American Psychological Association (APA)
APA stands for the American Psychological Association. It is the citation style used in most of the social sciences as well as some of the natural sciences and is the official APA manual published by the American Psychological Association.
In-Text
An in-text citation appears at the end of the sentences; include author, year, & pages (for direct quotations).
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Integrating robust media literacy concepts into the K-12 curriculum would be a way to enhance students' understanding of credible sources of information (Gopalan, 2018).
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In her research, Gopalan discovered that integrating robust media literacy concepts into K-12 curriculum enhanced students' understanding of credible sources of information (2018).
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According to Gopalan (2018), “scaffolding media literacy instruction in primary grades can help prepare students for more complex evaluative assignments in secondary grades” (p. 82).
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“Scaffolding media literacy instruction in primary grades can help prepare students for more complex evaluative assignments in secondary grades” (Gopalan, 2018, p. 82).
- A similar study on K-6 media literacy revealed that elementary school students had an emerging understanding of credible sources ("Revising K-12 media literacy curriculum," 2019).
- For a work by three or more authors, list only the first author’s name followed by “et al.”: (Hernández et al., 2018).
References
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JOURNAL ARTICLE WITH DOI: |
You will often see a digital object identifier (DOI), a unique set of numbers and letters, assigned to journal articles. If an article has a DOI (not all of them do), APA style requires you to format the DOI as a URL. If the article's DOI isn't a url, add https://doi.org/ in front of it. Gopalan, S. (2018). Re-envisioning K-12 media literacy curricula. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 80(2), 78-92. https://doi.org/10.1280/09421822.2018.85673.x |
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JOURNAL ARTICLE WITHOUT A DOI FROM A DATABASE: |
For scholarly articles without a DOI, published in a database, end the citation with the page range. Garcia-Bernal, D. (2017). Fashion as a site for critical pedagogical praxis. Journal of Fashion & Design Pedagogy, 41(2), 48-63. |
| JOURNAL ARTICLE WITHOUT A DOI FROM A WEBSITE (not a database): |
For scholarly articles with no DOI published on a website, end the citation with the URL. Bruce, S. (2020). Teaching with care: A relational approach to individual research consultations. In the Library With the Lead Pipe. Retrieved August 28, 2020, from http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2020/teaching-with-care/
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PRINT BOOK |
Morrison, T. (2017). The origin of others. Harvard University Press. |
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ESSAY/CHAPTER IN BOOK |
Ng, C., & Saeed, A. (2019). Using #ownvoices literature as an antiracist teaching strategy. In M.K. Peralta (Ed.), Culturally responsive pedagogies in k-12 (2nd ed., pp. 23-40). Routledge. |
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EBOOK |
If the eBook has a DOI, end citation with the DOI.
Erdrich, L. (1993). Future home of the living god: A novel. Harper. |
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ENTIRE WEBSITE |
For general mention of a website that you do not cite information from, you may simply name the website and provide the URL in parentheses for your in-text citation. Do not include on your References page. Ex. The CSUSM Library website provides access to several scholarly article databases and primary sources to aid students in research for their courses (http://biblio.csusm.edu). |
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ARTICLE/PAGE ON A WEBSITE |
Mull, A. (2020, July 7). Fashion's racism and classism are finally out of style. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/fashions-racism-and-classism-are-going-out-style/613906/ |
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YOUTUBE VIDEO |
Sycuan Tribe. (2016, March 10). Our people. Our culture. Our history. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJXh52sgFo&t=24s |
| TWITTER POSTS |
Gessen, M. [@mashagessen]. (2020, June 23). Which made me realize: it is possible to believe that you respect an author's work while explicitly disrespecting them - [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/mashagessen/status/1275529667940888576?s=20 |
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FILM OR TELEVISION |
Lee, S. (Director). (2020). Da 5 bloods [Film]. 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks; Rahway Road; Lloyd Levin/Beatriz Levin Production; Netflix. |
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CLASS LECTURE |
Ibarra Siqueiros, A. (2020). Using zines in library instruction. [PowerPoint slides]. Cougar Courses. https://cc.csusm.edu |
Helpful Online Guides
- The official APA website
Need access to the official APA guidelines right now but can't get to a copy of the book? Try out their website. It has helpful FAQs and basic guidelines. - APA 7th Edition Supplemental Resources
Samples of professional and student papers, bias-free language, table and figures, reference entries, and cover letters and response to reviewers for manuscript submission. - Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)
More examples of APA-style citations and paper formats from Purdue University's famous OWL website. Use the left-hand menu to find the category of item you are trying to cite. - Official APA Website FAQ's
- Sample paper from Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL)
What is a DOI?
APA style requires that you include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) whenever you cite the online version of an article. A DOI is a string of numbers, letters, and symbols used to permanently identify an electronic article or book. The DOI helps readers locate a document even if the physical location of the document changes. The DOI will never change. Please note- some articles may not have a DOI.
The DOI is typically displayed prominently in the bibliographic information for a publication. Check the first page or first several pages of the document, near the copyright notice. The DOI can also be found on the database landing page for the source.
To find the DOI, Ask a Librarian or check out the following tools:
Using APA for Special Cases
- Citing Business Sources (CSUSM Library)
A guide to the most common APA citation formats needed for business sources, compiled by the CSUSM Business Librarian and COBA faculty. - Citing Government Sources (University of Nebraska Kearney)
Guidance on how to cite many different kinds of government documents in APA style. - Legal Citations in APA Style (CSU Stanislaus)
Examples for the most commonly cited federal and California legal documents.