Making it easy!1

Sponsored by the American Psychological Association

Used in Behavioral and Social Sciences Shows importance of currency in these

disciplines by placing the date at the beginning.

Provides consistency in the formatting of a research paper.

Provides a uniform way to document the sources used in research (Remember PLAGIARISM!!) 2

Consult Prentice Hall Reference Guide, 3rd custom ed., chapter on Paper Preparation (Tab 2/Section 6c 1-3.).

Consult the chapter in Prentice Hall Reference Guide on APA Documentation (Tab 12/Section 67.).

Consult OCLS web page for further web links:http://www.indwes.edu/ocls/style_guide.html.Especially the APA Guide.

Consult the authority for APA: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed.

3

Title Page Text of paper References (a

separate page)

Appendixes (each on a separate page)

Footnotes (together on a separate page)

Tables (each on a separate page)

Figure captions (together on a separate page)

Figures (each on a separate page)

4

APA style utilizes in-text citations, a References page, and allows for the addition of tables and figures. The proper order for these elements in a paper is:

One inch margins on all sides.

Font should be 10, preferably 12 point font, of Times New Roman (best one to use).

Entire paper is only double spaced.

All new sections, e.g. body of paper, References, start on a new page. Use page break in WORD.

Use formal tone, preferably 3rd person.

5

When directly quoting a source, use quotation

marks, and give the author, year, and page numbers

in parentheses:

-Various scholars have stated, “ The APA writing style

is used primarily in the various disciplines of the social

sciences” (Smith & Jones, 2008, p.15) so it is

advisable to follow their example.

NOTE: If there is no author, then use the first few

words of the title, the year, pagination.

When quoting anything longer than 40 words, use

block formatting . See the APA Guide for an example. 6

Quotations should be used sparingly. Use quotations when the way the writer

says it can not be stated as well by paraphrasing.

Have a purpose for your quotations, using a variety of signal words to introduce them. See the APA Guide for ideas of signal words.

If you partially quote, be sure you have a complete sentence. Wrong example: Jones (2004) asserted that APA

was the choice of writing style “is used in the social sciences” (p.15).

7

When the author is mentioned but not directly quoted in your writing, only use the year in parentheses (if the year also appears in the writing, leave this out): As Smith and Jones (2004) explain, the

APA writing style is used predominantly in the social sciences.

Smith and Jones, in their 2004 work on APA, insist that this is the style used predominantly in the social sciences.

8

When the author is not mentioned in your writing, provide the name and year separated by a comma:- The APA writing style is used predominantly in the social sciences (Smith & Jones, 2004).

NOTE: If no author is listed for a cited work, use the first few words of the title and the year.

Example: It was shown in “The Joy of Doing Research,” (2009), that it is important to use quality, peer-reviewed sources.

9

Remember that anyone can quote. To paraphrase successfully, you must fully

understand what you are reading. Rewrite the information; summarize it and

even condense it. Don’t just use a thesaurus to substitute a few words!

You can’t paraphrase what you don’t understand.

Read, understand meaning, highlight important facts, then restate in your own words. It takes practice!!

10

Acknowledges… Argues… Asserts… Comments… Concludes… Has found that… Maintains… Suggests Writes…

These are just some of many examples of “signal words” to add variety to your writing. A more complete list is available in the APA Guide, available from the OCLS APA web page.

11

In–text citations for information from web sites include the author and creation date, if available.

If there is no author listed, use the first few words from the title and the date.

If there is no date listed, use (n.d.).

12

It is a list of all the sources you actually cite or quote in the body of your paper.

It is not a list of all sources consulted in your research process.

It is a separate listing at the end of your paper.

The page has the title of: References

13

Be sure you gather all citation information as you go along.

Sort your bibliography, separating out the ones that you did not quote or paraphrase from in the body of your paper.

Alphabetize by author’s last name OR title, if no author is listed (drop a, an, the).

