Author/Creation: Academic Center staff. Revision: May 2009.
Summary: Provides an overview to APA documentation style as described in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Fifth Edition). Section I explains APA documentation in text. Section II shows how to format the title page, the abstract, the text, and the reference list of an APA paper. This guide is not intended to be a complete reference, but it does provide guidelines for the most common elements used by students writing research papers.
Learning Objectives: To write proper in-text citations in APA documentation style. To format reference entries and the reference, title, and abstract pages correctly in APA documentation style.

Section I

This section of the APA Quick Reference Guide explains citations in text and shows how to cite

• works with one author,
• works with two authors,
• works with more than two authors,
• works with no authors or anonymous authors,
• two or more separate works by different authors,
• works with corporate or group authors,
• secondary sources,
• personal communications (e.g. interviews), and
• direct quotations

Click here to go to section I. Section I also contains some general tips for writing papers using APA documentation.

Section II

This section of the APA Quick Reference Guide provides examples of the different sections of an APA paper. Click on the links below to learn more about each section:

• Title page
• Abstract
• First page of text
• References

For any further questions regarding your paper, please schedule an appointment with an Academic Center tutor.

Copyright 2006 by the Academic Center and the University of Houston-Victoria

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