Business

APA citations in the References list are in hanging indent format. That means the first line goes all the way to the left and subsequent lines start .5 inches to the right. You can create a hanging indent by highlighting the citation, right clicking on the highlighted portion, choosing Paragraph, and then choosing Hanging Indent in the Spacing section. 

One Author:

Include the last name of the author every time you cite the source and the date separated by a comma. Add the page number(s) after the date separated by a comma if you are directly quoting a source.

(Bottomly, 1996).

(Bottomly, 1996, p. 7).

Two Authors:

Include the last names of the authors every time you cite the source and connect them with an ampersand &. Add the page number(s) after the date separated by a comma if you are directly quoting a source.

(Cunningham & Tocco, 1989).

(Cohen & Fried, 2007, p. 144).

Three or More Authors:

(Baider et al., 1994).

(Baider et al., 1994, pp. 347-348).

Include only the first author's last name followed by the abbreviation et al. ('and also' in Latin). Only include more authors names if you have two or more sources that would have the same citation. Then add as many authors as you need to distinguish the sources. Add the page number(s) after the date separated by a comma if you are directly quoting a source.

Group Authors:

First time: (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020).

Subsequent times: (APA, 2020).

Include the entire name of the group or organization in the citation. If there is an acronym, include it in brackets the first time you cite the source, then following citations use only the acronym. Add the page number(s) after the date separated by a comma if you are directly quoting a source.

No Author or No Date:

If the source has no author, use the first few words or phrase from the source title or the first few words of the reference entry. Put the words in double quotations.

("Book of the Dead", 1901).

If there is no date, use the abbreviation n.d. for no date.

(The Cornell Lab, n.d.)

You have three different options for citing sources in text.

1.)  Put all the information into the parenthesis at the end.

Happy students achieve higher grade point averages (Barker et al., 2016).

2.)  Name the author(s) in the sentence and put the date in parenthesis next to them.

Barker et al. (2016) found that happy students achieve higher grade point averages.

*When directly quoting a text, the page number is also necessary separated by a comma and with a p. in front of the page.

Barker et al. (2016) conclude, “These results more generally suggest that happy students’ academic success could be derived from their ability to adaptively manage motivational benefits of time-limited periods—or bouts—of heightened negative affect” (p. 2026).

3.)  Put all the information in the sentence so no parenthetical citation is necessary.

In 2016, Barker et al. found that happy students achieve higher grade point averages.

*Note this only works for a paraphrase or summary. Direct quotes will still need the page numbers in the parenthesis.

• Only the last name and initials are used in APA formatting when citing names of authors or editors.
• Authors or editors’ names at the beginning of a citation are inverted. This formatting helps with the alphabetization of the References list.

Ex: Author, A. A.
Ex: Editor, A. A. and Editor, B. B. (Eds.).

• When there is an author and an editor(s), include the editor(s) before the title of the source formatted first initial middle initial last name preceded by ‘In’ and followed by the abbreviation for editor or editors.

Ex: In A. A. Editor (Ed.),
Ex: In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.),
Ex: In A. A. Editor, B. B. Editor, and C. C. Editor (Eds.),

• If there are 21 or more authors, include the names of the first 19 authors. After the 19 author use an ellipses, then add the final author after the ellipses.

Ex: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.

• If there is no author, you can move the title to the beginning of the citation in place of the author. The publication date remains in the second position.
• An author can also be a group, institution, or organization.

Ex: American Psychological Association.

• Dates are formatted as Year, Month Day. Provide as much date information as the source gives and spell out the month rather than abbreviating it.

Ex: (2006, January 31).

• If no date is given, use the abbreviation n.d. for no date.

Ex: (n.d.).

• You may have noticed that some citations in APA require a description in brackets while others do not. If a description would help your reader identify the source or if the source is not typical for a research paper, such as social media or videos, then include a description in brackets after the title.

Ex:  [Tweet], [Status update], [Comment], [Brochure], [Video file], [Motion picture], [Lecture notes], [Monograph], [Transcript], [Video webcast]

To Capitalize or Not to Capitalize

• Most titles in APA need to be in sentence case. Sentence case means that only the beginning word of a title, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon are capitalized. This rule applies no matter the capitalization you see in the source itself.

Ex: The psychology of affiliation: Experimental studies of the sources of gregariousness.

• The exceptions to the sentence case rule are the title of a periodical or website name. A periodical is a source published on a regularly scheduled basis. These include journals, magazines, and newspapers. Periodicals and website names follow title case, which means that all the beginnings of important words are capitalized.  

Journal Ex: American Journal of Psychology
Website Name Ex: Center of Disease Control

To Italicize or not to Italicize?   

• Titles of whole works, such as a book or journal, are italicized.
• Titles of pieces of larger works, such as an article in a journal, a chapter in a book, or a video in a series, are not italicized.
• Journal volume numbers (but not issue numbers!) are also italicized.

Ex: 10(2),

• DOIs or Digital Object Identifiers are the preferred method for citing an electronic source. Have you ever clicked on the link to a website only to find the link was broken? DOIs are permanent urls assigned to an article to make sure a reader can always find it. They are most commonly assigned to journal articles, but sometimes ebooks, ebook chapters, and online magazine articles have them too.

Ex: https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12020

• Some publishers put the DOI in number only form. In this case, change the DOI into the url form with the prefix https://doi.org/

Ex: Change this: DOI:10.1037/arc0000014
To This: https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014

• For electronic journal, magazine, and newspaper articles without DOI’s, you do not need to provide an alternative URL from the database or browser bar.

• Websites do not have DOIs. If you’re citing a website you can use the full URL of the page you’re citing from.

• Do no put a period after a DOI or URL.

• The DOI or URL should not be hyperlinked unless your professor asks for it to be.

Do

• Be as specific as possible with ages and use terms appropriate to each age group: Infant, child, transgender girl, boy, adolescent, adult, older adult.
• Treat aging as a normal part of the human experience rather than a disease.

Avoid

• Use demeaning or othering terms that promote stereotypes, such as “elderly,” “senior,” "the aged," or “senile.”
• Open ended age ranges, such as under 18 or over 65, unless those are the age ranges listed in the study.
• Using language that supports stereotypes, such as referring to all older adults as being frail or all children as being naive or innocent.

Do

• Use respectful terms people use to self-identify.
• Refer to Non-White racial and ethnic groups as a whole  as “people of color” or “underrepresented groups”
• Be specific about the country or geographical region when possible rather than lumping a whole region together: "Chinese," “Korean”, or “Japanese” vs. "Asian."

Avoid

• Terms that lump diverse cultures together, such as "Asian" or "African."
• Derogatory or disrespectful terms.

“Negro”
“Afro-American”
“Oriental”
“Eskimo”
“the Black race”
“the White race”

Do

• Use terms people use to self-identify.
• Refer to LGBTQA+ groups as a whole as “sexual and gender minorities” or “Sexual orientation and gender diverse.”
• Be specific when possible when describing sexual orientation, including the gender along with the orientation.

"Bi-sexual women"
"Gay men"
"Pansexual gender-fluid adolescents"

Avoid

• Terms or labels that lump groups together as if they are one, such as "homosexuals" or "homosexuality"
• Referring to sexual orientations as a lifestyle or preference.
• Derogatory or defamatory terms, such as "pervert" or "deviant"

Do

• Use acceptable generic terms, such as "patient" or "client."
• Maintain the human dignity of all people by using person first or identity first language. Identity first language is chosen by the person or community rather than assigned by those outside because they consider it part of their identity rather than something negative. For example, deaf people often consider this aspect of themselves as part of a cultural identity, not a disability.

“Person with substance use disorder”
"Person with dementia from Alzheimer's"
“Wheel-chair user”
“Blind person”
“Autistic person”

Avoid

• Using terminology that demeans people or defines people by a disease or mental health issue:  

“Substance abusers”
"Addicts"
“The mentally retarded”
"Wheel chair bound"
"Sight challenged person"
"Special needs"

Do

• Refer to people by the terms they self-identify with if it is known.

"Man"/"Woman"
"He"/"She"
"Non-binary"/"Gender-fluid"
"Ze"
"Hir"

• Use the pronoun "they" if the gender of the person is not known, even if you think you can guess someone's gender by their name.
• Refer to humans and groups of people in an inclusive way

"People"/"Humanity"
"Flight attendant" (vs. stewardess or steward)

Avoid

• Using disparaging and demeaning terminology or terminology that implies sex is an immutable characteristic without cultural influence:

“Birth sex”
“Transvestite”

• Language that attempts to include everybody with binary, thus excluding anyone who is nonbinary.

"He or she"
"He/she"

• Referring to groups of people or humankind in gendered terms

"Mankind"
"Policemen"
"Waitress"

• Referring to men and women using the nouns "males" and "females"

Do

• Use people first language that describes a situation rather than focuses blame on on the individual or a deficit.

"Individuals who are undocumented"
"People whose incomes are below the federal poverty threshold"
"Youth experiencing homelessness"
"People with less than a high-school education"
"Economically marginalized families"

• Be precise about household income levels and household sizes. 

Avoid

• Pejorative, broad, or generalizing terms with negative connotations or that put blame on the person described.

"The homeless"
"Inner city"
"Illegal aliens"
"The undocumented"
"Poor people"
"Low class"
"High school drop-outs"
"Underprivileged families"