APA Guidelines (from CU Writing Center)

1. APA Style Citation and
Documentation
LLCRT Program
in the
School of Education & Human Development

2. What is Graduate-Level Writing?
• Entering a conversation in the academic
community and in your specific discipline
• Original critical thought
– Builds on existing knowledge
– Contributes something new to the field
• Developing and demonstrating expertise in
– Your writing
– Your subject
– Your discipline

3. Standards of Grad-Level Writing
• Written for a professional audience
– Suitable for publication
• Clear, concise, logically structured writing
– Free of grammatical errors
• Extensive analysis (critical evaluation of sources)
• Extensive synthesis (combining information from
multiple sources)
• Rigorous research using acceptable sources
– Follows specific citation format (APA)

4. Why American Psychology
Association (APA) Style?
• Focuses on dates and titles instead of the author
– Current research/data
– Previous “watershed” studies in the literature
• Was developed to standardize scientific writing
• Emphasizes your own words and ideas
– Prefers paraphrase to quotation

5. Basic Formatting in APA

6. Basic Formatting in APA
• Use 1” margins all around
• Double-space the entire paper
• Use a 11 or 12 point serif font for text
– Times New Roman or Cambria
• Use a sans-serif font for figure labels
– Arial or Calibri
• Align all paragraphs to the left
– Indent the first line of each paragraph

7. Title Page
• Running head: includes a shortened title or
assignment description
– Use in the header of every page
– The words RUNNING HEAD will only appear on the
title page
• Center full title of the paper, your name, and
your institutional affiliation near top half of page
• If instructor requests, add class information,
instructor’s name, and date centered at bottom

9. Abstract
• If your paper requires an abstract, include on a
new page after the title page
• Center ABSTRACT at the top of the page
• Give a brief summation (between 250 and 500
words) of the focus and findings of the paper,
including major research covered and findings
• The words RUNNING HEAD do not appear, but the
shortened title does

11. First Page
• Center the full title at top of page
• Do not write INTRODUCTION unless specifically
required by your instructor
• Begin section headings on this page, if
appropriate
– Refer to the APA Style Guide, 6th Edition, for
formatting of different heading levels

13. In-Text Citations
Authors and types of sources

14. Basics of In-Text Citations
• APA style uses the author-date citation system
– Place the name followed by the year at the
beginning of the sentence
Doe (2007) found that rats cannot vomit.
– Place the name and year in a parenthetical
citation at the end of the sentence
A recent study of rats found that they cannot
vomit (Doe, 2007).

15. Direct Quote or Paraphrase?
• Use direct quotations with citation
– Even if you do not use every word
– Include page number in citation (Smith 2007, p. 18)
• Use paraphrasing with citation
– Restate the same information in a new way, in your
own words, and in your own sentence structure
Remember: You must provide a citation for any
information or idea that is not your own

16. Citing Personal Communications
• Includes interviews, correspondence, person-to-
person communication, etc.
• Not considered recoverable data, so cite in text but
do not include in References list
… (personal communication, August 15, 2009).
• Only use short samples (a sentence or two) in text
of paper
• Full transcript of personal communications may
appear in Appendix.

17. Citing Two Authors
• For two authors, cite the last names of both
authors each time the source is used
Doe and Koenig (2007) note that modern
Western political idealism has its basis in the
writings of Immanuel Kant.
Modern Western political idealism has its basis
in the writings of Immanuel Kant (Doe &
Koenig, 2007).

18. Citing Three to Five Authors
• Cite the last names of all authors the first time it
is used
Doe, Koenig, and Porpora (1998) note that
constructivism is becoming a more popular
theory in political science.
• For all citations afterward, use ET AL.
Doe et al. (1998) found that most political
scientists prefer synthesizing political
theories.

19. Citing Six or More Authors
• Cite only the first author followed by ET AL. for
each citation
Mearsheimer et al. (2008) assert that neo-realism
as a theoretical paradigm is experiencing a
backlash.
Neo-realism as a theoretical paradigm is
experiencing a backlash (Mearsheimer et al.,
2008).

20. Authors with Multiple Works
• For authors with multiple works published in the
same year
– Alphabetize the sources based upon the title of
the work and assign a lowercase letter for each
source
Doe (2008a) notes that Egyptian death rituals were
highly complex. In the case of Tutankhamen, the
boy pharaoh was adorned in a highly ritualized
fashion with precious metals and jewelry (Doe,
2008b).

21. Electronic Sources
• Electronic sources are cited in the same fashion
as print sources
– Never put a website URL in an in-text citation
• When using an online source, you will need
– Name of the author (person or organization)
• If an author is not identified, use the name of the
article
– Year of publication
– Section of internet document
– Paragraph number

22. Electronic Sources
• Using the section or paragraph number of an
electronic source
Dolce and Gabanna had to change their 2004–
2005 advertising campaign after the profuse
level of complaints from consumers (Herneckli,
2006, Trends section, para. 3).
Prada was favored 7/10 over Oakley (Herneckli,
2005, para. 5).

23. Reference List
Citing sources in the References pages

24. Reference List
• References begin on a new page after the last
page of your paper
• Include all the research you referenced or used
• Arrange alphabetically by author (person or
organization)
• Do not divide your sources based upon type or
category
• Use a hanging indent for each entry

25. Reference List
• Author(s) name(s)
– Last name first, then first/middle initial
– For sources without named authors, use the first letter of
the title
• Publication date in parenthesis
• Title of the work (do not use italics or quotation marks)
• Publication data
– Journal titles in italics (but not volume or issue number)
– Book titles in italics
• Include page numbers if did not reference entire book
• Include publication location and publisher

26. Basic Print Sources
• Journal article
Doe, J. (2001). Realism: An examination of its efficacy. Journal
of International Relations, 82(5), 19–27.
• Journal article from author with multiple publications
Doe, J. (2008a). Egyptian death rituals. Journal of Egyptian
History, 9(2), 90–123.
• Book
Doe, J. (2001). Egyptian death rituals and their historical
significance. Cairo: National Publishing.

27. Basic Electronic Sources
• Whole website
National Kleptomaniacs Association [NKA]. (2008). Who has
time to buy anything? Retrieved
from http://kleptomaniacal.org/stealing
• Section of a website
National Kleptomaniacs Association [NKA]. (2008).Why
stealing isn’t stealing. In Who has time to buy anything?
Retrieved from http://kleptomaniacal.org/stealing

29. Appendices and Visual Elements

30. Appendices
• Include materials that supplement the paper,
such as visual elements, secondary research,
data sets, transcripts, surveys, etc.
• Appear after References list on a new page
• Center APPENDIX, APPENDIX A, etc. at top of page
• Double space entire page (like rest of paper)
• Refer to appendices in body of the paper
“Byrne’s survey showed that … (See
Appendix A for more data from the survey).”

31. Using Visual Elements
• APA typically requires large figures, graphs,
tables, charts, and photographs to be placed in
an Appendix after the References List
• However, you may include smaller visual
elements in the text of the paper
• You must distinguish between visuals you
created and those borrowed from an outside
source

32. Visuals You Created
• Label (Graph 1, Graph 2, Table 1, etc.) and
refer to them in the paper
– As shown in Table 8, most respondents
indicated a preference for Prada.
• Your own visuals will not include source notes

33. Visuals from Outside Sources
• You must include a source note below the
element that includes the title, author, date,
publication, pub. info, page number, and
copyright
Note. From “Title of Article,” by J. Doe and J. Horrocks, 2008, Journal of Ethology
Studies , 50(6), p. 92. Copyright 2008 by Name of Copyright Holder.

34. Other Resources
• APA Manual, 6th Edition
• Our very own Writing Center APA style handouts
(available on our website and in the Center on
campus)
http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/
Centers/writing/resources/Pages/guides.aspx

35. The Writing Center
• For more information please visit us:
– Denver Campus, North Classroom Building
– Anschutz Medical Campus, Health Sciences
Library
– Campus Village Apartments, North 3rd Floor
Common Room
– Synchronous Online Consultations
– http://writingcenter.ucdenver.edu