OR, if you prefer:
Contact or email your Cambridge College Librarian for research or APA assistance.
In October 2019, the American Psychological Association (APA) published the seventh (7th) edition of the APA Publication Manual. This replaced the sixth (6th) edition, which had been used since 2009. The new edition contains a number of changes, which are outlined here:
As to whether you should use sixth or seventh edition, please ask your professor for guidance.
APA (American Psychological Association) Style is a set of guidelines for formatting academic manuscripts and citing work by other writers. It is used in psychology, the social sciences and business studies.
Citing sources in the text is a quick way to show that you are using someone else's ideas or words within your paper. Whenever you summarize, paraphrase or quote another author's work you must include a brief description of it (the author's last name and the date).
When you cite a work by one author, provide the name of the author followed by a comma and the date of publication.
Bowlby (1991) formulated the basic principles of the attachment theory.
The infant should experience a warm, intimate, and continuous relationship with his mother (Bowlby, 1991).
When you cite a work by two authors, provide both names every time the reference occurs in text.
Vincent and Neis (2011) explored the relationship between parental work schedules and child academic achievement.
Parental work schedules might exert an impact on child academic achievement (Vincent & Neis, 2011).
When you cite a work by three, four or five authors, give all authors' names the first time the reference occurs.
Gwee, Teh, and Huang (2010) associated anorexia nervosa with . . .
Subsequent Citation
Gwee et al. (2010) presented a case report . . .
Anorexia nervosa is associated with . . . (Gwee, Teh, & Huang, 2010)
Subsequent Citation
Pancreatitis is one of the conditions related to anorexia nervosa . . . (Gwee et al., 2010)
When you cite a work by a group as author, it is preferable to provide the full name and not an abbreviation every single time this appears in a text citation. If you need to use an abbreviation, add it in a parenthesis next to the full name the first time it appears in the text and use only the abbreviation in all subsequent citations.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) estimates that around 30,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States.
Subsequent Citation
According to the NIMH (2003) American Indians and Alaska Natives tend to have the highest rate of suicides.
The report estimates that around 30,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2003).
Subsequent Citation
American Indians and Alaska Natives tend to have the highest rate of suicides (NIMH, 2003).
When you cite a work with no identified author, provide the first few words of the reference list entry. Enclose the title of an article, chapter, or web page in quotation marks. Italicize the title a periodical, book, brochure, or report.
As stated in article "September 11 attack," a large number of firefighters were . . . (2012)
A large number of firefighters were . . . ("September 11 attack," 2012).
When you cite a specific part of a source, indicate the page, chapter, figure, table or equation at the appropriate point of text.
Hilyer (2008) suggested that there are four steps to be followed in the preparation of an effective learner-centered presentation (Chapter 5).
There are four steps to be followed in the preparation of an effective learner-centered presentation (Hilyer, 2008, Chapter 5).
When you cite a direct quotation indicate the page number of the source where the quotation appears.
Breivik and Senn (1998) state that "teacher resistance to change is not unusual" (p. 107).
"Teacher resistance to change is not unusual" (Breivik & Senn, 1998, p. 107).
The Concise APA Handbook 7th Edition by 
The Concise APA Handbook 6th Edition by Alternatively, you can use reference management tools but be prepared to invest time in learning to use it. Some tools are free, but some are not. See the Citation Generators page for more information on these tools.
Check out the APA's online tutorial, "The Basics of APA Style," for detailed information about manuscript formatting, citations, and other APA Style guidelines.
Most databases have the option of generating a citation. It's very important to double check any computer generated citation for accuracy! Run your citation through: Son of Citation Machine OR check it against an example in: OWL at Purdue APA Formatting & Style Guide
