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Citation Style - APA

About Citing Other Sources

For each type of source in this guide, both the general format and an example will be provided.

Information on citing and several of the examples were drawn from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

More examples are available from the online APA Reference Manual 7th edition

Figures (pp. 38, 150-167) and tables

When you use a figure in your paper that has been adapted or copied directly from another source, you need to reference the original source.  This reference appears as a caption underneath the figure that you copied or adapted for your paper.

Any image that is reproduced from another source also needs to come with copyright permission; it is not enough just to cite the source.

Hints:

  • Number figures consecutively throughout your paper.
  • Double-space the caption that appears under a figure.

More examples available from: http://library.canterbury.ac.nz/services/ref/apa/tables.shtml

General Format 1 (Figure from a Book):

     Caption under Figure
     Figure X. Descriptive phrase that serves as title and description. Reprinted [or adapted]
     from Book Title (page number), by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Surname,
     Year, Place of Publication: Publisher. Copyright [Year] by the Name of Copyright Holder.
     Reprinted [or adapted] with permission.
 
Example 1 (Figure from a Book):
     Caption under Figure
     Figure 1. Short-term memory test involving pictures. Reprinted from Short-term Memory
     Loss (p. 73), by K. M. Pike, 2008, New York, NY: Mackerlin Press. Copyright  2008 by
     the Association for Memory Research. Reprinted with permission.
    
 
General Format 2 (Figure from a Journal Article):
 
     Caption under Figure
     Figure X. Descriptive phrase that serves as title and description. Reprinted [or adapted]
     from “Title of Article,” by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, Year, Journal Title,
     Volume(issue), page number. Copyright [Year] by the Name of Copyright Holder.
     Reprinted [or adapted] with permission.
 
Example 2 (Figure from a Journal Article)
       Caption under Figure
     Figure 1. Schematic drawings of a bird's eye view of the table (a) and the test phase of
     the choice task (b). Numbers represent the dimensions in centimeters. Adapted from
     "Visual Experience Enhances Infants' Use of Task-Relevant Information in an Action
     Task," by S.-h. Wang and L. Kohne, 2007, Developmental Psychology, 43, p. 1515.
     Copyright 2003 by the American Psychological Association.
 
General Format 3 (Figure from a Website):
       Caption under Figure
     Figure X. Descriptive phrase that serves as title and description. Reprinted [or adapted]
     from Title of Website, by Author First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, Year, Retrieved
     from URL. Copyright [year] by the Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or adapted]
     with permission.
 
Example 3 (Figure from a Website):
     Caption under Figure
     Figure 1. An example of the cobra yoga position. Reprinted from List of Yoga Postures,
     In Wikipedia, n.d., Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
     /List_of_yoga_postures. Copyright 2007 by Joseph Renger. Reprinted with permission.

Class Lecture (Notes, PowerPoints, Blackboard documents, etc.)

This format would be used if you were citing a set of notes from a class lecture (e.g. PowerPoint slides provided by your instructor), including documents from a course page on the ZU Blackboard site, http://learn.zu.ac.ae 
 
If you want to cite something from a class lecture not included in a set of lecture notes, you would use the format for a personal communication (like for an interview or email).
 
General Format 
 
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Lecture title [Format].
Retrieved from URL
  
Example 1
 
Birnbaum, L. (2008). Changes in historical perspective: Arab Gulf region
[PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learn.zu.ac.ae

Example 2
 
Hallam, A. (n.d.). Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved
from http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/index.html

An Interview (p. 179)

Personal interviews are not included in the reference list. Cite them in text only.

General Format 
 
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
(Interviewee First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, personal communication,
Month Day, Year)
     
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Interviewee First Initial. Second Initial. Surname, personal communication,
Month Day, Year)
 
References:
Not included.
  
Example
 
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
(Y. Martel, personal communication, April 15, 2005)
 
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Y. Martel, personal communication, April 15, 2005)
 
References:
Not included.
  

Dissertations & Theses (p. 207-208)

This includes doctoral dissertations and master's theses.
 
General Format 1 -- print
 
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Dissertation/thesis title: Subtitle 
(Doctoral dissertation or master's thesis). Name of Institution, Location.
  
Example 1 -- print
 
Adam, K. (2003). Women's empowerment and leadership in education: A key factor
 for emiratisation in the United Arab Emirates (Master's thesis). University of
South Africa.

General Format 2 -- electronic
 
Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Dissertation/thesis title: Subtitle
(Doctoral dissertation or master's thesis). Retrieved from URL of web site OR
Name of database. (Accession or Order No. [if applicable])  
 
Example 2 -- electronic, from web site
 
Adams, R. J. (1973). Building a foundation for evaluation of instruction in higher    
education and continuing education (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved
from http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/

Example 3 -- electronic, from library database


McNiel, D. S. (2006). Meaning through narrative: A personal narrative discussing 
  
growing up with an alcoholic mother (Master's thesis). Retrieved from
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1434728)

Secondary Sources (p. 178)

Sometimes an author writes about research that someone else has done, but you are unable to track down the original research report.

In this case, because you did not read the original report, you will include only the source you did consult in your References.

The words “as cited in” in the parenthetical reference indicate you have not read the original research.

General Format 
 
      In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
      (Author Surname, Year qtd. as cited in Author Surname [of the source you read], Year)
     
      In-Text Citation (Quotation):
      (Author Surname, Year qtd. as cited in Author Surname [of the source you read],
      Year, page number)
 
      References:
      Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial [of the source you read]. (Year). Book title:
            Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publisher.
 
      NOTE: If you were using an indirect source from an article, refer to the journals
      section of this guide.
  
Example
 
      In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
      Fong’s 1987 study (as cited in Bertram, 1996) found that older students’ memory can
      be as good as that of young people, but this depends on how memory is tested.
 
      References:
      Do not include Fong (1987) in your References; do include Bertram (1996).

Religious Texts & Classical Works (p. 178-179)

Classical works (including religious texts) are commonly only cited in-text and not in the references section.
 
General Format
 
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase):
Name of the Book (often abbreviated) Chapter:Verse [if applicable]
Version being Cited [if applicable])
 
NOTE: If you are only using one version of a particular work, you
only need to include the Version in the first in-text citation (p. 179).
     
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Name of the Book (often abbreviated) Chapter:Verse [if applicable]
Version being Cited [if applicable])
 
References:
Not included.
  
Example 1
 
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
(Qur'an 5:3-4)
 
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(Qur'an 5:3-4)
 
References:
Not included.
 
Example 2
 
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 
(1 Cor. 13:1 Revised Standard Version)
 
In-Text Citation (Quotation):
(1 Cor. 13:1 Revised Standard Version)
 
References:
Not included.