Skip to Main Content
Santa Clara UniversityUniversity Library

PHSC 150: Evidence-Based Public Health

From formulating research and analyzing data to developing programs and converting evidence into action.

What is APA?

APA style was created by the American Psychological Association. It is a set of rules for publications, including research papers.

In APA, you must "cite" sources that you have paraphrased, quoted or otherwise used to write your research paper. Cite your sources in two places:

  1. In the body of your paper where you add a brief in-text citation.
  2. In the Reference list at the end of your paper where you give more complete information for the source.

Learn more about APA Style from Purdue OWL or you can look at examples from APA Style.

How do I Cite...?

Art (from a Museum):

Artist, A. A. (year). Title of work [Medium]. Museum Name, Museum Location.

Example:

Monet, C. (1900). The water lily pond [Painting]. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, United States.

Art (online):

Artist, A. A. (year). Title of work [Medium]. Museum Name, Museum Location. https://xxxxxx

Example:

Monet, C. (1900). The water lily pond [Painting]. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, United States. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/33697

Graphs and Chart (from an article)

Figure X. Description of the image or title of the image. From "Title of Article," by Article Author's First Initial. Second Initial. Last Name, year, day, (for a magazine) or year (for a journal), Title of Magazine or Journal, volume number, page(s). Copyright year by name of copyright holder.

Example:

Figure 1. A proposed potential therapeutic algorithm based on current studies and clinical trials. From "Treatment for COVID-19: An overview," by Stasi, C., Fallani, S., Voller, F., & Silvestri, C, 2020, European journal of pharmacology, 889, 173644. Copyright 2020 by Elsevier.

Infographic:

Artist, A. A. (year). Title of infographic [Infographic]. Source. https://xxxxxx

Example:

CDC. (2020). Disability Impacts All of Us Infographic [Infographic]. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/images/disability-impacts-all1185px.png

Photographs/Images:

Photographer, A. A. (Date). Title of photograph [Photograph]. Source. https://xxxxxx

Example:

Adler, G. S. (1968). April 23, 1968 Crowd Sundial Rally [Photograph]. Columbia University Libraries. https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/catalog/cul:fbg79cnpkb

 

One Author:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name often shortened.

Example:

Kottler, J.A. (2000). Doing good: passion and commitment for helping others. Brunner-Routledge.

Two or More Authors:

Last Name of First Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given, & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name often shortened. 

Example:

Case, L. P., Daristotle, L., Hayek, M. G., & Raash, M. F. (2011). Canine and feline nutrition: A resource for companion animal professionals (3rd ed.). Mosby.

Group or Company:

Name of Corporate Author. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name often shortened.

Example:

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Editors:

Editor's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Ed.). (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name often shortened. 

Example:

Miller, J., & Smith, T. (Eds.). (1996). Cape Cod stories: Tales from Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. Chronicle Books.

Format:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of dissertation (Publication No, if applicable) [Type of Paper, name of the University]. Source Name or Repository Name. URL.

Examples:

Kabir, J. M. (2016). Factors influencing customer satisfaction at a fast food hamburger chain: The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Publication No. 10169573) [Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Zambrano-Vazquez, L. (2016). The interaction of state and trait worry on response monitoring in those with worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/620615

Notes:

  1. Author. Note: List the author's last name and initials as Author, A. A. There is usually only one author for a thesis or dissertation, you don't need to include any faculty advisers.
  2. (Year, Month Date). Note: Provide as specific a date as is available.
  3. Title of the dissertation or thesis [Doctoral dissertation or Master's thesis, Name of University]. Note: For works that stand alone (e.g. books, dissertations, theses), italicize the title. Only capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle and any proper nouns. The title page will indicate whether it's a Doctoral dissertation or Master's thesis and list the name of the university granting the degree.
  4. Source. Note: Include the name of the database or institutional repository where you can access the work (e.g. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, PQDT Open, Scholar Commons).
  5. URL Note: If available it's available.
Online Encyclopedia & Dictionary:

Name of Group Author. (Year of Publication). Title of entry. In Editor's First Initial. Second Initial if given. Last Name (Ed.), Name of encyclopedia or dictionary (edition if given and is not first edition). Retrieved from date URL

Example:

Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Olive. Britannica Academic. Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://academic-eb-com.libproxy.scu.edu/levels/collegiate/article/olive/57030

Encyclopedia & Dictionary from Print (book):

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of entry. In Editor's First Initial. Second Initial if given. Last Name (Ed.), Name of encyclopedia or dictionary (Volume number, pp. first page of entry-last page of entry). Publisher Name often shortened.

Example:

King, P. N., & Wester L. (1998). Hawaii. In The world book encyclopedia (Vol. 9, pp. 88-110). World Book.

From a Website:

Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. (Year of Publication, Month Day). Title of document: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. URL

Example:

Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services. (2010, April 27). Your preschool child's speech and language development. http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/earlychildhood/ speechlanguage/brochure_preschool.aspx

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (December, 2020). Improving Health Care For Adults With Disabilities: An Overview Of Federal Data Sources [Issue Brief]. https://www.cms.gov/files/document/federaldatadisability508.pdf

Print Document:

Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. (Year of Publication). Title of document: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name.

