purdue owl apa style introduction

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APA Style Help & Tools

{{page_title}}, best bet: apa's academic writer.

Academic Writer is the only authoritative and complete online environment for teaching, writing, and publishing in APA Style®, now updated to the 7th Edition. Designed to help users develop their writing and professional research skills, Academic Writer combines sophisticated learning and teaching tools, advanced writing and content management technology, and full integration of APA’s best-selling Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association® to create an unparalleled web-based suite of integrated services and tools.

Access Academic Writer anytime with this link:

library.purdueglobal.edu/academicwriter

Academic Writer Documentation & Tips

The below links lead to more information, tips, and training about the basics of using Academic Writer.

• Library Guide to Academic Writer
• Getting Started Guide (PDF)
• Creating Academic Writer Accounts (PDF)
• Accessing the Publication Manual (PDF)
• Technical Requirements

Using Academic Writer's Writing Tools

Academic Writer contains a Writing section where you can create and write a full APA-formatted paper.  You can write the entire paper in Academic Writer or just use it to setup the title page, headings, and references.  Export your work at any time to a Microsoft Word document.  Below are documents from Academic Writer about the essential features of their Writing tools.  

• Setting up the Title Page
• Adding References to Papers (PDF)
• Adding In-Text Citations (PDF)
• Adding Tables (PDF)
• Exporting Papers (PDF)

Featured Items from Academic Writer

Basics of APA Style

Learn the basics of APA Style, including how to format a manuscript, understand the form and function of common manuscript parts, organize and express your thoughts clearly and precisely, employ the mechanics of style, use graphic elements effectively, credit sources and acknowledge the contributions of others, and construct a comprehensive and reliable reference list.

Academic Writer

© 2020 American Psychological Association.

How to Avoid Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism

Learn how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism, including how to identify plagiarism, understand its risks and consequences, cite sources properly, and develop sound writing practices.

Learn how to set up the title page of an APA Style paper, including the page header and running head, title, author name and affiliation, and author note.

Paper Template: ("Merenda" Sample Student Paper)

This sample response paper presents a university student's personal reaction to an article about whether medication is prescribed too often to young children to treat psychological disorders. The title page demonstrates the simple default layout for a student paper. The paper has a simple setup with only a title page, body of text, and references. No "running head"! Response papers typically do not include author notes or abstracts, though this may vary by assignment.

Visit the Writing Center

Need writing help?  Visit the Writing Center to contact a tutor, submit your paper for review and feedback, or ask APA Style-related questions, as well as access dozens of writing tutorials, videos, webinars, and other instructional resources.

• Writing Center

PG Writing Center's Top APA Links

• Common Citations in APA Format
• APA Title Page and Running Head Video
• APA (7th Edition) Demystified in 5 Minutes Video
• Formatting an APA Style (7th Edition) Reference List Video
• Writing With Integrity (APA Style 7th Ed.)

eBook on APA Style 7th Edition

Zotero: Free Reference Management Tool

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. This tool is especially popular for heavy researchers at the grad level and above.

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APA Style (7th Edition)

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

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Citation Guide

What is apa style.

• APA Quick Reference Guide

Paper Formatting Guidelines & Sample Papers

In-text citations & the reference list, examples of references & in-text citations, software tools for apa style.

• MLA Style - 9th Edition
• Chicago/Turabian Style
• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
• Tools for Managing Citations
• Citation Season!

APA Publication Manual

Introduction to APA Style

APA stands for American Psychological Association. APA Style is a way to format your paper and give credit to your sources. This page provides resources for all the elements of preparing a research paper in APA Style, including formatting, in-text citations, and the list of references.

Many disciplines use APA Style, including business, education, nursing, psychology and others.

APA Quick Links

• APA Style Website This is the online home of APA Style.
• APA Style Blog The APA Style Blog publishes short articles about writing style guidelines and complicated citation questions you might have.
• Purdue OWL Guide to APA Style Purdue OWL has resources about many citation styles. Here is their section on APA.

APA Quick Reference Guide, page 1 of 2

APA Quick Reference Guide, page 2 of 2

Use the following materials to learn about APA guidelines for different parts of your paper, like the title page, headers and footers, and writing an abstract.

• APA Sample Papers Look at a finished paper in APA format. Use this to set up your paper.
• APA Style Formatting Guide This guide covers formatting rules for all parts of an APA paper.
• Student Title Page guide (PDF) Use this for student papers using the APA 7th Edition.
• Professional Title Page Use this to learn about the differences between student and professional paper title pages.
• Abstract and Keywords Guide (PDF) Use this if you are required to include and abstract and/or keywords for your APA Style paper.
• Tables, Appendices, Footnotes, and Endnotes If your paper has tables, appendices, footnotes, or endnotes, use these guidelines.

