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American Psychological Association (APA) style is a widely accepted format for writing research papers, particularly for social science manuscripts and theses. APA style specifies, for example, the names and order of headings, formatting and organization of citations and references, and the arrangement of tables, figures, footnotes, and appendices.

APA style officially refers to The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, a style manual of over 401 pages now in its fifth edition (ISBN 1-55798-791-2). It is published by the American Psychological Association, which is the main scholarly organization for academic psychologists in the United States. A well-known alternative approach is the MLA style manual.

Contents 1 Format 2 Citation 3 Reference list 3.1 Print sources 3.2 Online sources 4 See also 5 External links

Although adopting certain aspects of APA style may be resented by some authors, it is widely agreed that it serves a useful purpose. Uniform style across journals helps readers to navigate and access material more efficiently. Scholars who experience uncertainty when writing may find the Manual a useful guide. For example, the "Nondiscriminatory Language" sections of the manual discourage authors from writing that is derogatory to women and minorities. Scholarly journals that require APA style sometimes allow their authors to deviate from it when this increases clarity.

Following APA style, headings are used to organize articles and give them a hierarchical structure. APA style prescribes a specific format for headings (from one to five levels) within an article. They are referred to on page 113 of the 5th edition of the Publication Manual using the following level numbers:

• Level 5: CENTERED UPPERCASE HEADING
• Level 4: Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period.
• Level 3: Flush Left, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Side Heading
• Level 2: Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
• Level 1: Centered Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

According to APA style, if an article has:

• One level: use Level 1 headings
• Two levels: use Level 1 (superordinate) and Level 3 (subordinate) headings
• Three levels: use Level 1, Level 3 and Level 4 (from superordinate to subordinate)
• Four levels: use Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 (from superordinate to subordinate)
• Five levels: use Level 5, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4 (from superordinate to subordinate)

No guidelines are provided for articles with six or more levels of headings. Note that APA style does not permit preceding numbers or letters for the headings.

Reference citations in text are those which are referenced within a passage of text in the body of an article. APA style defines that a reference section may only include articles which are cited within the body of an article. This is the distinction between a document having a Reference section and a Bibliography, which may incorporate sources which may have been read by the authors as background but not referred to or included in the body of a document.

Single author

Format should be Author's last name (no initials) followed directly by a comma, then the year of publication. You may choose not to use enclosing brackets around the authors' names and refer to the article as part of a natural sentence (year should normally remain enclosed within brackets). The same holds for multiple authors.

• A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Pauling, 2005).

• Pauling (2005) discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism.

Two authors

Authors should be presented in order that they appear in the published article. If they are cited within closed brackets, use the ampersand (&) between them. If not enclosed in brackets then use expanded "and".

• A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Pauling & Liu, 2005).

• Pauling and Liu (2005) discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism.

Three to five authors

With three to five authors, the first reference to an article includes all authors. Subsequent citations in the same document may refer to the article by the principal author only plus "et al." However, all authors must be present in the references section.

• A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Pauling, Liu, & Guo, 2005).

• Pauling, Liu, and Guo (2005) conducted a study that discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism.

• Pauling et al. (2005) discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism.

• A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Pauling et al., 2005).

Six authors or more

Starting with the first author mentioned in text, the correct format is (Author et al., Year) In the reference section, all six authors' names should be included.

• Pauling et al. (2005) discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism.

Multiple publications, same author

If an author has multiple publications that you wish to cite, you use a comma to separate the years of publication in chronological order (oldest to most recent). If the publications occur in the same year, the Publication Manual recommends using suffixes a, b, c, etc. (note that corresponding letters should be used in the reference list, and these references should be ordered alphabetically by title).

• A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Pauling, 2004, 2005a, 2005b).

• Pauling (2004, 2005a, 2005b) conducted a study that discovered a possible genetic cause of alcoholism

Multiple publications, different authors

Follow the rules for one author above, and use a semicolon to separate articles. Citation should first be in alphabetical order of the author, then chronological.

• A recent study found a possible genetic cause of alcoholism (Alford, 1995; Pauling, 2004, 2005; Sirkis, 2003)

Direct quotes

The same rules as above apply here, the format being (Author, Year, Page Number).

• When asked why his behavior had changed so dramatically, Max simply said "I think it's the reinforcement" (Pauling, 2004, p. 69).

The APA style guide prescribes that bibliographies and other lists of names should be ordered by surname first, and mandates inclusion of surname prefixes. For example, "Martin de Rijke" should be sorted as "De Rijke, M."

Book by one author:
Sherman, R. D. (1956). The terrifying future: Contemplating color television. San Diego: Halstead.

Book by two or more authors:
Kurosawa, J., & Armistead, Q. (1972). Hairball: An intensive peek behind the surface of an enigma. Hamilton, ON: McMaster University Press.

Article in an edited book:
Stanz, R. F. (1983). Practical methods for the apprehension and sustained containment of supernatural entities. In G. L. Yeager (Ed.), Paranormal and occult studies: Case studies in application (pp. 42–64). Place: Publisher.

Article in a journal with continuous pagination:
Rottweiler, F. T., & Beauchemin, J. L. (1987). Detroit and Sarnia: Two foes on the brink of destruction. Canadian/American Studies Journal, 54, 66–146.

Article in a journal paginated separately:
Crackton, P. (1987). The Loonie: God's long-awaited gift to colourful pocket change? Canadian Change, 64(7), 34–37.

Article in a monthly magazine:
Doe, J. (2001, May). My life as a grocery-store delivery boy. Hot & Steamy Letters, pp. 81–85.

Article in a newspaper
Wrong, M. (2005, August 17). Misquotes are "Problematastic" says Mayor. Toronto Sol. p. 4.

Government document
Revenue Canada. (2001) Advanced gouging: Manual for employees (MP 65–347/1124). Ottawa: Minister of Immigration and Revenue.

For electronic references, websites and articles online, the APA Style website asserts some basic rules. The first is to direct readers specifically to the source material and the second is to provide references that work.

Internet article based on a print source
Marlowe, P., Spade, S., & Chan, C. (2001). Detective work and the benefits of colour versus black and white [Electronic version]. Journal of Pointless Research, 11, 123–124.

Article in an Internet-only journal
Blofeld, E. S. (1994, March 1). Expressing oneself through Persian cats and modern architecture. Felines & Felons, 4, Article 0046g. Retrieved October 3, 1999, from http://journals.f+f.org/spectre/vblofeld-0046g.html

Article in an Internet-only newsletter
Paradise, S., Moriarty, D., Marx, C., Lee, O. B., Hassel, E., et al. (1957, July). Portrayals of fictional characters in reality-based popular writing: Project update. Off the beaten path, 7(3). Retrieved October 3, 1999, from http://www.newsletter.offthebeatenpath.news/otr/complaints.html

Stand-alone Internet document, no author identified, no date
What I did today. (n.d.). Retrieved August 21, 2002, from http://www.cc.mystory.life/blog/didtoday.html

Document available on university program or department Web site
Rogers, B. (2078). Faster-than-light travel: What we've learned in the first twenty years. Retrieved August 24, 2079, from Mars University, Institute for Martian Studies Web site: http://www.eg.spacecentraltoday.mars/university/dept.html

Electronic copy of a journal article, three to five authors, retrieved from database
Costanza, G., Seinfeld, J., Benes, E., Kramer, C., & Peterman, J. (1993). Minutiæ and insignificant observations from the nineteen-nineties. Journal about Nothing, 52, 475–649. Retrieved October 31, 1999, from NoTHINGJournals database.

E-mail or other personal communication (cite in text only)
(A. Monterey, personal communication, September 28, 2001).

Book on CD
Nix, G. (2002). Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr [CD]. New York: Random House/Listening Library.

Book on tape
Nix, G. (2002). Lirael, Daughter of the Clayr [Cassette Recording No. 1999-1999-1999]. New York: Random House/Listening Library.

• MLA style
• Comparison of reference management software

• APA Style - official homepage
• Citation Styles Guidebook - University of Illinois
• APA Formatting and Style Guide - Purdue University
• Citing References: APA Style (5th ed.) a reference from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
• APA Style Guide - Plonsky
• APA Format Citation Machine - StudentABC.com
• Citation Machine generates APA style citations.
• Clear guide to writing APA Research Papers.
• Short guide to documenting the most often used sources in APA Style
• APA style template for tex (.cls)