (2010), .. (p.5)

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In-text citations

• Source with No Date If your source does not
  provide a publication date, use n.d.
  (indicating that no date is provided) in place of
  the publication year for your in-text citation.
• End of sentence ? .. (Smith, n.d.).
• Beginning of sentence ? According to Smith
  (n.d.), ..
• The same rules apply for sources with no page
  numbers as well. Use n.p. when citing direct
  quotes that lack pagination.

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Reference page entries

• Reference Page Entries In addition to citing
  your information within the body of your paper,
  you should include a list of references as the
  last page of your paper. References should be
  listed in alphabetical order.
• Though the specific information for each style of
  citation (i.e. journal article, movie, book) may
  change slightly, you will likely always needs the
  following
• Authors name, date of publication, title of
  piece, medium of publication.

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Documentation styles additional help

• For help with a variety of questions of
  documentation styles, be sure to visit the
  writing centers website at govst.edu/owl
• Click on the documentation styles side bar to
  find the paper template, sample paper, and a
  variety of links for citations.