Citing sources has two elements: the in-text citation is in the body of your paper when you refer to something that you use from a source, and this citation points to the reference list, where there is more information about each source. 

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab - aka Purdue OWL - is a good online source of information about many citation styles. Many of the following links take you straight to Purdue OWL pages that answer frequent questions about APA Style. 

In-Text Citations

• APA In-Text Citations Basics of in-text citation from Purdue Owl.
• APA In-Text Citations Author Rules Detailed rules from Purdue Owl on how to cite multiple authors.

The Reference List

• Basic Rules for the Reference List This page gives a summary of the reference list, which is the full list of your sources at the end of the paper.
• Citing Books in the Reference List This page has rules and examples for citing books of different types in your reference list.
• Citing Electronic Sources in the Reference List This page has examples and rules for citing journal articles and other things you find through a library database or anywhere online.
• Rules about Authors in the Reference List Does your source have 3 authors? Five authors? More? No author listed? This page gives guidance on how to format author names in the reference list depending on number of authors, missing author, if an organization is an author, etc.
• Citing a Government Website in the Reference List Do you have a source from a government agency? Use these guidelines to create a citation.
• Using DOIs and URLs How to use the doi or URL in electronic journal articles.
• Crossref Search Use Crossref to search for an article's doi.

Article in an Electronic Journal

Reference page entry.

Grady, J.S., Her, M,. Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States.  Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8 (3), 207-217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

In-Text Citation

(Grady et al., 2019, p. 208)

Newspaper Article

Carey, B. (2019, March 22). Can we get better at forgetting? The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/health/memory-forgetting-psychology.html

(Carey, 2019)

Rabinowitz, F.E (2019). Deepening group psychotherapy with men: Stories and insights for the journey . American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/00001132-000

(Rabinowitz, 2019)

Chapter of a Book

Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart. (2019). Culinary arts:  Talent and their developments. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345-359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016

(Aron et al., 2019)

Webpage on a Website

National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, July). Anxiety disorders . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/indnex.shtml

(National Institute of Mental Health, 2018)

There are many tools that can help you create, manage, and organize your citations and your references page. Here are some that the library provides or recommends for students and faculty. 

• Academic Writer This link opens in a new window Many psychology courses use Academic Writer. Academic Writer is a tool that provides the resources necessary to learn, research, write, and publish in APA Style, directly from the creators of and experts on APA Style, the American Psychological Association. You can make an account on Academic Writer with your Caldwell email address.
• NoodleTools This link opens in a new window NoodleTools is an online tool that helps you with note taking, and correctly formatting citations. MLA, APA, and Chicago/Turabian citation styles are included. Use throughout your research project to track sources, take notes, create outlines, collaborate with classmates, and format bibliographies. Use this link to create an account.
• ZoteroBib ZoteroBib is a free service that helps you build a bibliography from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software. It's from the team behind the open source citation management app Zotero. ZBib can create a draft citation from a link or ISBN and has helpful templates for you to use to manually create citations. You can use it for MLA, APA, or Chicago Style.
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• Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024 9:53 AM
• URL: https://libguides.caldwell.edu/citations

• Western Libraries
• Library Guides
• Citation Quick Guides and Style Manuals
• APA Style Quick Guide (7th Edition)

Citation Quick Guides and Style Manuals: APA Style Quick Guide (7th Edition)

• MLA Style Quick Guide (8th Edition)
• Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide (17th Edition)
• Citing Maps
• What Do You Need to Cite?

Paraphrasing

• Other Citation Styles (By Discipline)

APA Printable Quick Guide

• APA Quick Guide (7th Edition)

Online Help Guides and APA Resources

• APA Style Blog (7th Edition) Run by the official APA Style team, this blog is an authoritative source for answers to APA questions. It also provides commentary, context, and announcements related to APA Style.
• APA Style Tutorial Detailed introduction to the the basics of APA Style created by the APA.
• Decolonizing APA Citations Indigenous oral teachings are more than a "personal communication". Created by Lorisia Macleod of the John Smith Cree Nation, this report provides detailed templates for citing Indigenous knowledge.
• Missing Reference Information Examples of how to cite a source when you are missing information about it, such as the author or date.
• Purdue OWL APA Guide Abbreviated guide to APA Style created by the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
• Reference Examples Reference examples for different types of sources including, TED Talks, PowerPoints, TikTok videos, and more.
• Sample Papers Sample student papers formatted in APA Style.

In the Library

Introduction to APA Style

This video was created by California State University Dominguez Hills and provides a quick and helpful overview of the APA Citation Style.

Paraphrasing: To restate an idea in your own words.

APA Style prefers that authors paraphrase ideas from sources rather than directly quoting from them. Paraphrasing allows you to connect the ideas in a source to the ideas in your paper more clearly and succinctly. It cuts down on wordiness and demonstrates your understanding of the source itself.

