3. Formatting Reference


In APA style, references are structured based on four primary positions: A, B, C, and D. This chapter will explain the formatting for each position, highlighting the distinctions between books and magazines when necessary. Punctuation marks are colored to emphasize the importance of their placement

Author (Position A: "Who?"):
  • Format: Last name, First initial. Middle initial (if available), followed by a period. If a magazine article has multiple authors, list them separated by commas, using an "&" before the last author's name.

- Example:

Sapolsky, R. M.

Schaefer, N. K., & Shapiro, B.

Date (Position B: "When?"):

Format for books: (Year of publication), enclosed in parentheses and followed by a period.

- Book example:

(2017).

Format for magazines: (Year, Month Day), enclosed in parentheses and followed by a period.

- Magazine example:

(2019, September 06).

Title (Position C: "What?"):

For books: The format is the Title of the book: Capital letter also for subtitle. Title of the book in italics. Only the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, and any proper nouns are capitalized. Follow the title with a period.

- Book example:

Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst.

For magazines: The format is the Title of the article, with only the first word of the title and any proper nouns capitalized. Title of article is not in italics. Follow the title with a period.

- Magazine example:

New middle chapter in the story of human evolution.

Publisher or Source (Position D: "Where?"):

For books: The format is the Publisher name, ending with a period.

- Book example:

Penguin Books.

For magazines: The format is the Title of Magazine, volume number(issue number), followed by the page range. Only the title of the magazine and volume number are in italics. The issue number is in parentheses and is not italicized. The page range is followed by a period. If URL is availible add this in the end. Never add period afer URL. Web address (URL) can be underlined with containing link (but it is not required). Important is to follow consistently same URL format style  in whole the document.  

- Magazine example:

Science, 365(6457), 981–982. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3550



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