At the end of each paper you write, you will want to include a complete list of all sources that you cited in your paper. Each borrowed source needs to have specific documentation information included in the citation in a specific order.  Except for the common work cited entries illustrated in the following samples, it is best to refer to Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association pages 215-281.   The handbook has sample citations for many additional types of sources.
 

Most citations consist of three parts:

1.  The author entry followed by a period.

In APA format for all authors include the last name first followed by a comma and then the initial of the first name followed by a period.

The year of the work follows the author's name.

Do not list titles like "Dr." or  "Ph.D."

2.  The title information followed by a period.

In APA the titles of articles are not placed in quotation marks, and the titles of books are italicized.

All letters in the title of articles and books in a bibliographic citation are lower-cased except the first letter of the title, which is capitalized.

3.  The publication information followed by a period.  Include the fourth section if you have material from an online source.  Include a fourth section in your citation if your material was obtained from an electronic source.

4.  The electronic information if needed.

In APA the reference list is double-spaced, and entries have a hanging indent. (p. 216). A hanging paragraph indent is created by keeping the first line of any citation flush left with the one inch margin and indenting all subsequent lines of text one-half inch from the left margin.

Listed below are several sample citations.  If you do not find one that corresponds with your source, you should refer to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
 

SAMPLE CITATIONS FOR BOOKS

Book--One Author

In APA format, the year of publication is included in parenthesis as part of the author entry.

Neville, K. (1988). The eight. New York: Ballantine.
 

Book--Two Authors

Kerrigan, W. & Braden, G. (1989).  The idea of the renaissance.
    Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP.

In this sample work cited entry, all authors' names are listed last name first followed only by their first initial.  Use the symbol "&" for "and" between multiple authors' names.

Book--Three to Five Authors

Even though APA allows students to use "et al." for in-text parenthetical citations for subsequent reference for three to five authors, the work cited must list all of the authors.

Marquart, J. W., Olson, S. E., & Sorensen, J. R. (1994). The rope, the chair, and the
    needle: capital punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin: U of Texas P.

Book--Six or More Authors

In APA list all the authors for more than six authors even though the in-text parenthetical citation allows the writer to use the first author's name and "et al." for the first and subsequent references.

Johns, K., Monroe, M., Smith, J., Lee, A., Duffy, D., & McLain, B. (1998).
    Sibling interaction. New York:  Prentice.

SAMPLE CITATIONS FOR PERIODICALS

Newspaper--Daily

The date of a publication is listed as part of the author entry. For daily newspapers, include the year followed by a comma and then the month and the day of the week in parenthesis after the author's last name and first initial. Precede page numbers for newspaper articles with a "p." for one page and a "pp." for multiple pages.  Do not include the volume number as you do for monthly/weekly magazines and continuous/separately paged journals.

Kelly, C. (1998, February 27).  Black eye over 'win' vexes tribe. The Arizona Republic,
    pp. B1, B3.

Magazine--Weekly

The weekly magazine citation in APA lists the date of publication as part of the author entry.  After the author's last name followed by his first initial and a period, include the year followed by a comma and the month and day of the week it was published in parenthesis.  Include the volume number as part of the publication information after the name of the magazine.  Italicize both the name of the magazine and the volume number that follows the name of the magazine.

Posner, M. I. (1993, October 29). Seeing the mind. Science, 262,  673-674.

Magazine--Monthly

The monthly magazine citation in APA lists the date of publication as part of the author entry.  After the author's last name followed by his first initial and a period, include the year followed by a comma and then the month it was published in parenthesis.  Include the volume number as part of the publication information after the name of the magazine.

Gromely, M. V. (1998, November).  Researching plantation records.
    Colonial Homes, 24, 44.

Journal--Continuous Paging Each Volume During a Year

In APA, journal articles are documented differently than newspaper or magazine articles.  Journal articles have different format and content than magazine articles. You must be able to distinguish the difference between a magazine and journal article when writing a paper in APA format.

For help in distinguishing the difference between magazines and journals for documentation purposes, click on the main heading "Guidelines for Research Projects."   Find the menu under this main heading and click on "What Sources Are Acceptable for a Research Paper?"

In APA format for weekly and monthly magazines, the writer provides the month and day of the week the magazine was published; however, journal article citations do not include the month or week of publication even though they may be listed on the articles.

For a journal with more than one issue during a specific year that has continuous paging throughout an entire year, you only need to include the volume number since the page number will get you to the correct issue.  In the author entry after the author's last name and first initial, place the publication year in parenthesis. Following the name of the journal, list the volume number like the citations for weekly and monthly magazines.
 
White, S. & Winzelberg, A. (1992).  Laughter and stress.  Humor, 5, 343-55.

Journal--Separate Paging of Each Volume During a Year

Unlike the continuously paged journal that only uses the same page number once during the year, the separately paged journal will repeat a particular page number as many times as the journal is issued during any given year.  Because of duplicate page numbers during a single year, in addition to the volume number, you must follow the volume number with the issue number in parentheses.

Klimoski, R., & Palmer, S. (1993). The ADA and the hiring process in organizations.
    Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 45(2), 10-36.

ELECTRONIC SOURCE--ONLINE

The variety of online material, and the way online material may be structured and presented, can present challenges for citing sources. In APA, authors using and citing Internet sources should observe two guidelines:

1. Direct readers as closely as possible to the information being cited (whenever possible, reference specific documents rather than home or menu pages.

2. Provide addresses that work.

At a minimum, a reference of an Internet source should provide a document title or description, a date (either the date of publication or the date of retrieval), and an address (URL). Also, whenever possible, identify the authors of a document. The URL is the most critical element; if the URL doesn't work, readers won't be able to find the cited material, and the credibility of your paper or argument will suffer.

General Format for Citation

Online periodical:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Date of publication). Title of article.
    Title of Periodical, volume number, pages. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

Online documents:

Author, A. A. (Date of publication). Title of work. Retrieved month day, year, from source.

Examples of Citations for Online Sources

Internet article based on a print source:

VandenBos, G., Knapp, S., & Doe, J. (2001). Role of reference elements in the selection
    of resources by psychology undergraduates [Electronic version]. Journal of
    Bibliographic Research, 5, 117-123.

Newspaper article available by search:

Hilts, P. J. (1999, February 16). In forecasting their emotions, most people flunk out.
    New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2000, from http://www.nytimes.com

Examples of Citations for Online Sources Retrieved Through Aggregated Databases

Aggregated databases are frequently used by researchers and students to find and retrieve abstracts, articles, and other types of information. Most databases are available in a variety of formats (e.g. mounted on a university server, available through a supplier Website, on CD-ROM). When referencing material obtained through an aggregated database, add a retrieval statement that gives the date of retrieval and the proper name of the database.

Journal article retrieved from database:

Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L.A. (1993).
    Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied
    Psychology, 78, 443-449. Retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsycARTICLES database.

Abstract obtained from a secondary database:

Fournier, M., de Ridder, D., & Bensing, J. (1999). Optimism and adaptation to multiple
    sclerosis: What does optimism mean? Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 22, 303-326.
    Abstract retrieved October 23, 2000, from PsycINFO database.