APA Documentation



Documentation of sources is critical to a research paper written in APA style. You will have a Works Cited page at the end of your paper listing your references, as well as in-text citations that credit your sources.

Listing References in the Works Cited Page:


Books

Deacon, T.W. (1997). The symbolic species: The co-evolution of language and the brain. New York: Norton.



Books with Editors Instead of an Author

Pennebaker, J.W., Paez, D., & Rime, B. (Eds.). (1997). Collective memory of political events: Social psychological perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.



Document Available on University Web Site

Baron, J. (2006). History of Psychology at Penn. Retrieved July 18, 2006, from University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology Web site: http://www.psych.upenn.edu/history/history.htm



Journal Article (one author)

Albrecht, D.G. (1995). Visual cortex neurons in monkey and cat: Effect of contrast on the special and temporal phase transfer functions. Visual Neuroscience, 12, 1191-1210.



Journal Article (two authors) (journal paginated by issue)

Kesner, R.P., & Hopkins, R.O. (2006). Mnemonic functions of the hippocampus: A comparison between animals and humans. Biological Psychology, 73(1), 3-18.



Journal Article (more than six authors)

Jelinek, L.D., Jacobsen, D.A., Kellner, M.L., Larbig, F.B., Biesold, K.E., Barre, K.O., et al. (2006). Verbal and nonverbal memory functioning in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Experimental Neuropsychology, 28, 940-948.



Online Journal Article Based on a Print Source (three authors)

VandenBos, G., Knap, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123.



Online News Articles

CNN. (2006, July 19). First skin patch for alzheimer's symptoms unveiled. Retrieved July 20, 2006 from http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/07/19/alzheimers.patch.ap/index.html




In-text Citations for Paraphrases

Your citation will include the author’s last name and the year of publication. The citation can take one of two forms depending the placement of the author’s name.

    Author's name within the sentence:
    Lyman (1982) noted that food preference varies across a range of moods with junk food being preferred to healthy food during negative mood states.

    Author's name in citation only:
    In a recent study, chocolate cravers reported that there was no non-chocolate substitute that would satiate cravings when chocolate was specifically desired (Weingarten and Elston, 1991).

      Note: When the parentheses are at the end of the sentence, the period comes after the parentheses.



      In-text Citations for Direct Quotations

      Your citation will include the author’s last name, year of publication, and the page number of the quotation. Again, the citation can take one of two forms depending on the placement of the author’s name.

        Author's name within the sentence:
        According to Johnston, Bulik, and Anstiss (1997), “attempting not to eat chocolate by avoiding thinking about eating chocolate may, ironically, lead to increased rather than decreased consumption” (p. 26).

        Author's name in citation only:
        Although chocolate has been implicated as an addictive substance &responsible for cravings, the concentrations of specified psychoactive ingredients “are too low to have a significant psychoactive effect and are also present in higher concentrations in non-craved foods” (Hetherington and Macdiarmid, 1993, p. 103).

          Note: When the parentheses are at the end of the sentence, the period comes after the parentheses.

          Additional Online Resources

          UWC Handouts
          Using and Framing Direct Quotations

          Purdue OWL
          APA Formatting and Style Guide

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