American Psychological Association Documentation

To download a PDF version of the Writing Center’s APA Guide, click:

Download this Handout PDF [updated June 2021 based on the APA Style Manual, 7th edition]

The APA documentation system is commonly used in the social sciences and education, as well as in fields such as nursing. It is a parenthetical documentation system; sources are cited in parentheses within your own sentences to indicate you have used ideas, information, and quotations from an outside source. The parenthetical information points to specific sources in an alphabetized list of references at the end of your paper.

These webpages explain how to correctly format parenthetical citations and reference list entries for some of the most common print and electronic sources.

For full information, visit the APA’s web site: http://www.apastyle.org/.