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Citation Guide: APA Style - Social Sciences

APA In-text Citations - Examples

APA style recommends that writers give the author of a given source, the year of publication, and sometimes a page number in parentheses, when composing an in-text citation.  Usually the author name is given in a signal phrase, but if not, the author's name, year, and page number in parentheses at the end of the quotation.


Here is the basic format for a quotation as given in section 61 of Rules for Writers, 9th edition:

Critser (2003) noted that despite growing numbers of overweight Americans, many health providers still "remain either in ignorance or outright denial about the health danger to the poor and the young" (p. 5).

For additional examples of in-text citations in APA style, consult Rules for Writers or Purdue University's OWL page for APA style.

APA List of References - Examples

Book   

Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Walking the road: race, diversity, and social justice in teacher education. New York: Teachers College.

Essay from an anthology or edited book   

Harris, M. (1998). Mental health and illness. In W. Mankiller, et. al (Eds.), Readers companion to U.S. women's history (pp. 366-368). New York: Houghton Mifflin.

Article from a print journal  

Schaefer, B.A. (2004). A demographic survey of learning behaviors among American students. School Psychology Review, 33, 481-497.

Article from a magazine    

Sachs, J.D. (2005, September). Can extreme poverty be eliminated? Scientific American, 293, 56-65.

Article from a newspaper   

Hellmick, N. (2005, August 22). Health movement has school cafeterias in a food fight. USA Today, p 1A.

Article from an encyclopedia   

Corsini, R. J. (2000). Major personality theories. In E. Borgatta (Ed.), Encyclopedia of sociology (Vol. 3, pp. 1712-1719). New York: Macmillan.

Document from a website

National Public Radio (2004). Hidden kitchens. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/hiddenkitchens/.

Article from an online database - General citation format

Author(s). (Year of publication). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, Volume(Issue), pagerange. Retrieved from DOI or URL for journal's homepage.

Article from Academic Search Complete database

Gotzsche, P. C. & Jorgensen, K.J. (2005). Information needs to support informed choices. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 331(7512), 350-351. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.bl.opal-libraries.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=17908049&site=ehost-live.

Article from OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center

de Mesquita, E.B. The quality of terror. American journal of political science, 49(3), 515-530. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00139.x.

Introduction

These examples are derived from citation formats published in the Rules for Writers handbook.

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