How to Format References for APA Research Papers

Research papers for the American Psychological Association must be written in accordance with APA style. The APA defines exactly how text should be formatted and how it should appear within all written documents, books and other written works. Cited references in an APA research paper must appear in a very specific format.

Instructions

  1. Book References

    • 1

      List the author's last name first, followed by a comma and the author's first initial. End with a period. For example, if the author's name is John Smith, you would write: Smith, J.

    • 2

      Enclose the year of publication in parentheses, and follow with a period. For example, if the book you're citing was published in 2001, you would write: (2001).

    • 3

      Italicize the title of the book you're citing next, and follow it with a period.

    • 4

      Type the city and state of publication followed by a colon, then end with the publishing company's name. For example, if the book you're citing was published in San Francisco by Penguin Publishing, you would write: San Francisco, CA: Penguin Publishing.

    In-text Citations

    • 5

      Type the author's name followed by a comma and the date of publication, enclosed in parentheses, at the end of the sentence you need to reference. For example, write (Smith, 2001) at the end of the sentence, before you add closing punctuation.

    • 6

      Include the page number if you're directly quoting from your source. The in-text citation should look like this: (Smith, 2001, p. 100).

    • 7

      List multiple authors within the parentheses the first time you cite the source. For example, you would write: (Smith, Jones, & Johnson, 2001). However, in subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." It would appear as: (Smith et al., 2001).

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