APA Style Rules and Tips

The following highlights the APA style issues most applicable to CUSSW course requirements. The information provided here is derived from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed., 2010) and the APA Style web site (http://apastyle.apa.org/). To learn more about a specific rule or example not covered here, please refer to the manual itself or the APA Style web site, or contact the Writing Center.

APA rules for citation of reference sources

Adherence to APA rules governing the citation of reference sources will enhance your ability to communicate effectively; therefore, it is best to know and use these rules. In addition to knowing who wrote what and when, documenting your sources and following APA style rules can help you as an author build credibility with your audience—you are participating in a conversation in a way that shows you understand well the accepted method of discourse.

Social science writing can be seen as cumulative. On any given subject, you are acknowledging, that is, citing, what has come before and trying to add something new—a new perspective, additional data, at the very least—so the literature is constantly being replenished and enhanced. And this is why—unlike, for example, MLA style, which is used in the humanities—APA wants you to cite the year of your sources. Of great importance is when a study was done, and those most recently published will more likely have the most up-to-date data. And they will more likely assume, acknowledge, and or incorporate past findings and discussions of the issue under study.

Even when presenting your own ideas, try to find an authoritative source to cite because doing so gives validity to, confirms, backs up your own position. The use of proper citation will also help you avoid plagiarizing a source. Some students incorporate information from an article into their own writing without referencing the source. This kind of plagiarism often occurs when students can not appreciate the difference between what they think about a subject and what they have read about it. Jotting down your responses to what you are reading can help you begin to notice similarities and differences between your ideas and those in your source material.

Reference citation in text

At first mention in a paragraph of any information gathered from your reading, cite the source and provide the year. Either use the author’s name (surname only) as the subject of that the sentence (followed by the year of publication within parentheses):

Lee (2008) stated that fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge.

or place the author’s name and year of publication within parentheses at the end of the sentence:

Fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge (Lee, 2008).

Use the author as the subject in your sentence if you’re going to follow up with one or more sentences that come from that author’s work. Doing so allows you to use nouns (author) and pronouns (he, she, they) to refer back to the named author without the need to cite the year subsequent times in the paragraph; however, include the year the first time you use that source again in another paragraph.

Lee (2008) stated that fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge. The author went on to state that…. Lee also noted….

There is no need to include the year in subsequent references within the same paragraph as long as the reference can not be confused with other studies cited.

Leone’s (1997) multi-experiment study was a breakthrough in the field. However, Green and Burke (2001) challenged Leone’s findings.

Put the author in parentheses at the end of the sentence if you’re only providing one piece of information before moving on to another subject or author.

Fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge (Lee, 2008). Studies have highlighted techniques that foster such exploration (Henry, 2008; Yarber, 2006).

However, cite the year along with the author each time you cite within parentheses.

Lee (2008) stated that fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge. The author also noted…. The study presented four environmental effects on children’s experience (Lee, 2008).

If including a quotation, put the page number in parentheses at the end of the quoted lines:

Lee (2008) suggested that the effect of fairy tales is muted by "the affectionate environment in which the stories are usually told" (p. 39).

Note that the page number comes immediately after the quote, whether it’s at the end of the sentence or not:

Although fairy tales contain “frightening information, they thrill rather than terrify” (Lee, 2008, p. 35) a healthy child.

When using a quotation from an electronic source without page numbers: provide the title of the heading of the section where the quote appears, followed by the abbreviation for paragraph (para.), followed by the paragraph number.

“The system guarantees health benefits for all” (Liu, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 4).

As noted by the National Association of Social Workers ([NASW], 1999), “social workers elevate service to others above self-interest” (Ethical Principles, para. 2).

Use of quotations

A quotation is an exact, word-for-word copy of a phrase, sentence, or paragraph of your source. It must be surrounded by quotation marks (if consisting of fewer than 40 words), and the author must be cited along with the page (if provided) from which the quoted material was taken.

Quotations should be used sparingly and only when you need to 1) state an essential theory, model, or point of an author; 2) provide credibility for a critical point you are making; or 3) capture how something important is expressed.

Quotations of fewer than 40 words are incorporated into the text and surrounded by quotation marks ("). The author's name and the page number (or paragraph number for electronic citations) must also be provided.

Parks (2008) found “the measurement inaccurate, thus the results skewed" (p. 10), but he did not provide an alternative measurement tool.

Parks (2008) found “the measurement inaccurate, thus the results skewed" (Discussion section, para. 6), but he did not provide an alternative measurement tool.

Start quotes of 40 words and more on a new line, and indent the entire quote 5 to 7 spaces (one tab setting) from the left margin. Do not enclose within quotation marks (“ ”). Provide the author's name and the page number of the quote (in parentheses at the end). The quotation may be single-spaced.

