(7th ed.)
If you do not see the rule you need, consult one of the additional resources.
In the paragraph below, the parenthetical in-text citations are highlighted in yellow, and the signal phrases are in blue. Note that the second sentence is common knowledge, whereas the final sentence is clearly the opinion of the author.
For more information, see the TPO's Citing Responsibly in APA (PDF).
The NPS Thesis Processing Office prefers a List of References for the following:
For papers, check with your professors for their preference.
Do not include honorifics (Dr., Col., Professor, etc.) when citing author names. Including these titles in the body of your document is acceptable.
The author is the organization immediately responsible for creating the document. In this example, the author is the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the publisher is the Department of the Navy.
The author is NOT an umbrella organization, signatory, or any of the following:
Do not include acronyms for organizations listed as authors in the List of References or footnotes:
# of Authors | Signal-phrase format | Parenthetical format | Reference List |
---|---|---|---|
One |
Walker (2007) reported that ... |
(Walker, 2007) |
Walker, V. (2007). [then the remaining reference information] |
Two |
Walker and Allen (2004) |
(Walker & Allen, 2004) |
Walker, V., & Allen, R. L. (2004). |
More than two | First author + et al.* | First author + et al.* | List all authors up to the first six, then follow the example below, ensuring the last author appears after the ellipsis. |
Bradley et al. (2006) | (Bradley et al., 2006) | Bradley, K. S., Ramirez, H., Soo, T., Walsh J., Smith, W., Jones, F. ... Potatohead, M. (2006). | |
* When this form creates ambiguity (because two sources have the same first author and same year but different remaining authors), write out as many authors as needed to distinguish the sources, followed by "et al.":
By contrast, for multiple works from the same year by a certain group of authors, see the "Same Authors, Multiple Works" table. |
Adapted from American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). and American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
For works with a translator, follow the format for edited sources but substitute "translated" for "edited" in the list of references.
R: Manqué, M. Old and rejected poems. (1989). Translated by Hickinson, P. Narrow Fellow Press.
For works in languages other than English, format the title in sentence case, then give the translation, also in sentence case, in square brackets immediately following:
R: Manqué, M. (1992). "L'esthétique de l'échec" [The aesthetics of failure]. In Sweeney H. (Ed.), Éviter les clichés et des autres clichés [Avoiding clichés and other clichés], edited by Sweeney, H. 3–44. Stew & Offspring.
If any information is missing from a source (a journal with no volume number, for example), simply omit that information. For sources consulted in hardcopy, omit the URL and any additional verbiage that introduces it. Anything retrieved online, however, MUST have a link. The only exception is journals retrieved from a subscription database such as ProQuest.
Title Case | Sentence case |
Love among the Ruins: A Memoir of Life and Love in Hamburg, 1945 | Love among the ruins: A memoir of life and love in Hamburg, 1945 |
Capitalize everything except:
|
Capitalize only:
|
Note: Always format the information in your citations (titles, author names, etc.) according to the requirements of the citation style you are using, regardless of how it appears in the original source.
For direct quotes, add page numbers to the in-text citation only.
Example: (Haynes, 2009, p. 70)
If a source does not have page numbers, include as much information as needed for the reader to locate the material. Such information might include the following:
For book chapters, include page-number range in List of References/Bibliography.
Example: Cordesman, A. H., Mausner, A., & Kasten, D. (2009). Introduction. In J. Smith (Ed.), Winning in Afghanistan: Creating Effective Afghan Security Forces (pp. 1–12). Center for Strategic and International Studies.
When citing a source retrieved online, use the "online" format even when you or someone else printed out the material. For example, if you print out a thesis or your advisor provides you with a printed thesis, it is still categorized as an online document.
Only cite as a print source when the material has been produced by a publisher in hard copy. For example, if you obtain a print journal or book from the library stacks, it is categorized as a printed source.
When the author and the publisher are the same, omit the publisher information from the reference entry to avoid repetition.
Examples given are for books; follow the appropriate style for the source type you are citing.
Source |
Generic Example | Actual Example |
---|---|---|
Same author, same year, different sources
|
||
Source 1 |
R: Author, A. A. (Year + a). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher. T: (Author, year + a) |
R: Hawthorne, M. (2006a). The cannibal’s dilemma: An unnatural history of four siblings. Penguin. T: (Hawthorne, 2006a) |
Source 2 |
R: Author, A. A. (Year + b). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher. T: (Author, year + b) |
R: Hawthorne, M. (2006b). Having people for dinner: A guide for the home cook. Penguin. T: (Hawthorne, 2006b) |
Combined |
T: (Author year + a, year + b) |
T: (Hawthorne 2006a, 2006b) |
Same author, different year, different sources
|
||
Source 1 |
R: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher. T: (Author, year) |
R: Hawthorne, M. (2006). Having people for dinner: A guide for the home cook. Penguin. T: (Hawthorne, 2006) |
Source 2 |
R: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher. T: (Author, year) |
R: Hawthorne, M. (2008). Regrets. Penguin. T: (Hawthorne, 2008) |
Combined |
T: (Author, year 1, year 2) |
T: (Hawthorne, 2006, 2008) |
Different authors, different years
|
||
Combined |
T: (Author 1, year; Author 2, year; etc.) |
(Hawthorne, 2006b; Norton, 1998; Stulberg, 2014) (Nekeip & Nywdlog, 2005; Qaga, 2007; Romato et al., 1995). |
Authors with the same surname
|
||
T: (A. A. Author, year; B. B. Author, year) | (M. Curie, 1903; P. Curie, 1903) |
A secondary source is a source that cites some other work that you discuss in your text.
Whenever possible, consult primary sources and your sources’ sources yourself. Upon investigation of the primary source, you may find you disagree with the secondary source author’s analysis or methods. Only use secondary sources when the primary source is unavailable.
The following passage incorporates a properly credited secondary source. The secondary source information is highlighted in yellow; the primary source information is highlighted in blue.
Walker (2008) describes data collected in 1999 by Miguel Roig that correlates students’ inadequate paraphrasing to poor reading comprehension. Citing Roig’s data, Walker explains that “students do in fact possess skills necessary for paraphrasing but … may be impeded from applying those skills when dealing with rigorous text” (p. 387).
Note: Include only the secondary source (the source you consulted) in your reference list.
See the TPO's "Citing Your Sources’ Sources" handout.