by Jeff Hume-Pratuch

Dear Style Experts,

I am writing a paper on the use of certain prescription and over-the-counter drugs. I took some of my information from those little package inserts that come in the box or bag when you get a prescription. I’m not sure how to cite it. Help!

—A Frustrated Pharmacologist in Philly

Dear Frustrated,

Fear not! We can solve this citation conundrum with our four favorite questions: Who? When? What? Where?

Let’s say you’re exploring treatments for head lice and need to cite the pharmaceutical insert for Ulesfia lotion.

• Who is responsible for the content of the package insert? The distributor is listed on the insert as Shionogi Pharma, so we’ll put that in the author position (in accordance with our principle of “cite what you see”).

• When was it made? The date on the insert is 2010, so that goes in the date position.

• What is the document called? The title at the top of the insert (Highlights of Prescribing Information) is not too informative, but together with the name of the product, it should do the trick.

• Where did it come from? The publisher and author of the package insert are the same, so we’ll use the author’s info in the publisher position.

And here is your reference:

Shionogi Pharma. (2010). Ulesfia lotion: Highlights of prescribing 
    information. Atlanta, GA: Author.

Text citation: (Shionogi Pharma, 2010)

If you retrieved the prescribing information from the manufacturer’s website (which also provides printable coloring pages of “Louie the Louse” to keep your kids occupied during the 10-min application process), you would cite it like this:

Shionogi Pharma. (2010). Ulesfia lotion: Highlights of prescribing 
    information. Retrieved from http://www.ulesfialotion.com/pdf/
    Ulesfia_Prescribing_Information.pdf

Text citation: (Shionogi Pharma, 2010)

However, if your interest in pediculicides were purely academic, you might have downloaded the product insert from the FDA website, in which case you would cite it like this:

Shionogi Pharma. (2010). Ulesfia lotion: Highlights of prescribing 
    information. Retrieved from http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/
    cder/drugsatfda/index.cfm

This technique can be applied to citations for any kind of product information, including package inserts for small appliances, hand tools, and adhesive tiles.

by Jeff Hume-Pratuch

Who is the author of Fowler’s Modern English Usage? (Go ahead and Google it; I’ll just wait here and hum the “Jeopardy” theme until you get back. . . .)

I’ll admit that it’s a bit of a trick question. The classic style guide was written by Henry W. Fowler and published in 1926 as A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. It quickly dwarfed most of the competition due to its pithy, antipedantic, and somewhat idiosyncratic advice.*

The name of Fowler became so closely tied to the notion of clear and correct writing that the second edition (1965) was published as Fowler’s Modern English Usage, even though its eponymous author had died in 1933. His presence continues to hover over the work as it approaches the century mark (Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 2004). The content has been almost completely rewritten, but it has never gone out of print.

Similarly, H. M. Robert’s Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies was first published in 1876 and is now in its 11th (highly revised) edition. When a work is in its third, fourth, or (in the case of Robert’s Rules of Order) 11th edition, there may not be much left that was actually written by the person who penned the first edition. How should these works be cited? Should we credit the dead hand of the original author or those who carry on the franchise?

The answer follows from one of our basic principles of citation: “Cite what you see.” Whose name is on the cover and/or title page? Unless another role is specified (e.g., editor, compiler), that person—dead or alive—is the author.  Fowler and Robert can rest in peace while their successors carry on.

References

Burchfield, R. W. (2004). Fowler’s modern English usage (3rd ed. rev.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Fowler, H. W. (1926). A dictionary of modern English usage. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Fowler, H. W., & Gowers, E. (Ed.). (1965). Fowler’s modern English usage (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Robert, H. M. (1876). Pocket manual of rules of order for deliberative assemblies. Chicago, IL: Griggs.

Robert, H. M., III, Honemann, D. H., & Balch, T. J. (2011). Robert’s rules of order newly revised (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Perseus Books.


*E.g., “To shrink with horror from ending [a sentence] with a preposition is no more than foolish superstition; but there are often particular reasons for not choosing that alternative” (Fowler, 1926, p. 635).

by Chelsea Lee

Most APA Style references are straightforward to write—the guidance and examples in Chapter 7 of the Publication Manual and on this blog make that possible. We’ve written a good deal about the architecture of a generic reference (the four basic pieces of author, date, title, and source). Sometimes, however, one or more of those pieces is missing, and writing the reference can get more difficult. This post will help you adapt the classic APA Style reference template to fit any situation where information might be missing, as well as show you how to create the corresponding in-text citations for those references. 

