Writing Center Handouts

APA Style Rules And Tips

The following summarizes and highlights the APA style issues most applicable to the writing requirements CUSSW students need to follow. The information provided here is derived from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed., 2001). If you need information about a specific rule or example not covered here, consult the manual itself.
  

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 five to seven spaces (one tab setting).

• Type no more than 27 lines of text per page (not counting page header and page number).

• Double-space between all lines of the manuscript, including quoted passages of more than 40 words and the citation sources on the reference page.

• Page numbers should run consecutively, beginning with the title page; they should appear in the upper right corner of each page.

• Acceptable typefaces are Times New Roman and Courier New. Set type size to 12.

Reference citations in text

• When summarizing or paraphrasing a source, place the author's name either in the sentence, followed by the year in parentheses or in parentheses along with the year:

  Yarber (2000) stated fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge.

Fairy tales help children explore the worlds of forbidden knowledge (Yarber, 2000).

• When including quotations, follow as above but put page number in parentheses at the end of the quoted lines:

  Yarber (2000) suggested that the effect of fairy tales is muted by "the affectionate environment in which the stories are usually told" (p.39).

  Although fairy tales contain frightening information, they "thrill rather than terrify a healthy child" (Yarber, 2000, p. 35).

• For quotations gathered from electronic sources, give page numbers. If not provided, look for headings and/or paragraph numbers to direct the reader. Use the ¶ symbol or the abbreviation para:

  "The former service system guaranteed health benefits for all" (Lee, 2001, Introduction section, ¶ 2).

• If the author's name is not provided, cite the title or some identifying aspect of the material. For electronic documents, identify the title or some other element (chapter, figure, table, etc.) so the reader may refer to it. Reference list entry should follow this categorizing.

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

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

• At first mention of an author's name in a paragraph, provide the year. 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:

  In a recent study, Smith (1999) indicated.... Smith also pointed out that....

  Leone’s (1995) multi-experiment study was a breakthrough in the field. However, Green and Burke (1996) challenged Leone’s findings.

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

  Smith (1999) indicated....

A recent study (Smith, 1999) 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 on all occurrences:

Smith and Jones (1998).

• For multiple-author citations (three to five authors), name all authors the first time, then use et al. thereafter. So the first time write, for example:

  Becker, Roberts, Lee, Polya, and Crews (2000)

  subsequent times write:

Becker et al.(2000).

• For six or more authors, use the first author’s name followed by et al. for all occurrences. For the reference page entry, list the first six authors; the seventh and subsequent authors are abbreviated as "et al."
  
  
• Group authors (corporations, organizations, universities, government agencies) identified by abbreviation:

• in text first time:

  According to Columbia University School of Social Work ([CUSSW], 2000) (Administration for Children’s Services [ACS], 2001)

• subsequent text citations:

  According to CUSSW (2000), students tend to...
  According to ACS (2001), the number of children....

• in reference list:

  Columbia University School of Social Work. (2000)
  Administration for Children’s Services. (2001)

• Group authors cited in full:

• all text citations:

A report by General Motors (2000) indicated...

• in reference list:

General Motors (2000)

• If the author is unknown or unspecified, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use quotation marks enclosing titles of articles or chapters, and italicize titles of periodicals, books, brochures, and reports:

            on free care ("Study Finds Correlation," 1999).
            the book College Bound Seniors (1996)
            According to Webster’s Tenth Collegiate Dictionary (1988)
            In a recent Washington Post article ("Healing Arts," 1997)

• 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, 2000) presented

• If citing multiple works by the same author at the same time, arrange dates in order by year of publication (earliest first). In general, use letters after years to distinguish multiple publications by the same author in the same year. For example:

Several studies (Johnson, 1989, 1995a, 1995b, 2000 in press-a, 2000 in press-b) showed the same thing.
 

• If citing authors with the same surname, include their first name initials in all text citations, even if the publication years differ:

P.J. Lee (1999) and R. I. Lee (2000) also indicated...

• For old works cite the translation or the original and modern copyright dates:

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

General Reference Guidelines

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

Liu and Kang (2001) stated that....

