• Margin - one inch on all sides
• Font - 12 pt Times Roman or Courier
• Spacing - double-spacing throughout the entire paper
• Alignment - flush left, uneven on right
• Paragraphs - indented 5-7 spaces
• Pagination - page numbers on upper right one inch from edge starting with title page
• Headers - first two or three words of the title should appear on the upper left side of each page
  
• A title page - title of the paper, author, and running title
  
• Order of pages - title page, abstract, body, references

Title Page:

Elements include: title, author and affiliation, running head

• Title - center of the page, upper & lower case

• Author - following the title, upper & lower case

• Institutional affiliation - following author, upper & lower case

• Body – begins on page 3

In-Text Citations:

 

 

• In general, when using APA format, follow the author-date style of in-text citation. Example:

              Social historian Richard Sennett (1980) names the tendency to come to terms with difficult experiences a "purification process" whereby "threatening or painful dissonances are warded off to preserve intact a clear and articulated image of oneself and one’s place in the world" (p. 11).

  A complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

• In cases when the author's name is not in the signal phrase, enclose the author's last name, the year, and the page number, in parentheses at the end of the quotation. Example: (Jones, 1995, p. 152).

• For more than two authors, identify all of the authors in the introductory signal phrase or in the parentheses the first time they are named. Example: (Weston, Welbert, Rubin, & Salmi, 2005). Later citations of the same work can use the first author's name followed by "et al." Example: (Weston et al., 2005).

• When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the first author's surname and "et al." are used every time the source is cited (including the first time. 
  

• When it is necessary to cite a source that you have not read ("Levine" in the following example) that is cited in a source that you have read ("Mermelstein & Berger" in the following example), use the following format for the citation and list only the source you have read in the References list: Levine (as cited in Mermelstein & Berger, 1996).

 

• To cite a personal communication, such as letters, emails, and telephone interviews, include initials, surname, and as exact a date as possible. A personal communication is considered as not "recoverable" information, thus it should not be included in the reference list. For the in-text citation, use the following format: Albert Watson (personal communication, February 29, 1984) claimed …

 

 

Quotations:

When a direct quotation is used, always include the author, year, and page number as part of the citation.  A quotation of fewer than 40 words should be enclosed in double quotation marks and should be incorporated into the formal structure of the sentence. Example:

• Patients receiving prayer had "less congestive heart failure, required less diuretic and antibiotic therapy, had fewer episodes of pneumonia, had fewer cardiac arrests, and were less frequently intubated and ventilated" (Vance, 2001, p. 829).

• A lengthier quotation of 40 or more words should appear (without quotation marks) apart from the surrounding text, in block format, with each line indented five spaces from the left margin.

References:

 

• All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.
• Reference entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.
• Authors are listed in the same order as specified in the source, using surnames and initials. Commas separate all authors. When there are seven or more authors, list the first six and then use "et al." for remaining authors. If no author is identified, the title of the document begins the reference.
• Year of publication is presented in parentheses following authors, with a period following the closing parenthesis. If no publication date is given, use "n.d." in parentheses following the authors.
• Source reference refers to title of the work, journal, volume, pages (for journal article) or title, city of publication, publisher (for book). Italicize titles of books. Put quotation marks around titles of articles, and italicize the title of the journal or periodicals.

Examples:

• Books with single author:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Location: Publisher.

Pataki, R. F. (1996). Invitation sociology (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

• Books with two to six authors/editors:

 

• Books with seven or more authors:

Birdsall, K., et al. (1967). The Penderwicks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

•  

 

• No author identified:

The American heritage science dictionary (10th ed.). (2003). Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin Co.

• Journal Articles:

 

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). “Title of Article”. Title of Periodical, xx, xxx-xxx.

Carlson, G., & Fulda, D.L. (2004). “Personality & psycho-pathology: Genetic perspectives”. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106(2), 35-48.

• Journal article retrieved from database:

Mandell, P., & Flowers, S. (2007). “California Up Close”. School Library Journal, 53(3), 76-76. Retrieved Thursday, May 10, 2007 from the Academic Search Premier database.

• Internet-only journal:

 

 

Darwin, S. (2002, Fall). “The role of pretend play in children's cognitive development”. Early Childhood Research & Practice, 4(1). Retrieved January 1, 2007, from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/bergen.html

• Article or Chapter in an edited book:
  

Jones, S. P. (2002). Religion and Belief. In J. F. Schuster (Ed.), Spinoza (pp. 70-84). New York: Oxford University Press.

 

• Web page:
  

Willett, P. (Ed.). (2003, April 24). Victorian women writers project. Retrieved July 21, 2003, from http://www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/

• Published interviews:

Archer, N. (1993). [Interview with George Burns, author of Television Comedy]. Journal of Performing Arts, 21, 211-216.

 

•  Films/videos:
  

Scorsese, M. (Producer), &Monahan, W. (Writer/Director). (2000). The Departed [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.

 

© 2001 Rockland Community College Library. Last updated 7/25/07. All rights reserved.