APA Guidelines for In-Text Citations and Reference List
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.
Inside a dog, it’s too dark to read. Groucho Marx
All resources must be credited both inside your paper and in the Reference List. To that end, the Center for Technical Communication has elected to use the American Psychological Association (APA) style guide for all the written assignments we evaluate. APA is common to many technical disciplines, including engineering. No style guide is “better” than the other: the point of using a style guide is to stay consistent and give credit where credit is due. This abridged version of APA was taken from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition, published in 2001. If you have any further questions about citing sources properly, please visit AskCTC on-line (http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~ctc) or make an appointment in person at the Center in room 2224 SC.
Citing Within the Text
Any material that is directly quoted or paraphrased must be cited within the body of the paper or report. To paraphrase is to restate in your own words a passage or text from another author or source. When paraphrasing, it is not necessary to provide a page number or paragraph. However, inclusion of such information is suggested if it will help the reader locate the material in extended passages or complete works. Students are required to use parenthetical citations; this requires you to place information, usually author and date of publication, within parentheses directly following any quoted or paraphrased information.
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A Work by One Author
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(Brown, 2002) (2002)
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Use author’s last name and date of publication. Use only the year of publication if the author has already been mentioned. For example: Brown addressed “the architectural ideal of aesthetics, pragmatism, and safety” in his presentation to Yale University (2002). |
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A Work by Multiple Authors
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Two Authors (Brown, Greene, 1993)
More than Two Authors (Murray, Allen, Jones, and Smith, 1998) (Murray et. al, 1998)
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Include both names in every citation.
First citation. All subsequent citations. |
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Groups or Institutions As Authors
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(The University of Iowa, 2002)
(Department of Human Resources [DHR], 2002) (DHR, 2002) |
First citation. All subsequent citations.
First citation. All subsequent citations.
Sometime groups or institutions comprise the author. The name is usually used in full but in some cases, such as government agencies, the name may be abbreviated. |
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Works with No Author |
(“Bridges of America,” 1997)
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Substitute three or four words of the title of the article, book, or Internet source. |
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Authors with the Same Last Name |
(Smith, R.D. and Smith, L., 2001) |
Include first initials for both authors. |
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Personal Communi-cations |
(Gonzales, personal communication, May 4, 2002)
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Personal communications include E-mail, letters, memos, and interviews. However, do not include personal communications in the Reference List because the material is not “recoverable data.”
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Specific Parts of the
Text (printed or electronic), Quotations, Figures,
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Quoted material (Hawkes, 1993, chap. 2) (Ginsberg and Hawthorne, 1997, p. 232)
Internet source. (Sinclair, ¶ 11)
Figure In-text reference. (see Figure 4)
Caption. Figure 3. Determination of propane lower flammability limits.
Table In-text reference. (see Table 6)
Title. Open-cup method flash point values
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If material is directly quoted, include the page or chapter where the material was retrieved.
In the case of Internet sources without page numbers, cite the paragraph that contains the information. Figures and tables must also be properly cited. See below.
In the text, number figures consecutively with Arabic numerals.
Provide a caption below each figure.
Number all tables with Arabic numerals in the order in which they first appear.
Provide every table a brief but explanatory title, which is placed at the top of the table. |
Reference List
Your second responsibility as a researcher is to provide an alphabetized reference list of all in-text sources; this list (titled “References”) is placed on its own page or pages at the back of your paper. Citing references is not mere busy work; it is your responsibility as a professional to provide readers with correct and complete access to your sources. The following guidelines will help you prepare a proper Reference list.
How to Format and Order Your References
The word References is typed at the top of the page and centered. Listings appear alphabetically by author’s last name or by the name of the institution or group that constitutes the author. If there is no author, the title is listed first, alphabetically by the first significant word in the title. The first line of each reference begins at the left-hand margin, and subsequent lines are indented five spaces. Material is double-spaced within and between sources.