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

One study (Liu & Kang, 2001) 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, 1996, 2000)

• When citing more than one study within the same parenthesis, separate the works with semicolons:

  Studies have shown (G.J. Smith, 1999; Gerth, 2001; Lee, 2000)

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(s) 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 someone; 2) provide credibility for a 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 page number must also be provided.

Lee (2001) found "the measurement inaccurate, thus the results skewed" (p.10), but she did not provide an alternative measurement tool.

• Quotes of 40 words and more are started on a new line that is indented 5 to 7 spaces (one tab setting) from the left margin, double-spaced, and not enclosed within quotation marks (" "). The author's name is provided, as is the page number of the quote (in parentheses at the end).
  
  
• To indicate omitted words in a sentence, use an ellipsis mark (three periods with a space before and after each: . . . ). To indicate the omission of a full sentence or more within a quotation, use a period before the three dots (. . . .). Do not use an ellipsis mark to start or end a quotation unless the quote would otherwise be misunderstood.

• 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.

• Use single quotation marks (‘) to set off material that was in double quotes (") in the original; however, in a quote of 40 or more words use double quotation marks to enclose material that was enclosed in quotes in the original.

• Place periods and commas within closing quotation marks (double or single). Place other punctuation inside closing quotes only when it was part of the source material.

Personal Communication

• 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:

  A.W. Smith (personal communication, February 28, 2001), Executive Director of my agency, told me that….

  According to an ACS assistant to the Commissioner (J.L. Rhone, personal communication, January 25, 2001), the….

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, give the original author’s name in the text only (do not give year and do not cite in reference list). Then give 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):

Kim (as cited in Fay, 1999) 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, 1998), children develop…

• Cite Arles and colleagues in reference list.

Use of verb tense:

• Past tense expresses an action or condition that occurred at a specific time in the past. Use the past tense when reporting on a researcher’s work and results.

The study (Smith, 2000) showed....
Patrick (2001) reported that...

• Present perfect tense 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 for a literature review and a description of a procedure if the discussion is of past events:

Jones (1999) found...
Smith (2000) has shown...
The study has shown...

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

Reference list formats

• 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 (remember to maintain double space format).

• Entries should be arranged alphabetically by authors’ surnames (corporate authors as well):

Columbia University (2001).
Macfarley, J. (1999).
McFarley, T. (2000).

• For entries with two authors, use the ampersand (&) between the names. For multiple authors up to six, separate names with commas and use & before last author’s name. Follow this format for entries with more than six authors but use abbreviation et al. for remaining authors.

• Entries by the same author should be arranged by year of publication, the earliest first.

• Entries with no author:

• For an article: enter alphabetically, using the first significant word in the title.

                  The new social welfare paradigm (in this case, new)

• For a book: place the title in the author position, using the first significant word in the title.

                  Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10^th ed.)

• Capitalize only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, of a journal article, book chapter, or essay, and do not put quotation marks around it.

• Use italics for titles of all publications; for journals, use italics from title through volume number (but not issue number nor page numbers):

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

• For electronic citations, provide the same information that you would for a printed source (or as much of that information as possible), followed by the date that you retrieved the data, followed by the path information needed to find the material:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author C. C. (2001). Title of article. Journal Title, xx, xxxxxx,volume (issue),paging or indicator of length. Retrieved [month, day, year] from source [Supplier/Database name Database identifier or number, if available].

Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A., & Schwartz, A. A. (2000). A history of facilitated communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on facilitated communication. American Psychologist, 50, 750-765. Retrieved September 7, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html

Examples of reference list types

The APA Manual lists 95 examples of different reference types (pp. 232-281). Below are examples of some of the most commonly used reference list types. Note: to save space the entries appear single-spaced here; however, reference lists should be double-spaced.

• Single author (book):

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

  Martin, L.L. (2001). Financial management for human service administrators. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.     
  
  

• Multiple authors: (books):

  Jackson, H. & Nuttall, R. (1997). Childhood abuse: Effects on clinicians' personal and professional lives. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

  Kamerman, S.B. & Kahn, A.J. (1998). Privatization, contracting, and reform of social services for children and families. Washington, DC: The Finance Project.