The table below shows how to write an APA Style reference when information is missing. It is also available for download as a PDF.

Title Variations

As shown in the table, the title of a document is only sometimes italicized, depending on the independence of the source. That is, do italicize the title of a document that stands alone (books, reports, etc.), but do not italicize the title of a document that is part of a greater whole (chapters, articles, etc., which are part of edited books or journals, respectively). Also do not italicize the titles of software, data sets, instruments, and apparatus (see §7.08 in the Publication Manual). If you have trouble determining whether something stands alone (such as for a document on a website), choose not to italicize. For examples and more explanation, see the blog post on capitalization and formatting of reference titles in the reference list.

Source Variations

As shown in the Position D column of the table, the source part of a reference list entry can vary as well. It should reflect either a retrieval URL (for online documents without DOIs), a publisher location and name (for print sources), or a DOI (for any document that has one, whether print or online). It is not usually necessary to include a retrieval date for online sources; one should be provided only if the source is likely to change over time, such as with an unarchived wiki page.

Sometimes source information is incomplete but with a little detective work you can find what you need; for example, if you know a publisher name but not its location, you can research the publisher to find the location. Even sources of limited availability can be cited in APA Style, including unpublished and informally published works (see §7.09) and archival documents and collections (see §7.10).

Note, however, that it is not possible to write a traditional APA Style reference if source information is truly missing. The purpose of an APA Style reference is to provide readers with information on how to locate the source that you used, and if you cannot tell them how to do so, you either have to find a substitute or cite the source as personal communication (see §6.20 in the Publication Manual).

Creating In-Text Citations

Create an in-text citation for any reference by using the pieces from Positions A and B in the table above. For most references, this will be the author and date (Author, date). For titles in Position A, use italics for works that stand alone (Title of Document, date) and quotation marks for works that are part of a greater whole (“Title of Document,” date). Retain square brackets for descriptions of documents in Position A ([Description of document], date). For examples and more explanation, see our post on formatting and capitalization of titles in the text.  

We hope this guide to missing pieces will help you as you create your APA Style references.

by Jeff Hume-Pratuch

The running head is one of the smallest parts of a manuscript, yet it seems to cause big problems for some. In previous posts, we’ve given an overview of the running head and how to format it, but recently we’ve received some new questions that have folks scratching their heads.

What Is the Running Head?

The running head is a shortened form of the title of your paper that appears  in  uppercase letters at the top left of each page of your manuscript. It helps to identify the pages of your paper and keep them together (without using your name, in case you’re submitting it for blind review). When your paper is published, this short title will appear at the top of each odd-numbered page.

On the title page of your manuscript, the label “Running head:” precedes the running head itself. It’s there to let the typesetter know that this shortened title is, in fact, the running head for your article. (This is a holdover from the fifth edition of the APA Publication Manual, which required a “manuscript page header” on every page as well as a running head on the title page.)

How Long Should the Running Head Be?

The running head should be a brief version of the title of your paper, no more than 50 characters long (including spaces). The label “Running head:” that precedes the running head on the title page is not included in the 50-character count, because it’s not part of the title of your paper. (Unless, of course, the title of your paper is something like “Running Head: Feature or Bug?”)

What Makes For a Good Running Head?

It’s usually not a good idea to simply copy the first 50 characters of your title. The running head needs to both make sense as a phrase and give some idea of what your paper is about.

Pop quiz: If the title of your paper is “A Review and Meta-Analysis of the First Decade of Articles About the Psychology of Llamas,” which would be a more informative running head?
(a)    A REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST DECADE OF
or
(b)    REVIEW OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LLAMAS

Where Does the Running Head Go?

Use the automatic header feature of your word processing program to set the running head at the top left of the page. Don’t worry about the running head’s precise distance from the top of the page or relationship to the margin; the default setting for your software is fine.

For more about the running head, see the APA Publication Manual (6th ed., pp. 229–230).

by Timothy McAdoo

Typically you cite one thing at a time: anything from a journal article, a book or book chapter, a CD or mp3, a painting, a legal document, or classroom notes to a webpage, a YouTube video, a computer app, an e-book, or even a Twitter or Facebook post.

However, if you’ve ever read a special section or special issue of a journal, you know that the interrelated nature of these articles makes them a special case. In this post, I’ll detail how to reference and cite them.

What Are Special Sections and Special Issues?

Articles in a special issue focus on the same topic, albeit from different vantage points. An editor often requests that authors submit the articles in order to highlight an important topic.

These issues will often, but not always, include an introduction from the editor. In this, he or she may expound on the importance of the topic, explain how the topic and the individual articles were chosen, detail how the included articles agree or disagree on major points, and/or provide a summary or analysis of the findings. Special issues also generally have a title, which sets them apart from regular issues that have just a volume and issue number.

Special sections are much like special issues, only smaller. They appear within a regular issue and may or may not have a title.

References

Of course, you may want to reference just one article within a special issue or special section. That’s okay! To do so, just use the journal article reference format, as usual. (You can find examples in this sample reference list.)

But, if you want to reference the entire special issue or special section, here’s what you need to know (as per Example 12 on page 201 of the Publication Manual).

The reference to a special issue should include the editor(s), the year, the title, [Special issue], the journal name, volume, and issue. The reference to a special section should include the editor(s), the year, the title, [Special section], the journal name, volume, page range of the section, and the DOI (if applicable).

If the issue has no editors, move the issue title to the author position.

Citations

For the citation, use the editor name(s) and the year, as usual.

When there are no editors, the in-text citation should include a shortened title in quotation marks and the year.

by Chelsea Lee

Consider the following questions that the APA Style team has received:

• How do I cite a website?
• How do I cite interlibrary loan?
• How do I cite my Kindle?
• How do I cite my iPhone?

What do they have in common? Well, in each case, the individual asking the question has been unable to find the appropriate reference example in the Publication Manual and has turned to the APA Style team for answers. However, don’t take the existence of these questions as evidence that the answers aren’t in the manual, because they usually are. But to find them, you have to understand how the manual is organized—that’s how you’ll get to the reference example you really need.

Document Type, Not Delivery Method or Format

Many readers may be surprised to realize that the reference examples in the Publication Manual are organized by document type (articles, books, reports, etc.), not by method of delivery (computers, interlibrary loan, e-readers, smartphones) or format (paper, HTML, DVD, etc.). So for every reader who writes to us to say, “I can’t believe out of 77 examples in the Publication Manual, not one is for a website,” we take this opportunity to point out that a full 47 examples—that’s 61%—refer to online resources you’d find on a website.

So, remember that for the purpose of citation (and of finding reference examples), it matters what's on the website, not that the document is on a website in and of itself. 

Using the Manual to Find What You Need

The Publication Manual provides a wonderful index of document types in Chapter 7 prior to the reference examples themselves (see pp. 193–198). In addition to variations on document type (96 of them!), subvariations on author, title, and publication information are also provided. This list is an essential reference for users of the Publication Manual, and we hope you’ll take advantage of it now if you haven’t before.

Clarifying the Distinctions Among Delivery Method, Format, and Type

Additionally, we give to you the table below, which lists examples of different document delivery methods, formats, and types. The third column, for document type, also links to other APA Style Blog posts on the topic and lists relevant reference examples in the Publication Manual.

So when you ask an APA Style question—say, “How do I cite ‘X’?”—first try to find your “X” in the table below or in the index of document types in the manual. If you find it listed only in one of the first two columns of the table below, then you haven’t figured out the document type yet (that’s the third column), and you’re not quite ready to write the reference. Note that there are as many possible document types out there as the day is long, so for brevity’s sake, this table includes only the most common. Many more are in the Chapter 7 index.  

Trouble Finding “X”

If you have trouble nailing down exactly what “X” is, other than perhaps you know it is on a website, then read our blog post on discerning different kinds of website material for more help. If you know what “X” is but you can’t find an exact example in the manual, read our blog post on what to do when you can’t find the exact document type in the Publication Manual. 

We hope this post will help you to find the APA Style reference example that you’re looking for. 

As you might imagine, within the APA Style team, we have a mix of educational backgrounds and interests, with a significant overlap in writing, editing, psychology, and other social sciences. So when it comes to social media, we’re interested in all types of writing and social science resources.

We’ve found a plethora of said resources on Google+! We currently have hundreds of universities and university libraries in our circles, plus everyone from Grammar Girl and Merriam-Webster to Psychology World to the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Health.

Follow us to get official updates on all things related to APA Style, including announcements about new blog posts, tips and tricks on writing and style, new features on apastyle.org, and more!

by Jeff Hume-Pratuch

Dear Style Experts,

How do you tell whether to use a or an with abbreviations? I assume that an abbreviation is treated just as if it were a word , but I'm having trouble with some examples: Should it be an HIV patient or a HIV patient? For some reason, neither one looks right to me.

