APA Style Format Essay Example for Free

APA Style Format Essay Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck Last Edited: 2012-05-30 12:19:58 Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in APA. To see a side-by-side comparison of the three most widely used citation styles, including a chart of all APA citation guidelines, see the Citation Style Chart. You can also watch our APA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel. General APA Guidelines Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5 x 11) with 1 margins on all sides. You should use a clear font that is highly readable. APA recommends using 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Include a page header (also known as the running head) at the top of every page. To create a page header/running head, insert page numbers flush right. Then type TITLE OF YOUR PAPER in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened version of your papers title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation. Major Paper Sections Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, andReferences. Title Page The title page should contain the title of the paper, the authors name, and theinstitutional affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page. Please note that on the title page, your page header/running head should look like this: Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER After consulting with publication specialists at the APA, OWL staff learned that the APA 6th edition, first printing sample papers have incorrect examples of Running heads on pages after the title page. This link will take you to the APA site where you can find a complete list of all the errors in the APAs 6th edition style guide. Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced. Beneath the title, type the authors name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (Ph.D.). Beneath the authors name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research. APA Title Page Abstract Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of the abstract page, center the word â€Å"Abstract† (no bold, formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation marks). Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150 and 250 words. You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases. APA Abstract Page Please see our Sample APA Paper resource to see an example of an APA paper. You may also visit our Additional Resources page for more examples of APA papers. How to Cite the Purdue OWL in APA Individual Resources Contributors names and the last edited date can be found in the orange boxes at the top of every page on the OWL. Contributors names (Last edited date). Title of resource. Retrieved from http://Web address for OWL resource Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ n-Text Citations: The Basics Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck Last Edited: 2012-09-14 09:39:55 Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay. Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found APA Citation Basics When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the authors last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. In-Text Citation Capitalization, Quotes, and Italics/Underlining Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones. If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. (Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media.) When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word:Natural-Born Cyborgs. Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcocks Vertigo. Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The Wizard of Oz; Friends. Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds; The One Where Chandler Cant Cry. Short Quotations If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by p.). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the authors last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. According to Jones (1998), Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time (p. 199). Jones (1998) found students often had difficulty using APA style (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers? If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the authors last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation. She stated, Students often had difficulty using APA style (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why. Long Quotations Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. Joness (1998) study found the following: Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199) Summary or Paraphrase If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.) According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners. APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199). In-Text Citations: Author/Authors Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck Last Edited: 2011-10-28 07:37:33 APA style has a series of important rules on using author names as part of the author-date system. There are additional rules for citing indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers. Citing an Author or Authors A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word and between the authors names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses. Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports (Wegener Petty, 1994) A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. (Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, Harlow, 1993) In subsequent citations, only use the first authors last name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses. (Kernis et al., 1993) In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Six or More Authors: Use the first authors name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses. Harris et al. (2001) argued (Harris et al., 2001) Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers (Using APA, 2001). Note: In the rare case the Anonymous is used for the author, treat it as the authors name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author. Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source. According to the American Psychological Association (2000), If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000) Second citation: (MADD, 2000) Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list, separated by a semi-colon. (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983) Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names. (E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998) Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation. Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterwords in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual. (Funk Kolln, 1992) Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the communicators name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list. (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001). A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal communication, November 3, 2002). Citing Indirect Sources If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses. Johnson argued that(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102). Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source. Electronic Sources If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style. Kenneth (2000) explained Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation n.d. (for no date). Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with tutoring (Tutoring and APA, n.d.). Sources Without Page Numbers When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the abbreviation para. followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like Web pages, people can use the Find function in their browser to locate any passages you cite. According to Smith (1997), (Mind over Matter section, para. 6). Note: Never use the page numbers of Web pages you print out; different computers print Web pages with different pagination.