Parenthetical Documentation: APA Style

Parenthetical Documentation: APA Style

A sentence from the following book will be used as an example for parenthetical citations:

National Geographic Society. (2001). Student atlas of the world. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.

QUOTING A SENTENCE DIRECTLY

“Europe’s ragged coastline measures more than one and a half times the length of the Equator – 37,877 miles (60,955 km) to be exact – giving 30 of its 43 countries direct access to the sea” (National Geographic Society, 2001, p. 66).

INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR

National Geographic (2001) claims that “Europe’s ragged coastline measures more than one and a half times the length of the Equator – 37,877 miles (60,955 km) to be exact – giving 30 of its 43 countries direct access to the sea” (p. 66).

INTRODUCING MULTIPLE AUTHORS

Note: Assume a reference of :

Doe, J. & Smith, G. (2001). Student atlas of the world. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.

Doe and Smith (2001) claim that “Europe’s ragged coastline measures more than one and a half times the length of the Equator – 37,877 miles (60,955 km) to be exact – giving 30 of its 43 countries direct access to the sea” (p. 66).

Note: If the source has two authors, include both names each time you cite it; if there are more than two authors, include all names in the first reference and then use et al. in place of all but the first name:

Jones, Smith, and Doe (1999) is subsequently cited as Jones, et al. (1999).

QUOTING A WORK WITH NO AUTHOR

ADDING YOUR OWN COMMENTARY

If it is true that “Europe’s ragged coastline measures more than one and a half times the length of the Equator – 37,877 miles (60,955 km) to be exact – giving 30 of its 43 countries direct access to the sea” (National Geographic Society, 2001, p. 66), then Europe should logically be the leader in the shipping industry.

PARAPHRASING

Europe’s abundance of coastline allows 30 countries to use the ocean as a resource (National Geographic Society, 2001, p. 66).

QUOTING A SENTENCE FROM AN ELECTRONIC SOURCE (without page numbers)

Note: Insert the paragraph number instead of the page number.

CITING TWO OR MORE WORKS IN THE SAME PARENTHESES

Use the same order as in the reference list – authors in alphabetical order, with works by the same author(s) listed in chronological order, including the author(s) name(s) only once. Separate different authors with a semi-colon, but different works by the same author(s) with a comma:

Many scientists have studied the coastline of Europe (Doe & Smith, 2001; Jones, Smith, & Doe, 1999; Morgan, 1988, 1999, in press).

CITING THE ENTIRE SOURCE

National Geographic (2001) provides maps, charts, statistics, and photographs of all the regions of the world.

PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS (such as e-mails and interviews)

L. McIntosh (personal communication, October 23, 2002)

Note: Personal communications are only cited in-text. DO NOT include them in the reference list.

For forms other than those listed here, check the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Otherwise, use the format closest to your type of citation; always provide more, rather than less, information.

All citations followed the formats suggested in:

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.