APA Style Rubrics and Samples

All of this information can be found in greater detail in the Perrin book, Pocket Guide to APA Style you received upon entering the program. Please refer to it for further details and examples.

General Information

  • Use Times New Roman font.
  • Use 12 point type.
  • Margins should be 1 inch on all sides.
  • Space once after each punctuation.
  • All text is double spaced, including lists, outlines, reference pages, and tables.
  • Nothing is in BOLD - Nothing!
  • Page numbering is suppressed on the title page, and then each subsequent page has a page number located in the heading at the right margin.
  • Tables should have a table number and a title.

In Text Citations

  • Reference to a source should be at the end of the sentence.
  • Include author's last name and year published, separated by a comma in parentheses (Olds, 2004).
  • If you use the authors name in the sentence, include only the year in the parentheses.

Direct Quotes

  • Quotations of more than 40 words should be block indented, double spaced.
  • The sentence before the quote should include the author's last name. Follow the author's name with the year in parenthesis.
  • At the end of the quote, place the page number(s) in parentheses. Use p. for a single page and pp. for multiple pages. For example, (p. 23) or (pp. 23-25).
  • Note the period of the last sentence of the quote comes before the page number indicator.
  • Do NOT use quotation marks around the quote.

Reference Lists

  • The word References should be centered at the top of the page.
  • Reference lists must be double-spaced.
  • Use postal abbreviations for state names (ie. CA, TN, etc.)
  • Arrange the list in alphabetical order by the author's last name.
  • Use initials for author's first and middle names.
  • Entries from the same author should be placed by date, with the earliest first. If both are from the same year, list them alphabetically by the title.
  • Entries should begin flush with the left margin, additional lines should be indented 5 spaces.
  • Only the first word (and proper nouns) should be capitalized in book and article titles.
  • Additional examples can be found in the Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). The CU Library has a copy in the reference collection (Ref. BF 76.7 .P83 2001).

Reference List Samples

You will use a variety of resources in doing your research. Below is a generic set of examples of how to handle these various types of resources. The order of information is correct, but the style (because of web page limitations) is not correct. At the end of the table you will find an example of both the the correct order and the proper style for your Reference page.

Books - Single Author Student, C. U. (2000). This is my book. Irvine, CA: Concordia University Press
Books - Multiple Authors Student, C. U., & Faculty, P. D. (2001). This is our book. Irivne, CA: Concordia University Press.
Books - Editions Student, C. U. (2004). This is my book (2nd ed.). Irvine, CA: Concordia University Press.
Chapter in a Book

Faculty, P. D. (2001). Chapter one in my book. In C. U. Student This is my book. Irvine, CA: Concordia University Press.
Newspaper Article Newspaper article title. (2003, July 5). The New York Times, p. A8.
Journal Articles - Print Student, C. U. (2003, June 20). Title of the journal article. Concordia Journal, 76 (2), 23-31.
Journal Articles - Online Databases Student, C. U. (2003). Title of the journal article. Concordia Journal, 76 (2), 23+. Retrieved December 1, 2005 from Academic Search Premier database.
ERIC Report Student, C. U. (2004). Title of the ERIC report. Irvine, CA: Local center for Concordia University. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 000 000)
Webpage Concordia University. (2004, June 30). Title of the article. Detrieved August 25, 2005 from http://www.url.com
Unpublished Master's Thesis or Doctoral Dissertation Student, C. U. (2006). This is my master's thesis: What do you think? Unpublished master's thesis, Concordia University, Irvine, CA.
Unpublished Paper Presented at a Meeting or Conference Student, C. U. (2005). Concordia University paper on student life. Paper presented at the meeting of the Concordia University Faculty, Irvine, CA.
Handouts from Class Professor, P. D. (2004). Self-evaluation of an informative presentation. Unpublished handout, Concordia University Irvine.
Lectures Lectures are to be considered personal communication because it does not provide recoverable data. It should not be in the reference list. It should be cited within the text.
Videos and DVD Like the lecture, it can not be recovered. It should not be in the reference list. It should be cited within the text.
Class Discussions Like the lecture, it can not be recovered. It should not be in the reference list. It should be cited within the text.

Tables

  • Tables are placed within the document where they are referred to, not as a collection of tables at the end of the document.
  • Tables are numbered sequentially within the document.
  • Tables must be double-spaced.
  • The title of the table is underlined.
  • The column titles and the end of the table are separated with horizontal lines.

Here is the first example of a table:

This example has more columns of information: