This document provides an overview of APA formatting guidelines. It explains that APA style is used in many fields like psychology and sociology. The document outlines how to format elements like title pages, citations, and references in APA style. It emphasizes learning APA style helps avoid plagiarism by giving proper credit. The document provides examples of citing sources in-text and creating reference list entries. It cautions that automated citation tools can contain errors, so understanding APA style is important.

1. TheT. Denny Sanford School of Social & Family Dynamics

2. In this program, we will follow APA 6 formatting guidelines.
 APA 6 provides guidelines for written reports (e.g., term
papers, essays, master’s theses, doctoral dissertations,
journal articles)
 Used in a number of fields (e.g., psychology, anthropology,
sociology, nursing) to help people communicate clearly with
a target audience
 In addition to providing format conventions, it helps
individuals to correctly give credit to the original sources of
ideas and information
 Learning to do this correctly and consistently is essential
in avoiding plagiarism.

3.  The primary source of information regarding APA
formatting should be the APA Manual (Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth
Edition)
 A number of APA resources are also available to you in
the FHD MS Blackboard Community
 Some programs (software, websites) will put references
in APA format for you; HOWEVER, be cautious!
 Automatic formatting programs typically make errors. You
might use them as a starting point, but you should have basic
APA formatting knowledge so you can correct these errors.

4. APA 6 helps us format written reports consistently. It provides
formatting instructions for items such as:
 Running head and page numbers
 Title page
 Margins
 Line spacing
 Paragraph indentation
 In-text citations
 Section headings
 Tables
 References
See the APA manual and the FHD MS Blackboard Community for specific
guidelines.

5. APA formatting plays a key role in advancing academic
knowledge and avoiding plagiarism
 It tells the reader where ideas came from
What follows is a BRIEF overview of citing sources using
APA formatting. See the APA manual and FHD MS
Blackboard Community for additional details and
resources.
 It is your responsibility to understand how to properly
cite information using APA formatting.
 If you have questions, just ask your instructor and/or
advisor 

6.  In-text citations. Whenever you write about ideas and
information from other sources, you must cite the source of that
information within your paper (whether it is quoted OR in your
own words).
 Paraphrased materials always require
▪ Author’s last name(s)
▪ Year
▪ These two elements always stay together
 Quoted materials always require
▪ Quotation marks around quoted words
▪ Author’s last name(s)
▪ Year
▪ Page number(s) where the quotation came from
▪ The page number sometimes gets separated to the end of the sentence
while the author and year stay together.

7. Examples of in-text citations:
(3 common in-text citation formats)
 According to Venes (2001), three types of influenza are spreading through the
country.
 Three types of influenza are spreading throughout the country (Venes, 2001).
 Venes (2001) stated that “the types of influenza doctors must prepare for fall
into three categories” (p. 106).
Notes:
• Author name and year always remain together.
• The writer does not refer to the article title or book title, but rather the
author’s last name when discussing the information.
• Quotation marks should never start a sentence – always lead into a quote
with your own words.

8. Sources with multiple authors
The number of authors who wrote a paper will influence how you cite that paper,
both in the text of the paper or in the parenthetical in-text citations. [The following
summary comes from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/]
 A Work byTwo Authors: Name both authors in text or in the parentheses each
time you cite the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within
the text and use the ampersand when cited in parentheses.
 A Work byThree to Five Authors: List all the authors in the text or in parentheses
the first time you cite the source. In subsequent citations, only use the first
author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in parentheses.
 Six or More Authors: In the firstAND subsequent citations, use the first author's
name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses.
The following slide offers examples of various in-text citations based on the
number/type of authors.

9. This table comes from the APA manual, sixth edition.
Table 6.1. Basic Citation Styles
Type of citation
First citation
in text
Subsequent
citation in text
Parenthetical
format, first
citation I text
Parenthetical format,
subsequent citations in
text
One work by one
author
Walker (2007) Walker (2007) (Walker, 2007) (Walker, 2007)
One work by two
authors
Walker and
Allen (2004)
Walker and Allen
(2004)
(Walker & Allen,
2004)
(Walker & Allen, 2004)
One work by 3-5
authors
Bradley,
Ramirez,
Soo, and
Walsh (2006)
Bradley et al.
(2006)
(Bradley,
Ramirez, Soo, &
Walsh, 2006).
(Bradley et al., 2006)
One work by six
or more authors
Wasserstein
et al. (2005)
Wasserstein et
al. (2005)
(Wasserstein et
al., 2005)
(Wasserstein et al.,
2005)
Groups (readily
identified through
abbreviation as
authors
National
Institute of
Mental Health
(NIMH, 2003)
NIMH (2003) (National
Institute of
Mental Health
(NIMH), 2003)
(NIMH, 2003)
Groups (no
abbreviation) as
authors
University of
Pittsburgh
(2005)
University of
Pittsburgh (2005)
(University of
Pittsburgh,
2005)
(University of Pittsburgh,
2005)

10.  References. Any time you use an in-text citation, you must also include
a full reference to the information on a Reference page at the end of
your written document.
 EXCEPTION: In instances where information comes from personal communication, there is
no reference (just an in-text citation) since there is no original source to find
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/11/).
 References include more detailed information than in-text citations,
allowing the reader to find the original source of information.
 References include information such as author name(s), article or book title,
journal title, journal volume, publisher, publication location, and page
numbers.
 Your reference list should be in alphabetical order based on the first author’s
last name.
 Reference formatting varies based on the source of the information (e.g.,
book, journal article, dissertation, website).

11.  Examples of References:
Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal
of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for
journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Note:
• Reference formatting is very detail oriented. APA guidelines dictate what
should be italicized, where periods should go, which words are capitalized,
etc. Additional examples and more detailed guidelines are available in the
manual, the Sanford SchoolWriting Center, or at
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/05/

12.  Improper formatting for quotes
 To avoid plagiarism, it is essential to include page
numbers for quoted material as well as including
quotation marks around the quoted words.
 The ending quotation marks always go before the
parenthetical citation.
 Non-APA Errors Relating to Quotes:
 Overuse of quotes. ROUGH rule of thumb - typically
no more than one quote per page
 Unneeded quotes. Quoting should be reserved for
statements/phrases that are eloquently stated or
unique. If there is nothing particularly special about
how something is worded, paraphrase.

13.  Paraphrased Plagiarism
 It is considered plagiarism if you:
 Put information into your own words, but you fail to cite it
 Cite the information, but change the original quote by merely
substituting synonyms or moving/deleting a few words
 Cite the information, put the information into your own
words, but follow the exact same style/flow of the original
quote
 It is important that students understand how to
properly paraphrase and cite (see FHD MS online
community for some resources)
 Including page numbers is optional and quotation
marks are not used for paraphrased information,

14.  Missing/misplaced commas, periods, and spaces in in-
text citations.
 Notice that there is a comma after the author and another
comma after the year (if a page number is included).
 Notice that there is a period after “p” (abbreviation for page
number) and that the ending period comes after the citation,
not before it.
 Notice the space after each comma and period.
 Example:
(Brooks, 2013).
(Brooks, 2013, p. 101).

15.  Abbreviating the page number(s) incorrrectly
 Examples of incorrect abbreviations
▪ PG, Pg, pg, Page, page, P
 Correct abbreviation is
▪ Lowercase p with a period and space after it for a single page
(Brooks, 2013, p. 101).
▪ Two lowercase p’s with a period and space after them for a
range of pages
(Brooks, 2013, pp. 101-102).

16.  Citing only once in a paragraph
 It is not sufficient to cite the first or last sentence
of a paragraph and expect your reader to know
which sentences include information from one of
your sources.You must clearly indicate to your
reader where each piece of information came
from. Without this, your reader will assume that
any un-cited sentence is your own opinion.
▪ This is a form of plagiarism since you are not giving
proper credit to your source for their ideas.

17.  You can view an overview of APA formatting at
http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-tutorial.aspx
(21 minute presentation)
 “This tutorial is designed for those who have no previous
knowledge of APA Style®. It shows users how to structure and
format their work, recommends ways to reduce bias in
language, identifies how to avoid charges of plagiarism, shows
how to cite references in text, and provides selected reference
examples.”
 As always, if you have questions, ask 