This document provides an overview of how to use APA style formatting and citations in a college paper. It explains that any research used from outside sources must be properly cited. APA style guidelines include formatting papers with 1-inch margins, double spacing, and a running header. In-text citations give credit to original authors and include their name and date of publication. The references page lists all sources cited in alphabetical order using a specific format for different source types like books, articles, and websites. Strict adherence to APA style helps avoid plagiarism.

1. Using APA Style in a college paper

2.  Anytime
you write a paper, give a speech or
complete a project for class, you are going to
do some research
 Find
statistics, quotes, definitions, case
studies, business reports, etc.
 Find
research and ideas about a topic
 These
are the sources you must cite!

3.  Helps
the reader understand the basis for
information presented in your paper
 Readers
of your paper might want further
information on your topic…your references
will lead your reader to that information
 You
should give credit to the person who
conducted the original research
 Protect
yourself from plagiarism

4.  Plagiarism:
"To present the ideas or words of
another as one's own" -- Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary & Thesaurus 2007
 Plagiarism
can be intentional or unintentional
 It
occurs anytime you quote, reference or use
someone else’s work (article, book, photo,
information on a website, etc.) and you don’t
cite your source
 Or
if you paraphrase but use too much of the
original source.

5.  Citation
styles were created to provide a
guide for authors/writers to properly
reference another person’s work
 Citation
styles have a very specific set of
RULES
 Punctuation,
Italics, Underlining,
capitalization, parentheses – IT ALL PLAYS A
ROLE

6. 
APA (American Psychological Association) style is
most often used in the social sciences and
research.

APA provides writers of research papers a style
to properly reference their sources, using
parentheses in their essays and a References
page at the end.

Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th edition)

In-text citations require an entry on the
References page

7.  12
point Times New Roman font
 1”
margins all around
 Double
 All
indents ½” from left margin
 Page
numbers – in header, flush right
 Header
 Do
2
space
– all caps, flush left
not hyphenate a word at the end of a line
spaces after a period in text

8. Your instructor’s “Rules” override any official guidelines
 Title
Page
 Centered
in upper half of page
 Contains Title of Paper, Author, Institutions
 Running Header
 Abstract
 Center
the word “Abstract”
 No indentations
 150-200 words
 Header

9.  Actual
paper
 1st
page – center title of paper
 Header
 Has in-text citations
 References
Page

10. 
A working bibliography consist of all sources used
in your research process.

It is always a good idea to capture the
information just in case it will need to appear in
your reference list or in a citation.
Basic source information for the reference
 Date(s) that you accessed web pages
 Page/paragragh information for key statistics, photos,
charts
 Page/paragragh information for potential quotes


References page lists only those sources cited in
your paper.

11.  Used
to indicate the source of the fact or
idea or quote
 Format
 Books,
is usually not source dependent
journals and web pages are all formatted
similarly

12.  In-text
citation: (Author, Year)
70% of students going back to college feel
overwhelmed (Smith, 2009).
 In-text
citation where the author is
mentioned: (Year)
According to Smith (2009), 70% of students going
back to college feel overwhelmed.

13.  In-text
citation with multiple authors:
(Author1 & Author2, Year)
Deaths from HIV rose 58% between 1980 and
1992 (Weiner & Tyler, 1998).

14.  In-text
citation: (Author, Year, Page
Number)
“70% of students going back to college feel
overwhelmed” (Smith, 2009, p. 16).
 In-text
citation where the author is
mentioned:
According to Smith (2009), “70% of students
going back to college feel overwhelmed” (p. 16).

15.  At
the end of the paper
References
 Every
work on the
References page should
appear in your paper
and vice versa
 Hanging
 List
indent
Smith, Rhonda. (2008). Getting ready to
work. New York, NY: Dell Publishing.
Washington, George. (2010, July 5). Cutting
down an apple tree. American Journal
of Psychology 34(3), 15-25. Retrieved
from
http://factsormythsofhistory.com/washin
gton.htm
Zeller, Dan. (2009, April 4). Learning APA
style. American Journal of Writing.
3(3), 59-68.
sources alphabetically by author – if
there is no author by the first important
word in the title

16. Things to Note:

Book titles and Article titles: Only first word
capitalized unless the word is a proper nouns.
Also capitalize first word after certain types of
punctuation such as colon and dash.

Journal titles: All major words are capitalized.

Months are spelled out.

If a web site is used and the URL has upper and
lower case (e.g., youtube urls) use the upper
and lower case.

17. Book Sources
Last Name, First and Middle Initials. (Year). Title of
book. Place of publication: Publisher.
Smith, R. J. (2008). Getting ready to work. New
York, NY: Dell Publishing.

18. Article from Print Journal:
Last name, Initials. (Year). Title of article. Title of
Journal, Volume number(Issue number), pages.
Snowden, M. (2013). ACOs set to expand cost savings. Health
Management Technology, 34(1), 12.
Article from Online Journal:
Last name, Initials. (Year, Month day). Title of article.
Title of Journal, Volume number(Issue number),
pages. doi (if available, if not URL)
Ansen, D. (2012, December 31). A lost generation. Newsweek, 62.
Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com

19. Article from Web Page:
Last name, Initials. (Date). Title of article. Retrieved
from http://URL
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013, February 11).
Vaccine virus selection for the 2012-2013 influenza season.
Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/about/season/vaccineselection.htm

20. doi - digital object identifier
Usually appears on the first page of an article
Purpose is to provide a way to locate an article
that is not dependent upon a URL or changes to
the URL
doi string may be numeric or alphanumeric
If the doi string does not exist use the format
Retrieved from http://URL
Provide a doi if available – even if you used a print
source

21. Websites – include as much information as
you can find.
Information for the citation might be on a
different page. This is especially true if the
page(s) is part of a larger work (i.e., the author
is treating it like a chapter)
Check out the home page or the contact us page
(especially if you’ve Googled to find the page)

22.  Print
APA Handbook
 OWL online http://owl.english.purdue.edu
 Databases – generate citations
 Citation Machine http://citationmachine.net
Nobody memorizes ALL the rules, in fact most
people have to refer to the APA guidelines
every time they write a paper.
Remember even if a source provides an APA
reference you are ultimately responsible to
make sure it is in the correct format!