APA - Week 7

Contractions

Do NOT use these in formal writing

In-text citations

MUST be used for any idea that did not originate in your head (both paraphrases and quotations).

Author in Signal Phrase - Short Quotations

According to Jones (1998), "Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time" (p. 199). Jones (1998) found "students often had difficulty using APA style" (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers?

The published year

Always KISSES the author's last name

Author in signal phrase

She stated, "Students often had difficulty using APA style" (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why.

Organization as an author

If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source. According to the American Psychological Association (2000),... If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000) Second citation: (MADD, 2000)

Six or More Authors

Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses. Harris et al. (2001) argued... (Harris et al., 2001)

Abstract

A brief summary of the paper, 150 - 250 words,, allowing readers to quickly review the main points and purpose of the paper.

Point-of-View

Academic writing should be in 3rd person (no you/your/I/me/we/us/our)

Unknown Author

If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).

A Work by Three to Five Authors:

List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses. (Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993) In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses. (Kernis et al., 1993)

A Work by Two Authors:

Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses. Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports... (Wegener & Petty, 1994)

Page or paragraph numbers

Required with the in-text citation for direct quotations

Two or more works in the same parenthesis

When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list, separated by a semi-colon. (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)