How to Format Poems in APA

American Psychological Association style is used to format essays, research papers, literature reviews, case studies and articles in the fields of social and behavioral science. The typical format of an APA-style paper includes a title page, abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, references and appendices. APA style requires a specific format for citing references that include books, articles and illustrations. Citing a poem requires a different format depending on whether it is original to the reference book or reprinted from another source.

Instructions

  1. Determine if the Poem is Original or Reprinted

    • 1

      Read the title of the book in which the poem appears. Titles such as "The New Poems of John Smith," or "John Smith's Original Poems" indicates an original work. Titles such as "Collected Poems of John Smith," indicate the poem is a reprint.

    • 2

      Check if there are copyright credits, acknowledgements or "Used by permission" listings in the front of the book. This indicates the poem you are citing is a reprint.

    • 3

      Read the introduction or foreword of the reference book to see if any mention is made of how the poems were selected or written.

    Cite an Original Poem in an Anthology of Different Poets

    • 4

      Type the last name of the author of the poem, a comma, the first initial of the poet's name, a period and the year of the anthology's publication in parentheses, followed by a period.

    • 5

      Type the name of the book and a period. Type the word "In," the editor's first initial, a period, the editor's last name and "(Ed.)," a comma, and the name of the anthology in italics with the page number of the poem in parentheses. Use "p." if the poem appears on only one page, and "pp." if the poem appears on multiple pages.

    • 6

      Type a period after the page number and write the city where the book was published, a colon, the publishing company and a period. The final citation should look like: "Smith, J. (2011). Spinning into Infinity. In B. Johnson (Ed.), Poets of the 20th Century (in italics) (p. 60). Chicago: Houghton Mifflin."

    Cite an Original Poem in a Collection by a Single Author

    • 7

      Type the poet's last name, a comma, first initial and a period.

    • 8

      Type the year of publication in parentheses and a period. Type the title of the poem and a period. Type the word "In," the title of the collection in italics, the page number where the poem is located in parentheses, and a period.

    • 9

      Type the city where the collection was published, a colon, and the publishing company. The completed citation should look like this, "Smith, J. (2011). Spinning into Infinity. In New and selected poems (in italics) (p. 60). Chicago: Houghton Mifflin.

    Cite a Reprinted Poem in an Anthology of Different Poets

    • 10

      Type the poet's last name, a comma, first initial and period.

    • 11

      Provide the year of publication in parentheses and a period. Type the name of the poem, the word "In" and the first initial of the editor, a period and the editor's last name, followed by, "(Ed.)"

    • 12

      Type a comma, the title of the collection in italics, the page number in parentheses and a period.

    • 13

      Type the city where the book was published, a colon, the name of the publishing company, and a period.

    • 14

      Put the rest of the citation in parentheses. Type the words "Reprinted from" and the name of the original source of the poem in italics, followed by a comma. Type the year of publication, a comma, the city where the book was published, a colon, and the name of the publishing company. Close the parentheses. The citation should look like this: "Smith, J. (2011). Spinning into Infinity. In B. Johnson (Ed.), Best American Poets (in italics) (p. 11). Chicago: Houghton Mifflin. (Reprinted from Great Young Poets (in italics), 1990, Houston: Parker Books)

    Cite a Collection of Reprinted Poems by One Author

    • 15

      Type the poet's last name, a comma, first initial and a period. Type the year of publication in parentheses and a period, the name of the book in which the poem appears in italics, the page number of the poem in parentheses, and a period.

    • 16

      Type the city of publication, a colon and the publishing company. Type the words "Reprinted from" in parentheses and the poem's original source in italics.

    • 17

      Type the year of publication, followed by a comma. Type the city of publication, a colon and publishing company. Close the parentheses. The citation should look like this, "Smith, J. (2011). Collected Poems of John Smith (in italics) (p. 60). Chicago: Houghton Mifflin. (Reprinted from Great American Poets (in italics), 1980, Los Angeles: Atheneum)"

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