APA tips

Avoid plagiarism by properly acknowledging your sources: use APA format inside your paper (in text references) and at the end of your paper (reference list)

In text references (also known as citations)

Put a citation within your paper each time you quote or paraphrase a source you can cite the same source more than once

Reference list (also known as a works cited list)

start on a separate page at the end of your paper alphabetize list by author last name (or by title whenever there is no author) list each source once only You can always find examples and models of APA style: spacing, punctuation, indentation, upper case, lower case, and italicizing, along with the necessary elements in the proper order. 1. Note differences between citation of print sources (books, newspapers, magazines, and journals) and online sources (library databases and websites). 2. Northwood Library Services offers guides to APA style: print sources and APA style: online library databases and websites. APA has a website with models for citing online sources www.apastyle.org/elecref.html 3. Complete APA standards are found in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. (2001).
Many books, such as Quick Access, are based on the APA 5th ed. rules. Any search engine will bring up APA formatting and citation models. Be sure you are looking at updated rules.

Best advice: Don't close a library database, leave a website, or put a book or magazine back until you locate all the information you will need to create your in text references and your reference list.
turn over for more

Cutting AND pasting and printing from a free website can cause citation trouble (along with quality trouble) A URL all by itself is not sufficient citation you must be able to identify an author or responsible organization, a title, and a date for your reference list
Citing a home page is not proper if you really used a standalone document from deeper within a website The library guide, APA style: online library databases and websites, contains website citation models If you cant tell the difference between a personal website and a website belonging to a newspaper or magazine publisher, an organization, a corporation, government, or an educational institution, ask a librarian or your professor.

Photocopying pages from the middle of a book, magazine, or newspaper can cause citation trouble
Information for your citation (such as date, publisher, place of publication) may be on the front cover, the title page, and the back of the title page. Write it down immediately (or spend a few extra dimes to copy those pages, too).

Using library databases can help you avoid citation trouble

1. Articles in library databases were originally published in newspapers, magazines, trade journals, and scholarly journals. (Resources other than
articles, such as Company Profiles, will be clearly identified in library databases.)

2. Author, article title, date, publication name, and database name are clearly visible so that you can construct your references
Many databases let you email articles to yourself o Some databases allow you to select APA before you email. You may or may not be able to trust this feature proofread before including in your reference list

3. The library guide, APA style: online library databases and websites, contains examples to follow. The models are based on databases actually in use at Northwood such as ABI/Inform, EBSCO, and Factiva. 01/07

APA style:

library databases and websites

* also consult the guide for Print sources

double-space a Reference list - these examples are single-spaced to save space arrange a Reference list alphabetically by author last name (if there is no author, use the first important word of the title not A, An, or The) follow the examples below for details such as indenting, punctuation, italicizing titles, and use of upper and lower case

Reference list: when your source is a full-text article from an online library database
Library databases differ from freely-available websites and are accessed through the library website, e.g., EBSCO Business Source Elite, ABI/Inform, Factiva, LexisNexis, CountryWatch etc. when citing an article from a newspaper, newsletter, or monthly magazine (but not a scholarly journal) include a month; for a daily, weekly, or semi-monthly include a month and a date, e.g., (2001, February 28). Include a volume number in italics if available (except for a daily). some databases only indicate the page on which an article begins for a daily only, use p. or pp. in front of the page number or page range do not include a URL when citing a Library database

Bews, N. F., & Rossouw, G. J. (2002). A role for business ethics in facilitating trustworthiness. Journal of Business Ethics, 39, 377-390. Retrieved April 16, 2005, from ABI/Inform database. Malaysia: Economic overview. (2004, October). Retrieved November 17, 2004, from CountryWatch database. Schuster, R., & Chisolm, J. (2005, March). Home office vs. the field. Sales & Marketing Management, 157, 15. Retrieved April 19, 2005, from ESBCO Business Source Elite database. Totty, M. (2004, November 15). Office technology: Business solutions. The Wall Street Journal, p. R6. Retrieved April 19, 2005, from ABI/Inform database. Reference list: when your source is a homepage Great Lakes Commission. (2004). Great Lakes information network. Retrieved September 6, 2002, from http://www.great-lakes.net Reference list: when your source is a specific document or article from within a website
websites can include studies, reports, papers, articles, or books - it is not acceptable to cite a homepage when you've actually used a standalone document from within a website web documents often have an organization, company, or agency as an author websites can also include sections, chapters, features, or graphics that require an In statement web documents from the U.S. Government require a place of publication and a publisher (publisher can be author) follow the instructions for Library databases (above) when citing an article found on a newspaper or magazine website or when an article is republished on a website. There may not be a page number. Do include a URL in the retrieval statement. o At Northwood, acceptable URL shortcut for The Wall Street Journal Online:

http://online.wsj.com turn over for more

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. (2002). The facts on consumers & fuel economy. Retrieved September 6, 2002, from http://www.autoalliance.org/fact2.pdf John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History. (2000). Timeline. In Emergence of advertising in America: 1850-1920. Retrieved September 6, 2002, from http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/eaa/timeline.html Office of the Surgeon General. (2001). Youth violence. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved September 6, 2001, from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/youthviolence Shirouzu, N. (2003, April 16). Ford's new development plan: To stop reinventing its wheels. The Wall Street Journal Online. Retrieved April 16, 2003, from http://online.wsj.com Williams, V. (2000). Small business expansions in electronic commerce. Washington, DC: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy. Retrieved September 6, 2001, from http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/e%5Fcomm2.pdf More tips for your Reference list
for additional APA examples, see http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html complete APA standards are in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. (2001). if an article or resource from a library database or an article or document on the web has no author, begin with the title followed by the date if there are multiple authors or editors, list last names and initials, e.g., Fauriol, G. A., & Weintraub, S., (Eds.). If there are more than six, use et al. after the sixth name for undated publications, use (n.d.). Look for clues on the website before using (n.d.) although a date on a homepage is not necessarily the date of an article or document within a website

In text references: when your source is electronic

when quoting from an electronic source without page numbers, try to use a paragraph number or cite a nearby heading and count paragraphs from that heading, e.g., (Beutler,

2000, Conclusion section, para. 1).

another way of introducing a quote inserts the author into the sentence, e.g., Beutler found "consumers expressed a preference for dogs" (2000, Conclusion section, para. 1). when you are paraphrasing, author and date at the end of the paraphrase are sufficient, e.g., (Beutler, 2000). another way of introducing a paraphrase inserts the author into the sentence, e.g.,

Beutler (2000) found that dogs were the clear favorite.

If there are three to five authors, cite last names one time only. Subsequent references use just the first author's last name followed by et al. If there are six or more authors, always use just the first author's last name followed by et al. when there is no author of an article or a chapter, you can shorten (if necessary) the title within quotation marks, e.g., (Malaysia Forecast, 2004). If your source is a book, report, or study with no author, shorten (if necessary) the title, e.g., (Patient Care Partnership, 2003).
6/05

APA style:
* also consult the guide for Online library databases and websites
Reference list: when your source is a book or periodical (not an electronic source)
double-space a Reference list - these examples are single-spaced to save space arrange a Reference list alphabetically by author last name (if there is no author, use the first important word of the title not A, An, or The) follow the examples below for details such as indenting, punctuation, italicizing titles, and use of upper and lower case major cities as the places of publication do not require state abbreviations except to prevent confusion

Book, one author Laird, P.W. (1998). Advertising progress: American business and the rise of consumer marketing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Book, two authors Owen, R., & Pamuk, S. (1998). A history of Middle East economies in the twentieth century. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Book, group author (sometimes called corporate author or government author) where author is the same as the publisher
It is not necessary to repeat the name - instead, use the term Author.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2004). The world factbook. Washington, DC: Author. Article or chapter in an edited book Lader, L. (1997). RU486 is safe for women. In T. L. Roleff (Ed.), Abortion: Opposing viewpoints (pp. 142-148). San Diego: Greenhaven Press. Book, no author or editor Webster's ninth new collegiate dictionary. (1991). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. Encyclopedia (unsigned article) Mexico. (1998). In Worldmark encyclopedia of the nations (Vol. 3, pp. 256-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Research. Magazine article, weekly or semi-monthly, volume number given, discontinuous pages Mehegan, S. (1997, December 15). Unilever slashes Vaseline line as Kao grows Jergens. Brandweek, 38, 1, 6.
turn over for more

Magazine article, monthly, no author, volume number given, continuous pages Veterinary care without the bite. (2003, July). Consumer Reports, 68, 12-17. Daily newspaper article, discontinuous pages
Newspapers (not magazines or scholarly journals) require p. or pp.

