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Guide to the Research Process: 5b. APA Citation Style

This guide provides an introduction to the skills needed to conduct research, with particular reference to the field of education.

APA Manual 7th Edition

Useful Tutorials

The following tutorials should be useful in helping you to master APA style.

Guides to References in APA Style

Other Useful Resources

What is APA Style?

  • Rules for the preparation of manuscripts for writers and students in psychology
  • Rules cover areas such as the content and structure of a manuscript, writing style, displaying results, and crediting sources
  • Used in many disciplines, including education

In-Text Citations

In-text citations in the body of your paper point the reader to specific sources listed in your list of references. APA style uses the author-date method, that is, the author's last name and the year of publication in text and a complete reference in the reference list. For more information on in-text citations, see pages 174-179 of the APA Manual.

Example:

In text: (Campbell, 1977)

Reference:
Campbell, C. (1997). Endless education: Main currents in the education system of modern Trinidad and Tobago, 1939-1986. Mona, Jamaica: The Press, UWI.

When to Use?

  • Whenever you use other people's words or ideas in your writing, you should cite the source of information
  • When you use another person's words directly, they must be enclosed in quotation marks, with the source cited

References

APA style requires you to provide a list of references at the end of your paper:

  • Provide all the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve every source you cite in the body of the paper
  • Each source you cite in the paper must appear in the reference list and vice versa
  • Provide information about:
    • the author(s) of each work or the institution or group that created the work
    • the date that the work was published
    • the title of the work
    • an indication of whether the work is part of a larger work (e.g., an article in a journal or newspaper, or a chapter in a collection of essays)
    • where the work was published
    • who published the work
    • informatin that would help someone to retrieve the work, e.g., a web page address

The APA Manual provides guidelines on how to format this information