APA Style is a standard for written communication that defines
the organization and content of a paper, writing style and
how to create citations of the works used to create your paper.
APA Style gives instructions on things like how the title page should be arranged, margins and page numbering.
Rules for formatting your paper
Look at a sample paper in APA Style to get an idea of how your paper should be arranged and formattted.
Consult a full list of style and grammar guidelines
Citations acknowledge how others contributed to your work. They are also important to avoid claims of plagiarism.
In APA Style, each work used in a paper has two kinds of citations:
an in-text citation
Learn how to create the two types of in-text citations (parenthetical & narrative)
Guidelines:
"Cite only works that you have read and ideas you have incorporated into your writing."
"Cite primary sources when possible and secondary sources sparingly."
"Provide documentation for all facts and figures that are not common knowledge."
From p. 253 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
a corresponding citation in a reference list at the end of the paper
Guidelines:
"The reference list at the end of a paper provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each work cited in the text."
From p. 281 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
Basic Principles of Reference List Entries (who:author, when:date, what:title, where:source)
Learn about creating a reference list
Try using an automatic Citation Builder to create citations
Get more help with APA Style
This hour long video is a step by step guide to APA student papers.
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is the full reference for MLA style. There is a copy at the KCC Library.