Indicate omitted words in a quotation with an ellipsis mark (three periods, with a space after each: (. . . ). Indicate the omission of a full quoted sentence or more with an additional period (. . . .). Do not use an ellipsis mark at the start of a quotation nor at the end, unless words have been cut from the end of the last sentence quoted.

Meyers (2003) found that “the six factors . . . diverged in their effect” (p. 72).

The case of the first letter of the first word of a quotation may be changed along with the end punctuation to match the syntax of your sentence.

Use brackets [ ], not parentheses ( ), to enclose words (syntactic additions or changes, explanations) inserted into a quotation by a person other than the writer being quoted.

“The behaviors were never exhibited again [italics added], even when reel [sic] drugs were administered” (Meyers, 2003, p. 73).

Use single quotation marks (‘) within quotations to set off material that was within double quotation marks (“) in the original source.

“Though the behaviors were ‘never exhibited again,’ even when real drugs were administered” (Meyers, 2003, p. 73).

Citation form

Use the word "and" to join authors in an in-text citation.

Liu and Kang (2005) examined....

Use an ampersand (&) to join authors in a parenthetical citation.

One study (Liu & Kang, 2005) indicated that…

Use a comma before the word "and" when listing three to five co-authors, and a comma before the ampersand (&) in a parenthetical reference.

Snyder, Watson, Johns, Bates, and Giles (1999) proposed (James, Jones, & Wilhelm, 2009)

When citing more than one study within parentheses, separate the works with semicolons:

Studies have shown this trend (Smith, 1999; Gerth, 2003; Lee, 2009).

To cite a Web site (but not a specific document or data), write the address in the text, but do not include in the reference list:

The Social Work Access Network is a useful Web site (www.sc.edu/swan).

For one-author citations, include name and date (and page number if quoting):

Holder (2005) indicated....

A recent study (Fan, 2009) noted that "foster children in kinship care have higher education attainment levels" (p. 232) than foster children living in group homes.

For two-author citations, spell out both authors' names in every occurrence:

Smith and Jones (2000) discussed six changes in the participants’ behavior.

One study identified many hidden biases (Smith & Jones, 2000).

For three- to five-author citations, name all authors the first time; then use “et al.” (et alii: and others) thereafter. So, the first time write, for example:

Becker, Roberts, Lee, Polya, and Crews (2007) examined six functions...

Subsequent times write:

Becker et al. (2007) stated that...

For six or more authors, use the first author’s name followed by et al. for all occurrences.

Group authors (e.g., agencies, corporations, organizations, universities, government offices) Note: when first identifying an organization by its acronym or its abbreviation and citing it as a reference source as well, enclose the abbreviation in brackets within parentheses:

In text, first time used:

According to Columbia University School of Social Work ([CUSSW], 2009),… .

A recent report (Administration for Children’s Services [ACS], 2009) examined….

Subsequent text citations:

In addition, CUSSW (2009) pointed out that students tend to...

As a result, ACS (2009) showed that the number of children....

In reference list:

Columbia University School of Social Work. (2009).
Administration for Children’s Services. (2009).

Group authors cited in full:

All text citations:

According to Google’s (2009) mission statement, …

In reference list:

Google. (2009).

If the author’s name is unknown or unspecified, cite the title (only the first few words if long) or some identifying aspect of the material (chapter, figure, table, etc.) and the year so the reader may refer to it. Use quotation marks enclosing titles of articles or chapters, and italicize titles of periodicals, books, brochures, and reports. The reference list entry should follow this same categorizing scheme.

Regarding social work services for adolescents ("Study Finds Correlation," 2009)…

The book College Bound Seniors (2008) was used…

According to Merriam-Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003), the word…

In a recent Washington Post article (“Healing Arts,” 2009), an unknown source said…

If a work's author is referred to as Anonymous, cite it as such (and alphabetize it as well in reference list):

Another study (Anonymous, 2008) presented data on….

When citing multiple works by the same author at the same time, arrange dates in order—by year of publication (earliest first). Use letters after years to distinguish multiple publications by the same author in the same year:

Several studies (Johnson, 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2009 in press-a, 2009 in press-b; Park, 2009) showed similar findings.

When citing authors with the same surname, include the first author’s initials in all text citations, even if the publication years differ:

Both P. J. Lee (2006) and R. I. Lee and Smith (2007) also found.

When referring to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, cite the title (italicized) and author at first use:

As stated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000), a diagnosis of...

Subsequent times refer to the traditional DSM form (italicized) as follows:

A manic episode, according to the DSM-IV-TR (2000), refers to a distinct…

… although the expansive mood lasted for over two weeks (4th ed., text rev.; DSM–IV– TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

For old works, cite either the translation date or the original and modern copyright dates:

(Aristotle, trans. 1931) or (Freud, 1890/1983).

Varieties of publication date:

(2009, July) Use for meetings, conferences, and monthly magazines, newsletters, and newspapers.

(2008, September 25) Use for daily and weekly publications.

