Academic Editing and Formatting Services for College Papers, Essays, Research Projects, Theses (M.A. Thesis), and Dissertation

APA Style

Handout on Tips for Improving Your Technical Report: APA Style (MS Word file by Dr. Oswald). Click here to e-mail Dr. Oswald if you cannot open the file.
Frequently asked questions about APA style from the APA site.

CITING ELECTRONICAL SOURCES IN APA

From APA's own web site

Style in General

Using Style Sheets
Click here to see a great link list of various web sites that give examples of different styles (from the University of Iowa).

CREATING YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY

University of Mississippi site - online examples in APA style

Bibliographies

CLARIFICATION ON APA ISSUES THAT ARISE WITH THE HANDBOOK

by Lori Jo Oswald

The purpose of this section is to provide you with clarification on certain issues that may arise when preparing your References section and your in-text citations. Most of your questions should be answered by the handbook, but if you see something that is not addressed there or here, please e-mail me with your particular question. Be as specific as you can.

SAMPLE 1—MAGAZINE

No. 26 in the handbook is incorrect in one area (although APA style can always change). APA style does not list the volume and issue number for magazines. However, for journals, do list the volume and issue number. So here is no. 26 corrected:

Bonner, J. T. (1999, March). The evolution of evolution. Natural History, 20-21.

SAMPLE 2—JOURNAL

The journal entries in our handbook (nos. 30 and 31 on p. 636) are correct. Your only challenge will be when an article is in issue 1 of the publication (the volume number does not matter when it comes to determining pagination). The challenge is determining whether the journal is one with continuous pagination or not. One way of finding out is asking the librarian for help. Another way is by looking up other articles in issue 1 of that journal. Another way is by locating the web site of the publication and sending an e-mail asking for clarification. Another way is by getting an actual copy of the journal and checking (if UAA carries it).

Here is a reminder of what continuous pagination means:

The journal begins with page 1 in issue 1 each year.
In journals WITHOUT continuous pagination, future issues (such as issue 2, issue 3, etc.) also begin with p. 1
In journals WITH continuous pagination, future issues (such as issue 2, issue 3, etc.) begin with the page number that follows the last page number in the issue before it. So, for example, say issue 1 was 100 pages long. It started on p. 1 and ended on p. 100. The next issue, issue 2, would start on p. 101, if the publication is one with continuous pagination.

SAMPLE 3—REPORTS

Use no. 21 in the handbook (Government Publication—APA) for an example.

SAMPLE 4—CITING EBSCO IN THE REFERENCE LIST

For my class only, I have chosen a very simplified way of referencing Ebsco Host. Here is an example of a journal article obtained from EBSCO Host and how to clarify that for the readers:

Zeleza, P. T. (1997). Visions of freedom and democracy in postcolonial African literature. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 25(3-4), 10+ (21 pp.). Retrieved November 10, 2003, from EBSCO online database (Academic Search Elite).

Note that the way I formatted the page number is discussed below, under Sample 6. I could not list the page numbers as they are listed in example no. 31 in our handbook (i.e., 10-31) because I do not have an actual copy of the original journal article, and I don’t actually know the starting and ending page numbers. All I have is what is listed in Ebsco: 10(21 p.), so I had to be creative.

SAMPLE 5—HOW TO CITE PAGE NUMBERS IN THE TEXT OF THE RESEARCH ESSAY WHEN THE QUOTE WAS OBTAINED FROM AN EBSCO ARTICLE (NOT PDF)

For my class only, this is how I handle this tricky issue. Remember that APA requires you to list the page number in the text of your article when you use a direct quote. But we do not have the actual page number that the quote was on in the original journal when we have printed it out from EBSCO Host (unless you printed out a PDF file, which I encourage you to do if you have that option). So here is how I handle that issue:

Peter Singer says such behavior is an example of “speciesism” (1972, n.p.).

The “n.p.” means no page. We do not actually have the page number from the original, so we have to handle it this way. However, in your reference list, you will list some page numbers; it’s just a bit different than listed in our text because we are using EBSCO Host.

SAMPLE 6—LISTING THE PAGE NUMBERS IN THE REFERENCE SECTION WHEN YOU OBTAINED THE INFORMATION FROM EBSCO

Tyson, P. (1993). The psychology of women. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 46, 361+ (4 pp.). Retrieved November 16, 2003, from EBSCO online database (Academic Search Elite).

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION (E-MAILS, LETTERS, FAXES, AND PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WHETHER BY PHONE OR IN PERSON)

Even though the handbook says you do not need to list these in the References, I want you to do so because it helps the reader (he or she can quickly look up a name in your References to learn where information came from). In the references section, use the following format:

Smith, John. Personal communication (e-mail). November 12, 2003.

For in-text citations, follow APA style per the handbook (see handbook to be sure of this format):

As Smith says, "Quote here," (personal communication).

Other Styles

Click here for information on other commonly used styles (MLA, AP, Chicago, etc.)

Wordsworth Writing, Editing, & Document Formatting Services
PO Box 4083, Palmer, Alaska 99645
Phone: (907) 745-5674; Lori Jo's Cell: 907-250-6530
E-mail Dr. Oswald at Wordsworth (just email your document for a free estimate on editing & formatting)
Alternate E-mail: loswald@formsinword.com Copyright 2005 Wordsworth. All Rights Reserved.See also: www.formsinword.com for thousands of government forms in Microsoft Word.Click here to see a complete list of Wordsworth's services, or see our Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) here.

Please visit our sister site: www.formsinword.com, for thousands of government and business templates and forms!