Citing Sources

APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. 

 APA Style uses the author-date system to cite references in the text. In this system, each work used in a paper has two parts: an in-text citation and a corresponding reference list. 

IN-TEXT CITATIONS 

• In-text citations appears within the body of the paper, briefly identifying the cited work at the point it is referenced.

Parenthetical and Narrative Citations 

In-text citations have two formats: parenthetical and narrative.

• Parenthetical example: Falsely balanced news coverage can distort the public's perception (Koehler, 2016).
• Narrative example: Koehler (2016) noted the dangers of falsely balanced news coverage.

     Single Works

• One author: (Luna, 2020)
• Two authors: (Salas & D'Agostino, 2020)
• Three or more authors: (Martin et al., 2020)

Multiple Works

List in alphabetical order by author last name, separating by semicolons.  

• (Adams et al., 2019; Shumway & Shulman, 2015; Westinghouse, 2017)
• Arrange two or more works by same author by year of publication. Place citations with no date first. Give authors' surnames only once.
  • (Department of Veteran Affairs, n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2019)

Short Quotations (Fewer Than 40 Words)

• Effective teams can be difficult to describe because "high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another" (Ervin et al., 2018, p.470).
• Biebel et al. (2018) noted that "incorporating the voice of students can increase access and retention" (p.299).

Long Quotations (40 Words or More)

Treat as a block quotation. Do not use quotation marks. Start a block quotation on a new line and indent the whole block 0.5 inches from the left margin.  

REFERENCE LIST

• The reference list appears at the end of the paper. It provides the information needed to identify and find each work cited in the text.

Four elements of a Reference

• author: Who is responsible for this work?
• date: When was this work published?
• title: What is this work called?
• source: Where can I retrieve this work?  

Authors for most formats

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)

• All authors' names should be inverted (i.e., last names should be provided first).
• Authors' first and middle names should be written as initials.

One author     

More than twenty authors

• If there are 21 or more authors, use an ellipsis (but no ampersand) after the 19th author, and then add the final author’s name.

Aguiar, L. M., Tomic, P., Author, A., Author, B., Author, C., Author, D., Author, E., Author, F., Author, G., Author, H., Author, I., Author, J., Author, K., Author, L., Author, M., Author, N., Author, O., Author, P., Author, Q., ... Trumper, R. (2019). Apparel: Concepts and practical applications. Fairchild Books.

BOOKS

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)

Frey, C. B. (2019). The technology trap: Capital, labor, and power in the age of automation. Princeton University Press.

ARTICLES

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Zhang, H., & Merikangas, K. (2000). A frailty model of segregation analysis: Understanding the familial transmission of alcoholism. Biometrics, 56(3), 815–823. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0006-341x.2000.00815.x

WEBSITES

Website vs Webpage
When mentioning a website, without mention of a specific page, no reference list entry or in-text citation is needed. Give the name of the website in text and include the URL in parentheses. For example:

We created our survey using Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com).

Article on a Website

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Title of Publication. URL

Vogelsong, S. (2020, November 16). On Virginia’s far Atlantic flank, a cherished store of salt marshes is being lost. Virginia Mercury. https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/11/16/on-virginias-far-atlantic-flank-a-cherished-store-of-salt-marshes-is-being-lost/

YouTube Video / Streaming Video

Last Name, F. M. [Username]. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. Streaming Service. URL

Lustig, R. H. [UCTV]. (2009, July 30). Sugar: The bitter truth [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

Blog Post

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of post. Publisher. URL

Ross, M. (2020, April 29). Top 10 toddler and kid approved snacks. Blueberries Nutrition and LIfestyle. https://blueberriesnutritionandlifestyle.com/top-10-toddler-and-kid-approved-snacks/

Podcast

Host, A. A. (Host). (Year, Month Date). Title of episode (No. if provided) [Audio podcast episode]. In Name of podcast. Publisher. URL

Lutz, A. (Host). (2021, April 26). Weight inclusive wellness with Brit Guerin (No. 27) [Audio podcast episode]. In Sunnyside up nutrition. https://sunnysideupnutrition.com/episode/ep-27-weight-inclusive-wellness-with-brit-guerin/