How to Cite a Research Paper: APA, MLA, and Chicago.

The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here. Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in APA. To see a side-by-side comparison of the three most widely used citation styles, including a chart of all APA citation guidelines, see the Citation Style Chart.

All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list, except for personal communications (such as conversations or emails) which cannot be retrieved. A bibliography is different from a reference list as it lists all the sources used during your research and background reading, not just the ones you refer to in your writing.

Use secondary sources sparingly, for instance, when the original work is out of print, unavailable through usual sources, or not available in English. Give the secondary source in the reference list; in text, name the original work and give a citation for the secondary source. For example, if Allport's work is cited in Nicholson and you did not.

Cite the first few words of the title in the text of your work and italicise them.

APA Sample Paper. Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style can be found here. Media Files: APA Sample Student Paper, APA Sample Professional Paper This resource is enhanced by Acrobat PDF files. Download the free Acrobat Reader.

All text on the title page should be double-spaced. The APA format examples paper below displays proper spacing, so go take a look! Do not include any titles in the author’s name such as Dr. or Ms. The institutional affiliation is the school the author attends or the location where the author conducted the research.

What is APA Style Referencing? APA style referencing (6th Edition) is a parenthetical author-date style, so you need to put the author’s last name and the publishing date into parentheses wherever another source is used in the narrative. The latest edition of APA referencing consists of in-text citations and a reference list, along with a guide for formatting the paper itself.

For the most current guidelines, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and our Style and Grammar Guidelines page for the seventh edition. Order the citations of two or more works by different authors within the same parentheses alphabetically in the same order in which they appear in the reference list (including citations that would otherwise shorten to et al. ).

It is especially useful when doing research and academic papers. Citing PDF files is the same as how you cite a print publication, but with the inclusion of the URL or DOI. You will see what I mean when we discuss the APA PDF citation format in detail, but for now, here is a guide in listing the authors.

The ability to properly cite references when writing research papers is an important skill for any college student. APA, or the American Psychological Association, style is the preferred format for most schools and instructors, and its guidelines are designed to streamline citation and make it easy for readers to see where you are getting your information from.

APA in-text citation system is most commonly used in the psychology, sociology, education, and business studies. This article will discuss some general rules for in-text citation in APA system to know about the references in APA system read A Guid.