fkcc library apa format tips

What is APA?

Microeconomics, Wood, 2009

• APA (American Psychological Association)

is a documentation style used for research papers:

• General format of APA research papers

• Give credit to avoid Plagiarism

• In-text citations

Documentation Styles used at FKCC

• APA (American Psychological Association)

• MLA (Modern Language Association)

• Chicago Style

Overview

• Paper Guidelines

• Parenthetical Citations (in text citations)

• References Page

• Links

Paper Guidelines

• Use 1” margins on all sides

• Double space

• Use 10-12 pt Times New Roman font• Add Header (First two or three words of the

paper title appear five spaces to the left of the page number on every page beginning with the title page)

Title Page

Short title and page number

Full title, your name, section # of course, instructor’s name and date – all centered

First page

Full title centered

Parenthetical Citation

Basic:According to Carmona (2004), the cost of

treating obesity is exceeded only by the cost of treating illnesses from tobacco use (para. 9).

The cost of treating obesity is exceeded only by the cost of treating illnesses from tobacco use (Carmona 2004, para. 9).

Unknown author:Children struggling to control their weight must

also struggle with the pressures of television advertising that, on the one hand, encourages the consumption of junk food and, on the other, celebrates thin celebrities (“Television,” 2002).

Notes:Titles of articles or chapters are put in quotes.Titles of books are italicized.

Indirect Source:

Former surgeon general Dr. David Satcher described “a nation of young people seriously at risk of starting out obese and dooming themselves to the difficult task of overcoming a tough illness” (as cited in Critser, 2003, p. 4).

References Page

1st line at left margin; other lines indent ½”

Double-spacing

is used

Alphabetical by author last name

List of references

Database article:

Poupart, L.M. (2002). Crime and justice in American Indian communities. Social Justice, 29(1/2),144-159. Retrieved July 18, 2005, from ProQuest database (2008056261).

Website with no author:

New child vaccine gets funding boost. (2001). Retrieved March 21, 2001, from http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/story_13178.asp

YouTube:

Shimabukuro, Jake. "Ukulele weeps by Jake Shimabukuro." 04 April 2008. Online video clip. YouTube. Accessed on 22 April 2006. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k>

Tips…• Italicize book and journal titles, but not article titles. • APA's capitalization rules for titles can be confusing! 

– In the reference list, capitalize the first letter of every main word of a journal, magazine or newspaper title.  For book and article titles, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the title, the first word of its subtitle (if it has one), and any proper names. 

– In the text of a paper, however, the rules are different, and every main word of a title gets capitalized.

• If no author, start with the title and then the date. • Use "et al" in place of the additional authors when there

are more than six authors. • Websites: if the date the page was created (or updated)

is not given, put "n.d." (no date) in the citation in place of the date.  (This is not to be confused with the date you retrieved it.)

BooksTitle: Publication manual of the American Psychological Association.Publisher: Washington, DC :American Psychological Association,c2001.Reference Desk - BF76.7 .P83 2001

Title: The Little, Brown essential handbook /Jane E. Aaron.Author: Aaron, Jane E.Publisher: New York :Pearson Longman,c2008Reference Desk - PE1112 .A24 2008

Title: The curious researcher :a guide to writing research papers /Bruce Ballenger.Author: Ballenger, Bruce P. Publisher: New York :Pearson Longman,c2007. Circulation - LB2369 .B246 2007

Title: A writer's reference /Diana Hacker ; contributing authors, Nancy Sommers,Tom Jehn, Jane Rosenzweig ; contributing ESL specialist, Marcy Carbajal Van Horn.

Author: Hacker, Diana,Publisher: Boston :Bedford/St. Martins,c2007. Reference Desk - REF PE1408 .H2778 2007

Helpful Links

• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

• http://www.dianahacker.com/writersref

• http://fkcclibraryresearch.blogspot.com

Citation formatting tools

• citationmachine.net/

• http://www.bibme.org/

Check the APA Manual or Ask for help