APA Format: Citation Guidelines

Whether you are writing a paper for your college entrance exam, for your literature professor, or even for your boss at work, it’s important to remember to cite sources. Often times people will take notes from the internet and not cite the source used. Although done in complete innocence, this is in fact plagiarism and a violation of not only the law, but the author’s personal and creative rights as well. In all actuality it only takes a minute to cite a source and it makes a world of difference.

There are two different types of citations used in a paper: in-text citation, and bibliographic citation; both are necessary. In-text citations are the citations used after paraphrasing or quoting a specific work. These are made using parenthesis and generally consist of the author’s name and the date a work was published. However, these guidelines change slightly should an author’s name or the date be unavailable.

The second type, bibliographic citations, are made in the Bibliography or works cited section of your paper. These are listed in alphabetical order, and with no numbering. Further guidelines for both types of citations are detailed below.

The following is a guide to citing sources using APA format as well as a list of related websites to provide further assistance and guidance on those more specific citations.

In-Text Citations:

Single Author
âÂ?¢The author’s name and the year of publication is placed next to the relevant text.
For example: …making ones mental process more complex and sophisticated. (Slavin, 2003)

âÂ?¢When the author’s name has been mentioned as part of your exposition to their work, you need only to cite the year of publication in parenthesis next to the authors name.

Slavin (2003) states that�

Two authors
When citing two authors
�Mention both authors name in every citation.
(Lackey & Smith, 2004)
âÂ?¢During expositions or introductions to the authors work, mention both names and separate them with an “and.” State the date of publication in parenthesis after the author’s names.
Lackey and Smith (2004) state that�

No author
When no author is available:
âÂ?¢In-text citations are made by using the book’s title and the year of publication.
(Cognitive Development Theories, 2003)

Webpages:
�Put the name of the site or article in parenthesis along with the date of publication if available.

Bibliographic Citations:
For specific types of webpages and other citations please see the Related Websites section below. Additionally, for examples or further details on any of the citations listed, see either the Cornell Library website or the APA.org website listed below.

Books: The following must be included in the citation:
�Author(s)
�Date of publication
�Title
�Place of publication
�Name of publisher

Webpages:
�Cite specific pages or documents as opposed to general pages of information, search pages, or menu pages.
�Cite the web address
�Webpage title
�Date of publication online (if available)
�Date of retrieval (The date you accessed the cite)
Example format: (from APA.org website)
Author, A. A. (2000). Title of work.
Retrieved month day, year, from source.

Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers:
�Author(s)
�Date of publication
�Article title
�Journal title
�Volume number
�Issue number (if available)
�Page number

Audio/Visual Media:
âÂ?¢Producer and Director’s name(s)
�Date
�Title
�Medium
�Location of production
�Name of distributor
Casey, H. (Producer and Director).
(1999). Go North [DVD]. Los Angeles, CA:
CTA video production.

Related Websites:

Landmark Citations: www.landmarkcitation.com This will cite your works in APA format for you. All you do in enter the necessary information into a form and your citation will come back in APA. One of the best on the web!

Cornell Library: http://www.library.cornell.edu/newhelp/res_strategy/citing/apa.html This cite provides a fairly comprehensive breakdown of APA. Some sections lack detail, however there are an abundance of details provided.

The Writing Center: University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPAReferences_Format.html Gives a decent breakdown of APA format, as well as how to format your citations page.

APA.org: http://www.apa.org/ Official site for information on APA. Go here for the final say on all those stumping citation problems.