How to Format a Short Paper With APA

When writing a paper of any size in APA format---also known as American Psychological Association format---it is crucial to cite any information that you draw from other sources directly in the body of the document, as well as at the end in a cumulative reference list. These two parts of a report are crucial because they show that you are not trying to claim another person's words or research as your own. Failure to properly cite a paper of any size will often result in severe consequences, including suspicion of plagiarism.

Instructions

  1. In-Text Citations

    • 1

      Locate all instances where you used information, quotes or statistics that were drawn from outside sources.

    • 2

      Write an in-text citation beside each using the following format: (Author, Date of Publication)

      So for example, if the author's last name was Jones, and he wrote the publication in 2004, your in-text citation would be (Jones, 2004).

    • 3

      Use capitalization on all proper nouns, and capitalize any initials of the author or publication you are citing.

    • 4

      Include in-text citations after each piece of information that was drawn from other sources. Or you can include the citation directly within a sentence. For example: "Jones (2004) has found that..."

    • 5

      Place a page number at the end of a quotation that was drawn directly from a source. For example: Jones (2004) said that "quote here" (p. 204).

    Reference List

    • 6

      Go through your entire paper and make note of all the in-text citations you used. These citations must be included in your reference list, which is essentially a longer, more informed list of all the sources used in the paper.

    • 7

      List all the authors, publications and other sources in alphabetical order by last name.

    • 8

      Indent all information after the first line of a reference entry a half inch from the margin.

    • 9

      Capitalize any entries that contain major titles, such as books and journals. If you are writing the title of a longer journal, italicize it. Avoid italicizing smaller titles of books and journals. Use quotation marks or underline these smaller titles instead.

    • 10

      Consult an APA manual to find out exactly how to cite various types of sources. For example, a book with one author is cited differently in the reference list than the author of a website, or information pulled from an academic journal.

Learnify Hub © www.0685.com All Rights Reserved