APA Style Guide: About APA

Always refer to the APA Manual for authorized examples of citations.

Some of the citations in this guide are taken from the APA Manual; others are recommendations.

The standard citation style guide book for the fields of business, education, health science, public service, and social science is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, 2010. The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes the manual. We commonly refer to it as "the APA Manual".

Two types of citations are included in most research papers: citations within the text of the document and a list of reference citations at the end of the paper.

In-Text Citations:

The APA Manual uses the author-date citation system for in-text citations. 

Reference Citations:

The sources you use in your work are included as a separate list at the end of the paper.  The APA Manual suggests using the title, References, for the list.

Publications take on many forms, but the basic components of an original research article include:

• Title and title page
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Method
• Results
• Discussion

APA guidelines do not require headings for most sections. This guide is provided by the IRSC libraries. Always ask your instructor for specific directions pertaining to your assignment.