APA CITATION RULES

APA citation style refers to the rules and conventions established by the American Psychological Association for documenting sources used in a research paper. APA style requires both in-text citations and a reference list.
The examples of APA styles and formats bellow include many of the most common types of sources used in academic research.

• Works by a single author

The last name of the author and the year of publication are inserted in the text at the appropriate point.

from theory on bounded rationality (Simon, 1945)

If the name of the author or the date appear as part of the narrative, cite only missing information in parentheses.

Simon (1945) posited that

•          Works by multiple authors

When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the reference occurs in the text. In parenthetical material join the names with an ampersand (&).

as has been shown (Leiter & Maslach, 1998)

In the narrative text, join the names with the word "and."

as Leiter and Maslach (1998) demonstrated

When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs.

Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler (1991) found

In all subsequent citations per paragraph, include only the surname of the first author followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others") and the year of publication.

Kahneman et al. (1991) found

•          Works by associations, corporations, government agencies, etc.

The names of groups that serve as authors (corporate authors) are usually written out each time they appear in a text reference.

(National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2007)

When appropriate, the names of some corporate authors are spelled out in the first reference and abbreviated in all subsequent citations. The general rule for abbreviating in this manner is to supply enough information in the text citation for a reader to locate its source in the Reference List without difficulty.

(NIMH, 2007)

•          Works with no author

When a work has no author, use the first two or three words of the work's title (omitting any initial articles) as your text reference, capitalizing each word. Place the title in quotation marks if it refers to an article, chapter of a book, or Web page. Italicize the title if it refers to a book, periodical, brochure, or report.

on climate change ("Climate and Weather," 1997)

Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices (1981)

Anonymous authors should be listed as such followed by a comma and the date.

on climate change (Anonymous, 2008)

•          Specific parts of a source

To cite a specific part of a source (always necessary for quotations), include the page, chapter, etc. (with appropriate abbreviations) in the in-text citation.

(Stigter & Das, 1981, p. 96)

De Waal (1996) overstated the case when he asserted that "we seem to be reaching ... from the hands of philosophers" (p. 218).

If page numbers are not included in electronic sources (such as Web-based journals), provide the paragraph number preceded by the abbreviation "para." or the heading and following paragraph.

(Mönnich & Spiering, 2008, para. 9)

The following list provides the information necessary to identify each source:

Order: Entries should be arranged in alphabetical order by the last name of the author. Sources without authors are arranged alphabetically by title within the same list.

Authors: Write out the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work. Use an ¨&¨ instead of the word ¨and¨ when listing multiple authors of a single work. e.g. Smith, J. D., & Jones, M.

Titles: Capitalize only the first word of a title or subtitle, and any proper names that are part of a title.

Pagination: Use the abbreviation p. or pp. to designate page numbers of articles from periodicals that do not use volume numbers, especially newspapers. These abbreviations are also used to designate pages in encyclopedia articles and chapters from edited books.

Underlining vs. Italics: It is appropriate to use italics instead of underlining for titles of books and journals.

In addition for works accesed online:

Internet Address: An Internet address should be included and should direct the reader as close as possible to the actual work. If the work has a digital object identifier (DOI), use this. If not, use a stable URL. If the URL is not stable as well, use the home page of the site you retrieved the work from.

Date: In the case of a journal article, the date within the main body of the citation is enough. However, if the work is not dated and/or is subject to change, as in the case of an online encyclopedia article, include the date that you retrieved the information.

EXAMPLES:

ONE AUTHOR, PRINT SOURCE

Gallagher, T. E. (1992). Vargas Llosa, The Storyteller, and the premature demise

of ethnography. MACLAS Latin American Essays, 7, 121-133.

ONE AUTHOR, FULL TEXT ONLINE SOURCE (periodical)

Ozawa, T. (1999). The rise and fall of bank-loan capitalism: institutionally driven 

growth and crisis in Japan. Journal of Economic Issues, 32, 351+. Retrieved 

October 6, 1999 from Expanded Academic ASAP (InfoTrac) on the World 

WideWeb: http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/

TWO AUTHORS, QUOTATION 

Economopoulos, A., & O'Neill, H. (1995). Bank entry during the antebellum period. 

Journal of Money, Credit & Banking, 27, 1071

 MORE THAN TWO AUTHORS

Chambliss, C., Pinto, D., & McGuigan, J. (1997). Reactions to managed care among

psychologists and social workers. Psychological Reports, 80, 147-154.

 DAILY NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Landler, M. (1995, May 9). Jingling the keys to cyberspace, cable officials sing a new tune. The New York Times, pp. D1, D6.

 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE, ELECTRONIC SOURCE

Brown, M. W. (1994, July 26). Comet that shook Jupiter may probe planet's secrets. New York Times, Late Edition, Final, Sec. C: Science Desk, p. 1. Retrieved from ProQuest database, (New York Times Ondisc, CD-ROM)

ARTICLE IN AN ENCYCLOPEDIA

Oboler, R. E. (1995). Nandi and other Kalenjin peoples. In Encyclopedia of World Cultures (Vol. 9, pp. 231-234). Boston: Hall.

Further information:

For additional examples and more detailed information about APA citation style, visit http://www.americanessays.com/tool-box/apa-format-citation-generator/ 

Sources:

(November 2002). APA Citation Style. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa. [Last Accessed May 3, 2013].
J. Fryer (1999). APA Sample citations. [ONLINE] Available at: http://myrin.ursinus.edu/help/resrch_guides/cit_style_apa.htm. [Last Accessed May 3, 2013].