APA style
1.1 Introduction
The American Psychology Association (APA) has proposed their own style called APA style. Note that APA refers to more than just a referencing style, it also defines writing guidelines, which are explained in detail in the Publication Manual of the American Psychology Association. The most recent version up to July 2022 is the 7th edition, however, some institutions still use the 6th edition. All the information in this article refers to the 7th edition.
美国心理学协会(APA)发表了自己的引用格式，称为APA格式。注意，APA指的不仅仅是引用格式，还有写作指南，详情可见《美国心理学协会出版手册》。目前，第七版为最新版本，但有些机构仍沿用第六版。本文以下所有内容均依照第七版写定。
1.2 In-text citations
In-text citations in APA can appear within or at the end of a sentence, next to the clause where they are relevant. In APA, citations always consist of the author’s last name and the year of publication of the source. It is optional to indicate the page number except for direct quotations, where you should always include the page number. Some examples are shown below.
APA格式的文内引用可以标注在相关引用句旁，置于句中或句尾。在APA格式中，引用信息须包含作者姓氏和出版年份。除了直接引用需注明页码外，其他引用中页码可有可无。举例如下:
One author
Two authors
Three or more authors
Organisations
Use the author’s last name and year of publication:
Williams (2017) proposed a new methodology to analyse public data.
A new methodology has been put forward to analyse public data (Williams, 2017).
Use an ampersand (&) to join the author’s last names in parenthetical citations, but use an and in narrative citations:
Williams and Madison (2017) proposed a new methodology to analyse public data.
A new methodology has been put forward to analyse public data (Williams & Madison, 2017).
Use et al. to avoid listing all the authors’ last names:
Williams et al. (2017) proposed a new methodology to analyse public data.
A new methodology has been put forward to analyse public data (Williams et al., 2017).
Treat organisations as individual authors and follow the same rules
One organisation:
The World Health Organisation’s (2018) report documents 132 cases in the last decade.
A total of 132 cases have been documented in the last decade (World Health Organisation, 2018)
Two or more organisations:
The report from the World Health Organisation and the CDC (2018) documents 132 cases in the last decade.
A total of 132 cases have been documented in the last decade (World Health Organisation and CDC, 2018).
*For more than three authors, use the last name of the first author followed by et al. et al is an abbreviation of the Latin et alia, which means “and others”. Note that the period goes after al. Use this expression instead of listing all the authors’ last names.
*如果有三个或三个以上作者，就用作者的名加上et al. (比如Williams et al.)。et al是拉丁语et alia的缩写，意为“和其他人”。请注意，al后要带英文句点。使用这个表达可以不用列出所有作者的姓氏。
查看注释
If you want to cite more than one source in a sentence, you can join the references with a semicolon in the parenthesis. Note that the entries must be arranged in alphabetical order by the first letter of the authors’ last names:
如果要在一个句子中引用多个来源，可以在括号夹注里用分号连接多个引用源。注意，条目要按照作者姓氏首字母的字母顺序排列:
This phenomenon has been widely studied using qualitative (Adams et al., 2012; Rogers, 1988) and quantitative (Falls et al., 2020; Lewis & Rhodes, 2018) research methods.
To cite multiple works by the same author, where some of those have been published in the same year, append a letter to the year to disambiguate them. The works must be cited in chronological order, putting sources with no date first (use n.d. in this case) and sources still in preparation at the end:
要引用同一作者在同一年发布的多部作品，可以在年份后面附上字母，以消除歧义。这些引用的作品必须按照时间顺序排列，首先是没有日期的资料来源(此处使用n.d.)，最后是尚未出版的资料来源:
This hypothesis has been recently subject to rigorous tests (Saunders, n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2018, in press).
Saunders (n.d., 2017a, 2017b, 2018, in press) has recently put this hypothesis to the test.
For quotations
Direct quotations: Besides author’s last name and the year of publishing, the page numbers should also be indicated in direct quotations:
Direct quotations: Besides author’s last name and the year of publishing, the page numbers should also be indicated in direct quotations:
直接引语:直接引语应注明作者姓氏、出版年份以及页码:
The theory is “a complete framework for functional analysis” (Jones, 2019, p. 32).
Jones (2019: p. 32) explains that the theory is “a complete framework for functional analysis”.
Jones (2019) explains that the theory is “a complete framework for functional analysis” (p. 32).
If the citation spans multiple pages, use pp. to indicate the page numbers:
如果引文跨越多页，使用pp.来表示页码:
The theory is “a complete framework for functional analysis” (Jones, 2019, pp. 32-33).
Block quotation: If a quote is longer than 40 words, it should be displayed as a block quotation. Block quotations do not require quotation marks, they start in a new line and have an indentation of 0.5 inches on the left margin. The entire block quotation should be double-spaced, and there is no need to add new lines before or after the quotation. An example with parenthetical citation is the following:
引语段（Block quotation）：如果一段引语超过40个单词，就应该以引语段的形式表示。引语段不需要引号，应新起一行，左侧缩进0.5英寸。整个引语段应使用双倍行距，前后也不需要空行。下面是一个括号夹注引用的例子:
Researchers have studied how people talk to themselves:
Inner speech is a paradoxical phenomenon. It is an experience that is central to many people’s everyday lives, and yet it presents considerable challenges to any effort to study it scientifically. Nevertheless, a wide range of methodologies and approaches have combined to shed light on the subjective experience of inner speech and its cognitive and neural underpinnings. (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, p. 957)
Another example using narrative citation is:
另一个叙述性引用的例子是:
Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of colour:
Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities. Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311)
*Note that in both cases, the parenthesis appears after the full stop in the quotation, and no indentation is needed on the right.
