Professional and Technical Writing/Documenting Your Sources/APA Style Reference Lists

APA Style reference Lists

Types of sources are usually put in the category of printed, electronic, or other. Within these categories are many sub-categories. Each of these sub-categories should be cited slightly differently in the APA format. Below explains the proper ways to list these different sources in the reference list, which should be attached at the end of a document.

The reference list should be formatted as follows:

•Double spaced

•Second and following lines of all citations indented about a half inch

•Times New Roman 12 point font

•In alphabetical order

•If the author's name is not available, the organization name can be substituted

Printed Sources

• Book, One Author

-Give the author's last name followed by a comma and initials (don't put the author's full first or middle name).

-Place the copyright date in parentheses, followed by a period.

-Italicize or underline the title, and capitalize only the first work of the title, the first word of the subtitle, and any proper nouns.

-Follow the city of publication with a comma and the two- letter postal abbreviation for the state. You do not have to give the state of large for well known cities such as New York and Boston.

-Indent the second and subsequent lines by five spaces.

Example: Smith, F. (2008). AKC Dog Book. Boston: Dawg Books

• Book, Two or More Authors –Add as many authors as the publication has using the "&" symbol between.

Example: Smith, F. & Harris, S. (2008). AKC Dog Book. Boston: Dawg Books

• Anthology or Essay Collection

- If there is one editor, use: (Ed.).

Example: Black, S. (Ed). (1989). The Origin of Dogs. New York: Dawg Press

• Government Report

- If the report doesn't list an author, use the name of the agency that published it as the author. If it is a United States government agency, use "U.S"

- If the report has an identifying number, place it immediately after the title.

Example: Smith, F. (2009). Effects of Bombs on America (U.S. Bomb Survey- Report 12-3456). Las Vegas, NV: U.S. Bomb Survey.

• Corporate Report

- List the names of the individual authors rather than the corporation if the names are given on the title page.

- If the names of the authors aren't given on the title page, list the corporation as the author.

- When the author and publisher are the same, use the word "Author" as the name of the publisher.

Example: PetSmart, Inc. (2009). Dog Toy Report 2009. Minneapolis, MN: Author.

• Essay in a Book

Example: Smith, F. (2009). Dog behavior at night. In S. Harris (Ed.), Dog Behavior (pp. 30-33). Boston: Dawg Books.

• Pamphlet or Brochure

- When the author and publisher are the same, use the word "Author" as the name of the publisher.

Example: American Kennel Club. (2009). Adding a New Puppy to Your Family. [Brochure]. Raleigh, NC: Author.

• Article in Popular Magazine

- Give the full date of the issue, placing the year first.

- Provide the volume number but not the issue number.

– Be sure to italicize the magazine name as well as the issue number.

Example: Smith, F. (2009, May 8). Border Collies. AKC Gazette, 28, 16-20.

• Newspaper Article

- In front of the page number for newspapers, write p. if there is one page, and pp. for a range of pages.

Example: Smith, F. (1989, May 8). Dog chokes from eating chicken bones. Star Tribune, p.B9.

Electronic Sources

• Report Available Only Through World Wide Web

- Because the site doesn't give the date this page was published on the web, use "n.d." meaning "no date".

Example: English Springer Spaniels. (n.d). Springer Spaniel Facts. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from www.ess.com/facts

• CD-ROM

–Include the title (in italics), the date (in parenthesis), the title of the series in italics, the electronic type and the city, state and manufacturer.

Example: "Dogs." (2008). Encarta 2008. CD-ROM. Redmond, WA: Microsoft.

• Email

- References to e-mails are only in parentheses in the text and are not included in the Reference list in APA. The citation in the text includes the author's initials as well as his or her last name and an exact date.

Example: (F. Smith, personal communication, May 8, 2008)

Other Sources

• Letter

- Letters are treated in the same manner as e-mails in APA.

• Interview

- Interviews are treated in the same manner as e-mails in APA.