(in press) Use for a work accepted for publication but not yet printed.

(n.d.) Use for a work with no date available.

Personal communication and other unrecoverable data

Any communication considered unrecoverable data (person-to-person, letters, memos, phone and e-mail contact, discussion groups, electronic bulletin boards) is cited in text only, not in reference list:

W. Smith, Clinical Director of the agency (personal communication, January 22, 2009) said….

As stated by an ACS assistant to the Commissioner (J.L. Rhone, personal communication, February 25, 2009), the rules governing….

Class or lecture notes and handouts:

Refer in your paper to information learned in a class lecture or discussion by writing “class notes” or “lecture notes” and the date within parentheses: (class notes, May 2, 2009). Any handout received in class should be referred to similarly (class handout, April 8, 2009). Do not include such information on the reference page as it is also unrecoverable.

Citation of a work discussed in another

To cite the work of an author whom you have not read but who has been cited by one you have, write the original author’s name in the text only (do not give year and do not cite in reference list). Then write the words “as cited in” and the source from which you read about the original. For example, the author you are reading (Fay) cites another (Kim):

Another author (Kim, as cited in Fay, 2005) stated that "autism is a disorder of brain development" (p. 85).

Cite Fay in the reference list, not Kim.

According to Mitchell (as cited in Arles, Ziegler & Curtis, 1999), children develop…

Cite Arles and colleagues in reference list, not Mitchell.

Use of verb tense

Past tense (e.g., “Jones and Smith showed”) expresses an action or condition that occurred at a specific time in the past. Present perfect tense (e.g., “Jones and Smith have shown”) expresses a past action or condition that did not occur at a specific time, or an action beginning in the past and continuing to the present.

Use the past tense or the present perfect tense when reporting on a researcher’s work, for example, in a literature review or a description of a procedure if the discussion concerns past events.

Ofori and Matsui (2008) reported…

One study (Peralto, 2009) has shown that...

Use the past tense when describing the results of a study.

…anxiety decreased significantly…

Use the present tense to discuss results, refer to graphic data, and present conclusions.

The results of the experiment indicate…

Reference list form

The word “References” should appear at the top center of the reference list page.

Use a hanging indent on the first line of each reference entry (flush left margin); indent the second and subsequent lines one tab setting (you may use single spacing for each entry, but use double spacing between each entry):

Berkman, B., Gardner, D., Zodikoff, B., & Harootyan, L. (2007). Social work and aging in the emerging health care world. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 48(1/2), 43-57. doi:10.1300/J083v48n01_14

Chen, F. (2008) Effects of a future care planning workshop for aging parents of the mentally ill. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service, 89(1), 44-50.

Lens, V. (2008). Welfare and work sanctions: Examining discretion on the front lines. Social Service Review, 2, 197-222. doi:10.1086/589706

Entries should be arranged alphabetically by authors’ surnames; use only first letter(s) of first and middle names:

Columbia University School of Social Work. (2009).

Macfarley, J. H. (1998).

McFarley, T. (2002).

U.S Department of Education. (2008).

For entries with two authors, use a comma and an ampersand (&) between the names. For multiple authors up to seven, separate names with commas and use & before the last author’s name. For entries with more than seven authors, list the first six authors, followed by three spaced ellipsis points (. . .), followed by the last author’s name.

Sormanti, M., & Oppenheim, S. (2008).

Garfinkel, I., Huang, C. C., & Nadich, W. (2006).

Ballan, M. S., Berkman, B., Burnette, D., Gearing, R., Pinto, R., Yoshioka, M., . . . Zweben, A. (2009).

Entries by the same author should be arranged by year of publication, the earliest first. Follow this pattern using lower case letters alphabetically after the year to distinguish multiple publications by the same author in the same year:

Han, W. J. (2008a).

Han, W. J. (2008b).

Han, W. J. (2009).

Entries with no author, including legal material:

For an article or chapter: in text, cite the first few words of the title (using double quotation marks around it) and the year:

The social welfare paradigm (“New Study Finds,” 2008)

In the reference list:

New Study Finds More Children More at Risk of Diabetes. (2008).

For a book: in reference list: place title in the author position and italicize entry.

Merriam-Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary. (2003).

Capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle, if any, of a journal article, book, book chapter, or essay, and capitalize any proper names in a title:

Lens, V. (2008). Welfare and work sanctions: Examining discretion on the front lines. Social Service Review, 2, 197-222.

Mui, A. C., & Shibusawa, T. (2008). Asian American elders in the twenty-first century: Key indicators of well-being. New York: Columbia University Press.

Use italics for titles of all publications (journals, books, reports, brochures etc.); for journals, use italics from title through volume number (not page numbers) and use uppercase and lowercase letters:

Feminism and Psychology, 17, 523-540.

