Always refer to the APA Manual for authorized examples of citations.
Some of the citations in this guide are taken from the APA Manual; others are recommendations from Taft College library staff.
The standard citation style guide book for the fields of business, education, health science, public service, and social science is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, 2020. The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes the manual. We commonly refer to it as "the APA Manual."
Two types of citations are included in most research papers: citations within the text of the document and a list of reference citations at the end of the paper.
In-Text Citations:
The APA Manual uses the author-date citation system for in-text citations.
Reference Citations:
The sources you use in your work are included as a separate list at the end of the paper. The APA Manual suggests using the title, References, for the list.
For more examples, see the APA Style website
Old Way (APA 6th Edition) |
New Way (APA 7th Edition) |
The running head for the title page is different than the running head for subsequent pages |
The running head rules are “simplified,” and running heads are not required for student papers |
The title page has only three elements | The title page has expanded to include the professor's name, the course number, course name, department, and date |
A pronoun should reflect the same number as the noun it replaces |
Use of singular “they” is endorsed |
The first in-text citation mentions up to five authors |
The first in-text citation of a work by more than two authors may list only the first author, followed by “et al.” |
The reference section lists seven authors of a single work |
The reference section lists up to 20 authors for a single work |
Book references disclosed publisher location |
Book references omit publisher location |
Two spaces after a period to end a sentence is acceptable |
Use one space after a period, unless otherwise directed |
APA Style Guide, 7th Edition by Taft College Library is an adaptation of the APA 7th Edition Style Guide created by Indian River State College Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.apastyle.org/.