APA is one of the most developed and used styles among those that originate from the so-called Harvard system. According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA), cited sources are written in the text within parentheses with information about the author and year.
APA Style has guidelines for both the referencing and formatting of academic texts. However, the JU Library APA guide focuses primarily on the reference list and in-text citations. The guide is based on the latest edition of APA (the 7th edition).
APA Style is used in many programs at JU, and most APA guidelines can be applied to student papers. APA encourages instructors and institutions to adapt the APA guidelines to fit their needs. Students are advised always to follow the instructions the teachers give, even if they are different from the APA guidelines.
Read more: APA Style: Instructional Aids
The basic idea behind a reference is that it should include enough information about the source so that the reader can easily find it. Therefore it is necessary to write your references consistently.
Who created the source?
This is either one or several authors, or an organization.
When was the source created?
In most cases this is the year the source was published, but in some cases, for example newspaper articles, you also include the month and day as well. When no year can be identified in the source, you can instead write n.d. (= no date) in its place.
What is the name of the source?
This is the title of a book, an article, a book chapter, a website, a report, a piece of music or a blog post.
Where can you find the source?
This part should answer the question "Where", and that means different things depending on what kind of source we are dealing with. If it is a book, it would be the publisher, if it is something on a website, it is a web link, if it is journal article, it is the journal, and if it is a book chapter, it is the book in which you can find the chapter.
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