APA

1. APA The Basics Plus

2. Overview • The APA format • The format for references • The format for in-text citations

3. The APA format • Margins, Fonts, and Spacing • Title page • Body of the paper

4. Margins, Fonts, and Spacing • 1” margins • 12-point font – Times New Roman preferred • Double-spaced throughout

5. Title page • The title should be no more than 12 words, centered, and in the upper half of the page • The running head and the page number should both appear in the header • For more information, go to http://writingcenter.unlv.edu/writing/apa.html

6. Body of the paper • The usual APA paper should include an Abstract, an Introduction, a section on the Method used, Results, a Discussion, and References • The APA format allows for 5 levels of headings

7. 2. The format for references References should be: • Listed in alphabetical order • Started on a new page, with a centered heading • Double-spaced • Arranged in a hanging indent format

8. References: Books American collegiate dictionary (4th ed.). (1995). Indianapolis, IN: Huntsfield. Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study of computer dependency. London, England: Taylor & Francis. Terusami, H. T. (1993). Relativity. In The new handbook of science (Vol. 12, pp.247-249). Chicago: Modern Science Encyclopedia.

9. References: Periodicals Gleick, E. (2000, December 4). The burdens of genius [review of the book The last samurai, by Helen DeWitt]. Time, 156, 171. Leftlow, B. S. (1993, December 18). Corporate take-overs confuse stock market predictions. The Wall Street Journal, pp. A1, A14. Morawski, J. (2000). Social psychology a century ago. American Psychologist, 55, 427-431.

10. References: Internet sources Many articles from Internet sources are now given a DOI number. Whenever available, use the DOI number rather than the URL. Herbst-Damm, K. L, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225 Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

11. 3. The format for in-text citations • For a paraphrase • At the end of a paraphrased sentence, place in parentheses the author(s) and year of the publication • The citation counts as part of the sentence, so the period goes after the closing parenthesis • Example from a sample paper: Presently, we consume more than 500 million cubic meters of wood and wood products a year, an amount projected to increase close to 600 million cubic meters in less than ten years (Haynes, Adams, & Mills, 1998).

12. The format for in-text citations • For direct quotations • When using a direct quotation, cite the source immediately after in parentheses • Use author, year, and page number(s) • Example from a sample paper: Many others agree with the assessment that “this is a seriously flawed study” (Methasa, 1996, p. 22) and do not include its data in their own work.

13. Remember… • Include the publication year the first time you mention an author, for example, Tanaka (2001). The year is no longer required in following references, if the source is the same. • When the author is an organization or a group, give the complete name and acronym the first time, then in following references, just use the acronym. For example, (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2003) for the first time, then, just (NIMH, 2003). • Between three and five authors, cite them all the first time; subsequently, use the first surname followed by et al. • For six or more authors, always cite the first surname followed by et al. and the year.

14. For more information • The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) • Concise Rules of APA Style (6th edition) • The APA website: http://apastyle.apa.org/