General Formatting Guidelines for References
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Book: Single Author
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Lampe, G.P. (1998). Frederick Douglass: Freedom’s voice, 1818-1845. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press. |
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Book: Two or More Authors |
Andrews, K., & Curtis, M.L. (1998). A changing Australia: The social, cultural and economic trends facing Australia. Annandale, VA: Federation. Press.
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Book: Second or Later Edition |
Lerner, G. (1998). The Grimke sisters from South Carolina (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
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Edited Book
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Reisman S.J. (Ed.). (1962). A style manual for technical writers and editors. New York: Macmillan.
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Book Chapters
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Baker, R.M., & Lightfoot, O.B. (1993). Psychiatric care of ethnic elders. In A.C. Gaw (Ed.), Culture, ethnicity, and mental illness (pp. 517-552). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press. |
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Journal Article in Journal Paginated by Issue |
Kauffman, J.M., & Burbach, H.J. (1998). Creating classroom civility. Education Digest, 63 (1), 12-18.
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Journal Article in Journal with Continuous Pagination |
Jones, P.C. (1998). Behavior modification in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 60-63.
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Magazine Article |
Frank, A. (1997, November). Quantum honeybees. Discover, 18, 80-86.
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Signed Newspaper Article |
Raspberry, W. (1989, January 4). When “Black” becomes “African American.” The Washington Post, p. A19.
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Anonymous Article |
Plane soars to new heights on sunbeams. (1997, June 30). New Scientist, 130, 13.
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Book Translation |
Laplace, P.-S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F.W. Truscott & F.L. Emory, Trans.). New York: Dover. (Original work published in 1814) |
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Technical and Research Reports |
Mazzeo, J., & Druesne, B. (1991). Comparability of computer and paper-and-pencil scores for two CLEP general examinations (College Board Rep. No. 91-5). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. |
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Television Broadcast
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Crystal, L. (Executive Producer). (1993, October 11). The MacNeil/Lehrer news hour [Television broadcast.] New York and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service. |
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Motion Picture
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Scorsese, M. (Producer), & Lonergan, K. (Writer/Director). (2000). You can count on me [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures. |
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Audio Recording
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Costa, P.T., Jr. (Speaker). (1988). Personality, continuity, and changes of adult life (Cassette Recording No. 207-433-88A-B). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. |
Using Internet Sources *
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Internet article based on a print source |
VandenBos, G., & Knapp, S. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version.] Journal of Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123.
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Electronic copy of journal article, 3-5 authors, from database |
Borman, W.C., Hanson, M., & Oppler, S. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 443-449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsycARTICLES database. |
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Newspaper article, electronic version |
Hilts, P.J. (1991, February 16). In forecasting their emotions, most people flunk out. New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2000, from http://www.nytimes.com |
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U.S. government report, electronic version |
U.S. General Accounting Office. (1997, February). Telemedicine: Federal strategy is needed to guide investments (Publication No. GAO/NSAID/HEHS-97-67). Retrieved September 15, 2000, from General Accounting Office Reports Online via GPO Access: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml?/gao/index
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U.S gov’t. report on gov’t. Web site, no date |
United States Sentencing Commission. (n.d.). Sourcebook of federal sentencing statistics. Retrieved April 12 2002, from http://www.ussc.gov/annrpt/sbtoc97.htm |
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University document from web site |
Chou, L. & McClintock, D. (1993). Technology and education: New wine in new bottles. Retrieved September 18, 2002, from Columbia University, Institute for Learning Technologies Web site: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/publications/papers/newwine1 |
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Document with no author or date |
GVU’s 8th WWW user survey. (n.d.) Retrieved August 8, 2000, from http://ww.cc.gatech.edu/guv/user/ 1997
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* The Lichtenberger Library at the College of Engineering offers information on how to evaluate a Web site in order to determine its appropriateness as a research source. The handout is titled “Evaluating Resources on the World Wide Web” and is located at: