Penn State University Libraries - APA Style

When citing an entire website, it is sufficient to give the address of the site in just the text. Example:
Kidspsych is a wonderful interactive website for children (http://www.kidspsych.org).

Page within a web site:

Holt, M. (2011). Effective communication methods in an organization. In Chron Small Business. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effective-communication-methods-organization-2.html

Stand-alone document (unknown author):

New child vaccine gets funding boost. (2001). Retrieved March 21, 2001, from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_13178.asp

U.S. government report available on government agency Web site:

United States Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2009, July 17) Economic news release: Regional and state employment and unemployment (monthly). Retrieved August 3, 2009, from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.toc.htm

For articles found on the web or in an electronic database:

• Place the article DOI (digital object identifier), if available, at the end of the reference.
  
  • DOIs are provided by many scholarly publishers for articles and other documents.

• If the DOI number is not available, APA recommends giving the URL of the publication. If the URL is not known, include the database name and accession number, if known.
  
  • Example: Retrieved from ERIC database (ED 479355).

• Do not put a period after either the DOI or the URL.

• Since DOIs and database sources are stable, do not add a retrieval date.

• When providing a URL, include retrieval dates only if the source material may change over time, e.g., for web pages or wikis (see above examples).

DOI example:

Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

URL example of a journal article (if no DOI is given):

Wheeler, D. P., & Bragin, M. (2007). Bringing it all back home: Social work and the challenge of returning veterans. Health and Social Work, 32, 297-300. Retrieved from http://naswpressonline.org

Database examples (if no DOI is given):

1)      Scholarly journal article from ProQuest:

Bell, L. G., Bell, D. C., & Nakata, Y. (2001). Triangulation and adolescent development in the

U.S. and Japan. Family Process 40, 173-186. Retrieved from ProQuest database.

2)      Newspaper article from ProQuest:

Simon, R., & Ford, C. M. (2009, July 25). U.S. news: Consumer-debt picture shows one sign of improvement. Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition), p. A4. Retrieved from ProQuest database (1802219041).

3)      Entry in an online encyclopedia:

Theory x and theory y. (2009) In Encyclopedia of management (6^th ed., pp. 954-957). Detroit, MI: Gale. Retrieved from Gale Virtual Reference Library database (GALE|CX3273100300).       

In-text citation example:

(Author(s), Year)

(Smith & Li, 2000)

• For a direct quotation, include the page number of the quote: (Jones, 2007, p. 27).

• If no author, in the text cite the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title or abbreviated title: ("New Drug Appears," 1993).

Entries go in alphabetical order by first author’s last name. Don’t group entries by type or year or anything else. Just put them in regular alphabetical order. (Don’t rearrange authors names within a single entry if there are two or more authors. The first author is always the primary author; authors are listed in order of the rank. Don’t change that order.)

The full reference list is double-spaced, with no extra space between entries. Don’t single space unless your professor specifically instructs you to do that.

The first line of each entry uses the full line across the page, from the left margin through to the right.

The second and subsequent lines of each entry take a hanging indent of ½ inch. (Hint: Use the “hanging” indent feature under “special” in the “indentation” block of the paragraph item under “Format” in the pull-down menu on Word.)

Capitalization of titles in APA does not necessarily go the way the publication you used has it. Article titles take a cap only for the first word; the first word after a colon, which indicates a subtitle; and for proper nouns (names of places, people, companies, and things like brand names).

Continue numbering pages consecutively from the cover sheet, if you have one, or first page right through the reference list to the end of your paper. Page numbers in APA Style go in the upper margin on the right hand side, with a running head that indicates your topic and us usually a piece of your title. (Hint: Use the “Header and Footer” function from “View” in the drop-down menu in Word.)

APA Style uses plain or “regular” letters, and italics. It does not use bold type in a reference list. It does not use underlining.

APA Style calls for Times New Roman lettering in 10 or 12 points (12 point is generally preferred by your profs.) Don’t use a different font or size in your reference list. Don’t use any different fonts or sizes in the body text of your paper unless they’ve been approved by your prof.

A URL is not a reference list entry. It’s not an in-text citation either. It’s only an address and provides almost none of the specific identifying information required for proper credit-giving in any form, APA Style or other. Never should you have an item in your paper or on your reference list that reads like this: www.bicycling.com.

Please note that many sources accessed from the open Internet (not through a database) are of questionable reliability. Be sure to check the credibility of your sources.

General guidelines prepared by Bim Angst, Instructor of Writing, Penn State Schuylkill, 7.05