APA Style Guide

To avoid plagiarism, you must acknowledge borrowed material in two places:

  1. With in-text parenthetical citations within your essay
  2. With a references list at the end of your essay


Documenting Sources in Your Text

When using APA format, follow the author-date-page # method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name, the year of publication and the page number for the source should appear in the text, whether you are quoting directly or paraphrasing an idea from another work.
If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference. If there is no author to cite, as is sometimes the case when you are citing a web page that lists no author, use an abbreviated version of the title of the page in quotation marks to substitute for the name of the author. If you are citing a work that has no author and no date, use the first few words from the title, then the abbreviation n.d. (for "no date").

Short Quotations
If you are using direct quotations of fewer than 40 words, put the quotation in double quotation marks in the main body of your text. Provide the author, year, and page # in brackets following the quote and include a complete reference in the reference list. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quotation but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text. Periods, commas, and semicolons, should appear after the parenthetical citation.
Place direct quotations longer than 40 words in a separate block of typewritten lines, and do not use quotation marks. Double-space the quotation on a new line, indented five spaces from the left margin. The parenthetical citation should come after closing punctuation mark.

Examples:

Direct quotation, one author
She states, “By August 22, the Overlanders reached The Great Divide and the headwaters of the Fraser River” (Merritt, 1995, p.44).

Direct quotation, more than one work by the same author
Holidays are enticing only for the first week or so (Laurence, Jest, 1966, p.60).

Paraphrase of author’s idea
Wolf (1990) believes that women compulsively seek beauty.

CITING SOURCES USING APA FORMAT


APA style is used to cite sources for Geography, Science, and the Social Sciences. Your References list should appear on a separate page at the end of your essay. It must include all the sources you have quoted or paraphrased. This list gives the reader the information necessary to find each source. Keep in mind the following procedures:

  • Centre the word References at the top of your page.

  • Do NOT list your references under the headings shown below or separate them by type. All entries are listed together.

  • List them in alphabetical order by author. If the author is not given, begin with the title, but ignore ‘A’, ‘The’, or ‘An’ when alphabetizing entries.

    • Do NOT number them.
    • Double-space all entries.
    • Capitalize the first word only in a title, unless it’s a proper noun or the title of a magazine, in which all words should be capitalized.
    • Indent second and subsequent lines of each entry.
    • Either underline or italicize titles, but be consistent.

    Book with no author:
    The Canadian global almanac. (2001). Toronto: Global Press.

    Book with one author:
    Fridell, Ron. (2001). Terrorism: political violence at home and abroad. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers Inc.

    Book with two authors:
    Cartlidge, C. & Clark, C. (2001). The central Asian states. California: Lucent Books.

    Book with six or more authors:
    Lean, G., et al. (1990). Atlas of the environment. New York: Prentice-Hall Press.

    Book prepared by an editor:
    Egendorf, L. [Ed.]. (2000). The third world. California: Greenhaven Press, Inc.

    Article from a magazine (give volume # if available):
    Millard, C. (2001, July). Keepers of the faith. National Geographic. 11, 110-125.

    Article from a newspaper with author:
    Ha, T. (2001, January 11). Scientists colour cosmos bluish green. The Globe and Mail. A3.
     
    Article from a newspaper with no author:
    Hacklers protest bomb. (2003, January 4). Toronto Sun, C4.

    Article with author from print encyclopedia:
    Smith, W. (1996). Cotton. In World Book. (Vol. 4, pp. 1086-1093). Chicago: World Book.

    Article , no author, from print encyclopedia:
    Chile. (1994). In Encyclopedia of World Geography. (Vol. 4, pp. 605-606) New York: Marshall Cavendish.

    Article with author from encyclopedia on CD-ROM:
    Smith, W. Cotton. (1995). In Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. [CD-ROM]. 1999 edition. New York: Grolier.

    Encyclopedia article with author from online database:
    Horvath, D. (2001). Images from a space shuttle. In World Book Online.
            Retrieved September 9, 2001, from World Book Online database.

    Magazine article with author from online database:
    Schneller, Johanna. (1998, January 11) Happily ever after. Us. Retrieved
            November 6, 2000, from Electric Library online database.

    Encyclopedia article, no author, free online:
    Nova Scotia. (December 2001). Canadian Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved
            September 8, 2002, from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

    Web site, with author and date of posting (Subsitute n.d. if no date given):
    Schrock, K. (2001, November10). Kathy Schrock’s guide for educators. Retrieved
            August 8, 2003, from http:// www.discoveryschool/schrock.com

    Web Site, no author:
    Cloning techniques. (2003). What you need to know about biology. Retrieved
            Oct. 9, 2002, from http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/aa010903a.htm

    Videotape:
    CBC. (Producer). (2000). Yugoslavia After Milosevic: Tentative hope. CBC News in Review, December, 2000. 
            [Videocassette]. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

    Television show:
    The Soup Nazi. (2003, February 13) Seinfeld. [Television Program]. Fox. Global, Toronto.

    Government Publication:
    The Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters. (1982). Hunter’s Guide. Ottawa: Ministry of Natural Resources.

    Pamphlet:
    Saving our youth. (1992). [Pamphlet]. Just Say No Foundation.

    Concerts:
    Beckett, R. (Conductor). (2002, April 2). Brantford Symphony Orchestra.
            [Concert]. Brantford: Sanderson Centre.

    Stage Play:
    Jones, P. (Director). 2001, March 3). The Imbecile. [Play]. Toronto: Tarragon Theatre.

    Interview, Personal:
    These are not included in the References list, but cited within the text only.
    (M. Huxley, personal interview, 2003, June 3).

    Survey:
    Why teens smoke. [Survey] (2003, Sept. 9).

    Observation:
    Your Special Child Day Care Centre. [Personal Observation]. (2002, January 22)

    		•