March: Book One (Common Text 2015-2016): APA Citations

A citation is a reference that gives a reader information about a source.

It generally includes the author, title of the work or journal, title of the article, volume and issue number and date.

Digital articles often include a DOI number, or digital object identifier. This is the permanent link to an online article.

There are several citation styles used by academics. Psychologists generally use APA format.

APA stands for American Psychological Association. Their standards for citation may be found in the Publication Manual of the APA. Check out the links on the right for more help and information about APA style.

Here are some links to APA format that will be of help.

Librarians will help you with your citations. Go to the Information Commons Help Desks or use the "Ask a Librarian" links. Writing Center tutors will help as well. Check the link below for locations and times for the Writing Center labs.

Formats may be found in the APA Style manual or at the websites below.

You may use the citation generators in the box to the left.  Be sure to check for spelling and capitalization.

Reference lists will include citations of works used in the research article.   These citations may be used to locate the original article.

This is an example of an APA citation:

Created by the Calvin College Heckman Library, KnightCite will create a formatted citation in MLA or APA style.

Fill in all the boxes completely and correctly.

If you use an article from a database, click yes when asked if the article was found online and yes when asked if it was from a database. Then enter the name of the database.

If you are using APA format, be sure to include the D.O.I., if available.

Copy and paste the citation. Check capitalization and punctuation to make sure they are correct! 

Remember in APA style, only the first word of the title is capitalized. Only the first initial of the author(s) is given.