Squeo, A. M. (2004, January 22). FCC is poised to clarify future of internet phone calls. The Wall Street Journal, pp. B1, B6. Scholarly Journal article, two authors
do not include issue number after volume number unless paging starts over in each issue, e.g., 25(2), 10-12.

Bews, N. F., & Rossouw, G. J. (2002). A role for business ethics in facilitating trustworthiness. Journal of Business Ethics, 39, 377-390. More tips for your Reference list
complete APA standards are in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed. (2001). if there are multiple authors or editors, list last names and initials, e.g., Fauriol, G. A., & Weintraub, S., (Eds.). If there are more than six, use et al. after the sixth name for undated publications, use (n.d.).

In text references: when your source is print

when quoting from a source use a page number, e.g., (Beutler, 2000, p. 36). another way of introducing a quote inserts the author into the sentence, e.g., Beutler

found "consumers expressed a preference for dogs" (2000, p. 36).

when you are paraphrasing, author and date at the end of the paraphrase are sufficient, e.g., (Beutler, 2000). another way of introducing a paraphrase inserts the author into the sentence, e.g.,

Beutler (2000) found that dogs were the clear favorite.

If there are three to five authors, cite last names one time only. Subsequent references use just the first author's last name followed by et al. If there are six or more authors, always use just the first author's last name followed by et al. when there is no author of an article or a chapter, you can shorten (if necessary) the title within quotation marks, e.g., (Malaysia Forecast, 2004). If your source is a book, report, or study with no author, shorten (if necessary) the title, e.g., (Patient Care

Partnership, 2003)
06/05

Title of Your Paper

Title of Your Paper Your Name Course name Date Submitted

Title of Your Paper

Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. 3 Body of Paper ....................................................................................................................... Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ References.............................................................................................................................

Title of Your Paper Abstract When you type up the abstract, you will NOT indent. The abstract is always aligned at the left margin. This is your introduction to your paper. The abstract is a short summary of your paper; many writers complete this after their paper is written. This is generally about 75 - 100 words in

length. Rememberwhen you are typing your paper, there is only one space between sentences. You should also set your paper up in Tools > Options > Spelling/Grammar > choose Grammar and Style, then click on Settings. Choose dont check for commas, inside for quotes and 1 for spaces between sentences. Click ok. This is helpful in writing an APA compliant paper.

Title of Your Paper Title of Your Paper Special Instructions Your first paragraph will be indented .5 from the left margin. A paragraph is generally four or five sentences long. APA (American Psychological Association) formatting is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. The Fifth Edition of the APA manual (2001), offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page (Houghton, Houghton, & Peters, 2005). Your subheadings (if used) should be italicized and left aligned. When you are writing

your conclusion to the paper, you will not begin it on a new page. It is part of the running paper and the subheading will be formatted as the other subheadings are. You should refer to an APA guide for the most up-to-date information on both formatting and citing. The APA offers tips and models for electronic source references at www.apastyle.org/elecref.html/. Please see the Northwood Library Services guide on Blackboard, APA Tips, for other examples in formatting your references. To save space, the examples in APA Tips are single-spaced. You will doublespace your References as shown below. You may also use an internet search engine for information you may need (type in words such as: APA format quotes). Conclusion NOTE: If you use charts and graphs, they will be inserted after the body of the paper and before the reference page. Because charts and graphs are generally from another source, they do not count as the minimum page requirement. Please check with your instructor for actual guidelines.

Title of Your Paper References Houghton, P., Houghton, T., & Peters, M. (2005). APA: The Easy Way! Baker College Publication: Flint, MI.