Skip to Main Content

Communication: Subject Guide: Mining References: APA Style

Resources for researching mass communication.

What Are References?

Every scholar (INCLUDING YOU!) must cite their sources, both primary and secondary.

This is to allow other scholars (including you!) to follow the trail of evidence being used to support an argument.

References can be in several formats, depending on the citation style used.

The basic components of a reference are:

  • Author
  • Title (for an article, the article title comes first, followed by journal title)
  • Publication information (publisher location/name)
  • Date
  • Page numbers (where applicable)
  • Online access information (where applicable

 

 

Different citation styles will have these components in different orders. 

(Always ask your professor what citation style they want you to use for your writing assignments!)

The most common citation styles are:

  • Chicago Manual of Style
  • MLA Style ("MLA" stands for Modern Language Association)
  • APA Style ("APA" stands for American Psychological Association)

This page will focus on APA Style.

For more information about mining references in the other two styles,
see the tab Mining References: General: Ge.

 

In APA style, the most common format for references is:

  • In-text citations: parenthetical references included in the text
  • Works Cited list (a bibliography)

What Am I Looking At?? APA Style: In-Text Citations

APA Style uses an "Author-Date" method of in-text citation. The author's last name and the year of the source's publication will appear in the text:

like this: (Latour 2005)

or like this, using a signaling phrase:

[If you are directly quoting a source or directly borrowing from it, you should also include the page number(s)]

To get more information about the source being cited, you'd then go to the Reference List (organized alphabetically by author) and look for the source by that author with that date:

(which is a book that you can look up in our catalog or in Advanced Discover!)

(and hey, we have it as an ebook!)

* * * * * *

Both images are taken from this article: 
Krippendorff, K. (2009). Conversation possibilities of its repair and descent into discourse and computation. Constructivist Foundations, 4(3), 138–150.

How to Find It: Scholarly Journal Articles

Subject article databases generally have "Advanced Search" options that will let you search for an article by author and/or title if known.

This is only a small sample of subject databases available to you.

To identify databases for a particular subject or discipline, use the "Databases by Subject" dropdown on the library's homepage.

Are You Not Sure What Format You're Looking For?

If you've got a citation to look up and you're not sure what discipline it falls into, you can try these options, which cover many different disciplines at once:

What Am I Looking At?? APA Style: Works Cited/Bibliography

BOOK

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)

Krippendorff, K. (1986). Information theory: Structural models for qualitative data. Sage Publications.

BOOK CHAPTER

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI (if available)

Davey, J., Saltman, S., & Birdwell, J. (2019). The mainstreaming of far-right extremism on line and how to counter it: A case study on UK, US, and French elections. In L. E. Herman & J. B. Muldoon (Eds.), Trumping the mainstream: The conquest of Democratic politics by the populist radical right (pp. 23-53). Routledge.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), page numbers. DOI (if available)

Krippendorff, K. (2011). Agreement and information in the reliability of coding. Communication Methods & Measures, 5(2), 93–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2011.568376

MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Year, Month, Day). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), page numbers.

Walsh, J. (2018, November 12). New Georgia rising? Nation, 307(12), 12–18.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Year, Month, Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, page numbers. 

Bluestein, G., & Murphy, P. (2020, November 9). National spotlight will be intense with control of Senate at stake. The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, A1.

Are You Looking for a Book? Finding Electronic Books in the Era of COVID-19

Need to see if the GSU Library has a book?

This link will take you directly to the library's catalog:

Help! I've found an ebook in the library's catalog and I'm not sure how to download it!

Different providers (i.e. ProQuest, EBSCO, etc.) have different requirements. Check out our Ebooks research guide for information about how to read/download ebooks.

If you'd like to check out a print book, you can request curbside pickup!

Click here for more information about curbside pickup.

You can currently also request books via GILExpress (from other USG libraries)
or via Interlibrary Loan (from other libraries) and arrange for curbside pickup.

Here are some strategies that you can use to access ebooks.

Please feel free to ask me if you have any questions about finding electronic versions of texts!

Do You Need A Book Chapter or Section? Use Our Desktop Delivery Service!

If you come across an article or an essay/book chapter that the library only has in print, you can use our Desktop Delivery service to request an electronic version of the article or book chapter.

This service is currently available to all GSU faculty, students, and staff.* For information about how to place a Desktop Delivery request, click here. 

*Faculty, graduate students, and university administrators can also request electronic copies of materials that we have on microfilm.