Research papers generally build on the work of previous writers and researchers.  Whenever you write a paper and use the material of another author, you must document that source. 

 
Documentation credits the author and publisher of the original work and provides the necessary information for readers to consult the same sources.  Documentation is generally in the form of a bibliography that is a list of works cited at the end of the paper.

At the Mansfield Library

(ask at the Information Desk):

American Psychological Association.  (2009).  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (6^th ed).  Washington DC:  American Psychological Association.  

Online Guides:

Bedford St. Martin's 

The OWL at Purdue University

 

Bibliographies formatted in APA Style require specific spacing, indentation,  underlining and punctuation. Please click on the link below to download a sample Works Cited List with examples for all kinds of sources.

CITING QUOTATIONS IN TEXT

There are several ways to cite a quotation within a document with APA format, but the same citation information (author’s last name, publication date and page number) must be included. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th ed.) gives these following examples:

 
Quotation 1 - use double quotations:  

When author is mentioned in the beginning -

Miele (1993) found that "the 'placebo effect', which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when [only the first group's] behaviors were studied in this manner" (p.276)

 

When author is mentioned at the end -

... "the 'placebo effect', which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when [only the first group's] behaviors were studied in this manner" (Miele, 1993, p.276)

 

Quotation 2 - block quotation of 40 words or more; no quotation marks used; indent 5 spaces from the left margin:

Miele (1993) found the following:

The “placebo effect,” which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner.  Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again [emphasis added], even when reel [sic] drugs were administered. Earlier studies (e.g., Abdullah, 1984; Fox, 1979) were clearly premature in attributing the results to a placebo effect. (p. 276)

 

 

CITING SOURCES WITHOUT PAGE NUMBERS

The publication manual also notes that sometimes electronic sources (such as an HTML full-text document from an online database or information from a website) do not have page numbers. If no page numbers are listed, use the paragraph number and, when given, the heading or section title. The manual provides the following two examples:

Quotation 1 - when paragraph numbers are visible, indicate with (para.):

Basu and Jones (2007) went so far as to suggest the need for a new "intellectual framework in which to consider the nature and form of regulation in syberspace" (para.4).

 

Quotation 2 - document uses headings rather than paragraphs or page numbers:

In their study, Verbunt, Pernot, and Smeets (2008) found that "the level of perceived disability in patients with fibromyalgia semed best explained by their mental health condition and less by their physical condition" (Discussion section, para.1).

 

Quotation 3 - when headings are too unwieldy to cite in full, use a short parenthetical title enclosed in quotation marks :

Empirical studies have found mixed results on the efficacy of labels in educating consumers and changing consumption behavior" (Golan, Kuchler, & Krissof, 2007, "Mandatory Labeling has Targeted", para.4).

• Any information that is inserted within the quotation not in the original printing requires brackets for enclosure.
  

• If italics are added to the original quotation, the bracket [emphasis added] must be included.
  

• If any words are omitted from the original quotation, a parenthetical ellipsis (…) must be in place of the omitted words.
  

• If the quotation includes a misspelled or incorrect word, the word should be quoted as originally printed followed by a bracketed and italizcized [sic] to ensure the accuracy of the quotation.
  

• Any quotation over 40 words in length must be indented as a block quotation, five spaces in from the left margin.
  

• When citing a work authored by two individuals, cite both names every time the reference occurs in text.
  
  When citing a source with three or more authors, list all authors the first time being referenced; subsequent citations requires only the surname of the first author followed by et el. (not italicized and with a period after al) and the year if it is the first citation of the reference within a paragraph.
  

  Use as first citation in text: Kisangu, Lyaruu, Hosea, and Joseph (2007) found
  
  Use as subsequent first citation per paragraph thereafter: Kisangu et al. (2007) found
  
  Thereafter, omit year for subsequent citations: Kisangu et al. found

• Even if information from a source is paraphrased, it still must be cited.