Citing
Electronic
Resources: APA
Style
Introduction
APA style is the preferred writing style of The
American Psychological Association. It is widely used by
scholars,
researchers, and students of Psychology, Sociology, Education,
Political
Science, and History in researching, recording, documenting, and
writing
research papers.
The following recommendations for citing electronic resources are
based
on the 5th edition of Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001) and
selective
Web publications on APA electronic citations. A copy of the manual
should be available at the reference desk of your academic or public
library in the United States. For more online instructions and examples
of
APA general writing format, parenthetical reference, Reference List of
various sources, and notes, please go to
Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University (at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_apa.html).
Guidelines for References
- Center References on the top of a new page at the end of the
research
paper
- Double-space between References and the first citation
- Flush to the left to type each entry
- Indent five to seven spaces (Tab) after the first line in each
entry if
the entry runs more than one line
- Double-space all reference entries.
- Double-space lines between and within entries
- Use period at the end of each field (e.g. author,
publication
year,
title, etc.)
- An online periodical citation may
include the
following:
- Author's name if known
- Date of publication
- Article Title (Capitalize only the first word of the title
and of the
subtitle
and proper nouns)
- Name of the periodical (Italicize the periodical title and
capitalize
important
words)
- Volume number, issue number, and page number if given
- Web address (URL) if applicable
- An online book citation may include
the
following:
- Author's name if known
- Date of publication
- Book title (Italicize the title)
- Retrieved date
- Web address (URL)
Electronic
Journal/Magazine
Articles
- Internet Article
Based
on a Print
Source:
Naureckas,
E. T., & Solway, J. (2001). Mild asthma [Electronic Version].
New
England Journal of Medicine, 345, 1257-1262.
- Article in an
Internet-Only Journal:
Vetter, R. (2001). Kissing bugs and the skin. Dermatology Online
Journal, 7(1),
6. Retrieved November
7, 2001, from
- Journal
Articles from a Subscription Online
Database:
When searching a subscription online
database that your library subscribes to, the URL or Web address of an
online magazine/journal article
can
be extremely long and inaccessible directly from the Web. In addition,
the complete
page numbers of an article may not be indicated. In this case, you are
advised to cite the author's name (if given), date of publication,
article
title, journal title, volume number (if given), the
beginning
page number (if given) with a plus sign, date of access, and name of
the
database.
Ala'Aldeen,
D. (2001). Risk of deliberately induced anthrax outbreak.
The
Lancet,
358, 1386+. Retrieved November 7, 2001 from Health Reference Center.
- Magazine
Articles from a Subscription Online Database:
Author. (Year,
Month
Date). Article title. Magazine
Title, Volume number, Page number.
Retrieved Month Date, Year from
Name of the Database.
Stein, J. (2000, November 20).
The chosen people who can't choose. Time, 156, 25. Retrieved
November 30,
2004 from Expanded Academic ASAP.
Electronic
Books
Austen, J. (1996).
Pride
and prejudice. Retrieved November 7, 2001, from
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/pridprej.html
Shakespeare, W. (1999). Romeo
and Juliet. Retrieved November 7, 2001,
from
http://www.theplays.org/romeo/
Online
Newspaper/Newswire
Articles
Hatfield, L. D. (2001, November 7). FBI
frustrated
in pursuit of anthrax perpetrators:
Few answers found in probe
of mail terrorism. San Francisco Chronicle.
Retrieved November
7,
2001, from http://www.sfgate.com
- Newspaper/Newswire
Articles Retrieved
from a Subscription Database:
When searching a subscription online
newspaper database available from a library, the Web address of an
online newspaper article
can be extremely long and inaccessible directly from the Web. In
this case, you are advised to cite the author (if known), date of
publication,
title of the article, title of the newspaper/newswire, date of
retrieval,
and name of the database.
Fournier, R. (2000, July 25). Bush to offer job to Cheney. Associated
Press News
Service. Retrieved July 28, 2000 from
San
Francisco
Chronicle database from
NewsBank.
Personal Communications
(E-mail or messages from
nonarchived
discussion groups or electronic bulletin boards)
Instruction: Provide the initials as
well
as the surname of the communicator (personal communication, Month, day,
year).
J. Wang (personal communication, December 2, 2000)
More on APA:
Purdue University Online Writing Lab
George
Mason University's Psychology Writing Guide
Back to
Library Home Page
|| Information
Competency Home Page || San
Joaquin Delta College
Please send questions or comments about this page
to:
Dr. Jun
Wang
Last updated: 14 November 2005