Issue numbers are included only with journals paginated by issue (each issue begins on page 1), and they are set within parentheses (with no space after the volume number):

Journal of Multicultural Social Work, 1(3), 72-86.

For books, follow this form:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2005). Title of book: Sub-title of book. City [and state if needed] of publication: Publisher.

Kahn, A. J., & Kamerman, S. B. (2002). Beyond child poverty: The social exclusion of children. New York: ICFP.

Use italics and capitalize only the first word of the title and of the sub-title of a book, and any proper nouns:

Waldfogel, J. (2006). What children need. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

For journal articles, follow this form:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (2003). Title of article. Journal Title, 24 [volume](x)[issue], 187-199 [inclusive pages].

Maramaldi, P., & Berkman, B. (2005). Assessment and the ubiquity of culture: Threats to validity in measures of health related quality of life. Health & Social Work, 30(1), 27-38.

In press:

For articles, books, and book chapters that have been accepted for publication but have not yet appeared in print, the year of publication and page numbers can not be included. When referring to such work in the text, use the words “in press” for year of publication; for example: Both Clark (2008) and Peters (in press) noted a number of discrepancies in the findings.

Witte, S. S. (in press). Project Eban: An HIV/STD intervention for African American couples. AIDS.

Pinto, R. M. (in press). Mixed methods design. In N.J. Salkind (Ed.) Encyclopedia of research design. SAGE Publications.

Electronic source:

Provide the same information, in the same order, that you would for a printed source (or as much of that information as possible), followed by enough electronic retrieval information needed for one to locate the source. The date that you retrieved a document is needed if the source content is likely to change. Providing this date confirms the content at the time of your research. The date of retrieval is not needed if the content is not likely to change, for example, a journal article or a book. Provide path information (URL) needed to find the material:

For journal article based on a print source:

Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. (2008). A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication. American Psychologist, 50, 750-765. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html

Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. (2008). A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication. American Psychologist, 50, 750-765. Retrieved April 2, 2009, from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html

Internet content can be changed, deleted, or moved to another location, so publishers have begun assigning a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to journal articles, books, and other published material. Because a DOI offers a permanent link to the location of a source on the Internet, neither the date of retrieval nor the URL are needed. If a DOI is available for a source (usually found on the first page of an electronic journal article and on the database landing page for the article), include it rather than the date you retrieved the source and its URL. If possible, copy and paste the DOI into your reference list, as a DOI string may be long, and it must appear exactly as it appears in the source. A reader may locate the reference source by pasting the DOI into a Google Scholar search or at CrossRef.org, which is the official DOI search service.

For an article assigned a DOI:

Tierney, S., & Fox, J. (2008). Chronic anorexia nervosa: A Delphi study to explore practitioners' views. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42, 62-67. doi: 10.1002/eat.20557

Reference list types

The APA Manual lists many examples of reference types (pp. 193-224); below are some of those most commonly used by CUSSW students. If a reference source does not include all the necessary elements, provide as many as possible and in this order: author, year of publication, title, and publication data (city, state, and publisher).

1. Journal article

Single author:

Ssewamala, F. M. (2004). Expanding women’s opportunities: The potential of Heifer projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Development in Practice, 14, 550-559. doi:10.1080/09614520410001686133

Ballan, M. (2002). Reflections about shadow victims of 911. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helpers, 8(3), 79-83.

Multiple authors:

Pinto, R. M., McKay, M. M., Baptiste, D., Bell, C. C., Madison-Boyd, S., Paikoff. . . Phillips, D. (2007). Motivators and barriers to participation of ethnic minority families in a family- based HIV prevention program. Social Work in Mental Health, 5, 187-201.

Sormanti, M., Wu, E., & El-Bassel, N. (2004). Considering HIV risk and intimate partner violence among older women of color: A descriptive analysis. Women & Health, 39(1), 45-63. doi:10.1300/J013v39n01_03

2. Book

Single author:

Christ, G. (2000). Healing children’s grief: Surviving a parent’s death from cancer. New York: Oxford University Press.

Waldfogel, J. (2006). What children need. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Multiple authors:

Garfinkel, I., Smeeding, T., & Rainwater, L. (2009). The American welfare state: Laggard or leader? New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Green, P., Kane, D., Christ, G., Lynch, S., & Corrigan, M. (2006). FDNY crisis counseling: Innovative responses to 9/11 firefighters, families, and communities. New York: Wiley Publishing Co.

3. Chapter in an edited book

Single author:

Mullen, E. J. (2006). Facilitating practitioner use of evidence-based practice. In A. R. Roberts & K. R. Yeager (Eds.), Foundations of evidence-based social work practice (pp.283-303). New York: Oxford University Press.

Takamura, J.C. (2007). Healthy aging in the United States. In M. Robinson, W. Novelli, C. Pearson, & L. Norris. (Eds.), Global health and global aging (pp.177-184). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Multiple authors:

Burnette, D., & Kang, S. Y. (2003). Self-health care by urban, African American elders. In B. Berkman & L. Harootyan (Eds.), Social work and health care in an aging society: Education, policy, practice, and research (pp.123-147). New York: Springer.

