APA Review

​Let's Review APA!

By Ana Morlier

Poll

Which owl best describes your mood today?

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

Open Ended

Share your thoughts on APA!

For example, is it your favorite style? Is it more bothersome than helpful? What is the trickiest part of implementing this style?

(Lenka, 2022)

What is APA?

• From the American Psychological Association: "APA Style is a set of guidelines for effective scholarly communication that helps writers present their ideas in a clear, precise, and inclusive manner." (American Psychological Association, n.d.)

• Organization

• Delegating knowledge

• Eliminating gender bias (first names are abbreviated!)

• Easier to discover author's area of focus and other works (cross-referencing)

  (Scott, n.d.)

• Meet my #1 writing pal- the Purdue OWL!

• Best free source of the latest and greatest APA formatting and guidelines

• Unsure of how to cite a source? Go to the OWL!

• Or come talk to me =)

Why the Owl?

The Basics...
In-Text Citations

Paraphrasing

• End of sentence citation: (Author, Year) <- (This is called a parenthetical citation and goes at the end of the sentence)

  • Use when describing the ideas of another study

  • Use of quotations: (Author, Year, Page number(s))

• 2 authors...(Author & Author, Year)

  • Note: Only use the & within parentheses for two authors or in the references section

  • For example: Reyes and Morlier (2025) found...OR

  • Students exhibited better attentional control with case study examples (Reyes & Morlier, 2026)

• 3 or more authors (Author et al., Year)
  

They seemed to believe that mice were the superior form of nourishment (Owl et al., 2000).

Same ideas, many authors

• If you are paraphraphrasing an idea shared in two works, cite them in alphabetical order, seperated by a semicolon (;)
  

• For example: Exonerees have been proven to face tremendous barriers in societal re-intergration due to a severe lack of resources once released (Joglar, 2026; Morlier, 2026; Reyes, 2024)

Same author?
Older works on top, newer works below!

(Purdue Owl, n.d.)

Breaking it up!

• You can also reference the author(s) at any point of the sentence.

• Please welcome...narrative citations!

  • e.g. Morlier (2025) found...

• Be sure to add a date after the mention of the author(s)

• Results, methods, and other findings can be referenced in past and present tense!

  • Morlier et al. (2025) found...

  • The current study finds the claim by Morlier et al. (2025) to provide limited concurrent validity with the student coolness scale.

Direct Quotations

- Citing one page --> p.
- Citing a range of pages --> pp.

- Order of citation: (Author, Year, Page(s))
- "Which owl are you today?" (Morlier, 2025, p. 2).
- As Rayri (2023) laments in their gripping rock manga, "There are times in life...when the right piece snaps into place...sometimes that piece turns up somewhere so close by" (pp. 3-5).

Multiple Select

How would you go about narrative citing an idea from my awesome slide deck?

(Hint: There is more than one correct answer)

• The author of the deck appears to be too cocky (Morlier, 2025).

• Morlier (2025) seemed to be a strong advocate for APA style writing.

• According to Morlier in Slide 7, in-text citations are easy (2025).

• Morlier, Ito, Motomi, and Hikaru devised what seemed to be a bizarre slide deck (2025).

Let's talk about it!

Morlier, Ito, Motomi, and Hikaru devised what seemed to be a bizarre slide deck (2025).

- 3 or more authors: et al. after the first author
- Year right after authors...

Correct format: Morlier et al., (2025)

Morlier (2025) seemed to be a strong advocate for APA style writing.
- Date goes right after author!

According to Morlier (2025) in slide 7, in-text citations seem a bit silly (2025).

- The date needs to be assigned to the author as soon as possible.
-Date should only be mentioned once in a sentence
Correct format: According to Morlier (2025), in-text citations seem a bit silly.

The author of the deck appears to be too cocky (Morlier, 2025).
- End-of-sentence citation here.
- Establishing an idea...no need for page numbers!

Open Ended

How do you typically format your reference page?

(E.g. Times new roman is my jam!)

Having trouble? Here's a HINT!

• Hanging indent?

• Italics (Journal titles, volumes)?

• Names are alphabetized (by last name)? Is there an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author?

• Title capitalization?

  • First word of the title, journal titles, major words/proper nouns, or words following punctuation: Colon, or a dash (American Psychological Association, 2022)

​Not sponsored...for now....

