APA STYLE: SEVENTH EDITION
These guidelines follow the 2020 7th edition of the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual, which is widely used in the health and social sciences. They focus on documentation, but the manual addresses issues from abbreviations to layout and should be consulted for further information. In an APA-style paper, you’ll identify the author and year of each source any time you use it. That information directs readers to more detailed entries on a reference list at the paper’s end.
Read the book and attempt the quiz at the end of it
6. Considerations 3
11. Email and personal interviews. Personal communications that a reader can’t retrieve (ex. letters, memos, e-mail, interviews, telephone conversations) appear as in-text citations only. Don’t put them in your reference list. Include your source’s initials and last name and as exact a date as possible. Manual, p. 260.
S. Crewe argued that not all sources agree (personal communication, May 3, 2012).
Not all sources agree (S. Crewe, personal communication, May 3, 2012).
12. Long quotations. If you use a quotation that’s 40 or more words long (also called a “block quotation”), set it off from the rest of your paper by indenting it five spaces (one tab space). Double space it and don’t use quotation marks. The final period goes before, not after,
the citation at the end. Manual, p. 272-273.
13. How much can I quote? As a general rule, not more than 10% of any paper should consist of direct quotations. Formal research papers in APA style often include no quotations at all.