APA Style

Getting Started with APA Style

Social Work writing follows the style guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA style). 

I can help you with APA format.

You will use APA style to write and format your papers and to cite your sources. Citing all of your sources is essential to academic integrity, and using sources without citing them is plagiarism. Follow APA style rules to cite all of your sources correctly.

APA style specifies the format and layout of a paper and gives specific instructions for in-text citations (author, year) and for the reference list at the end of your paper.

You need to get many small details exactly right. Fortunately, we have guides and tools to help you do so:

• APA Formatting and Style Guide - 7th ed -  from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

  • This excellent resource includes many examples and an APA Sample Paper - 7th ed

  • Note that APA 7th ed has different requirements for student papers and professional papers. 

  • Big changes in the 7th edition: 

    • Student papers no longer require a Running head (but professional papers do)

    • Some rules for in-text citations and References have changed

• APA Style & Grammar Guidelines - 7th edition

• APA Style overview from the U-M Library

• Basics of APA style - online tutorial from the APA 

• Citing Sources in APA Style - from the Harvard Guide to Using Sources 

Or you can seek a print copy of the full Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association:

• Find it at the U-M Library: 7th Edition or 6th Edition or purchase a copy online

You can find answers to very specific APA questions at the APA blog. 

Frequently Asked Questions

The following links tell how to cite specific types of sources, which SSW students often use and need to cite. (Check to be sure the site you consult has updated to APA 7th Edition.)

Official government sources: 

Overview

• Federal statutes (US)  

• Federal legislative documents (US)

  • use dropdown menus to choose (bills, reports, hearings, testimony, executive orders, etc)

• State laws (US)

• State legislative documents (US)

  • such as unenacted bills, reports, and hearings from state legislative bodies 

• Canadian government documents

Other

• Course lectures - You can cite either the professor's words or their slides:

  • cite the words of the lecture as personal communication, in-text only (not included in your References)

  • OR cite the slides - scroll down to Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

• Social media

• TED Talks

  • (note that the author is the person or organization that posted the video!)

• Podcasts

• Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers 

• How to cite AI tools like U-M GPT

Tools for Formatting

Online tools can help you format your work in APA style.

• This guide from the U-M Library compares tools (Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote) which you can use to manage your citations and format your references into APA style. 

Word processing tools like Microsoft Office can also help you to format citations.

If you copy and paste content into a citation tool, be sure to choose the correct document type. For example, journal articles format very differently from book chapters. 

Regardless of what tools you use, be sure to proofread your References page before submitting your final paper.

Other Citation Styles

Sometimes you may be asked to write a paper using another style. Tools like Zotero can help you format citations and references for these common styles, and many more: 

AMA Style - American Medical Association 

• quick guide from Texas A&M Univ

• AMA Manual of Style - online access via U-M Library

Chicago Style 

• Purdue OWL guide to Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.

• U-M Library print and online versions of the manual

MLA Style - Modern Language Association

• Purdue OWL guide to MLA Formatting and Style

• U-M Library print copies of the MLA Handbook