A Note on Using APA Citation Style

APA is the formatting style for the American Psychological Association, which is used in social sciences as well. The APA style uses the author/date in-text citation with the reference list at the end of the research report.

(1) In-text Citation

The APA style uses the in-text citation method similar to the MLA with one additional element. In MLA, the author's last name and the page number is given in the in-text citation. In APA, along with these elements, the year in which the work was published is to be added. The order of information in the parenthetical always goes Author, Year, Page.

Example: (Chandra, 1998, p.123)

A further difference from MLA style is that in MLA, the in-text citation always goes at the end of the sentence, in APA it can be cited wherever it is necessary.

Using in-text citations

• If the author’s name mentioned in the sentence, the year appears in parentheses immediately after author’s name. Example: Chandra (1998) argues that "quotation" (p. 123). The page number always appears immediately after the quoted or referenced material appears. Example: Chandra (1998) argues that the Indian national movement was a passive revolution (p. 54), though there are conflicting views by others.
• If the author’s name doesn’t come in the sentence, give all three elements of information in the parenthetical citation. Example: Indian national movement can be considered as a ‘Passive Revolution’ (Chandra, 1998, p. 54), though there are other conflicting views.
• If there is more than one the author with the same last name, prefix the first initial of the author's first name in the in-text citation as in the case of MLA style Example: (B. Chandra, 1998, p. 123).
• If there are two or more titles by the same author published in the same year, then alphabetically arrange the works by the first major word of the title in the Reference list. The first work will be considered “a”, the second “b” and so on. Add this letter designation to the year in the in-text to show which work is cited. Example: (Chandra, 1998a, p.123)

 (2) Reference List

In APA, the Reference List is a bibliography, just like MLA’s Works Cited. A reference list includes only those references which were actually cited in the text of a research paper. A single-author book can be arranged like:

• Last name of the author followed by a comma
• Author’s first names are NOT included in the entries; include only the initials of the given name(s) followed by a full stop
• Year of the publication in parenthesis followed by a full stop
• Title of the book in italics and sentence case followed by a full stop
• Location of Publication followed by a colon
• Publishing Company followed by a full stop

Example: Chandra, B. (1998). Communalism in modern India. New Delhi: Har Anand.

When compiling a reference list the researcher needs to pay particular attention to the following: (1) Sequence; (2) Punctuation and spacing; (3) Capitalization; and (4) Italicising.

Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. Items in a reference list should be double-spaced. Indent all lines that come after the first line of a Reference List. This lets the reader know where one citation ends and the next one begins.

Format for Book and Journal Article

Book: Author’s Last name, Initial(s) of the First name. (Year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.

Journal: Author’s Last name, Initial(s) of the First name. (Year). Title of journal article. Title of Journal, Volume number (issue number), page number(s).