Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by Follow the style guide – ALWAYS. This is not time to be creative. Don’t agonize about why the guide tells you to do something, just do it!
Be consistent. If the style guide says to use italics for the title of the book or journal (and Chicago does) use italics ALWAYS.
Don’t mix style guides. Chicago and MLA cannot be used simultaneously in a paper. Choose one and stick to it.
If you don’t know how to cite a particular source, look it up. The style guide has thought of nearly every type of source.
Print off the citation of the source you consulted, when you consult it. Don’t say, “I’ll do it later,” or “I am not sure I want to use this source, I’ll go back to it if I do.” Going back later without the citation is often impossible.
Introducing the 7th Ed. APA Style Publication Manual
The official and ultimate resource on APA Style. Consult the digital library of APA Style quick guides and tutorials to refine your writing. Learn how to plan sound research with our research tools, and build a reference library with customized APA Style reference templates. Consult quick guides, tutorials, self-quizzes, sample papers, sample references, sample tables, and sample figures to master the art of scholarly writing.
A DOI is an alphanumeric code which identifies an article; just like your Social Security Number identifies you.
APA style recommends that the DOI be included in an article citation when available.
Not every article has a DOI. Older articles are more likely to have not been assigned one.
If you are citing an article you obtained in print and you cannot find an existing DOI, you may cite the article without one.
If you are citing an article you obtained electronically, you are expected to make a reasonable effort to find a DOI for the article. (Check the article itself or use the Free DOI Lookup below.) If you cannot find a DOI, then include additional information such as the database name or the URL. (See the DOI and URL Flowchart below.)
ISU students shouldn't have to buy articles! Check our Catalog, our E-Journal Search, ScienceDirect, and Interlibrary Loan to obtain full-text articles.
"Spelling should conform to standard American English as exemplified in Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary (2005), the standard spelling reference for APA journals and books..." (APA Manual, 2010, p. 96)
Note that Webster dictionaries are not Merriam-Webster dictionaries.
Here are some quick links to important information about writing research papers and properly citing your sources.
