PSYC 461/561: Learning and Memory

Citations provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each source you use. When you use someone else's words or ideas in your papers, you should create an In-text citation within your paper and a References List citation at the end of the paper. Each In-text citation should lead to a References List citation, and each References List citation should come from an In-text citation.

Use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) (print format) and/or the Concise APA Handbook: 7th Edition (ebook format) to correctly cite your sources and format your research papers. 

Help from the American Psychological Association 

Use the American Psychological Association's APA Style website for help with formatting your citations and your paper:

• Quick Reference Guide (for journal articles, books, and book chapters)
• Basic Principles of Citation
• In-Text Citations: explanations and examples of in-text citations and how to handle in-text citations for various numbers of authors  

Student Papers

• Student Paper Setup Guide (pdf)
• Sample Student Paper (includes example References list)
• Guide to Putting Together Title Pages 
• Guide to Different Levels of Headings 

References List

• Create an APA Style References List: pdf handout with the basics of putting together your References list
• Basic Principles of Reference List Entries 
• Elements of References List Entries describes the four elements of citations in detail:
  • Author: how to format individual/group author names and handle various numbers of authors
  • Date: how to format the date and include retrieval dates
  • Title: how to format the title and include bracketed descriptions
  • Source: how to format the source and include database/DOI information
• DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) and URLs - what they are and how to find and cite them
  • Use the Free DOI Lookup tool to find the DOIs of journal articles
• How to deal with missing information

References List - Examples:

• Textual Works: periodicals, books and reference works, reports, dissertations and theses, conference presentations, etc.
  • Journal Articles
  • Books and ebooks
  • Book chapters
• Online Media: websites and webpages, social media, etc.
  • Webpage on a website
  • Whole website
• Audiovisual Media: films, TV, podcasts, course lectures or slides, etc.
  • Film or Movie
  • Course PowerPoint Slides or Lecture Notes
  • YouTube videos and Ted Talks
• Datasets
• Assessments, tests, and measures (refers to APA 6th ed., but the rules are the same as for 7th ed.)
• SPSS Software: cite this like you would a book. Example:
  • References List: IBM Corp (2021). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (29th version). Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. 
  • In-Text: (IBM Corp., 2021)

For more citation and writing help, contact the Writing Center and make an online appointment to meet with one of their consultants.