Using APA Style in the Citing of
Reference Sources: The
Reference List
Sullivan University Library
Where do I find examples of APA
style?
• The manual that is used to describe APA style is
the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association.
• Copies of this manual can be found at the
Sullivan University Library.
• Web sites can also be found that
contain APA style information.
Citing Sources
There are various types of information
sources such as magazines, books,
newspapers, and encyclopedias.
The APA style usually will follow a particular
format for each of these publication types.
References typically contain the
following information in APA format:
• Author(s) (if known)
• Publication date
• Title
• Publication information
• Retrieval information, including URL if any
APA Format
If a periodical (magazine or journal):
Author. (Date of publication). Title of article.
Title of Periodical, volume number, page
number(s).
APA Format
If a book:
Author. (Date of publication). Title of book.
Place of publication: Publisher.
APA Format
All references in APA format should be
double-spaced and in a hanging indent
format.
Hanging indent
Jones, T. M. (1999). I have a great life.
Los Angeles: McGraw-Hill.
Double-spaced
Author
The usual format of the author entry is:
Last name, [space] First initial of first name. [space]
First initial of middle name (if available).
Here is an example of an author entry:
Franklin, W. J.
More than One Author
The names are listed in the order in which they
appear. They are not listed in alphabetical order.
The ampersand symbol (&) for AND is used. The
word AND is not spelled out.
More than One Author
The authors’ entry for co-authors named
John Allen Smith and Bernard Ulysses
Jones would look like this:
Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. U.
Please check the APA style manual for
information about entries containing
more than 2 authors.
What If The Author Is Unknown?
If an author or editor is unknown, the
book or article title should be listed first
(before the date entry).
APA states that the first significant word
of the title should be listed if the title is
placed in the author’s position.
Publication Date
The publication year is listed in parentheses
after the author entry for a book or scholarly
journal.
If the publication is a popular (general
magazine), the month (or month and day)
are included.
Publication Date
The date of an article published in the Journal of
Marketing in 1995 would be listed as:
(1995). This is a scholarly journal.
The date of an article in Time published on May 8,
2000 would appear as:
(2000, May 8). This is a popular
magazine.
Title & Publication Information
The title entry and other publication
information appears after the date.
Periodical Title and Publication
Information
Periodical article information, the periodical
title, the volume number, and page numbers
appear after the date of publication.
Author. [space] (Date). [space] Article title. [space]
Publication
Title, [space] volume number, [space] page number(s).
Examples of Periodical Citations in the
Reference List
Example of a Scholarly Journal Article:
Mellers, B. A. (2000). Choice and the relative pleasure
of consequences. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 910-
924.
Example of a Popular Magazine Article:
Kandel, E. R., & Squire, L. R. (2000, November
10). Nutrition: Vitamins and anti-aging. Time,
290, 49-53.
Periodical Title and Publication
Information
If a scholarly periodical is paginated by issue
number, the issue number would appear in
parentheses directly after the volume number.
Example:
Smith, J. A. (2003). Accounting in the future. Journal of
Accounting, 23(2), 23-45.
Book Title and Publication Information
The book title, the place of publication, and publisher
information appear after the date entry.
Author. [space] (Date). [space] Book title. [space] Place of
Publication: [space] Publisher.
Book Title and Publication Information
Examples:
Jones, B. A. (2002). This amazing world. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Wilson, J. A. (2003). Earth and the future. Lexington,
KY: University of Kentucky Book Press.
What About Citing the Web?
Web sites from the Internet or other online
resources may sometimes be used in a paper.
What About Citing the Web?
Below is an example of what may be included in the
citing of a World Wide Web site:
Last name of author, Initial of first name. Initial
of middle name. (Date). Title of web site.
Retrieved Date from the WWW, from web
address
The date specifies the
date that the site was Do not place a This is the date
published on the period after the that you
Internet or the date of web address. retrieved the
the last revision. If the site from the
date is unknown, use
(n.d.). WWW.
What About Citing the Web?
Below is an example of a web site citation:
Doe, J. E. (2000, January 2). Popular music of the
1990’s. Retrieved November 5, 2000, from
http://www.popularmusic.com
The first word of the title is capitalized.
The title is italicized.
If the author is unknown, begin the citation with the
title of the web site.
Citing Articles From an Electronic Database
Citing an article from an electronic database is very
similar to citing an article found in a hard copy (print)
resource. However, a retrieval statement must be added.
The format for an article found in an electronic database
is: *
Author. (Date). Title of article. Title of Publication,
volume number, page numbers.
Retrieved Date, from Database.
*NOTE: An issue number would be included for
an article from a scholarly journal that is
paginated by issue.
Citing Articles from an electronic
database
Some examples:
Jones, J. S. (1999, July 9). Forecasting the future.
Forecast Magazine, 56, 45-56. Retrieved April
23, 2003, from ProQuest database.
Jenkins, K. (2003). Future of plastics. Journal of
Business Education, 76(3), 89-100. Retrieved
March 23, 2003, from Business Source Premier,
an EBSCOhost database.
Conclusion
This was just a short introduction.
Other types of sources, such as newspapers and
pamphlets are formatted differently. An editor may
need to be included in a reference citation.
Please consult the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association and your
instructor for specific information.