Publication Manual of the American Psychological AssociationThere are some great guides and services out there to help you format your citations. We especially recommend:
See "Reference Examples" from the APA Style Blog or section 10.1 on pp. 316-321 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
General format for articles:
Author's Last Name, Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page number(s).
Note on capitalizing: In the article title only the first word of the title, first word of the subtitle and proper nouns are capitalized. In the journal title all words are capitalized except articles, conjunctions, and prepositions (except when it is the first word or the title).
Note on italicizing: Italicize the journal title and volume number. The article title and issue number are not italicized.
Below are examples of the most common reference entries for articles. For more information see section 10.1, pages 316-321, of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Journal article, from an academic research database or print version:
Anderson, M. (2018). Getting consistent with consequences. Educational Leadership, 76(1), 26-33.
Journal article with DOI:
McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1-51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126
Journal article with a DOI, 21 or more authors:
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandi, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woolen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A.,... Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 77(3), 437-471. http://doi.org/fg6rf9
Note: Because the original DOI was long and complex, a shortDOI is used (see Section 9.36 in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association). Either the long or short form of the DOI is acceptable.
Journal article without DOI, with a nondatabase URL:
Ahmann, E., Tuttle, L. J., Saviet, M., & Wright, S. D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(1), 17-39. https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/archived-jped/jped-volume-31
Weir, K. (2017, January). Forgiveness can improve mental and physical health. Monitor on Psychology, 48(1), 30.
Magazine article, Electronic:
Bustillos, M. (2013, March 19). On video games and storytelling: An interview with Tom Bissell. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-video-games-and-storytelling-an-interview-with-tom-bissell
Hess, A. (2019, January 3). Cats who take direction. The New York Times, C1.
Newspaper article, Electronic:
Guarino, B. (2017, December 4). How will humanity react to alien life? Psychologists have some predictions. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/12/04/how-will-humanity-reach-to-alien-life-psychologists-have-some-predictions
See section 10.7 on pp. 334-335 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
When citing reviews of books, music, movies, video games, or other media, include the a reference to the item under review in the citations. Follow the general format for the type of publication the review is published as: article, blog post, etc.
General format for reviews:
Reviewer, A. A. (Year). Title of review [Review of the book Title of the book, by A. A. Author]. Title where published, volume number(issue number), page number(s).
Examples:
Santos, F. (2019, January 11). Reframing refugee children's stories [Review of the book We are displaced: My journey and stories from refugee girls around the world, by M. Yousafzai]. The New York Times. https://nyti.ms/2HIgjk3
Mirabito, L. A., & Heck, N. C. (2016). Bringing LGBTQ youth theater into the spotlight [Review of the film The year we thought about love, by E. Brodsky, Dir.]. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 3(4), 499-500. https://doi.org/10.1027/sgd0000205