APA Style Citations

What is APA? APA (short for American Psychological Association) is the citation method that is used mostly in social science courses. The Columbia International School classes that will use this type of citation are HRT3M World Religions and Belief Traditions and CIA4U Analysing Current Economic Issues.

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY INFORMATION

When you are making a bibliography for Religion or Economics, remember to use the resource on this page, use a bibliography maker like EasyBib, Citefast OR the APAgenerator in Word. Make sure that the APA version you are using includes the URL if you are using a resource on the Internet.

HINTS

1. If your bibliography information for a site is missing information you can do a search for the site on easyWhois to find out more information. This is a great site to see the dates, authors, organizations, and even last updated dates of .org and .com resources. Other resources tend not to be found. However, this can help you evaluate the site for it's usefulness.
2. Another good source to find out more information about websites is called websiteinformer.
3. Remember though that you may need to add extra information like author and creation date as often they are not included when using a free maker.
4. When you are creating your bibliography don't forget that you will need to have a heading at the top. Some common headings are: BIBLIOGRAPHY, CITATIONS and SOURCES.
5. List your sources alphabetically usually by the FAMILY name of the author or the first part of an organization name.
6. When placing sources alphabetically, do NOT use "A, An, or The" to place them alphabetically. Use the next word in the name of the organization. E.g. The Canadian Environmental Agency would be listed as a 'C' source.
7. The first line of a citation should be right against the left margin, any other line should be indented five spaces and create a hanging indent.

HOW TO USE APA

Online Sources

Generally we will be looking for the following information when you are citing an online source: Author. (Year (you may use n.d. if not given BUT remember dates are important to evaluate a site and you should look hard for it)). Article or page title. Larger Publication Title, volume or issue number. Retrieved date from http://url address.

E.g. If you are going to use many different pages from a website, you can cite the entire site.

David Suzuki Foundation. (2015, July 6th). Issues. Retrieved November 29th from http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/.

Fleming, Darcy. (2016, November). sites.google.com; mrflemingsocialstudies. Retrieved November 29th from https://sites.google.com/site/mrflemingsocialstudies/

E.g. If you are going to use just one page from a website.

David Suzuki Foundation. (2015, July 6th). Issues: Climate Change. Retrieved November 29th from http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/climate-change/.

Fleming, Darcy. (2016, November 29th). hrt3mworldreligions. Retrieved November 29th from https://sites.google.com/site/hrt3mworldreligions/2015-Fall-Lessons

E.g. If you are going to use a reference from an Online Encyclopedia / Dictionary

Duschesne-Guillemin, Jacques (EB Editors) (January 29, 2009) Zoroastrianism. Britannica School, Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 29th from

http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/106002#

*Please note that most Encyclopedias provide you with citation, so look for it. Use the one that they provide for you. For example, Encyclopedia Britannica gave the following citation for the above source so it should be in your bibliography:

Zoroastrianism. (2016). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 29th from http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/106002

More Examples

Citing a Website

Author (if available). (date of resource creation / last update). Article Title. Website Title. Retrieved date and URL

Karmelek, M. (2015, July 22). Will Skyscrapers Ruin Paris. Newsweek. Retrieved Feb. 4, 2017 from http://europe.newsweek.com/will-skyscrapers-ruin-paris-330683?rm=eu

If author, editor, or compiler is not given, move article title to the front position.

Citing an Online Book

Author. (Year of Publication). Title of book. Retrieved Date from URL

Karan, P. P. (2010). Japan in the 21^st Century: Environment, Economy, and Society. Retrieved Mar. 17, 2017 from https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=IgOTn0gdmPoC.

Citing a Video on Youtube

Author [Screen name]. (date of resource creation / last update). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved Date from URL

Green J. [CrashCourse]. (2014, Sep. 20). Who Started World War I: Crash Course World History 210. [Video file]. Retrieved March 15, 2017. from https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=_pFCpKtwCkI.

Other Points

If no date for publication available, use the initials n.d. for no date

URL’s can be split at logical places (e.g., after a / or .) to improve formatting.

This format will differ from those created by automatic citation generators. It is up to you to modify your bibliography so it matches the required format.

IF INFORMATION IS MISSING

Please note that these tips are ONLY to be used if you have tried everything to find the information especially the date. This information is important in evaluating if the site is a good one to reference or not. The more information you have the better you can make the decision if you should use the source or not. Look for the information hard before defaulting to the chart below.