You are here

Home

APA is the most often used style guide in the social sciences and humanities. The most current edition of the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association is the 7th (2020), which is available at the Service Desk on the 2nd floor of the J.N. Desmarais Library.

APA Style uses the Author-Date system. For both cited and paraphrased in-text references, use (Author, Date, Pages) at the end of the sentence, otherwise, the author and date information is included within the text with the pages at the end of the sentence. Two authors require an ampersand; three to twenty authors require commas and one ampersand. If there are more than twenty authors, follow with “et al.” However, for in-text references, list only the first author followed by et al. [and others].

 

Short citation example (long citations have a hanging indent):

“So long as settler society perceived a need to tame Aboriginal sexuality, men in power could reorder Aboriginal society with impunity” (Barman, 2010, 284).

 

Example of paraphrasing (It is not required to include page numbers for paraphrasing, but it is recommended):

Barman (2010) expands on aboriginal sexual deceptions by institutions, giving documentary evidence of the depiction of uncontrollable sexuality (283-284).

 

N.B. APA uses a hanging indent (which is not replicated here).
Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Capital used on the first word after the colon. Edition (if needed). Publisher.

Webber, C. (2020). Psychology & crime (2nd ed.). Sage.
Translated Book

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Capital used on the first word after the colon. (Name(s) of translators, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published date).

De Saint-Exupéry, A. (1971). The little prince. (K. Woods, Trans.). Harcourt, Brace, & World. (Original work published 1943).
Chapter in a Collected Works

Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In Editor, B. (Ed.), Title of book: Capital used on the first word after the colon (pages). Publisher.

Barman, J. (2010). Taming Aboriginal sexuality: Gender, power, and race in British Columbia, 1850-1900. In Kelm, M.-E. and Townsend, L. (Eds.), In the days of our grandmothers: A reader in Aboriginal women’s history in Canada (270-300). University of Toronto Press.
Journal Article

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Article title. Journal title, volume(issue). Retrieved from URL or doi

Gray-Munro, J., & Campbell, J. (2017). Mimicking the hierarchical surface topography and superhydrophobicity of the lotus leaf on magnesium alloy AZ31. Materials Letters, 189, 271-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2016.11.102
Newspaper Article Walkom, Thomas. (2019, December 12).  New NAFTA has some wins but still a bad deal. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2019/12/12/new-nafta-has...
Data

Organisation. (Year). Project name if available [type of data]. URL

Statistics Canada. (2020). Study: The impact of the manufacturing decline on local labour markets in Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200115/dq200115a-eng.htm
Wikis

Title of page. (Year, Month day). Wiki: URL

Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas. (2020, January 20). Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_indigenous_peoples_of_th...
Online Presentation /Conference

Author, A. A. (Year, Month day). Title of presentation [format]. Retrieved from URL

Wucker, M. (2019, May 1). Why we ignore obvious problems - and how to act on them [video]. Ted talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/michele_wucker_why_we_ignore_obvious_problems_...
Online Video

Author or Organisation. (Year, Month day). "Title of presentation". [format]. Retrieved from URL

Chomsky, N.  (2018, February 24). "Requiem for the American dream." Documentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6Rbgv1MLg&vl=en
Website

Author or Organisation. (Year, month, day). Page/document title. Retrieved from URL

Zweig, Eric (2006, February 7). 1972 Canada-Soviet hockey series (Summit series). The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/1972-canada-soviet-hockey-...
Blog

Author or screen name. (Year, Month day). Title of post [blog]. Retrieved from URL.

Geist, Michael. (2019, December 19). The Canadian digital law decade: The ten most notable cases, laws, and policy developments [blog]. http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2019/12/the-canadian-digital-law-decade-the-t...

 

The DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

When it is available, APA style requires the addition of a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) in a reference.  In essence, the DOI is a permanent link to the cited document when it is avaiable online.  For more see the chart below prepared by APA in 2009: