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APA Citation Style

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General Format of References

Below are some general guidelines for formatting references.

• The references list is double spaced.

• Each entry is formatted with a hanging indent.

• The author's last name is given first, followed his or her initials..

• The date is enclosed in parentheses and followed by a period.

• Titles of books and journals are italicized.

• Titles of books and articles are in sentence case.

• Titles of journals are in title case.

• Capitalize all proper nouns.
 

If you are accustomed to another citation style, such as MLA, you will need to remember the following:

• Authors’ first and middle names are not spelled out.

• Titles of journal articles are not italicized.

• Non-initial common nouns in book and article titles are not capitalized.

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