Style Guides: APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian & AP: APA

In 2009, APA published the 6th edition of  their publication manual of style. 

Some of the major changes include:

• the use of Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) in references to print and electronic sources if available (pp.187-192).
• expanded coverage of online resources.

Copies of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) are available at both HPU libraries.

Note: This edition has been replaced by the 7th edition; however, it takes some time for everyone to follow the new guidelines. Ask your instructor which edition to follow for your assignments. 

General Format (p. 43-67):

• Margins     1” on top, bottom, left, and right 
• Font           12-point Times New Roma, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern
• Spacing     Double-spaced, hanging indent 0.5 in.
• Header      No running headers are required for student papers

Writing & Grammar (p. 120-121):

• Singular "they" required in two situations: when used by a known person as their personal pronoun or when the gender of a singular person is not known.

Reference List  (p. 281 - 309):

• The References list should be labeled as "References" capitalized, in bold, and centered. Double-spaced all entries, and each entry should be formatted with a hanging indent of 0.5 inches (p. 39 - 40).
• References generally have four elements: author, date, title, and source (p. 283 - 284).
• Order the reference list entries alphabetically by author. If references have more than one source by the same author, arrange by year of publication. If there is no author information or group or organization, alphabetized the entry by the first significant word of the title, ignoring words like A, An, The (p. 303 - 306).
• Invert all individuals author's name, providing the surname first, followed by a comma and the initials, use a comma to separate an author's initials from additional author names  (p. 286).
• Use italics for titles of books, reports, webpages, periodical titles, and other stand-alone works (p.170).  
• If a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is listed on either a print or an electronic source, it must be included in the reference. Display DOI as hyperlinks always starting with "https://doi.org/" no period in the end, because it may interfere with link functionality (p. 298 - 301). Make sure you clean up DOI URLs from HPU proxy information.
• For works without DOI from websites (not databases), provide a URL in the reference as long as the URL will work for the reader, no period at the end because it may interfere with link functionality (p. 298 - 301).  For works without DOI from most academic databases, do not include URL or database information in the reference list. Academic database links do not work for the readers who are not affiliated to the institution; cite source as if it was a print source (p. 299).  The exception is ERIC and Cochrane Library; the reference for content that is only accessible thru those databases should include the database name  (p.299). 
• When DOIs or URLs are long or complicated, you may use a short DOIs or shortened URL. For DOI use, the short DOI services from http://shortdoi.org/. Any shortened URL is acceptable in a  reference as long as it checked that the link works (p. 300)
• A reference without a recoverable source cannot be included in the reference list, which includes personal interviews and online sources that are no longer accessible thru the listed URL. Check that all your reference links are active; if the content is not available, look for an archived version of the page on the Internet Archive. 
• The words “Retrieved from” (preceding the URL or DOI) are now only used when a retrieval date is also provided in the citation. However, you should include a retrieval date only when the page's content is likely to change over time. (see example below)

In-Text Citation

APA7 style requires that in-text citations consist of the author(s) and date, in brackets, with a comma in between, eg; (Abbott, 2020).

General Format (p. 228-229):

• Margins     1” on top, bottom, left, and right 
• Font           Times New Roman, 12 point
• Spacing     Double-spaced, hanging indent
• Header      The title of your paper should be in all caps on the left, the page number should be on the right

• The References list should be double-spaced. Each entry should be formatted with a hanging indent (p.180).

• References cited in text must appear in the References list and vice versa. The only exceptions to this rule are personal communications and classical works; they are cited in text only and are not included in the References list (p.174).

• Use only the initial(s) of the author’s given name, not the full name (p.184).

• If the References list includes 2 or more entries by the same author(s), list them in chronological order with the earliest first (p. 182).

•  If the author’s name is unavailable, use the first few words of the title of the article, book or Web source, including the appropriate capitalization and italics formatting (p.176-177). E.g. (Scientists Say, 2000).

• Arrange References entries in one alphabetical sequence by the surname of the first author or by title or first word if there is no author (p.181-183). Ignore the words A, An, and The when alphabetizing by title.

• In titles and subtitles of articles, chapters, and books, capitalize only the first letter of the first word and any proper nouns, except in parenthetical (in text) citations (p.185).

• Italicize book titles, journal titles, and volume numbers. Do NOT italicize issue numbers.

• If a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is listed on either a print or an electronic source it is included in the reference (p.187-192). 

• When the References entry includes a URL that must be divided between two lines, break it before a slash or dash or at another logical division point  and Do NOT add a period after the URL (p.192). 

The following guidelines is from the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Blog posted on April 7th 2023. Due to the rapid developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) these guidelines may be updated periodically. Please refer to the APA Style Blog, "How to cite ChatGPT"

Quoting or Reproducing Text created by ChatGPT adapted from the template for software in Section 10.10 of the APA Style Publication Manual

• In the case of ChatGPT, provide the descriptor for the tool [Large language model]
• Do not repeat the publisher if the same as the author name
• If you used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research include this in your Methods section or in your Introduction
• As each ChatGPT response is unique, full-text ChatGPT responses may also be added to the essay as an appendix.