APA Reference Style

Basic Notes:

References should begin on a new page, with the header “References” (no quotation

marks)

On the reference page, all references should be in alphabetical order.

Title of article: First letter of first word gets capitalized, the rest in lowercase; if there is a

colon in the title, then the first letter of the first word gets capitalized, and the first letter

of the first word after the colon gets capitalized, with the rest in lowercase letters.

Do not underline the title of the article or place quotation marks around it.

Title of journal: First letter of every major word gets capitalized.

The title of the journal AND the volume number (but not the page numbers) must appear in italics.

The first line of each reference is all the way to the left, but each additional line is tabbed in 1/2 inch.

Always end each reference entry with a period.

Hint: All the information you will need for a journal article reference is usually on the very first page of the article.

When referencing something in-text:

You do not use footnotes in psychology!

You should never directly quote someone.

Any idea that is not your very own, even if you have paraphrased another’s idea in your own words, needs to be referenced.

If an idea comes from different articles, you must cite all the articles it comes from, and you would put them in order alphabetically within the parentheses).

If you cite something in-text, IT MUST be on your reference page. If something is on your reference page, then you MUST have cited it at least once within the text!

Journal Article with ONE Author

Bauer, R. M. (1998). Physiologic measures of emotion. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology,

15, 388-396.

Article author: Bauer, R. M.

Date of Publication: (1998).

Article title: Physiologic measures of emotion.

Journal title and publication information: Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology, 15, 388 – 396.

To reference in-text: For example, most, if not all, species exhibit the following behaviors in response to fear eliciting stimuli: potentiated startle reflexes, defensive burying, defensive attack, freezing, and increased heart rate (Bauer, 1998).

Journal Article with TWO Authors

Clark, D. M., & Teasdale, J. D. (1985). Contraints on the effects of mood on memory. Journal

of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1595-1608.

Article authors: Clark, D. M., & Teasdale, J. D.

Date of Publication: (1985).

Article title: Constraints on the effects of mood on memory.

Journal title and publication information: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1595-1608.

To reference in text: Music has been used to induce emotions (Clark & Teasdale, 1985).

Journal Article, THREE or MORE Authors

Armony, J. L., Servan-Schreiber, D., Cohen, J. D., & LeDoux, J. E. (1995). An anatomically

constrained neural network model of fear conditioning. Behavioral Neuroscience, 109,

246-257.

Article authors: Armony, J. L., Servan-Schreiber, D., Cohen, J. D., & LeDoux, J. E.

Date of publication: (1995).

Article title: An anatomically constrained neural network model of fear conditioning.

Journal title and publication information: Behavioral Neuroscience, 109, 246-257.

To reference in text (the first time mentioned): From this research in fear conditioning, Armony and his colleagues were able to formulate a computational model of fear conditioning, as shown in Figure 1 (Armony, Servan-Schreiber, Cohen, & LeDoux, 1995).

To reference in text (after the first time): The output, or activation, of an individual unit in the model can be interpreted as the average firing rate of a neuron (Armony, et al., 1995).

Whole Book:

LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinning of emotional life. New

York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Book author: LeDoux, J.

Date of publication: (1996).

Book title: The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinning of emotional life.

Publication information: New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

You would cite this within the text the same way you would do it for a journal article.

Chapter from an edited book (the difference between a regular book chapter, and a chapter from an edited book is this: a chapter from a regular book might have a title, but not different author; a chapter from an edited book will have a title and authors)

Dolan, R. J. (2000). Emotional processing in the human brain revealed through functional

neuroimaging. In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences: Second

edition (pp. 1115-1131). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Chapter author: Dolan, R. J.

Date of publication (of the edited book): (2000).

Chapter title: Emotional processing in the human brain revealed through functional

neuroimaging.

Editor information: In M. S. Gazzaniga (Ed.),

Book title: The new cognitive neurosciences: Second edition

Page number of chapter: (pp. 1115 – 1131).

Publication information: Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

To cite in-text: Activation in the left amygdala increased as participants viewed slides of fearful and happy facial expressions (Dolan, 2000).