The American Psychological Association (APA) reference style provides explicit guidelines for referencing sources within research papers written for social sciences disciplines. Properly referencing sources is crucial for avoiding plagiarism and allowing readers to identify and locate the materials used.
In-text citations uniquely identify a source in the body of the text and are followed by a full reference list at the end of the paper. Sources in the reference list must correspond exactly to the citations within the text. References are double spaced and use a hanging indent format. For published works like books and journal articles, references include the author’s name, year of publication, title, publication information.
For in-text citations of paraphrased information or direct quotes, include the author’s last name and year of publication in parentheses after the referenced information. Include page numbers for direct quotes. For example: (Smith, 2020) or (Smith, 2020, p. 5).
If the author’s name is used in the narrative, only include the year in parentheses. For example: “Smith (2020) stated XYZ.” When referring to an organization as the author, spell out the name of the organization each time it is mentioned in-text.
When sources have two authors, include both last names in the in-text citation separated by an ampersand. For example: (Johnson & Smith, 2015). For sources with three, five, or more authors, include only the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” in the in-text citation For sources with between 3-5 authors, all authors’ last names are included on the first in-text citation, after which “et al.” is used.
Formatting the reference list requires attention to detail. Entries are arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name or organization name. Subsequent lines after the first line of each reference are indented (a hanging indent). Book references include the following elements: author(s), date of publication in parentheses, title in italics, publisher location, and publisher name.
Journal article references include: author(s), date of publication in parentheses, article title in sentence case, journal title in italics, volume number, issue number in parentheses, and page range. When citing a source found online, include a URL or DOI instead of page numbers. If no author is listed, the title moves to the first position of the reference entry.
Some samples:
Blog post:
Smith, J. (2020, January 15). Title of blog post. Blog Name. https://www.blogname.com/2020/01/blog-post-title.html
Email:
J. Doe (2020, February 1). Personal communication [Email to the author].
Magazine article:
Jones, S., Brown, L., & Robinson, G. (2010, May). Magazine article title. Magazine Title, 43(5), 46-49.
Report:
Public Policy Institute. (2015). Report title. https://policyinstitute.org/reportname.pdf
Video:
TED. (2010, March). Video title from TED Talks [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoID
Website:
World Health Organization. (2020, July 15). COVID-19 website page title. https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/15-07-2020-covid-19-website-page-title
Properly formatting references requires attention to style guidelines. Adhering to APA referencing format ensures sources are properly attributed and allows readers to easily follow up on cited works. Taking care with references reflects positively on the quality and ethics of one’s research.