(I may or may not have been thirsty when I was making this slide deck)

​Hanging Indent for
Google Docs

Multiple Choice

Let's say you were reading an article written by me (Morlier, 2026). In this article, I discuss Professor Reyes' work (Reyes, 2024). How would you go about citing both the primary (Reyes) and secondary (Morlier) authors in your paper?

• As Morlier (2026) details findings from a study by Reyes (2024)

• As Reyes (2024) details, but Morlier (2026) elaborates on...

• Reyes (2024, as cited in Morlier, 2026) stated that...

• Only cite Reyes (2024)

Citations on top of citations on top of

• It is completely ok to use a synthesis from another author!

• No need to "Re-create the wheel". If you think the way another author discusses another work is succinct, use it!

• However, you will need to cite both! General format:

• General format: Original author (Year) as cited in Secondary author (Year)

• Parenthetical: (Reyes, 2024, as cited in Morlier, 2026)

• Narrative: Reyes (2024, as cited in Morlier, 2026) finds that...
  

Citations on top of citations on top of

Citations on top of citations on top of

Need your formatting to look sharp? Then use SMART!

• Spacing (between lines): Double-space

• Margins: 1 inch

• Avoid extra section spacing (between headings)

• Running header: All caps, top left

• Title of bibliography: References

Maybe owls aren't the only theme here...

i.e.

e.g.

• Translates to "for example"

• Used for, well, examples! Helpful for lists

• Link enjoyed using a multitude of weapons (e.g., the Gale Boomerang, Master Sword, pretty privilege).

e.g.

• Similar to therefore: "in other words"

• Used for rephrasing, clarifying, or reintroducing

• Mario's best attack was an offensive manuver, i.e. a flying kick.

i.e.

Penn State University (n.d.). e.g. / i.e. / et al.. Effective Technical Writing in the Informaiton Age. e.g. / i.e. / et al. | Style for Students Online
Merriam-Webster. (2025 May 16). The difference between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'. I.e. vs. E.g.: What is the Difference? | Merriam-Webster

Open Ended

What type of source do you find is hardest to cite?

Most common for our field...

Scholarly works!

My WebMD of choice...

Let's build a citation!

Scholarly works

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy (OR URL if no DOI)


- Three author citation above!
- 20+ authors: List 19 names, followed by an elipsis (...), then the final author's name --> Morlier, A. M. ... Morlier, D. A. (2025).

(Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.)

Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI or URL (if available)

What's the difference?

• Italics: Swap the style for the title (now italicized) and publisher (not italicized)

​(Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.)

Websites

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site Name. URL

What's the difference?

• Similar to a book!

• More specific information required for the date -->(Year, Month Date)

• No date? No problem! --> (n.d.)

• Italics: Title is italicized while the site name is not italicized.

• If the author and site publisher are the same, simply list the URL after the page title

  --> Concerto. (n.d.). About. https://concertoplatform.com/about

​(Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.)

Print Media

Newspaper
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Publisher, Sections (1A, 1B.)

Magazine
Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of article. Publisher, Volume (Issue), Page Range.

​(Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.)

Formatting Papers

Title Page

Multiple Select

Select all the elements of a title page

• Title

  Author

• Assignment Due Date

• Affiliation

  Course

• Page number

• Instructor

3-4 lines (APA, 2022)

​(American Psychological Association (2022, July). Title page setup. Title page setup

Headings

Draw

In your opinion, circle the types of headings commonly used in undergraduate papers.

(APA, 2022)

Having fun with headers!

This is a Level One Heading

• Bold, centered

• Use for title, abstract, methods, results, discussion
  
  

This is a Level Two Heading

• Bold, left flush/Centered to the left

• Use for Study Design, Subjects/Participants, Materials/Apparatus, Procedure (in Methods section)

• Limitations, Implications and Future Research (of Discussion Section)
  
  

This is a Level Three Heading

• Bold, left flush/Centered to the left, italicized
  Use for sub-sections within level two headings

• Common in intro paragraphs
  
  

More Tips

• "Introduction" should not be used as a heading (use your paper's title instead!)

• Headings should have words, no numbers or letters

• Keep up that double-space!

• No additional lines between the body and heading

• You can get creative with sub-headings in the intro section (where the lit review is conducted!)

American Psychologicial Association. (2022, July). Headings. Headings.

Open Ended

Any questions, comments, or concerns?

• You can find detailed info on all your APA needs on the Purdue OWL website (QR code to the right). You can also find a link to it on our Blackboard course site.

• OR feel free to chat with me after class, schedule time with me on WC Online, or send me an email!

Thanks for playing!

​(Purdue Online Writing Lab, n.d.)