Although we regularly paraphrase our experiences in conversation, paraphrasing content from scholarly articles into your research paper can be a challenging exercise! This is because you are learning new content and a new academic communication style as your read.

Below are some tips from to help you successfully paraphrase the ideas of others:

• Closely read the section of the source you want to paraphrase. Read it more than once until you truly understand it.
• Note how this source connects to your thesis/paper topic. Ask yourself: Why do I want to use this source?
• Hide the source from view, so you can't see that section anymore.
• Imagine explaining the section to a friend or classmate. Write down what you would say.
• Compare your paraphrase to the source itself to make sure you have captured the idea, but not copied the author's words or phrasing.
• Revise your paraphrase, so that it's written in your own voice and it doesn't mimic the phrasing or sentence structure of the original source. If you do need to use a specific term from the original in your paraphrase, put it inside quotation marks.
• Cite the source!

Sources: Purdue OWL , University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center , Walden University Writing Center

Research Management Software

• Zotero Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a research management application that works with your Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browser to collect, manage, and cite research sources. Follow the link for more information on how to set up and use Zotero.
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• Last Updated: Jan 26, 2024 1:36 PM
• URL: https://libguides.wwu.edu/citation_style

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Subject Guide

Purdue OWL APA 7th edition

Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab) is the "go to" for instruction on how to use APA 7th.  Below are a few of the topics OWL has.  Check out their website for more.  https://owl.purdue.edu/index.html 

• APA Style Introduction APA 7th
• APA Overview and Workshop APA 7th
• General Formating APA 7th
• In-Text Citation: Authors APA 7th
• Foot Notes and Appendices APA 7th
• Changes in the 7th Edition APA 7th

APA Tutorials on 7th edition

 If you need to format your research paper or dissertation in APA style, check out these tutorials from APA.

APA 7th edtion

• Comparative Chart of APA 6th and APA 7th This is a quick chart created by the Janis P. Bellack Library comparing the new edition of APA.

NOTE FROM APA about 7th edition:

There is no electronic version of APA 7th edition.

"APA does NOT have an institutional license model for APA’s Publication Manual , but electronic versions are available at Vital Source ( www.vitalsource.com ) and RedShelf ( www.redshelf.com ).

 To help students in need of APA Style guidance, tutorials and quick guides adapted from Academic Writer ® , APA’s tool for teaching and learning effective writing, are now freely available through July 1, 2020.

The Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style tutorial and other material will stay on the APAStyle.org site for free after that date. "

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• Next: Tutorials for Searching Education Topics >>
• Last Updated: Mar 25, 2024 4:20 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/education

APA Citation and Format

• APA Format, 7th Edition
• Tutorials for APA 7th ed.
• Formatting Basics
• In-Text Citations
• References List
• HU Writing Lab This link opens in a new window
• Citation Managers
• Citing and Using Images
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Check Your Knowledge

APA Manual, 7th edition

Guides to Using APA Style

• Style and Grammar Guidelines from the APA
• APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th ed.) from Purdue OWL

APA Style, 7th edition

• Introduction
• Presentation Slides

The  Introduction to the 7th edition of the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association   provides a more detailed summary. 

These are the chapters with important changes for students and faculty:

• Paper Formatting (Chapter 2):  New student title page, simplified Running Head, and updated formats for Headings.
• Writing Style and Grammar (Chapter 4):  The manual now advises the pronoun “they” for a person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant.
• Bias-Free Language (Chapter 5):  Updates guidelines for writing about “age, disability, gender, racial and ethnic identity, and sexual orientation.”
• Mechanics of Style (Chapter 6): Minor changes to punctuation, spacing, and capitalization.
• Tables and Figures (Chapter 7): Updated guidelines for presenting data in tables and figures.
• In-Text Citations (Chapter 8):   All sources with three or more authors are now attributed using the name of the first author followed by “et al.”
• Reference List (Chapter 9): New guidelines for using DOIs and URLs 
• APA Slides Used for In-Class Presentations

APA Sample Student Paper, 7th edition

• APA Student Paper (7th ed.) from APA Annotated sample student paper from the APA website.
• APA Professional Paper (7th ed) from APA Annotated sample professional paper from the APA website.
• APA Student Paper (7th ed.) from Purdue Owl Annotated paper from Purdue Owl.

APA Citation Examples, 7th edition

• Reference List Examples (APA 7th ed.) from APA Citation examples from the APA website.
• In-Text Citations (APA 7th ed.) from Purdue OWL
• Reference List (APA 7th ed.) from Purdue OWL
• Next: Tutorials for APA 7th ed. >>
• Last Updated: Mar 12, 2024 11:16 AM
• URL: https://library.harrisburgu.edu/apa

APA Publication and Style Manual: Introduction

Introduction, links to useful resources, tips & templates, apa publication & style manual introduction.

