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APA 6th Edition: APA 6th Home

Utica College Library Guide to APA Citation Style

APA Publication Manual

APA In-Text Matrix and Reference Diagram

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About APA style

American Psychological Association (APA) style is commonly used for citing references in student papers in science, social science and health courses, such as Nursing and Physical & Occupational Therapy

 The purpose of documentation is to:

  • Identify (cite) other people’s ideas and information used within your essay or term paper
  • Indicate the authors or sources of these in a References list at the end of your paper

This guide is based on the APA Manual (6th ed.) published in 2009. This manual is not published online, but is available in electronic format via Amazon.com's Kindle app.

Elements of an APA Citation for a Journal Article

Some helpful links from the APA Blog...

The information below is copied with permission from the APA's official blog, and contains many useful links to examples, tutorials, explanations and frequently asked questions about APA style.

Best of the APA Style Blog

Each fall the APA Style Blog Team puts together a “best of” feature, and this year we continue the tradition with an updated set of posts from the APA Style Blog and our parent site, apastyle.org. We hope it will be helpful as new batches of students set upon the task of learning and implementing APA Style. You can get the full story in our sixth edition Publication Manual (also available as an e-book for Kindle) and our APA Style Guide to Electronic References, plus more information via the links below.

Getting Started

What is APA Style?
Why is APA Style needed?
Basics of APA Style Tutorial
FAQs about APA Style

Sample Papers

Sample Paper 1
Sample Paper 2
Sample meta-analysis paper
Sample published APA article

APA Style Basic Principles

How in-text citations work
How reference list entries work (and how to handle missing information)
How to find the example you need in the Publication Manual
The principle of “cite what you see, cite what you use

Student Resources

Citing a class or lecture
School intranet or Canvas/Blackboard class website materials
Classroom course packs and custom textbooks
Research participant interview data
Reference lists versus bibliographies
MLA versus APA Style (in-text citations and the reference list)

“How-To” Citation Help

E-books
Interviews
Legal references
Paraphrased work
Mobile apps
Secondary sources (sources you found in another source) and why to avoid them
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Google+)
Website material
YouTube videos

Paper Formatting

Block quotations
Capitalization
Fonts
Headings
Lists (lettered, numbered, or bulleted)
Margins
Running heads
Spelling
Statistics

Keep in Touch!

We hope that these resources will be helpful to you as you write using APA Style. If you are interested in receiving tips about APA Style as well as general writing advice, we encourage you to follow us on social media. You can find us (and tell your friends) on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

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