Example:

Health Council of Canada. (2007). Canadians' experience with chronic illness care in 2007.

Notes for Reports, Policy Briefs, Press Release, etc:
  1. Author or Name of Group (If the group name has many layers, use the most specific agency as the author). The parent agencies will be listed as the publisher.
    Note: You can abbreviate agency names in-text, but do not abbreviate agency names in the list of references.
  2. Date
  3. Title of Report or Title of Report (Report No. __)
  4. If it's not a report, but something fuzzier, like a press release, policy brief, etc. (so-called "gray literature), include a description in brackets. e.g., [Press Release] following the title.
  5. Publisher name (unless the publisher IS the group author)
  6. DOI or URL

Tip: It is often easier to identify the relevant elements of the citation by consulting a catalog entry (worldcat or your library's catalog) or by downloading the full report as a pdf and checking the cover pages.

One Author:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi number

Example:

Bailey, N. W. (2012). Evolutionary models of extended phenotypes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(3), 561-569. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126

Two to 20 authors:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi number 

Example:

Kerui Du, Shuai Shao, & Zheming Yan. (2021). Urban Residential Energy Demand and Rebound Effect in China: A Stochastic Energy Demand Frontier Approach. Energy Journal, 42(4), 175–193. https://doi-org.libproxy.scu.edu/10.5547/01956574.42.4.kdu

21 or More Authors:
Example:

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetma, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 77(3), 437-471. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2

Newspaper Article Online:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper. URL

Example:

Callahan, A. (2021, November 30). Why does coffee make you poop? New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/well/eat/why-does-coffee-make-you-poop.html

Newspaper Print:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication, Month Day if Given). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Newspaper, p. SectionPage if given.

Example:

Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, A1, A4.

Blog Post:

Author's Last Name, First initial. Second initial. Or, username if real name is not provided. (Year blog post was published, Month Day). Title of the blog post. Title of Blog. URL

Example:

Rudzate, A. (2022 February 21). How to Stay on Task and Avoid Distractions. Lifehack. https://www.lifehack.org/884657/stay-on-task

Podcast:

Director/Producer/Host's Last Name, First initial. Second initial if Given. (Role in the production e.g. Host, Director, Producer) (Year podcast was released, Month Day if given). Title of podcast episode: Subtitle if given (episode number if known) [Audio podcast episode]. In Title of Podcast. Publisher. URL if known

Example:

Prime, K. (Host). (2019), March 29). For whom the cowbell tolls [Audio podcast episode]. In Radiolab. WNYC Studios. https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/whom-cowbell-tolls

Streaming Video (YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu):

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. of person who posted the video if known. [User name that posted the video] . (Year video was posted, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. Name of Streaming Service. URL

Example:

Green, H. [Crash Course]. (2012, December 18). Ecosystem Ecology: Links in the Chain - Crash Course Ecology #7 [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ubvEJ3KGM

Twitter (Tweet):

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words[Tweet]. Site Name. URL

Example:

National Geographic [@NatGeo]. (2020, January 12). Scientists knew African grays are clever, but now they’ve been documented assisting other members of their species—even strangers [Tweet; thumbnail link to article]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/1216346352063537154

Corporate or Group as Author:

Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website Name. URL

Example:

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (2019, November 21). Justice served: Case closed for over 40 dogfighting victims. https://www.aspca.org/news/justice-served-case-closed-over-40-dogfighting-victims

One Author:

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year webpage was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of page: Subtitle (if any). Website name. URL

Example:

Lynch, G., Legar H. S. (2020, January 16). Best gadgets 2020: the top tech you can buy right now. techradar. https://www.techradar.com/news/best-gadgets

In-Text Citation

In-Text Paraphrase (single author)
In-Text Quote (single author)
(Author Last Name, Year) (Author's Last Name, Year, Page)
Example: (Brodin, 2021) Example: (Brodin, 2021, p. 29)
In-Text Paraphrase (two authors)
In-Text Quote (two authors)
(Author Last Name & Author Last Name, Year) (Author Last Name & Author Last Name, Year, Page)
Example: (Myers & Doe, 2021) Example: (Myers & Doe, 2021, p. 13)
In-Text Paraphrase (three or more authors)
In-Text Quote  (three or more authors)
(Author Last Name et al., Year) (Author Last Name et al., Year, Page)
Example: (Bart et al., 2004) Example: (Bart et al., 2004, p. 201)

Learn more about In-Text Citations: Basics

Learn more about In-Text Citations: Author/Authors

Formatting Your Paper

Follow these guidelines to format your paper in APA style, unless your professor has a specific preference. Your paper should be in three major sections: the title page, main body, and the references list. If you are writing a professional paper, then there should be 4 major sections: the title page, abstract, main body, and the references list. Here are some other guidelines you'll need to follow:

  • double-space
  • 1" margins on all sides
  • include a page header (running head) at the top of every page
    • student paper: page number
    • professional paper: "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" then page number
  • acceptable fonts:
    • 12-point Times New Roman
    • 11-point Georgia
    • 11-point Calibri
    • 11-point Arial
    • 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode
    • 11-point Computer Modern

Learn more about General Format from Purdue OWL.