  Mui A.C., Choi, N.G., & Monk, A. (1998). Long-Term care and ethnicity. Westport. CT: Greenwood Press.

• Collection of Essays (Books):

  Garfinkel, I., McLanahan, S., Meyer, D., & Seltzer, J. (Eds.). (1998). Fathers under fire: The revolution in child support enforcement. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

  Kamerman, S.B. & Kahn, A.J. (Eds.). (1998). Big cities in the welfare transition. NY: Columbia University School of Social Work.

• Essay in a Collection

Single Author:

Hess, P. (2000). The history and evolution of supervised visitation. In A. Reiniger (Ed.), The professionals' handbook on providing supervised visitation (pp. 11-30). New York: The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Multiple Authors:

McKay, M., Baptiste, D., Coleman, D., Madison, S., Paikoff, R. & Scott, R. (2000). Preventing HIV risk exposure in urban communities: The CHAMP Family Program. In W. Pequegnat & J. Szapocznik (Eds), Working with families in the era of HIV/AIDS. California: Sage Publications.

Schinke, S., Cole, K., Williams, C., & Botvin, G. (1999). Reducing risk taking among African American males. In L. E. Davis (Ed.), Working with African American males (pp. 103-112). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage Publications.

• Journal Article

Single Author

Burnette, D. (2000). Depressive symptomatology among grandparents rearing grandchildren with special needs. Journal of Gerontological Social Work,33 (3),7-22.

Mui, A. C. (1998). Living alone and depression among older Chinese immigrants. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 30 (3/4), 147-166.

Waldfogel, J. (1999). The impact of the family and Medical Leave Act. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 18 (2), 281-302.

Multiple Authors

Christ, G.H. & Sormanti, M. (1999). Advancing social work practice in end of life care. Social Work in Health Care, 30 (2), 81-99.

Han, W.J., Waldfogel, J. & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2001). The effects of early maternal employment on later cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63 (2), 336-354.

Onken, S. J. & Slaten, E. (2000). Disability identity formation and affirmation: The experiences of persons with severe mental illness. Sociological Practice: A Journal of Clinical and Applied Sociology, 2 (2), 99-111.

• Essays and Articles Not Yet In Print

  Shibusawa, T., Ishikawa, H., & Maeda, D. (in press). Determinants of service awareness among Japanese elderly. Journal of Applied Gerontology.

  El-Bassel, N., Yoshioka, M. R., & Moultrie, C. (in press). Contemporary social problems. In R. Feldman & S. B. Kamerman (Eds.) Columbia University School of Social Work: A Centennial Celebration. New York: Columbia University Press.

• Multi-Volume Work

  Schinke, S. P., & Cole, K. C. (1998). Prevention. In J. S. Wodarski & B. A.Thyer (Eds.), Handbook of empirical social work practice, Vol. 2: (pp. 359-373). New York:John Wiley & Sons.

• Corporate Author

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

  Columbia University. (2001) Facets: Facts about Columbia essential to students . New York: Author.

  American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4^th ed.) Washington, DC: Author

The NIMH Multisite HIV Prevention Trial Group (El-Bassel, Co-PI) (1998). The NIMH Multisite HIV Prevention Trial: Reducing sexual risk behavior. Science, 280, 889-1894.

• Identify a pamphlet or brochure as such in brackets:

  Research and Training Center in Independent Living. (1999). Guidelines for reporting about people with disabilities (5^th ed.) [Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: Author.

• Doctoral Dissertation:

  Riedel, M. (1998). Women living with AIDS: How do family role tasks affect custody plans and mental health of their adolescent children. Dissertation Abstracts International, 58 (12 A), 4813. (UMI No. 9820216).

Rivard, J. C. (1998). Factors associated with change in interagency collaboration within a child mental health service system demonstration. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Magazine and newsletter articles:

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

Jordan, K. (2000, August). Babies listening to Mozart. Science, 278, 986-997.

• Newspaper articles:

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

Metz, A. (1999, June 27). Study shows gains in student test scores. The New York Times, pp. A1, B 3.

