American Psychological Association (APA) Guide to Style (5th ed.)

BASIC FORMAT

1. Keep a one-inch margin on all sides.
2. Do not right justify margins, and do not break words at the end of a line.
3. Double-space all pages including references. Indent each paragraph 5-7 spaces.
4. Type a "running head" (an abbreviated title of the paper) at the right margin, to left of page number.
   

   example:

   Global Warming 1



5. Page one is the title page. Center the paper's title and your name approximately one-third of the way from the top. If you are submitting a term paper, also include the name or the course, professor's name, and the date. If your paper is for publication, list the name of the institution instead.
   

   example:

   Global Warming: Fact or Fiction?

   Terry Smith

   ENV444: Environmental Foundations



6. A 100-200 word summary of the paper (if required), entitled Abstract, appears on page two.
7. The text of the paper begins on page three (page two if no abstract).
8. Italicize the titles of books, plays, films, journals, magazines, etc.
9. Use quotation marks for titles of works published within larger works: articles, short stories, poems, book chapters, etc.

CITING ANOTHER PERSON'S WORDS OR IDEAS

In APA style all citations appear in the text of the paper; there are no footnotes nor endnotes. The Author-date method is used. If you quote an author's words EXACTLY, you MUST enclose the words quoted in quotation marks, and include the page number.

example:

"Recent measurements confirm that ozone depletion in the antarctic has a major impact upon global warming" (Jones, 1995, p. 13).

If you paraphrase someone's ideas, you must give that author credit, but do not include the page number.

example:

Jones (1995) believes that the major cause of global warming is the increasing depletion of ozone in the Antarctic region.

REFERENCES

In APA style, the bibliography, called "References," is the last part of your paper. It includes all the works actually cited in the paper (except personal communications and private e-mails) -- and ONLY those works cited. Citations are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name. The first line in each citation starts at the left margin, with subsequent lines indented 5-7 spaces. Capitalize only the first word of the title of a book or article (or the first word after a colon or semicolon in a title), as well as normal proper names. All significant words in journal titles are capitalized as usual. Books and journal titles are italicized. If you are using a typewriter instead of a word processing program with an italics function, underline the text that would be italicized. For journals, the volume number (but not the issue nor page numbers) is also italicized. The following examples provide a guide for formatting references.

BOOKS WRITTEN BY ONE OR SEVERAL AUTHORS

Job, A., & Job, K. (1994). The Brazilian rain forest. New York: Basic Books.

SINGLE CHAPTERS CONTAINED IN EDITED BOOKS

Lazidis, J. (1988). A humanist views the environment. In V. H. Wagner & K. W. Wagner (Eds.), Hot topics: Perspectives on the effects of global warming in Arizona (pp. 239-252). Durango, CO: Coyote Press.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Sabatino, S. (2000). Memories of the energy crisis: How quickly we forget the lessons of the past. Journal of Energy and Resource Management, 16(3), 1-17.

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

Matthew, M. J., & Wolk, R. (1999, January). And you think it's hot here! A letter from the Tropic of Cancer. American Airlines Travel Club Magazine, 17, 6-11.

ERIC DOCUMENTS

Roux, Y. (1997). Teaching about global warming trends. Yazoo, MI: National Conference of Concerned Educators. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 987 321)

WORLD WIDE WEB RESOURCES - GENERAL GUIDELINES

All references should contain the same information that would be provided for a printed source, when possible. If no publication date is available for a document, use "n.d." (which stands for "no date"). The Web source information, where required, is added in a statement at the end of the reference. It is important to give the date of retrieval because documents on the Web may change in content, move, or be removed from a site.

ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT OR PAGE FROM A WORLD WIDE WEB SITE [URL must be included.]

Malanga, K. (1999). Assessment of student services at William Paterson University. Retrieved January 15, 2001, from http://www.wpunj.edu/library/malanga.html

ELECTRONIC JOURNAL FROM A DATABASE [URL is not included.]

Duffy, B., & Theus, P. T. (2000). College students' involvement in customer service evaluation at academic libraries. American Behavioral Scientist, 44(1), pp. 31- 45. Retrieved September 5, 2000, from Academic Search Premier database.

PAGE FROM THE WORLD WIDE WEB - NO AUTHOR [URL must be included.]

Understanding the behavior of students with ADHD. (n.d.). San Francisco, CA: Spectrum. Retrieved May 27, 2000, from http://www.spectrum.org/studentbehavior.html

WORLD WIDE WEB SITES

To cite an entire Web site (not a particular page or document), no reference is needed. Simply give the address of the site in the text of your paper. For example, The Web site of the Center for the Study of Autism covers many aspects of this disorder (http://www.autism.org). Do NOT include the site in your list of references.

E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS

Private e-mails should be cited as personal communications in the text of your paper and not included in the reference list. The format in the text is as follows: R. K. Kearney (personal communication, September 5, 2000).

E-mails to online discussion groups are listed in the References:

Dodwell, C. (August 31, 2001). Comment on Smith's reply [Msg 16]. Message posted to

http://www.wpunj.edu/studentarchive/msg00088.html

These examples cover many of the questions you may have regarding APA style. Always check with your professor or editor for special requirements. Additional information on citing electronic sources is available at the APA's Web site: www.apastyle.org/elecref.html. For things not covered in this guide you will need to consult thePublication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5^th edition, a copy of which is kept at the Reference Desk in the Library.