APA format uses in text citations rather than footnotes or endnotes. Whenever you mention someone else's idea, words, research, or work, you must cite the author's last name and the date the work was publlshed. For example, if a sentence refers to the work by an author with the last name wilson, you would put "(Wilson, 2009)" at the end of the sentence but before the period. You provide the full reference at the end of the paper, in alphabetical order by authors' last names. If the name of the author is already used in the prose, then you would be able to add just the year. For example: "In a study by Wilson (2009), it was argued ... ."
All proper nouns must be capitalized. If you mention books or articles by title in the text, all titles should have each word capitalized if there are more than four words in the title. For example: "The Light And The Glory."
If a title is a book, a TV series, a movie, or a documentary, then either underlining or italicizing is acceptable. If the title is short then simply putting quotation marks around the title would suffice. An example: "Death and Dying."
When you add titles to your reference, page only the first word will be capitalized. Example: The light and the glory.
When you are quoting an author directly you must include the author, year, and page number in parentheses immediately after the quotation. Example: "'Smith often had trouble understanding opponents, but he never offered any explanation' (Wilson, 2009, p. 201)."
When the direct quote is longer or nearing the 50-word mark you would no longer use quotation marks. The quote would then be set off as a "block quote" with its own paragraph indented five spaces. The parenthetical citation follows the punctuation mark at the end of the block quote, as such:
"Once students started learning about the damage that was being done to the earth and the implications, they were much more apathetic. The daunting scale of the problem led them to think that the situation was hopeless. (Wilson, 2009, p. 201)."
When you are citing a work by two authors, name both in the parentheses for each citation: "(Wagner & Wilson, 2009)." With three or more authors, you cite as follows for the very first citation: "(Kernel, Coran, Sliffer, Berry, & Heath, 1999)." If you use that same reference later on, use "et. al." to denote other authors: "(Kernel et al., 1999)."
When the author is unknown, use the article's title in the parentheses. For example: "Research was done on students learning about the ozone layer ("The Earth," 2001)." Very rarely can "Anonymous" be listed as the author, and only if the reference lists it as such (as in the novel "Primary Colors," which was published under the name "Anonymous"). When the author is an organization or an agency mention it initially on the very first citation. Example: "According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (2000), beef prices ... ." If the agency has a well recognized abbreviation, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, you could then use that abbreviation in subsequent citations. Example: "(USDA, 2000)."
Reference pages must be in proper format. Reference lists should be alphabetized according to the last name of the author. When there are multiple authors, alphabetize according to the first author, write out all last names, use first name initials, and separate with an ampersand ("&") rather than the word "and." Capitalize the first word of a title and any proper names that are part of a title. When using page numbers, always abbreviate the word "page": "(p. 112)." All references will have a hanging indent where the first line is flush with the left margin and all lines that follow are indented. Example:
Stamper, J. D., & Jacokes, M. (2009). The light and the glory. The honor of
one man's story. Organizational Decision Making, 110 (2), 241- 242.
The above is proper citation for a scholarly journal article. It is acceptable to use italics instead of underlining for titles of books and journals.