APA Citation and Format

This guide will explain why good citation practice is critical, and help you create properly formatted bibliographies/work cited lists and notes.

Sources are cited in order to adhere to the principles of Academic Integrity, which means that research is conducted with respect given to those who inform new work and honesty in acknowledging the work of those from whom we borrow and use for support.. Embracing academic integrity as a value ensures ensures respect for the academic reputation of Harrisburg University, its students, faculty, and staff, and the degrees it confers. The University expects that students will conduct themselves in an honest and ethical manner and respect the intellectual work of others by acknowledging when sources are used. Sources must be acknowledged in order to: 

• Give credit to the original source of information
• Situate work within a broader scholarly conversation
• Strengthen arguments by lending credibility to our own work
• Avoid plagiarism
• Help readers find more information about a topic

Page Contents:

• APA Formatting Rules
• What are Notes and Bibliographies?
• Citing Dos and Don'ts

APA Formatting Rules

These general rules apply to APA formatted notes and bibliographies:

• Double-space all content on the page. 
• Author names are presented using the last name followed by the initials of the first and any middle names. Authors' first and middle names are not spelled out in APA Style.
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word of a book chapter title or article title. The first letter of a word that appears immediately after a colon for a chapter or article subtitle is also capitalized.  
• The first letter of the first word and the first letter of all subsequent words in titles of books and journals are capitalized except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (in, of, to), and conjunctions (and, but, or).
• The titles of books and journals are italicized.
• A Document Object Identifier (DOI) is required for all articles that have one.

What Are Notes and Bibliographies

Acknowledging sources is a two step process:

1. Notes/Citations: Academic projects require use of notes or citations, which are brief notations that acknowledge when you are quoting, paraphrasing, or otherwise referring to information found in another source. In the APA Style, the note/citation takes the form of an in-text parenthetical notation following each direct quote or paraphrased statement within the body of the work. (Other styles you may find in academic works may use footnotes, or endnotes.) An in-text note consists of the author's or creator’s name and the item’s publication date in parentheses immediately following quoted or paraphrased text.
2. Bibliography: All projects, no matter the style, require the use of a bibliography. A bibliography, sometimes called a "works cited list" or a "reference list," is a detailed, specially formatted list of all the individual materials consulted for a research project. It is typically arranged in alphabetical order by authors' last names. In-text citations refer to the complete citation in the bibliography. The bibliography appears at the end of a project.

Citing Dos and Don'ts