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American Psychological Association (APA) Documentation

1. APA style uses headings for different sections of the paper. The standard headings model for an original research report is Method, Results, and Discussion, but headings will vary depending on the writing assignment.

2. APA style requires the use of  the past tense or the present perfect tense in signal phrases introducing the material that has been cited: Jones reported, Taylor has argued.

3. Since APA prioritizes the date with the author, it is important that the writer follow chronological order wherever possible. If the writer is referring to sources Jones, 1999, Soloman (1987), and Austen (2001), it would be better to order the information in the paragraph beginning with Soloman (1987), Jones (1999), and then Austen (2001), because each piece of information builds on the other by what happened first, second, third, and so on.

4. For electronic material in your paper, try to cite it as you would any normal document. with the author(s) and date. When there is no page number but the paragraphs are numbered in the article, you can do this: Smith, 2001, para. 5).  If there is no page number but the electronic source has headings, cite the heading and indicate which paragraph under that heading: (Smith, Class Status section, para. 2).

5. In text quotation follows this style: author (date) and page numbers at the end of the quote or summary (p.  ). The page number is given if the information is a direct quote and for some paraphrases.

While some people have claimed that class status does not seriously affect us, Mantsios (1998) disagreed. "Even ignoring the extreme poles of the economic spectrum, we find enormous class differences in the life-styles among the haves, the have-nots, and the have-littles. Class affects more than life-style and material well-being.  It has a significant impact on physical and mental well-being as well" (p. 328).

Once the author has been cited, the name can go at the end of the cited information in this format:

"School performance (grades and test scores) and educational attainment (level of schooling completed) also correlate strongly with economic class" (Mantsios, 1998, p. 329).

6. The reference entry would look like this:

author's last name, first initial. (date). chapter title.  editors, book title italicized (pp. chapter). city of publication: publisher: Mantsios, G. (1998). Class in America: Myths and Realities.  In G. Columbo, R. Cullen, and B. Lisle (Eds.), ReReading America (pp. 318 - 333). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.