APA-2a: Understanding how the APA system works

APA-2aUnderstand how the APA system works.

The American Psychological Association recommends an author-date system of citations. The following is a brief description of how the author-date system usually works.

  1. The source is introduced by a signal phrase that includes the last name of the author followed by the date of publication in parentheses.
  2. The material being cited is followed by a page number in parentheses.
  3. At the end of the paper, an alphabetized list of references gives complete publication information for the source.

in-text citation

As researchers Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have explained, obesity was once considered “either a moral failing or evidence of underlying psychopathology” (p. 592).

entry in the list of references

Yanovski, S. Z., & Yanovski, J. A. (2002). Drug therapy: Obesity. The New England Journal of Medicine, 346, 591-602.

This basic APA format varies for different types of sources. For a detailed discussion and other models, see APA-4.