APA Format

APA Format

Below is an example of what the top of the first page of a journal article might look like. The information in the upper left hand corner is sometimes located in different positions with different journals, but most of the time this information is located somewhere in the article. The rest of this sheet outlines how to take this basic information and translate it into an APA reference.

Journal of Pointless Psychology, 1998, Vol. 20, No. 1, 3-44

Formatting Fiascos: A Comprehensive Theory as to Why Research Methods

Instructors Struggle to Keep up with Changes in APA Format

Irving M. Dense Ursula R. Hipp

University of the Uneducated Institute of Ignorance

Donald S. Christensen

Clueless College

The information in the upper left hand corner of the page is (moving from left to right): the title of the journal (Journal of Pointless Psychology), the year the article was published (1998), the volume of the journal (Vol. 20), the issue number of the journal (No. 1), and the page numbers of the journal article (3-44). Underneath this information in the center of the page is the title of the journal article itself, the authors of the article, and their university affiliation.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the volume number and issue number. The volume number tells you how many years the journal has been published. For instance, the “Vol. 20” in the information above tells us that this journal has been published for 20 years. Generally, a new volume comes out each year so if 1998 is Volume 20, 1999 will be volume 21, 2000 will be Volume 22, and so on. Within each year or volume, a journal will publish several issues. A journal may be published quarterly (with 4 issues), monthly (with 12 issues) or even weekly (with 52 issues; this is more common with magazines like Newsweek and Time). Some journals number their pages continuously across consecutive issues within the same volume (e.g. Volume 20, Issue Number 1 goes from pages 1-123; Volume 20, Issue Number 2 goes from pages 124-209; Volume 20, Issue Number 3 goes from pages 210-336, etc.). Each new issue within the same volume picks up where the previous journal issue left off. If the issues are numbered in this way (paginated by volume), the above information would look like the following when converted to APA format (IMPORTANT: for the purpose of this class, assume that all journals are numbered in this manner):

Dense, I. M., Hipp, U. R., & Christensen, D. S. (1998). Formatting fiascos: A comprehensive theory as to why research methods instructors struggle to keep up with changes in APA format. Journal of Pointless Psychology, 20, 3-44.

Here is a more generic way of thinking of this type of APA reference:

Last name, First initial(s), & Last name, First initial(s). (Date). Title of the article, Title of the Journal, volume, pages.

If the journal does not number continuously across issues (e.g. Volume 20, Issue Number 1 goes from pages 1-123, Volume 20, Issue Number 2 goes from pages 1-98, Volume 20, Issue Number 3 goes from pages 1-101, etc.), then the format of the reference chances slightly. But before I show you how it changes, I’d like to make you a couple of special offers. The first offer is to tell you that your APA format on all homework for this class should look like the example above, not the one below. Here’s the second offer. If you put a smiley face after your APA reference on the jealousy assignment, I’ll give you a bonus point. Please don’t tell other students about this. This is meant to serve as a reward for students who are actually reading the materials. Thanks, and now back to the remainder of the handout. If you have a journal that doesn’t number continuously across issues, then issue number is then added in parentheses after the volume number, so that the APA reference would now look like this:

Here is a more generic way of thinking of this type of APA reference:

Last name, First initial(s), & Last name, First initial(s). (Date). Title of the article, Title of the Journal, volume(issue), pages.

Some Important Points to Remember about APA Format

• Use a hanging indent for the first line of each individual reference. This means that the first line of the reference will line up with the left margin of the page and that all other lines in the reference will be indented slightly to the right.

• The order of authorship matters. List the author whose name appears on the left first, and then make your way to the right. If there are several lines of author names, go left to right before you go down.

• List each author’s full last name and only the first initials of their first and middle names.

• Use commas to separate all the authors’ names (e.g. if you have two authors, you’ll use one comma, if you have five authors, you use four commas, etc.).

• Use the ampersand sign (&), not the word “and” to separate the last and the second to last authors’ names. Even if there are only two authors, still use the ampersand sign to separate them.

• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title (please note I am not talking about the journal title). All words after the first word are lowercase. If there is a colon in the article title (:), capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon, and then return to lowercase.

• Except for small words such as prepositions (in, on, of), conjunctions (and, or), and articles (the, a), the first letters of all the words in the journal title are capitalized (please note that I am not talking about the article title). If a small word is the first word of the journal title or follows a colon (:), then it is capitalized too.

• Both the journal title and the volume number (but not the issue number if it is used) are italicized or put in italics.

• Use commas to separate the journal title, the volume number, and the page numbers.

• Never write the abbreviations “Vol.” or “No.” or “pp.” in your reference. Simply write the numbers.

• Be sure to put periods after the date of publication, the article title, and the very end of the reference.