APA format has been established by the American Psychological Association, and it is used by all psychologists when writing papers for publication in most psychological journals. Hence, students in psychology courses at most colleges and universities are expected to follow this format for their own written papers and reports. Below is a brief list of examples of common citation formats for the Reference section and Citations with the text of the paper of the paper. However, students should consult the APA Publication Manual (available in the University Bookstore and in Herrick Library) for more detailed examples. Often the sample research report in the manual is most useful for quick examples (pp. 306-320).

American Psychological Association.  (2001).  Publication 
     manual of the American Psychological Association. 
     Washington, D.C.: APA. 

  Reference section:
     The following citations are common examples for the 
     'References' section of the paper. In general, each new 
     citation is left-justified starting with the author's name 
     until the end of the line and then indented 5 spaces for 
     each additional line of the same citation. Two spaces 
     should be placed between the authors' names and date, 
     between the date and title, between the title and 
     location of publication, etc:

1. Book - single author:

2. Book - multiple authors:

              Furlong, N., Lovelace, E., & Lovelace, K.  
                   (2000). Research methods and statistics: An 
                    integrated approach.  Fort Worth: 
                    Harcourt-Brace. 

              Rubin, D. C.  (Ed.).  (1996).  Remembering our 
                    past: Studies in autobiographical memory. 
                   Cambridge, MA: Cambridge.

4. Book - select chapters in edited book:

              Christianson, S., & Safer, M.  (1996). Emotional 
                   events and emotions in autobiographical 
                   memories.  In D.C. Rubin (ed.), 
                   Remembering our past: Studies in 
                   autobiographical memory (pp. 218-243). 
                   Cambridge, MA: Cambridge.

              Conway, M. A.  (1996).  Autobiographical 
                    knowledge and autobiographical memories.  
                    In D.C. Rubin (ed.), Remembering our past: 
                    Studies in autobiographical memory 
                    (pp.67-93).  Cambridge, MA: Cambridge.

               Robinson, J. A.  (1996).  Perspective, meaning, 
                    and remembering.  In D.C. Rubin (ed.), 
                    Remembering our past: Studies in 
                    autobiographical memory (pp. 199-217). 
                    Cambridge, MA: Cambridge.

5. Journal articles

              Atlas, G. (2001). The Schreiber Case: A 
                   reinterpretation from an adult developmental 
                   perspective.  Psychological Reports, 83, 
                   819-833.

              Peterson, S. A., & Maiden, R. J.  (1993).  
                   Personality and politics among older 
                   Americans: A rural case study.  International 
                   Journal of Aging and Human Development, 
                   36, 157-169.  

6. Web sites (see also
     http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html for 
     several other examples):

              Online journal:
              Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. 
                    (2000). Title of article. Title of Periodical, 
                    Vol, pp. Retrieved month, day, year, from 
                    source.

              Online document:
             Author, A. A. (2000). Title of work.  Retrieved 
                    month, day, year, from source.

  Citations within the text:
     In addition to listing your sources on a Reference page, 
     you must indicate to the reader in the text of your paper 
     which pieces of information are linked to each of your 
     sources. The following examples illustrate how to cite 
     within the paper:

               Our memories for the past can be shaped by our 
               current perspectives (Robinson, 1996). For this 
               reason, many current theorists believe that a 
               given 'memory' is reconstructed at the time we 
               are recalling that information (Conway, 1996; 
               Robinson, 1996; Rubin, 1996). Some 
               reconstructions are very vivid and quite accurate 
               because they produce an impact on us (Conway, 
               1994; 1996). Emotion can also enhance 
               remembering (Christianson & Safer, 1996). 
               Other memories may be "ad-libbed" or faded 
               completely due to lack of importance (Conway, 
               1996; Robinson, 1996).

As you will notice in the paragraph above, it is best to cite your sources frequently, especially when you primarily are describing the ideasof other authors. If you use a single source for an entire paragraph, you can simply cite that author at the end of the paragraph to indicate that all of the ideas belong to that author.

Quotations should be used sparingly, such as to emphasize an author's particular word choice or to add some level of drama. Quotations SHOULD NOT be used regularly to string together parts of other authors' ideas (essentially their papers) into your own paper. When appropriate and when extending beyond a few words, quotations follow this format:

"The central argument...is that there are no such things as autobiographical memories, at least in the sense of discrete, holistic, units in long-term memory." (Conway, 1996, p67).