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Citations 101

"APA" stands for American Psychological Association, and their publication manual is currently in its 7th edition. This style of citations is usually used in the sciences and social sciences (think sociology, economics, and business).

We recommend that you create all your citations in NoodleTools because that will ensure your citations are in proper APA format.

In lieu of NoodleTools, we suggest you visit the APA website, which includes specific examples of in-text citations, references, sample papers, and more.

general guidelines

Provide appropriate credit to the source (e.g., by using an in-text citation) whenever you do the following:

  • paraphrase (i.e., state in your own words) the ideas of others
  • directly quote the words of others
  • refer to data or data sets
  • reprint or adapt a table or figure, even images from the internet that are free or licensed in the Creative Commons
  • reprint a long text passage or commercially copyrighted test item

Student authors should emulate published authors by paraphrasing their sources more than directly quoting them.

When you paraphrase, cite the original work using either the narrative or parenthetical citation format.

A paraphrase may continue for several sentences. In such cases, cite the work being paraphrased within the first sentence. Once the work has been cited, it is not necessary to repeat the citation as long as the context of the writing makes it clear that the same work continues to be paraphrased.

In scholarly work, a primary source publishes original content; a secondary source refers to content first published in another source. If possible, as a matter of good scholarly practice, find the primary source, read it, and cite it directly rather than citing a secondary source. For example, rather than citing a textbook or encyclopedia that references original research, find, read, and cite the original research directly (unless a teacher has directed you to do otherwise).

APA title pages are double-spaced, centered, and should have the following:

  • Paper title (in bold)
  • Author
  • Course name
  • Instructor name
  • Assignment due date
  • Page number (insert at the top right of the header)

You can see an example of an APA title page here.

in-text citations

General author/date format when summarizing or paraphrasing: Sentence (Lastname, PubYear).

  • Ex: Paraphrasing is an important skill (Arnstein, 2016).
  • Ex: According to Arnstein, paraphrasing is an important skill (2016).

Direct quotes need author, publication year, and page number:

  • Ex: "Learning to paraphrase separates mediocre authors from great ones" (Arnstein, 2016, p. 56).
  • Ex: According to Arnstein (2016), "learning to paraphrase separates mediocre authors from great ones" (p. 56).

When citing multiple works at the same time, place the citations in alphabetical order and separate them with a semicolon:

  • Ex: Multiple studies over the years have confirmed the importance of paraphrasing (Akavoor, 2017; Arnstein, 2016; Hirsch, 2012).
  • Ex: Studies by Akavoor (2017), Arnstein (2016), and Hirsch (2012) have confirmed the importance of paraphrasing.

When there are two authors, include them both in the citation. When there are three or more authors, use the first name listed and then "et al." to represent the rest:

  • Ex: (Akavoor & D'Argenio, 2020)
  • Ex: (Davis et al., 2024)

Italicize the titles of books, journals, television series, or documentaries.

  • Ex: Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2011) is a story about modern medicine and ethics.

For translated, reprinted, republished, or reissued sources, include the original publication year and then the most current year, separated by a slash:

  • Ex: Freud (1900/1950)
  • Ex: (Freud, 1900/1950)

references

An APA reference generally has 4 elements:

  • Author: who is responsible for this work?
  • Date: when was this work published?
  • Title: what is this work called?
  • Source: where can I get access to this work?

The References section in your paper should begin on a new page, be double spaced, and be organized alphabetically by author last name.

Journal Article:

Author Last Name, Author First Name Initial(s). (Year). Article Title. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages. URL or DOI.

  • Ex: D'Argenio, L. (2024). The application of mathematical skills in high school science courses. Journal of Education, 120(4), 1-53. https://www.chapin.edu.

Book:

Author Last Name, Author First Name Initial(s). (Year). Title. Publisher.

  • Ex: Sanfilippo, T. (2020). An Introduction to Biology. Routledge.

eBook:

Author Last Name, Author First Name Initial(s). (Year). Title. Publisher. URL or DOI.

  • Ex: Sanfilippo, T. (2020). An Introduction to Biology. Routledge. https://ebookcentral. proquest.com.

Website:

Author Last Name, Author First Name Initial(s). (Date of Publication). Title of specific webpage. Name of Website. URL.

  • Ex: Pan, E. (2019, January 3). Challenges of a fly lab in a secondary school environment. The Chapin School. https://www.chapin.edu/about/ experience-chapin.

Data set:

Author Last Name, Author First Name Initial(s). (Year). Title of dataset [Data set]. Publisher. URL or DOI.

  • Ex:  D'Argenio, L. (2024). Cognitive affects of test corrections, 2020-2024 [Data set]. Education Week. https://www.chapin.edu.