Appendices
J | FSCJ – APA Citation Style
APA Style
A citation style developed by the American Psychological Association (APA), used by a variety of disciplines, including psychology, health sciences, STEM fields, and communication. APA Style is detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition.
Citation, in any style, has many functions; it:
- allows you to support the claims you make,
- gives credit to the source of the information, and
- allows your audience to locate the information if they want to learn more.
When to Cite
Any time you use someone else’s original ideas, statistics, studies, borrowed concepts, phrases, images, quoted material, and tables—their intellectual property—you cite to indicate its source. This reflects both the research you have done and your academic integrity.
Elements of Citation
In-text Citation: If you use a quotation from an author, summarize or paraphrase another person’s ideas or research, you must identify (cite) the source of that information within the body of your paper. These citations are called parenthetical or in-text citations because the citation may be in parentheses at the end of the quotation or paraphrase.
Full Citation: Each source you used will be listed on this page, using a full APA-style citation. The page itself will be labeled “References,” and will list all the sources you used in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. See Reference List for examples.
APA Resources
You may have questions about APA style, and while full APA guidelines are included in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, other resources are also available.
The APA runs a site, apastyle.apa.org/, that provides additional information about APA citation. FSCJ has an APA Style LibGuide that is easy to use.
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has an online guide to APA citation.
Sample APA References and Citations
| Source | Full Citation | In-text Citation |
| Book
Example: 2 authors |
Author Last Name, F. I. (Year Published). Book title. Publisher Name.
Druin, A., & Solomon, C. (1996). Designing multimedia environments for children. J. Wiley & Sons. |
Parenthetical citation:
(Druin & Solomon, 1996) In text citation: Druin and Solomon (1996) |
| Book Article or Chapter in Edited Book | Franciscu, J. B., & Chiarini, L. B. (1992). Clarity at last: Including personal spiritual beliefs in patient motivation evaluation. In R. M. Bright III (Ed.), Aspects of Psychology: Vol. 7. Psychology and Religion (2nd ed., pp. 24-68). Amicus. | Parenthetical citation:
(Franciscu & Chiarini, 1992) In text citation: Franciscu and Chiarini (1992) |
| Journal article from database (with DOI) | Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number, page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000Prdziebylo, I. L., Korzybski, C. L., & Gimpelowicz, Z. (1991). Interpersonal cognition and sibling rivalry in large families. Polish Journal of Psychology, 74, 329-348. doi: 10.1037/2078-6133.25.2.233 |
Parenthetical citation:
(Prdziebylo, Korzybski, & Gimpelowicz, 1991) [OR] (Prdziebylo et al, 1991) In text citation: Prdziebylo, Korzybski, and Gimpelowicz (1991) [OR] Prdziebylo et al (1991) |
| Database or Internet article (no DOI)
Example: Online Newspaper Article |
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number, Page Range. http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/ Newton, C. (2010, Feb. 15).
Driving-while-texting ban advances Senate. The Arizona Republic. http://www.azcentral.com (Include all information available.) |
Parenthetical citation:
(Newton, 2010)
In text citation: Newton (2010) |
| Online Media
Example: Webpage on a news website |
Author Last Name, F. I. (Date of Publication). Web article title (if applicable). Title of Website. Retrieved date, from http://website.com
Avramova, N. (2019, January 3). The secret to a long, happy, healthy life? Think age-positive. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/03/health/respect-toward-elderly-leads-to-a-long-life-intl/index.html |
Parenthetical citation:
(Avramova, 2019)
In text citation: Avramova (2019) |
| (If no author listed, begin the entry with the web page title) *include a retrieval date only when the content is designed to change over time
Example APA Citations created by UW Libraries is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license. |
Text pertaining to APA Citations in Appendix B was remixed from Appendix E in “Exploring Public Speaking: 4th Edition” and is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Tucker, Barbara; Barton, Kristin; Burger, Amy; Drye, Jerry; Hunsicker, Cathy; Mendes, Amy; and LeHew, Matthew, “Exploring Public Speaking: 4th Edition” (2019). Communication Open Textbooks. 1. https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/communication-textbooks/1.