REU Program Guide: Citing Sources

The primary point of a citation is to enable your reader to easily find your source. Every source cited in the text of your paper should appear in the reference list. 

Journal Article

Author, A. & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article: The subtitle. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), first page number-last page number.

Journal Article with DOI*

Author, A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. (Year). Title of article: The subtitle. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages. https://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy 

*A DOI is a unique number assigned to an individual electronic item, such as an online journal article. DOI are almost always available from the PDF of the document or on the journal publisher's webpage. 

APA style is used in the social science disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  is not available online, although some supplementary information is available at the APA's website.  Print copies are available at the Reference Desk at the PSU Library.

For examples of APA citations, see the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University.