Whenever you quote or paraphrase the other’s work, you are required to cite its source. Citations to sources are placed within the text of the paper to briefly identify the sources and enable readers to locate the source of the cited information in the reference list.
In APA Style, references are cited in text with an author-date citation system and they are listed alphabetically in the reference list.
| Works by a single author |
Last name of author and year of publication are inserted in the text at appropriate points. If the name of author appears as part of the narrative, cite only the year of publication in parentheses. |
| Works by two author |
When a work has two authors, always cite both last names every time the reference occurs in the text. Join the names with an ampersand (&) in parentheses. In the narrative text, join the names with the word "and". |
| Works by multiple authors |
When a work has three, four, or five authors, cite all authors the first time the reference occurs. In all subsequent citations, include only the last name of the first author followed by "et al." and the year of publication. When a work has six or more authors, cite only the first author followed by “et al.” and the year of publication for the first and subsequent citations. |
| Works by associations, corporations, government agencies, etc. | The names of groups that serve as authors are usually written out each time they appear in the text. When appropriate, the names of some corporate authors are spelled out in the first reference and abbreviated in all subsequent citations. e.g. In the study of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK, 2017) … EdUHK (2017) found that …. |
| Works with no author |
When a work has no author indicated, use the first two or three words of the work's title (omitting any initial articles and capitalizing each word) as the in-text reference. Place the title in quotation marks if it refers to an article or chapter of a book, or italicize it if it refers to a book or periodical. |
The APA Style is the editorial style commonly used in the field of social and behavioral sciences and has been used to present written material by writers around the world.
APA Style rules and guidelines are found in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. They are designed for clear and consistent presentation of written materials.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Locations in Library: BF76.7 .P83 2010