The APA Publication Manual is the official manual of style of the American Psychological Association. Developed to provide guidance and information  for those writing and publishing, it is currently in its sixth edition.

The APA Publication Manual is used extensively by students, faculty, researchers, and professionals who write and publish in the fields of Psychology,  Education, Business, Law and Justice, Journalism, Linguistics, Nursing, Medicine, although other styles are also used.  

Which style guide should you use?  The one your professor requires, so be sure to ask.  If you plan to submit a paper for publication, be sure to confirm the correct style. Nearly all publications will identify and give some direction about how manuscripts should be submitted for publication. If not in the publication, guidance will be offered on publishers' websites, or the websites of the organization for whom the journal title is published, if relevant. 

Consult a librarian

Make an appointment for a consultation with a librarian who specializes in your subject area using our Request a Consultation form or visit the  Subject Librarians  page for a list of librarians and their email and phone contact information. 

Items in the Library and Available Online

A copy of the APA Publication manual is also kept on Reserve. Ask at the Circulation Desk. 

Links to Helpful Resources

Apa academic writerl       new & recommended.

The Legacy version will soon disappear so we recommend you use the new Refworks. RefWorks is a Citation and Bibliographic Management tools, which the library provides to students and faculty at no cost. Complete the short easy registration once and access. To take full advantage of the range of tools available, we recommend you open YouTube, search for RefWorks and watch the tutorials. You'll be an expert in no time. A few minute to set up and learn to use RefWorks will save you hours of frustration and make you look brilliant.

Purdue OWL - Online Writing Lab

"The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction." (source: website)

EasyBib Blog

Bibme.org/apa.

Government Sources

Government Sources come in a vast array of types, so citing them can be confusing.

• Naval Postgraduate School guide to citing government sources Provides examples for about 30 types of documents.

Two versions of a citation builder from Chegg Study

Citation machine for apa, purdue online writing lab.

The Purdue OWL site is nearly everyone's favorite Go-To website for help with writing and examples of the APA style are very clear.

American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide from OWL

The Purdue Online Writing Lab website offers two tutorials on APA style.

• OWL: APA Overview and Workshop
• OWL: Formatting and Style

Sample Paper in APA Style from OWL

Apa style sample paper.

Citing Dictionary entries

Citing Encyclopedia entries

Citing Online Databases

Citing Interviews

Citing Photographs

Citing Sheet Music

Citing Websites

Citing Blogs

Citing Magazines

Citing Newspapers

• Last Updated: Sep 7, 2023 3:20 PM
• URL: https://libguides.rowan.edu/c.php?g=651623

Citation/Style Guides

• In-Text Citations
• Reference Entries
• Author-Date Style
• Notes-Bibliography Style
• Works Cited

Instructional Aids APA 7th Edition

• Instructional Aids APA 7th Edition Tutorials, webinars, guides, and sample papers
• APA Style Common Reference Examples Guide
• Citing Classical and Religious Works APA Style blog post on how to cite and create reference entries for religious works, such as the Bible.
• Dissertation References This page contains reference examples for published dissertations.
• APA Style Sample Papers

APA Format & Style Power Point Presentation

• APA Format & Style This Power Point Presentation will provide information on capturing APA citations from a database, creating in-text citations, setting up a References page, and formatting a paper.

APA Template 7th Edition Student Paper

• APA Template APA Template 7th Edition Student Paper created by Dr. Mongiovi

Helpful Websites

• APA Style official website of the American Psychological Association on APA style
• DOI.org The DOI system provides a technical and social infrastructure for the registration and use of persistent interoperable identifiers, called DOIs, for use on digital networks.
• Free DOI Lookup CrossRef provides a number of ways for you to locate a DOI.
• Jerry Falwell Library APA Writing Guide This page has good examples of citing from various Bible versions.
• Tutorials and Webinars The Academic Writer Tutorial and webinars on APA 7th edition.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) APA style introduction 7th Edition

Citation Generators

There are various online tools that will generate both in-text and bibliographic citations.  It is important to keep in mind that these tools are not fool-proof.  Some may not be using the current style manual edition, and some may incorrectly generate a citation.   It is up to you to double-check the generated citation with the latest style manual.

Zotero  - see the library's guide on using Zotero by clicking here .

Introduction

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association provides detailed guidelines for using APA style. The current edition of the APA Publication Manual   is kept on the Reference shelves on the main floor of the library building.

APA Student Paper webinar

APA Professional Paper

Citations from Databases

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• Last Updated: Jan 19, 2024 11:39 AM
• URL: https://libguides.swu.edu/citationstyleguides