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APA Citation Style Guide (6th Edition): Step 4- Publication Info

This APA Citation Style Guide provides practical advice for citing sources, following the guidelines set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition).

How to Use This Guide

What You Will Find Here

This page provides a breakdown on a specific component of a Reference list citation.  You can find the very basics and more advanced details that help you construct your citations to fit the needs of the source you are citing.

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If you are looking for full examples of Reference list citations, please see the Reference Examples guide.

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Publication Info Basics

Provide Publication Info after the Title.

Examples:

Magazines, Journals, etc.

Rudd, A., & Gordon, B. S. (2010). An exploratory investigation of sportsmanship attitudes among college student basketball fans. Journal of Sport Behavior, 33, 466-488.

Books, Reports, etc.

Falvo, D. R. (2011). Effective patient education: A guide to increased adherence. Sudbury,  MA: Jones and Bartlett.

 

Formatting Publication Info:

Publication information is highly dependent on the type and medium of the item you are citing. See Examples for exact details.

APA Manual pp. 186-187, Section 6.30

Advanced

Issue Numbers

Some journals and magazines start numbering their pages at 1 in every issue.  Other journals, however, start at page 1 only for the first issue of the volume, and continue the numbering throughout the year.  If you are citing an item that begins every issue on page 1, provide the issue number in parentheses right after the volume number. Do not italicize the issue the number.  

Example: Klein, J. G., Smith, N. C., & John, A. (2004). Whey we boycott: Consumer motivations for boycott participation. Journal of Marketing, 68(3), 92-109.

Postal Code State Abbreviations

Be sure to use the correct postal code state abbreviations when providing the Location for publishers and studios.  You can find the correct list on the U.S. Postal Service's websiteExample: Chapel Hill, NC

Author is the Publisher

If the Author and Publisher are the same- this often is true for many government documents- then simply write the word "Author" in place of the Publisher info, so you do not duplicate the information.

Example: United States Board on Geographic Names. (1995). Geographic names of the Antarctic (NSF 95-157, 2nd ed.). Reston, VA: Author.

Multiple Publisher Locations

You only need to list one Publisher Location. List the first Location provided or the Location of the main office.