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SWK 331: Methods of Social Work Practice I (Olmo, Spring 2016): APA examples

APA citations in your paper - the author-date method

Information, ideas, and quotations taken from other sources need to be cited in your paper where they appear using the "author-date" method.  All this means is to note the author(s) and date using a parenthetical citation.  If you mention the name of the author(s) in the text of the paper, then the date and page number are all that need to go in the parenthesis.  Here are some examples.

According to Krysik and Finn (2010), most social work journals use APA style (p. 368).

Krysik and Finn (2010) write "The majority of social work and many social science journals use the format required by the American Psychological Association" (p. 368).  

"The majority of social work and many social science journals use the format required by the American Psychological Association" (Krysik & Finn, 2010, p. 368).

Don't forget the page number!  If your source doesn't have page numbers, such as a webpage or some electronic journals, you need to include the paragraph number. If the paragraphs are not numbered, you will have to count them yourself, sorry.  For example, if page 368 in your textbook was a single webpage, then we would cite the quote used above like this: 

"The majority of social work and many social science journals use the format required by the American Psychological Association" (Krysik & Finn, 2010, para. 7).

Your References page

Parenthetical citations like the ones shown above are only the first step.  After all, if a reader of your paper sees (Krysik & Finn, 2010, p. 368) and nothing else, they will have no idea what you are referring to.  Parenthetical citations are just pointers to the full citations which belong at the end of your paper, on a page titled "References".   Every single item cited in your paper should be listed here, in alphabetical order by the first author, or by title if there is no author.  If the citation for an item is longer than two lines, the second line should be indented, but never the first. 

The book above would be cited like so: 

Krysik, J. L., & Finn, J. (2010). Research for effective social work practice (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

An article or chapter from a larger book would be cited like so: 

Carlson, B. (2008).  Intimate partner violence.  In T. Mizrahi and L. Davis (Eds.), Encyclopedia of social work (Vol. 2, pp.542-546).  Washington, DC: NASW Press.

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