| APA Citation Style |
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The APA style is an in-text citation system that uses parens or parentheses inside the body of the text that then indicate which reference in the bibliography is being referred to.
In the APA style, the bibliography is referred to as the "References" page. The in-text parentheses includes the following information: 1) last name of the author or the first word of the title if no author is available, 2) the year of publication, and 3)-may or may not be included-either the page or the paragraph number of the document. That's it! Now to the more subtle aspects of APA style. If a direct quotation is being cited then you need to include a page number or a paragraph number as in (Johnson, 1998, p.18). You must use "p." for page and "para." for paragraph as in (Johnson, 1998, para.18). However, if you are making a general referral to the text or similar general reference, then (Johnson, 1998) is acceptable. Yet, in spite of this being the case you will find some professors who insist on a page number or a paragraph number for every single reference. In this case, just put something in--most of these types of professors don't check but only want to see that you are being thorough and honest in your efforts to adequately credit another writer or author. However, if you just want to get through your degree program you can always have a custom academic writing service just write your model paper for you.
Finally, now that you have the in-text citation down, you must build your "References" page. In the APA style, a reference begins with the author's last name and the author's first initial or, if no author is available then use the title of the article. This is followed by the year of publication, as in the following:
Johnson, J. (1998). Many professors are anal retentive. Journal for How to Write APA Style, 18/42, pp.18-42. As you will see, the title to the article is lower case except after a colon in which the first word after a colon is capitalized. Additionally, the title of the publication is put in italics. Finally, the 18/42 indicates the volume and issue of the publication and the pp.18-42 are, of course the page numbers. So, think you have APA down, think again. It gets more complicated depending on websites, databases, and types of publications but if you have these basics down then you are on the right track!!! It can all be a little too much to think about as you try and navigate the college or university experience.
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