Mincy, R. B., Lewis Jr., C. E., & Han, W. J. (2006). Left behind: Less-educated young Black men in the economic boom of the 1990s. In R. B. Mincy (Ed.), Black males left behind (pp. 1-10). Washington DC: Urban Institute Press.

Multi-volume work:

McLanahan, S. S., & Carlson, M. J. (2001). Poverty and gender in affluent nations. In N. J. Smesler & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, Vol. 17 (pp.11894-11900). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science Limited.

4. Group author (e.g., agencies, corporations, associations, government offices)

National Institute of Mental health. (2000). Clinical outcomes in mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 73-8709). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

If author and publisher are the same, use the term “Author” for publisher:

Columbia University School of Social Work. (2009). Field education manual. New York: Author.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

If the online edition of the DSM was used, replace the city and publisher with the DOI:

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). doi:10.1176/appi.books.9780890423349

Identify a pamphlet or brochure as such in brackets [ ]:

Research and Training Center in Independent Living. (2006). Guidelines for reporting about people with disabilities (5th ed.) [Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: Author.

Sanctuary For Families. (n.d.). Sanctuary [Brochure]. New York: Author.

5. Material accepted for publication but not yet in press

Do not give the year (write the words “in press”), volume, or page numbers until the article or book is published:

Schwalbe, C. S. (in press). A meta-analysis of juvenile justice risk assessment instruments: Predictive validity by gender. Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Sormanti, M. (in press). Bereavement practice. In T. Mizrahi & L. Davis (Eds.), Encyclopedia of social work, (20th edition). New York: Oxford University Press.

6. Non-English source

Give the original title and, in brackets, the English translation:

Journal:

Wang, R. (2007). Woguo yiwu jiaoyu touru zhi gongpingxing yanjiu [Inequity in school finance in China]. Jingjixue Jikan, 2, 453-468.

Book:

Piaget, J., & Inhelder, B. (1951). La gènese de l’idée de hazard chez l’enfant [The origin of the idea of chance in the child]. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

Nazarova I. (2006). Adaptatsia I vozmojnye modeli mobilnosti sirot [Adaptation and possible models of orphans’ mobility]. Moscow: Moskovskii Obshestvenniy Nauchniy Fond.

7. English translation

A chapter in an edited book, volume in a multivolume work, or republished work:

Freud, S. (1961). The ego and the id. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 19, pp. 3-66). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1923)

8. Source reprinted in another

Dharni, G. (2003). Elements of self-motivation theory. In K. Chesterson & T. Guthiel (Eds.), Self-motivation theory: An appraisal (pp.119-138). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. (Reprinted from Handbook of child psychology, pp. 29-48, by K.L. Halsey, Ed., 2003, New York: Wiley)

9. Magazine or newsletter article

Give date shown on publication—month for monthlies and month and day for weeklies. Give volume number and page numbers following magazine name:

Fiske, H. (2009, January 13). Nursing home social workers speak out. Social Work Today, 3(1), 8-11.

Jordan, K. (2007, August). Babies listening to Mozart. Science, 278, 986-997.

10. Newspaper article

If an article appears on discontinuous pages, give all page numbers, separating them with a comma (e.g., pp. A1, A7), and for continuous pages, use a hyphen (e.g., pp. C4-C6).

Metz, A. (2008, June 27). Study shows gains in student test scores. The New York Times, pp. A1, B3.

Sloan, J. (2009, January 2). Social workers engaged in rebuilding community. The Washington Post, pp. B4-5.

11. Encyclopedia or dictionary

Barker, R. L. (2003). The social work dictionary (5th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Kaushal, N., Reimers, C., & Reimers, D. (2007). Essay on economy and immigration. In M. Walters, R. Ueda, & B. H. Marrow (Eds), The new Americans: A guide to immigration since 1965. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (pp.320-332). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ivanoff, A. M., & Riedel, M. (1997). Suicide. In R. L. Edwards (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social work (19th ed. Revised, CD ROM). Washington, DC: NASW Press.

12. Conferences and presentations

Paper presented at a meeting:

Zweben, A. (2007, July). The relationship between medication adherence and treatment outcomes. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, Chicago, IL.

Poster session:

Chen, F. (2006, January). A grounded theory study on social work case managers' interactions with families of individuals with severe mental Illness. Poster session presented at the 10th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, San Antonio, TX.

13. Reports

Available from the Government Printing Office (GPO):

National Institute of Mental Health. (2008). Clinical outcomes in mental illness (DHHS Publication No. ADM 73-8709). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Government report not available from GPO or a document deposit service:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2009). Obesity in children: New prevention methods (AHCPR Publication No. 567-98007). Washington, DC: Author.

