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Citing Your Sources
MLA Style
APA Style
Quiz 6

APA Citation Style

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association provides instructions on how to cite material published in the social sciences. The Manual first appeared in 1928 and is currently in its third edition. The Manual states:

"Rules for the preparation of manuscripts should contribute to clear communication.... They spare readers from a distracting variety of forms throughout a work and permit readers to give full attention to content." (p.11)

The APA citation style differs from the MLA style. Reference citations in the text are part of the narrative. Here are three examples of how you could cite the same research done by Dr. Smith:

• Smith (1983) compared reaction times...
• In a recent study of reaction times (Smith, 1983)...
• In 1983 Smith compared reaction times...

The APA citation style also arranges the information differently in the list of works cited. Below are some examples.

Book with single author

Basic Format

Author's Last Name [space] Author's First and Middle Initial. (Date of Publication). Title of book [capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper noun]. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Sample Citation

Bernstein, T. M. (1965). The careful writer: A modern guide to English usage. New York: Atheneum.

Journal Article

Basic Format

Author's Last Name [space] Author's First and Middle Initial. (Date of Publication). Title of article [capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper noun]. Title of Journal, Volume, Page Numbers.

Sample Citation

Paivio, A. (1975). Perceptual comparisons through the mind's eye. Memory & Cognition, 3, 635-647.

Magazine Article

Basic Format

Author's Last Name [space] Author's First and Middle Initial. (Date of Publication). Title of article [capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper noun]. Title of Journal, Page Numbers.

Sample Citation

Gardner, H. (1981, December). Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today, pp. 70-76.

Newspaper Article

Basic Format

Author's Last Name [space] Author's First and Middle Initial. (Date of Publication). Title of article [capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper noun]. Title of Newspaper, Page Numbers.

Sample Citation

Lublin, J. S. (1980, December 5). On idle: The unemployed shun much mundane work, at least for a while. The Wall Street Journal, pp. 1, 25.

Web Page

Basic Format

Author/Editor. (Date of Publication). Title of Web page (Edition), [Type of medium]. Available: <URL> [Access date].

Sample Citation

Lehman, M. A. & Brown, R. H. (1994) Intellectual property and the national information infrastructure [Online]. Available: <http://www.uspto.gov/nii/ipwg.html> [1995, May 15].

When you are ready to cite social science research you will need to take a look at the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The book is available in the MCTC library reference room at: REF 808.02 P96a3 1983.