APA citation and reference details

Nuts and Bolts helps with many questions about APA citations and references. Each entry below shows how to format the in-text citation and the bibliographic reference, and provides examples when needed. For full details and hundreds of special cases, consult the APA Publication Manual .

　　Here are the types of sources detailed below （the next section treats Internet sources）:

1. Basic book
2. Basic article
3. Two or more works by the same author
4. Chapter from an anthology
5. Work with an unknown author
6. Article from an anonymous reference work
7. Introduction to a book
8. Two authors with the same last name
9. Work by two authors
10. Work by three, four, or five authors
11. Work by six or more authors
12. Work by a corporate author
13. Multivolume work—referencing one volume
14. Government publication
15. Published by the author
16. Magazine article
17. Anonymous magazine article
18. Newspaper article
19. Unsigned editorial
20. Letter to the editor
21. Book review
22. Pamphlet or brochure
23. Doctoral dissertation
24. More than one work in a single reference
25. Second or subsequent edition
26. Indirect source
27. Personal communication

　　1. Basic book format

　　Citation

　　（Clasen, 1995, p. 213）.

　　Reference

　　Clasen, T. F. （1995）. Foreign trade and investment: A legal guide （2nd ed.）. Charlottesville, VA: Michie Butterworth.

　　The publisher's state or country is given if it would not be clear from the city's name.

　　2. Basic article format

　　Citation

　　（Cronin, 2000, p. 785）

　　Reference

　　Cronin, J. E. （2000）. Convergence by conviction: Politics and economics in the emergence of the "Anglo-American model." Journal of Social History, 33, 781-804.

　　Note the lack of quotation marks around the article title. Note also that the volume number is italicized （or underlined） along with the journal title. If the journal restarts page numbers with each issue, it's necessary to indicate the particular issue, either by number or other identifier used by the journal. This is placed in parentheses, and follows the volume number with no space.

　　Hoellering, M. F. （1995）. International arbitration under U.S. law and AAA rules. Dispute Resolution Journal, 50（January）, 25-36.

　　3. Two or more works by the same author

　　Citation. The name-year format makes it easy to point to a specific work even if you are citing various works by an author:

　　Hoellering assesses the advantages and disadvantages of mediation versus arbitration （1994a）.

　　Reference. Works by the same author are arranged chronologically, earliest to latest. Works with the same publication year are distinguished by letters added to the year （again arranged chronologically）.

　　Hoellering, M. F. （1994a）. World trade—to arbitrate or mediate? Dispute Resolution Journal, 49（March）, 67-9.

　　Hoellering, M. F. （1994b）. The role of arbitration institutions in managing international commercial arbitration. Dispute Resolution Journal, 49 （June）, 12-18.

　　Hoellering, M. F. （1995）. International arbitration under U.S. law and AAA rules. Dispute Resolution Journal, 50（January）, 25-36.

　　Hoellering, M. F., & Goetz, P. （1992）. Piercing the veil: Document discovery in arbitration hearings. Arbitration Journal 47（September）, 58-60, 65.

　　As the last entry above shows, if a particular author is also listed as a co-author, that work is referred to by its co-authors and is alphabetized separately.

　　4. Chapter from an anthology

　　Citation. No different than a normal citation: （Moore, 1993, p. 195）. Cite the author of the specific text you wish to refer to in the citation, not the editor of the whole book （unless you're referring to the whole book, of course）.

　　Reference

　　Moore, H. L. （1993）. The differences within and the differences between. In T. del Valle （Ed.）, Gendered Anthropology （pp. 193-204）. London and New York: Routledge.

　　5. Work with an unknown author

　　Citation. If no author information is given, cite by the first few words of the title （indicating that this is title by putting it in quotation marks）. If the author is listed as "Anonymous," use that plus the date in a normal author-date citation （Anonymous, 2000）.

　　Reference. If no author is given, alphabetize by the title. If the author is listed as "Anonymous," alphabetize by that.

　　Anonymous. （2000）. Conversation with a banker who wishes to remain anonymous. Russian social science review: A journal of translations, 41（2）, 48.

　　A, An, and The are disregarded （but not deleted） when alphabetizing references by title.

　　6. Article from an anonymous reference book

　　Citation. Cite the title or a short version.

　　Split infinitives became more common in the 19th century （"Split Infinitive," 1989）.

　　Reference

　　Split Infinitive. （1989）. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

　　7. Introduction to a book （when the authors differ）

　　Citation. Cite the author of the introduction, not the author of the whole work.

　　Rome as a historical and cultural icon was a powerful influence on St. Augustine （O'Meara, 1972, pp. xxi-xxv）.

　　Reference

　　O'Meara, J. （1972）. Introduction. In Augustine, Concerning the City of God Against the Pagans （pp. vii-xxxv）. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin.

　　8. Two authors with the same last name

　　Citation. Specifying the year usually eliminates ambiguity. If not, add the author's first initial（s）: （C. L. Parker, 1998, 225-37）.

　　Reference

　　Parker, C. L （1998）. The reformation of community: Social welfare and Calvinist charity in Holland, 1572-1620. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

　　Parker, G. （1998）. The grand strategy of Philip II. Yale University Press.

　　If one of the authors is part of a collaboration, there will be no confusion of citations （Wilson, 2000; Wilson & Adkins, 2000）.

　　9. Work by two authors

　　Citation. Give the last name of each author: （Wildavsky & Drake, 1990, p. 44）. If you cite the names in the text instead of putting them in the parenthetical, spell out and: "Wildavsky and Drake （1990） argue that. . . ."

　　Reference

　　Wildavsky, A., & Drake, K. （1990）. Theories of risk perception: Who fears what and why? Daedalus 119, 41-60.

　　10. Work by three, four, or five authors

　　Citation. For the first citation of the work, cite all the authors. In any subsequent citations, give the first author's last name followed by et al. （an abbreviation of he Latin for and others）.

　　First citation: Donn, Routh, and Lunt （2000） explore the history of clinical training . . .

　　Subsequent citations: （Donn et al., 2000, p. 426）.

　　Reference. List all the authors.

　　Donn, J. E.; Routh, D. K., & Lunt, I. （2000）. From Leipzig to Luxembourg （via Boulder and Vail）: A history of clinical psychology training in Europe and the United States. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 31, 423-428.

　　11. Work by six or more authors

　　Citation. Cite only the first author's last name, followed by et al.: Jansen et al., 1999, p. 223.

　　Reference. Follow the format for other multiple-author works.

　　12. Work by a corporate author （an organization）

　　Citation. Treat the organization as the author, and cite the name or a short version of it: （Modern Language Association）

　　Reference

　　United Nations. （1999）. Rome statute of the international criminal court. Social Justice, 26（4）, 125-143.

　　13. Multivolume work—referencing one volume

　　Citation. As usual—author-year format: （Lay, Churchill, & Nordquist, 1973, pp. 217-28）.

　　Reference

　　Lay, S. H.; Churchill, R.; & Nordquist, M. （Eds.）. （1973）. New directions in the law of the sea: Documents. （Vol. 3）. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Publications.

　　If you cite other volumes, give them separate entries in the list of references.

　　14. Government publication

　　Citation. Use as much of the author as necessary to identify the reference.

　　Reference

　　United States. Congress （106th, 1st session）. Senate. （1999）. Impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton: The evidentiary record pursuant to S. Res. 16. 24 vols. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

　　Legal documents are presented in plain text （no italics or underlining）.

　　15. Published by the author

　　Citation. As usual.

　　Reference

　　National Institute of Mental Health. （2000）. Child and adolescent violence research at the National Institute of Mental Health. Bethesda, MD: Author.

　　16. Magazine article

　　Some periodicals （such as The Economist） routinely use different titles for articles on the contents page and at the beginning of the article itself. In such cases, use the title from the contents page.

　　Citation. For the date give only the year.

　　WRONG RIGHT（Thomas and Turque, 2000, August 21, p. 40） （Thomas and Turque, 2000, p. 40）

　　Reference

　　Thomas, E., & Turque, B. （2000, August 21）. Gore: The precarious prince. Newsweek, 38-41.

　　17. Anonymous magazine article

　　Citation. Identify by a short version of the title: （"Preserving life"）.

　　Reference

　　Preserving life on other planets. （2000, July 29）. The Economist, 79.

　　18. Newspaper article

　　Citation. As usual.

　　Reference

　　Hoagland, Jim. （2000, August 20）. The Concord and the Kursk. Washington Post, B7.

　　19. Unsigned editorial or article

　　Citation. Identify by a short title.

　　Reference. Alphabetize by the first substantive word （disregard but don't delete a, an, and the） and use a label in brackets.

　　A right to discriminate? [Editorial]. （2000, August 20）. Washington Post, B6.

　　20. Letter to the editor

　　Citation. As usual.

　　Reference

　　Kendall, G. B. （2000, September 17）. Watching the Fed [Letter to the editor]. Washington Post, B6.

　　21. Book review

　　Citation. As usual.

　　Reference

　　Maass, Peter. （2000, August 27）. The horror [Review of the book Me against my brother: At war in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda]. Washington Post Book World, 9.

　　22. Pamphlet or brochure

　　Reference. Treat a pamphlet or brochure like a book, except that you add a label in brackets after the title:

　　Federal Direct Student Loan Program. （1994）. Exit counseling [Brochure]. Washington, DC: Author.

　　23. Doctoral dissertation

　　Citation. As usual.

　　Reference. Reference a dissertation you've physically retrieved like this:

　　Wilhoit, R. L. （1994）. Factors in mental health resource usage of African-American elderly. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland at College Park.

　　Reference a dissertation accessed via microfilm like this:

　　Taylor, H. E. （1995）. Teacher research and reflective narrative analysis: Methods of learning about and from implementing global education. Dissertation Abstracts International, 56（4）, 1310. （UMI Dissertation Information Service, No. 9526094）.

　　24. More than one work in a single reference

　　Citation. Use semicolons to separate the citations: （Pitkin, 1984, pp. 38-41; Johnson, 2000, p. 203）.

　　Reference. As usual for each work.

　　But avoid putting too many works in a single reference. It's usual to use one note per work. If you wish to group several works together, treat them in a note rather than with an in-text citation.

　　25. Second or subsequent edition

　　Citation. As usual.

　　Reference

　　Clasen, T. F. （1995）. Foreign trade and investment: A legal guide （2nd ed.）. Charlottesville, VA: Michie Butterworth.

　　26. Indirect source （when you want to cite a work discussed in another text）

　　Citation. Whenever possible use original texts. If you do cite an indirect source （for instance a book review）, name or refer to the original work in your text, giving a citation for the indirect source （using the phrase "as cited in"）.

　　Bilbao's work （as cited in Jeffers & Cuellar, 1999） tries a new approach. . . .

　　Reference. Refer to the secondary or indirect source, not the original text. In other words, give a reference to the text you actually looked at.

　　27. Personal communication

　　Things like notes of lectures, letters, email, telephone conversations, memos, and interviews differ from published references in that they are not recoverable by others. You may cite them, but do not include them in the list of references.

　　Citation. Provide name, including first initial（s）, the phrase "personal communication," and a date: （M. Harvey, personal communication, September 20, 2000）. The citation may be woven into the text or put in a parenthetical, or divided between these.

　　Reference. Not included in the list of references.