Government report not available from GPO or a document deposit service (article or chapter in an edited collection):

Liu, J. P. (2007). Assessment of Type A behavior. In K. H. Hensen (Ed.), Measuring psychological variables in epidemiologic studies (NIH Publication No. 76-6954, pp. 28-62). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Available from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC):

George, O. P. (2006). Teacher preparedness in early childhood education centers (Report No. NCRTL-OP-23-4). Newark, NJ: National Center for Research on Teacher Learning. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED573980)

Available from a university:

McLanahan, S., Garfinkel, I., Reichman, N., Teitler, J., Carlson, M., & Audigier, C. (2001). The fragile families and child wellbeing study national baseline report. Princeton University, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.

14. Legal Material

APA defers to the style used by the legal profession for the citation of legal material. See pages 216-224 of the APA Manual for more in depth details, and see The Blue Book: A Uniform System of Citation (Bluebook; 18th ed., 2005) for a comprehensive discussion.

For a court decision:

In text citation:

Lee v. Jones (1998) or (Lee v. Jones, 1998)

In reference list: (Abbreviate any published source, court, and date)

Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Court Date).

Lee v. Jones, 870 G. Supp. 1654 (E.D. NY 1998).

For an act:

In text citation:

Mental Health Systems Act (1988) or Mental Health Systems Act of 1988

In reference list:

Provide source and section number of act, and the publication date of the statutory compilation (in parentheses), which may not be the same as the year of the act:

Name of Act, Volume Source § xxx (Year).

Mental Health Systems Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9401 (1988).

15. Doctoral Dissertation

Matthieu, M. M. (2004). Path analysis of acute stress reactions after the World Trade Center disaster: Social work students in New York City. Dissertation Abstracts International, 64 (12 A), 4627. (UMI No. 3115359).

Lee, Y. (2007). Early motherhood and harsh parenting: The role of human, social, and cultural capital. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.

For a dissertation retrieved from a database:

Lee, Y. (2007). Early motherhood and harsh parenting: The role of human, social, and cultural capital. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3285112)

16. Audiovisual media

Motion picture:

Williams, S. C. (Producer), & Leigh, M. (Director/Writer). (2008). Happy-Go-Lucky [Motion picture]. United Kingdom: Momentum Pictures.

For a film, video, etc. not widely available, include distributor name and address:

American Psychological Association (Producer). (2007). Responding therapeutically to patient expressions of sexual attraction: A stimulus training tape [Motion picture]. (Available from the American Psychological Association, 750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242)

Television broadcast:

Werner, D. (Executive Producer). (2009, February 12). The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer [Television broadcast]. New York and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service.

Television series:

Brooks, J. L. (Producer). (2009). The Simpsons [Television series]. Hollywood: 20th Century Fox Television.

Single episode from a television series:

Kelley, B. (Writer), & Nastuk, M. (Director). (2009). Lisa the Drama Queen [Television series episode]. In J. L. Brooks (Producer) The Simpsons. Hollywood: 20th Century Fox Television.

Music recording form:

Writer, A. (Date of copyright). Title of song [Recorded by artist if different from writer]. On Title of album [Medium of recording: CD, record, cassette, etc]. Location: Label. (Recording date if different from copyright date).

Mayfield, C. (1964). People get ready [Recorded by Seal]. On Soul [CD]. Burbank, CA: Warner Brothers Records.

17. Electronic source

Provide the same information, in the same order, that you would for a printed source (or as much of that information as possible), followed by enough electronic retrieval information needed for one to locate the source. The date that you retrieved a document is needed if the source content is likely to change. Providing this date confirms the content at the time of your research. The date of retrieval is not needed if the content is not likely to change, for example, a journal article or a book. Finally, provide path information (URL) needed to find the material.

If the source has a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), usually found on the first page of an article and in the results of a database search, include it rather than the date you retrieved the source and its URL.

For an article with a DOI:

For an article in an Internet-only journal:

Marx, K. (2008, March 31). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 8, Article 3038 b. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume 8

Online journal, FTP:

Funder, D.C. (1999, March). Judgmental process and content: Commentary on Koehler on base-rate [9 paragraphs] Pscyoloquy [Online serial], 5(17). Retrieved May 4, 2009, from FTP: Hostname: princeton.edu Directory: pub/harnad/Psycholoquy.94.5.17.base-rate.12.funder

For databases accessed via the Web:

Kerrigan, D.C., Todd, M.K., & Riley, P.O. (2007). Knee osteoarthritis and high-heeled shoes. The Lancet, 251, 1399-1401. Retrieved September 15, 2008 from DIALOG database (#457, The Lancet) on the World Wide Web: http://www.dialogweb.com

For on-line databases:

Davis, T. (1999). Examining educational malpractice jurisprudence: Should a cause of action be created for student-athletes? Denver University Law Journal, 69, 57+. Retrieved September 30, 2008 from WESTLAW on-line database (69 DENULR 57).

