Outline Citation Guidelines
A guide to formatting your papers in accordance with the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Modern Language Association (MLA).
Text Citations
Ideas and words from others must be formally acknowledged and documented in the body of the paper by citing the author(s) and date(s) of the sources.
When the names of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the sentence, the year of publication appears in parentheses following the identification of the authors.
When the authors of a source are not part of the formal structure of the sentence, both the authors and years of publication appear in parentheses, separated by semicolons.
When a source that has two authors is cited, both authors are included every time the source is cited.
When a source has three, four, or five authors is cited, all authors are included the first time the source is cited. When the source is cited again, the first author’s surname and “et al.” are used.
When a source that has six or more authors is cited, the first author’s surname and “et al.” are used every time the source is cited (including the first time.)
To cite a personal communication (including letters, emails, and telephone interviews), include initials, surname, and as exact a date as possible.
Quotation
Include the author, year, and page number whenever a direct quote is used. When quotes are fewer than 40 words, use double quotation marks and incorporate as part of the sentence. If quotes exceed 40 words, do not use quotes, but instead include, apart from the surrounding text in block format, five spaces from the left margin.
References
All sources cited in the body of the paper should be included in this section. The References section begins on a new page with the heading centered on the first line. The references should be formatted with hanging indents and organized alphabetically by surnames of first authors.
Most references consist of three components:
Authors: listed in the same order as specified in the source. Commas separate all authors. If no author is identified, use the title of the document.
Year of Publication: Following author(s), use parentheses with a period after the closing parentheses. If no year is given, use “n.d.” in parentheses following the author.
Source Reference: Includes title, journal, volume, pages (for journal article) or title, city of publication, publisher (for book). Italicize titles of books, titles of periodicals, and periodical volume numbers.