Sloan, J. (2001, January 2). Social workers engaged in rebuilding community. New York Times, pp. 1, 33. Retrieved August 19, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.apa.org/monitor/peacea.html

• Encyclopedia or dictionary:

  Barker, R. L. (1999). The social work dictionary (4^th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Ivanoff, A. M. & Riedel, M. (1995). Suicide. In R. L. Edwards, (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social work (19th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press

• Conference paper:

  Jackson, H., Nuttall, R., & Philp, E. (1999, July). Relationship between traumatic brain injury and battered women. Paper presented at the 6th Annual International Family Violence Research Conference, University of New Hampshire, Durham.

Feldman, N. & Dore, M.M. (2000, January). Building supportive school communities to prevent child abuse and neglect. Paper presented at the 4^th Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Charleston, S.C.

• Reports:

  Available from the Government Printing Office (GPO):

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

  Not available from GPO or a document deposit service:

  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999). Obesity in children: New prevention methods (AHCPR Publication No. 567-98007). Washington, DC: Author.

  Available from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC):

George, O.P. (2001). 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. ED 573980).

• Audiovisual media:

  Motion picture:

Scorsese, M. (Producer), & Lonrergan, K. (Writer/Director). (2000). You can count on me [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures

American Psychological Asociation (Producer). (2000). Responding therapeutically to patient expressions of sexual attraction: A stimulus training tape [Motion picture]. (Available from the American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242

Television broadcast:

Crystal, L. (Executive Producer). (1996, October 4). The MacNeil/Lehrer news hour [Television broadcast]. New York and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service.

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)

• Online journal, FTP:

Funder, D.C. (1994, March). Judgmental process and content: Commentary on
Koehler on base-rate [9 paragraphs] Pscyoloquy [Online serial]. 5(17).
Retrieved September 14, 2001 from FTP: Hostname: princeton.edu
Directory: pub/harnad/Psycholoquy.94.5.17.base-rate.12.funder

• Databases accessed via the Web:

Kerrigan, D.C., Todd, M.K.& Riley, P.O. (1998). Knee osteoarthritis and high- heeled shoes. The Lancet, 251, 1399-1401. Retrieved September 15, 1999 from DIALOG database (#457, The Lancet) on the World Wide Web: http://www.dialogweb.com

• Databases on CD-ROM (omit retrieval date):

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1999, March). Encryption: Impact on law enforcement. Location: Publisher. Retrieved from SIRS database (SIRS Government Reporter, CD-ROM, Fall 1998 release)

• Abstracts on CD-ROM:

Bower, DL. (1996). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics of referring and nonreferring supervisors [CD-ROM]. Abstract from: Proquest File: Dissertation Abstracts Item:9315947

• On-line databases:

Davis, T. (1997). Examining educational malpractice jurisprudence: Should a cause of action be created for student-athletes? Denver University Law Journal, 69, 57+. Retrieved September 4, 2001 from WESTLAW on-line database (69 DENULR 57).

• On-line abstracts:

Meyer, A.S., & Bock, K. (1998). 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

• 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: DISCUSSION LIST@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

Abbreviations

• 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…

• Thereafter, use the abbreviated term without the parentheses:

A spokesperson for ACS said that…

• If an abbreviation is commonly used as a word, it does not require explanation (IQ, LSD, REM, ESP, AIDS, HIV).
• The following abbreviations and terms should NOT be used outside parenthetical comments:

Avoiding Biased and Pejorative Language:

In general, avoid anything that causes offense.
 

Language of Adoption
 

Use of the 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 "patient," 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 currently 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."

• 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.

• "American Indian" and "Native American" are both acceptable terms, but there are nearly 450 Native American groups, including Hawaiians and Samoans, so specific group names are far more informative.

• The terms Hispanic, Latino, and Chicano are preferred by different groups. The safest procedure is to use geographical references: "Cuban American" when referring to people from Cuba.

• 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 (for example, Special Olympics). As a rule, use the phrase "people with _______" (for example, "people with AIDS," not "AIDS sufferers").

• If possible, be specific about age ranges; avoid ambiguous definitions like "under 16" or "over 65." When possible, give age range ("ages 12—16") rather than a broad category ("younger adolescents"). The term "older person" is preferred over "elderly." For persons 18 and younger "boy" and "girl" are acceptable; for persons older use "men" and "women."

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