For databases on CD-ROM (omit retrieval date):

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2003, March). Encryption: Impact on law enforcement. Location: Publisher. Retrieved from SIRS database (SIRS Government Reporter, CD-ROM, Fall 1998 release)

For on-line abstracts:

Meyer, A.S., & Bock, K. (2007). The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon: Blocking or partial activation? [On-line]. Memory & Cognition, 20. 715-726. Abstract from: DIALOG File: PsychINFO Item:80-16351

For abstracts on CD-ROM:

Bower, DL. (2003). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics of referring and nonreferring supervisors [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: Dissertation Abstracts Item: 9315947

For newspaper articles:

Li, S. (2008, June 2). Social workers engaged in rebuilding community. New York Times, pp. 1, 33. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from the World Wide Web: http://www.nytimes.com

For online periodical:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2008). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx, xxxxxx. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

For online document:

Author, A. A. (2009). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

For Discussion List and Listserv messages:

Retrieval statement forms:

Author. (Year, Month day). Subject of message. Discussion List [Type of medium]. Retrieved [month, day, year] from E-mail: DISCUSSIONLIST@e-mail address.

Author. (Year, Month day). Subject of message. Discussion List [Type of medium]. Retrieved [month, day, year] from E-mail: LISTSERV@e-mail address.

Use of abbreviations

Abbreviations are usually “said” as a series of letters and often preceded by an article, depending on whether they are countable: an ATM, an IRA, the FBI, the CIA, the UN, the EU, a CPU; but ACS, AT&T, CUSSW, GM, HIV, ICU, KFC, LGBTQ, and “all she needs is TLC.”

Acronyms are abbreviations that have become names—AIDS, NATO, UNICEF, NASA, WASP—and they usually do not need articles preceding them.

If an abbreviation is commonly used as a word, it does not require explanation—IQ, LSD, REM, ESP, AIDS, HIV.

Write out abbreviations the first time they occur followed by the abbreviated term in parentheses:

According to the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), parents that…

The Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW), located at…

Thereafter, use the abbreviated term without the parentheses:

A spokesperson for ACS said that…

Students at CUSSW believe…

The following abbreviations should be used ONLY within parentheses:

cf.	Use “compare” in your text.
e.g.	Use “for example”
etc.	Use “and so forth,” “and so on,” “and the like.” However, when listing, it’s better to introduce elements in a series with words that limit—“for example,” “such as,” “including”—thereby eliminating the need for such endings.
i.e.	Use “that is”
viz.	Use “namely”
vs.	Use “versus” or “against”

Avoiding biased and pejorative language

In general, avoid anything that causes offense.

Do not use…	When you can use…
mankind	humans, human beings
males, females	men, women, boys, girls, adults, children, adolescents
manpower	workforce, personnel, workers, human resources
man a project	staff a project
mothering	parenting, nurturing
housewife	homemaker
chairman	chair
homosexuals	gay men and lesbians
minorities	name specific population
sexual preference	sexual orientation
lower class	people who are poor
underclass	with low incomes
poverty class	living under poverty conditions
upper class	with high incomes
the disadvantaged	with socio-economic disadvantages
disabled person	person with (who has) a disability
defective child	child with a congenital disability (or a birth impairment)
the retarded	people with disabilities
the learning disabled	children with [specify the characteristics]
challenged	person who has_______
epileptics	individuals with epilepsy
amputee	person with an amputation
paraplegics	individuals with paraplegia
wheelchair-bound	uses a wheelchair
cripple	person who has a limp
deformed	person with a shortened arm
the blind	people who are blind
mentally ill person	person with mental illness or psychiatric disability
schizophrenics	people diagnosed with schizophrenia
depressives	people who are depressed
crazy, paranoid, etc.	person with symptoms of mental illness
borderlines	people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder
neurotic patients	patients with a neurosis (or neuroses)
chronic mental illness	long-term or persistent mental illness
AIDS victims	people with AIDS
high-risk groups	high-risk behavior
stroke victim	individual who had a stroke
person afflicted with…	person with…
population suffering from	people who have
afflicted with cerebral palsy	person with cerebral palsy
stroke victim	individual who had a stroke
real parent, natural parent	birth parent
adopted child, own child	my child
child out-of-wedlock	non-marital birth
illegitimate	born to unmarried parents
give away, place for adoption	make an adoption plan
reunion	meeting, making contact with
adoptive parent	parent
search, track down parents	to locate, contact
an unwanted child	child in need of adoption
hard to place	child who has special needs
foreign child	child from another country
is adopted	was adopted

Use of terms "gender" and "sex"

The term "gender" refers to culture and should be used when referring to men and women as social groups, as in this example from the publication manual: "sexual orientation rather than gender accounted for most of the variance in the results; most gay men and lesbians were for it, most heterosexual men and women were against it."
The term "sex" refers to biology and should be used when biological distinctions are emphasized, for example, "sex differences in hormone production.