For more than one work by an author, arrange in date order.

14

The first line of the citation starts on the left margin. Each following line is indented 5 spaces. The whole page is double spaced.

Jones, M., Jr., & Smith, J. (1997). Using APA at IWU.

Marion, IN: IWU Press.

Moe, M. (1998). Useful research strategies.

Marion, IN: IWU Press.

15

LastName, Initials. (copyright date). Title of book is always in small case and italics. City, State Postal Code: Publisher.

LastName, Initials, & LastName, Initials. (copyright date). Title of book: One with a subtitle. City, State Postal Code: Publisher.

Title of book for Indiana Wesleyan University. (Copyright date). City, State Postal Code: Publisher.

[Note that book titles are in italics and small case except for the first word, first word after a colon and any proper names. For common cities, do not use state codes, e.g. New York.]

16

LastName, Initials. (Date). Title of the article. Journal Title, volume#(issue#), pp#.

Usually there is an actual date on the journal, e.g. month/year; month/day/year. If so, use this format: (2001); (2001, April 26).

Use actual pagination, since you have the article in front of you, e.g. 39-46.

See the variations for journals, magazines, and newspapers on p. 475.

Note that the journal title and the volume # are in italics. You should include the issue #, too, but not italicized, i.e. Time, 42(5), 46-47.

17

Author/producer. (Date). Title of page. Retrieved [Access date]

from [url address]

Note that each line is double spaced.

Heckman, J. W. (n.d.). APA done right. Retrieved January 4,

2009, from http://www.indwes.edu/ ~heckman.htm

Note: For urls, there is no punctuation at the end of the citation. Give a retrieval date as the page could change.

18

Articles with a Digital Object Identifier The DOI is an article’s unique address on

the internet. They are publisher supplied. Most articles do not yet have them

assigned. The DOI will be evident in the citation, the

end of the abstract or on the 1st page of the article.

If there is no DOI, go to slide 20. 19

Here is an example of how it looks in the database:

Here is the References list entry:Abdel-Raouf, F. (2009). How competitive is the U.S. manufacturing sector? Eastern Economic Journal, 35(1), 52-70. doi:10.1057/palgrave.eej.9050043

20

If no DOI is identified, but you get the article from a library database, e.g. Business Source Premier, General Business File, Emerald Insight, etc., then cite the database with no retrieval date.

Use this general format:

LastName, Initials. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Magazine, volume #(issue

#), page numbers. Retrieved from database name.

21

22

How it would look in the References list. It was obtained from Business Source Premier.

Cunningham, M. G. (2008). Reflections on doing business in China: A case study. International Journal of Management, 25(1), 119-123. Retrievedfrom Business Source Premier database.

Some articles are available without a password and are open to anyone to download. These are cited by using the actual URL for the article.

Author. (Date of Article).Title of article. Title of Journal, Vol.#(Iss. #), pp. Retrieved], from

[URL].

Hale, J. R., & Fields, D. L. (2007). Exploring servant leadership

across cultures: A study of followers in Ghana and the USA.

Leadership, 3(4), 397-417. Retrieved from

http://lea.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/3/4/39723

Also on PHRG, pp. 480-484, examples are given for other electronic sources such as live performances, online video recordings, lecture notes or PowerPoint presentations, online lecture, online broadcasts, etc.

24

Take a look at PHRG, p. 502 to see how your References page should look.

Use entire sample paper for a model of your papers (p. 482-503).

Download the APA Guide, http://www.indwes.edu/ocls/style_guide.html for another sample References.

If you have further questions, please call OCLS at 1.800.521.1848.

25

APA style guide to electronic references. (2007). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Harris, M. (2008). Prentice Hall reference guide (3rd custom ed.). New York: Pearson Custom Publishing.

Off Campus Library Services. (2009). APA guide. Marion, IN: Author. Retrieved from http://www.indwes.edu/ocls/APA/APAREferences6e.pdf

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). (2005). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

26