The American Psychology Association citation style is one of the most popular citation styles used in academic papers the world over. Citing a long research paper or dissertation is usually complicated and time-consuming; most people resort to online APA reference generator for quick solutions.
For those willing to do sweat it out, here is a detailed guide to APA citation, which will aid you through your hard work.
1. Title Page
A paper's title page must contain information about the topic, the author and essential details about the course of which the topic is a part.
If you avail an APA reference generator from a citation generating website, you will notice the following.
· The author’s name must be given in full, the first name followed by the middle name and finally the last name.
· For more than two authors, use a comma splice between each name and the “and” conjunction before the last author name.
· For the course details, add the department name followed by the university name. Separate them by a comma.
· Next up, comes the course name and number
· Instructor’s name comes up next; use appropriate designation during writing.
· Finally comes the assignment due date; follow the date format used in your country
· Wrap up everything with a page number header.
APA bibliography generator capitalize the first word of the title and the subtitles. Also, capitalize every critical word in the title. Add hyphens when necessary and write in bold using Times New Roman font of size 12.
2. Referencing a journal article
Though most online APA citation generators are free to use, learning how to apply the citation style on can be helpful under certain circumstances.
For citing a journal article, the correct format is
Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Year). Title of the article.
Invert the author names, and add a comma between the names and the initials. Retain the naming order from the source. Add years in parentheses and capitalize only the first word of the title. Capitalize every major word of the source title and italicize it; italicize the volume number but not the issue number. Write the page numbers you have refereed to next. End your citation with the associated website name, if any.
3. Citing a book
Online APA citation machine and referencing generators strictly abide by all citation rules.
When citing a book, generators follow the general format
Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Copyright Year). Title of the chapter
In A.A. Editor & B.B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (Edition., #-#).
Publisher.URL
The author naming techniques is the same as that of journal articles. Place the copyright year in brackets. Follow it up with the book chapter. Next up are the editor names; write the word “In”, then add the initials and last names of the editors, without inverting them.
Follow that up by italicizing the title of the book, then mentioning the edition and the pages used for reference. Finally, write down the URL, if any.
Every citation generators strictly follow APA rules while working. In case you are not sure about using them, follow this comprehensive guideline.