*这两种情况下，括号应放在引语段的句号之后，且引语段右端不需要缩进。
查看注释
1.3 Reference list
The reference list must appear on a new page at the end of the text. The references are ordered alphabetically by author. The list must have double spacing and a hanging indentation of 0.5 inches.
参考文献列表必须附于文本末尾并另起一页。参考文献按作者字母顺序排列。列表要有双倍行距和0.5英寸的悬挂缩进。
Book
Journal article
Website
Chapter in book
Database
Report
Thesis or dissertation
Format:
Author, Initials. (year). Title. (edition, volume). Publisher. DOI
Example:
Fiske, S. T., Gilbert, D. T., & Lindzey, G. (2010). Handbook of social psychology (5th ed., Vol. 1). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470561119
Notes:
Author refers to the author’s last name, Initials refers to the author’s initials.
Edition and volume are only needed if it’s not the first edition of the book or if there are multiple volumes.
Format:
Author, Initials. (year). Title. Journal name, issue, pages. DOI
Example:
McCauley, S. M., & Christiansen, M. H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126
Notes:
Author refers to the author’s last name, Initials refers to the author’s initials.
Issue and page numbers can be omitted if they are not available.
Format:
Author. (Date of publishing). Title. Website name. Retrieval date. URL
Example:
World Health Organization. (2018, March). Questions and answers on immunization and vaccine safety. https://www.who.int/features/qa/84/en/
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). U.S. and world population clock. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved July 3, 2019, from https://www.census.gov/popclock/
Notes:
You should include the retrieval date when the contents of the page are designed to change over time and the page is not archived.
Format:
Chapter Author. (Date). Chapter title. In Editor (Ed.) Book title. (edition, volume, pages). Publisher.
Example:
Weinstock, R., Leong, G. B., & Silva, J. A. (2003). Defining forensic psychiatry: Roles and responsibilities. In R. Rosner (Ed.), Principles and practice of forensic psychiatry (2nd ed., pp. 7–13). CRC Press.
Notes:
Author refers to the author’s last name, Initials refers to the author’s initials.
Edition and volume are only needed if it’s not the first edition of the book or if there are multiple volumes.
Format:
Author/Organisation (year). Title (version) [Data set]. Publisher. DOI or URL
Example:
D’Souza, A., & Wiseheart, M. (2018). Cognitive effects of music and dance training in children (ICPSR 37080; Version V1) [Data set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37080.v1
Notes:
Author refers to the author’s last name, Initials refers to the author’s initials
Version and publisher can be omitted if they are not available.
Report (by an organisation)
Format:
Organisation name. (year). Report title. Publisher. DOI or URL
Example:
National Cancer Institute. (2018). Facing forward: Life after cancer treatment (NIH Publication No. 18-2424). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/life-after-treatment.pdf
Notes:
When the publisher is the same as the author, omit the publisher.
Thesis/Dissertation (published)
Format:
Author. (year). Title [Doctoral dissertation/Master’s thesis, Institution]. Database name. URL
Example:
Hollander, M. M. (2017). Resistance to authority: Methodological innovations and new lessons from the Milgram experiment (Publication No. 10289373) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin–Madison]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
There are many other types of sources, and they may require slightly different information. You should consult with the official referencing guide in your school for a complete list.
其他类别来源所需信息可能略有不同。请查询您所在学校的官方参考指南以获得完整的列表。
1.4 FAQ
1. When do I have to use et al. when citing multiple authors？当引用多个作者时，什么情况下须使用et al.?
Previous versions of the APA style manual had complicated rules regarding the use of et al. Starting from the 7th edition, et al. is always used for citing three or more authors.
旧版APA格式手册里et al.的使用规则很复杂。从第七版开始et al.适用于引用三个或三个以上作者的情况。
2. Do I have to provide the DOI and URL for online sources? 必须提供网络资源的DOI和URL吗?
DOI stands for digital object identifier and is a unique number to identify online materials. You should provide the DOI if available. If not, a URL can be provided. Offline media do not have either and in that case, it is not necessary to provide one.
DOI代表数字对象标识符，是用于识别网络资料的独特数字。如有，应该提供DOI；如果没有，则可以提供URL。如果是线下的资料，就不需要提供了。
3. How do I cite a source in a language other than English? 如何引用英语以外的其他语言的资料来源?
Provide the author, date, title and source of the work in the original language as well as a translation of the title in square brackets after the title and before the period. If the other language uses a different alphabet, transliterate the alphabet into the Roman alphabet (e.g., use pinyin for texts in Chinese).
Example:
Amano, N., & Kondo, H. (2000). Nihongo no goi tokusei [Lexical characteristics of Japanese language] (Vol. 7). Sansei-do.
用原语言表述引用作品的作者、日期、标题和出处，在原标题后、句点前加上方括号，内写标题的英译。如果该语言使用不同的字母表，则将该字母表音译为罗马字母表(如引用中文资料则使用拼音)。请参考以上示例。
文章大纲1.1 Introduction
1.2 In-text citations
1.3 Reference list
1.4 FAQ