ECHD 240: Child and Family Wellness: Citing Sources

What is APA Style?

APA Style is an editorial style developed by the American Psychological Association and used for written materials in the social and behavioral sciences. APA Style requires you to cite the sources you have used in two places: the in-text citation and as part of your reference list at the end of your paper.

How do I Format In-Text Citations?

In APA style, each quotation or paraphrase must include the author's last name and the year of publication. For quotations you must also include the page number.

Paraphrase

By paraphrasing (or summarizing), you convey the author's original meaning in your own words. Below are two examples:

The potential for truly integrated online research continues to develop at a rapid pace (Moore, 2001).

Baker (1989) comments on the fact that students who have a great interest in laboratory work attain good results.

Quotation

It is when a  group of words taken are from a text or speech and repeated by someone other than the original author or speaker. The following is an example of a brief quotation:

They point out that, “Informational labels are especially important for nonprint materials because they can furnish critical information which otherwise might not be evident from looking at the item on the shelf” (Driessen & Smyth, 1995, p. 32).

How Do I Create a Reference List?

• Arrange your citations alphabetically by author’s last name
• Arrange anonymous (no author) works by the first significant word in the title
• Double-space between each entry
• Indent the second line of each entry (a hanging indent)