The document provides an overview of the APA style guide, outlining the key components such as using parenthetical citations to identify sources, having an accurate reference list of cited sources, and following specific formatting guidelines for listing different types of references such as books, journal articles, websites and more. Proper APA style is important for attributing others' work in a paper and allowing readers to find the original sources.

1. APA STYLE GUIDE
For the Fifth Edition
Ram Sharan Mehta
Medical-Surgical Nursing Department

2. WHAT IS THE APA STYLE?
A method of identifying sources used to
write a paper.
Uses author and date citation in text.
This is referred to as “parenthetical”
documentation.

3. What is a citation?
A citation is the use of someone else’s
material in your work.
What is cited in the body of your paper
must match exactly an entry in the
reference list.

4. What is a Reference list?
A Reference list contains all the
references cited in the paper.
The Reference list provides a way for
others to find the original documents
which you have cited.

5. Reference List
Place the list of references cited at the end of the
paper.
Center the title, Reference(s), an inch from the top of
the page.
Begin each entry flush with the left margin.
Indent subsequent lines five to seven spaces.
Double space both within and between
entries (not shown here due to space
constraints).

6. Reference List: Authors
List alphabetically by the author’s last name. The
last name is spelled out. For first name and/or
middle name, initials are used.
If the author is unknown, alphabetize by title.
Example:
Cummings, S. T.

7. Reference List: Authors
If you have more than one work by a
particular author, order them by
publication date, oldest to newest.
Example:
1991 would appear before 1996.

8. Reference List: Authors
When an author appears both as a sole
author and, in another citation as the
first author of a group, list the one
author entries first.

9. Reference List: Authors
If no author is given for a particular
source, alphabetize using the title of the
work, which will be listed in place of the
author, and use a shortened version of
the title in parenthetical citations.

10. Reference List: Authors
Group authors:
Alphabetize group authors by the first
significant word of the name.
When the author and publisher are identical,
use the word Author as the name of the
publisher.
Example:
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication
manual of the American Psychological Association
(5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

11. Reference List
Book with one author.
What is included in a Reference list entry:
Author(s). (Date of publication). Title of book. City of
publisher: Publisher.
Carter, R. (1998). Mapping the mind. Berkeley, CA:
University of California Press.
In text citation:
(Carter, 1998)

12. Reference List
CHAPTERS IN BOOKS
Author(s) of chapter. (Date of publication). Title of chapter.
In Editor(s), Title of book (page numbers). City of
publisher: Publisher.
Stern, J. A., & Dunham, D. N. (1990). The ocular system. In
J. T. Cacioppo & L. G. Tassinary (Eds.), Principles of
psychophysiology: Physical, social, and inferential
elements (pp. 513-553). Berkeley, CA: University of
California Press.
In text citation:
(Stern & Durham, 1990).

13. Reference List
Journals with Continuous Pagination:
Volume begins with page number 1 and each issue
continues the numbering of the pages to the end of
the volume. No issue number is given for a journal
with continuous pagination.
EXAMPLE:
Bekerian, D. A. (1993). In search of the typical eyewitness.
American Psychologist, 48, 574-576.
*The commas between title and volume number are in
italics.

14. Reference List
Journals with Pagination by Issue:
Each issue begins with page number 1.
EXAMPLE:
Sellard, S., & Mills, M. E. (1995). Administrative
issues for use of nurse practitioners. Journal of Nursing
Administration, 25(5), 64-70.
*The volume number is in italics. The issue number is not in
italics. There is no space between the volume number and
issue number. 25 is the volume number and 5 is the issue
number.

15. Reference List
Magazines:
Give the date shown on the publication-
month for monthlies or month and day for
weeklies. Names of months are spelled out.
Give the volume number, if given.
Example:
Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing
the mind. Science, 262, 673-674.

16. Reference List
Newspapers:
If an article is not on continuous pages,
give all page numbers, and separate
the numbers with a comma.
Example:
Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30).
Obesity affects economic, social status.
The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.

17. Reference List:Electronic sources
What is included in a Reference list entry:
Author(s). (Date of publication). Title of
the article. Title of the periodical, volume
number,(issue number), page number(s).
Retrieved month day, year from name of
database.
*It is no longer necessary to give the web address
for databases that the library has a subscription
for. The name of the database is sufficient.

18. Reference List
Electronic Sources:
Example from InfoTrac
Velmans, M. (1999). When perception
becomes conscious. British Journal of
Psychology, 90, 543-566. Retrieved May
25, 2001, from the Expanded Academic
ASAP database.

19. Reference List: Web pages
Two guidelines should be followed in
using Web resources:
Direct readers as closely as possible to the
information being cited – whenever
possible, reference specific documents
rather than home or menu pages.
Provide addresses that work.

20. Reference List: Web pages
What is included in an entry:
Author/editor. (Date of page creation or
last revision). Full title of the web
page. Retrieved date, from URL

21. Reference List:Web pages
Example:
Green, C. (2000, April 16). History & philosophy of
psychology web resources. Retrieved May 22,
2001, from
http://www.yorku.ca/dept/psych/orgs/resource.
htm