Sensitivity to labels

Be sensitive to labels. A person in a clinical study should be called a "client," not a "case." When possible, replace terms like “subjects” with more descriptive terms—“participants”, “individuals”, “college students”, “children”, “respondents”. Avoid equating people with their conditions, for example, do not say "schizophrenics," say "people diagnosed with schizophrenia." Use the term "sexual orientation," not "sexual preference."
The phrase "gay men and lesbians" is preferred to the term "homosexuals." To refer to all people who are not heterosexual, the manual suggests "lesbians, gay men, and bisexual women and men." To avoid confusion between orientation and specific sexual behaviors, use terms such as (1) female-female sexual activity, rather than lesbian sexual activity, and (2) bisexual participants engaged in both male-male and male-female sexual encounters, rather than gay and heterosexual sexual encounters.
In racial references, respect current usage: Both the terms "Black" and "African American" are widely accepted. Capitalize Black and White when the words are used as proper nouns to refer to groups of people. Do not use color words for other ethnic groups. Hyphens should not be used in multiword names such as Asian American or African American.
Depending on where a person or group is from, the terms Chicano, Hispanic, Latino, Latina, and or Latina/o may be are preferred. These terms may be more precisely understood as fitting into an extensive language, regional, ethnic, and cultural category rather than a racial one. The safest procedure is to use geographical references, for example, "Mexican Americans", when referring to people from Mexico or of Mexican descent.
"American Indian", "Native American", and “Native North American” are all acceptable terms, but there are nearly 450 Native American groups, including Hawaiians and Samoans, so specific group names are far more informative.
The term Asian American is acceptable, but use the specific country of origin, when known: Chinese American, Vietnamese American.
In general, call people what they want to be called, and do not contrast one group of people with another group called "normal" people. Write "we compared people with autism to people without autism," not "we contrasted autistics to normals." Do not use pejorative terms like "stroke victim" or "stroke sufferers." Use a more neutral terminology such as "people who have had a stroke." Avoid the terms "challenged" and "special" unless the population referred to prefers this terminology (e.g., Special Olympics). As a rule, use the phrase "people with _______" (e.g., "people with AIDS," not "AIDS sufferers").
If possible, be specific about age ranges; avoid ambiguous definitions such as "under 16" or "over 65." When possible, give age range (“ages 12—16”) rather than a broad category (“younger adolescents”). For persons 12 and younger, "boy" and "girl" are acceptable; for persons 13 to 17, use “young man” or “male adolescent” and “young woman” or “female adolescent”; for persons 18 and older use "man" and "woman." The term “older adults” is preferred over "elderly." For older adult groups, the terms “young-old”, “old-old”, “very old”, “oldest old”, and “centenarians” may be used, but the specific age ranges should be identified.
Provide as much demographic information as needed when describing a population under study: “The sample of 60 U.S. graduate students was made up of 47 Whites (25 females and 22 males), 11 African Americans (7 females and 4 males), 9 Latino/as (5 females and 4 males), and 7 Asian Americans (4 females and 3 males).” If relevant, include additional information as well (e.g., age range, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc.).

Form

Page layout
- Maintain a minimum of one inch margins on all sides of a page.
- Justification should be set to "off" or "left margin only" (the right margin should be uneven).
- Indent paragraphs and footnotes five to seven spaces (one tab setting).
- Double-spacing throughout a manuscript is most often required. However, to improve readability, single-spacing may be allowed, for example, when quoting passages of more than 40 words and for table titles and headings, figure captions, footnotes, and citation sources on the references page (though double-spacing is required between each reference entry).
- The preferred typeface of APA is Times New Roman, with a 12-point font size.
- The title page (see model below) consists of the (a) title, centered and placed in the upper half of the paper; (b) author’s name, below the title, centered; and (c) institutional affiliation (CUSSW, spelled out), below author’s name. Any other information (e.g., course, section, instructor, date) is placed below the first three elements, centered as well. In addition, page numbers run consecutively, beginning with the title page, and appear in the upper right corner of every page, in the Header. Also in the Header, flush left margin of only the title page, should appear the term “Running head:” followed by a shortened title, typed out in all uppercase letters, in no more than 50 characters, including letters, punctuation, and spaces.
- If called for, the abstract appears on page 2 (see model below).
- The reference list starts on its own page and at the end of the manuscript (see model below).
- If an appendix is included it appears after the reference page (see model below).

Headings

Headings help the reader follow the organization of a paper. They function as an outline, indicating the hierarchy of your ideas. Use the same heading level for topics of equal importance throughout your paper. Use at least two subsection headings within any given subsection. APA designates the use of from one to five levels. For most student papers, one, two, or three levels are sufficient. Below presents how each level is formatted:

One level: