APA Publications Manual Crib Sheet

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APA style is the style of writing specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4^th ed., 1994). The 368 page manual can be purchased in the U.S. in any college bookstore as well as in many large, general-purpose bookstores, in the reference and style guide section. It can be obtained directly from the APA order department at 1-800-374-2721. This crib sheet by no means replaces the manual itself.

Alphabetizing within reference lists

• Use prefixes in alphabetizing names if commonly part of the surname (De Vries).
• Do not use “von” in alphabetizing (Helmholtz, H.L.F. von).
• Treat Mc and Mac literally; Mac comes before Mc.
• Disregard apostrophes and capitals in alphabetizing; D’Arcy comes after Daagwood.
• Single-author citations precede multiple-author citations (Zev, 1990 then Zev et al., 1990).
• Alphabetize corporate authors by first significant word. Do not use abbreviations in corporate names.

In-text References

• Use the author-date format to cite references in text. For example: as James (1994) points out…… or, In a recent study (James, 1994) cardiovascular disease….
• For two-author citations, spell out both authors on all occurrences.
• For multiple-author citations (up to five authors) name all authors the first time, then use et al., so the first time it is Smith, Jones, Pearson and Sherwin (1990), but the second time it is Smith et al., with a period after “al” but no underlining.
• The first time an “et al.” reference is used in a paragraph, give the year, thereafter (if the citation is repeated in the paragraph) omit the year.
• For six or more authors, use et al. the first time and give the full citation in references.
• Include page reference after the year, outside quotes bu6t inside the comma, for example: The author stated, “The effect disappeared within minutes” (Lopez, 1993, p.311), but she did not say which effect. Another example would be: Lopez found that “the effect disappeared within minutes” (p.311). Notice also that the sentence is capitalized only if presented after a comma, as a complete sentence.
• If two or more multiple-author references which shorten to the same “et al.” form, making it ambiguous, give as many author names necessary to make them distinct, before et al. For example: (Smith, Jones, et al., 1991) to distinguish it from (Smith, Burke, et al., 1991).
• Join names in a multiple-author citation with and (in text) or an ampersand (&) in reference lists and parenthetical comments. For example: As Smith and Sarason (1990) point out, the same argument was made by an earlier study (Smith & Sarason, 1990).
• If a group is readily identified by its initials, spell it out only the first time. For example, “As reported in a government study (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 1991), blah, blah…” and thereafter, “The previously cited study (NIMH, 1991) found that…..
• If the author is unknown or unspecified, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title), for example: (“Study Finds”, 1992).
• If citing multiple works by the same author at the same time, arrange dates in order. In general, use letters after years to distinguish multiple publications by the same author in the same year. For example: Several studies (Johnson, 1988, 1990a, 1990b, 1995 in press-a, 1995 in press-b) showed the same thing.
• For old works cite the translation or the original and modern copyright dates if both are known, for example: (Aristotle trans. 1931) or (James, 1890/1983).
• Always give page numbers for quotations, for example: (Cheek & Buss, 1981, p. 332) or (Shimamura, 1989, chap. 3 p. 5).
• For e-mail and other “unrecoverable data” use personal communication, for example: (V.G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 1993). These do not appear in the reference list.

Reference List Formats

References should be indented 5 to 7 spaces on the first line, just like other paragraphs. Here are a few examples of the most commonly used formats

Anonymous or unknown author (common in newspapers):

Caffeine linked to mental illness. (1991, July 13). New York Times, pp.B13, B15.

Books:

Strunk,W.,Jr. & White, E.B. (1979). The elements of style (3^rd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

American Psychiatric Association. (1990). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3^rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

(note: “Author” is used as above when author and publisher are identical).

Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Fredu (Vol. 19, pp. 3-66). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923).

(In text this would be cited as (Freud, 1923-1961).

World Wide Web page:

Bixley, T.S. (1995) Sentient microfilaments Home Page. [On-line]. Available: http://www.microfilaments.com/consciousness/synchronicity/quantumtube.html.

Group or institutional authors

University of Pittsburg. (1993). The title goes here. Journal of Something, 8, 5-9.

Journal article

Spitch, M.L., Verzy, H.N., & Wilkie, D.M. (1993). Subjective shortening: A model of pigeons’ memory for event duration. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 9, 14-30.

Letter to the editor

O’Neill, G.W. (1992, January). In support of DSM-III [Letter to the editor]. APA Monitor, p.4

Magazine article

Gardner, H. (1991,December). Do babies sing a universal song? Psychology Today, pp. 70-76.

Newsletter article

Brown, L.S. (1993, Spring). My research with orangs. The Psychology Department Newsletter, 3, 2.

Pamphlet

Just Say No Foundation. (1992). Saving our youth. (9^th ed.) [Brochure]. Washington, DC: Author.