--An Anxious Author in Axminster

Dear Anxious,

The general rule for indefinite articles is to use a before consonants and an before vowels. The trick here is to use your ears (how the acronym is pronounced), not your eyes (how it's spelled).

HIV (pronounced "aitch eye vee") begins with a vowel sound, so an HIV patient is correct. HIPAA (pronounced "hippa") begins with a consonant sound, so a HIPAA form is correct.

H is only one of a handful of consonants in English whose names start with vowel sounds. Here are some more examples of acronyms that might trip you up, depending on whether they are pronounced as words or as a series of letters.

• a FASB rule; an FOB airfield
• a LAN schematic; an LAPD memo
• a MOMA exhibit; an MRI test
• a NICU nurse; an NPO order
• a SAM base; an SAT exam

There are also two vowels in English whose names start with consonant sounds. Can you spot them?

by Janet Sonne, PhD

Would it surprise you to learn that the phrases “information explosion” and “information overload” first appeared in popular press in the early 1960s?  Many of you were not even born; I was only in elementary school.  Since then, an ever-increasing abundance of information and its rapid spread on the Internet has given the term “information overload” new meaning. 

We all struggle to find ways to manage the constant flow of information, gleaning what we need to do our jobs competently.  We attempt to structure, organize, and master the vast array of details we collect. We commit some to memory.  We carefully file the notes we take (or simply throw them in a familiar pile on our desks or office floors).  We dog-ear pages and bookmark websites. But herein lies a basic problem.  As a psychologist, I am often confronted with questions to which I know I have the information that will lead to an answer…somewhere.  But I have to spend precious time jogging my memory to find the exact piece of paper, book, file folder, or website.  IF I can remember the details or where the material is, I typically need more time to figure out whether the information is current enough to provide a valid and reliable answer. 

My students and supervisees have the same basic problem, and when they hit that wall, they ask me.  Although I am no organizational guru, I began to compile my scraps of material several years ago in the hope that I could make our working lives easier.  Last month, this dream was realized with the publication of PsycEssentials: A Pocket Resource for Mental Health Practitioners, which is available in print, e-book, and mobile app formats for Apple and Android devices. 

Physicians began to address this problem years ago by creating pocket-sized reference books for students and practitioners on how to assess, diagnose, and treat their patients.  PsycEssentials  provides a similar resource for mental health students and professionals.  My objective was to gather a broad range of information that clinicians commonly need and use in their practices and present it in a simple, clear format for quick reference.  The resource contains many links to web-based information sites—directly accessible in the Kindle and mobile app versions—that effectively multiply its utility.  I’ve been pleased to see them in action!

PsycEssentials is divided into 18 chapters.  The order of the first 14 chapters is intended to reflect a “typical” chronological process with a client—from the initial session through assessment and diagnosis to treatment and termination.  Specific topics include published assessment instruments for an array of presenting problems, risk assessment of self- and other-injury, mandated reporting of child and elder abuse and of client threat of harm to another, evidence-based interventions, and psychopharmacotherapies. The final four chapters include information on records and record-keeping, professional standards and self-care for clinicians, and resources for clients and their significant others. 

My hope is that practitioners will carry PsycEssentials to work (whether in their purses or coat pockets, or on their electronic devices) to refer to during the course of their workdays.  It represents nearly 30 years of clinical experience and of tracking, testing, and compiling reliable resources.  I hope this first attempt to organize the information overload that we experience as mental health practitioners will be of help, and I look forward to your comments for its continued refinement.

About the author: Janet L. Sonne received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Stanford University, her master’s degree in social and personality psychology research from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA.  She has been licensed as a psychologist in California since 1983 and has conducted both a clinical and a forensic private practice for nearly 30 years.  Over the course of her career, she has taught and supervised clinical psychology doctoral students, medical students, psychiatry residents, and graduate students in departments of nursing, social work, and marriage and family therapy.  

 Dr. Sonne is a fellow of American Psychological Association (APA) Division 42 (Independent Practice) and a member of the California Psychological Association (CPA).  She is the former chair and member of the CPA Ethics Committee, and she served twice as a member of the APA Ethics Committee.  Dr. Sonne has also served as an expert consultant to the California Boards of Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, and Nursing, as well as to attorneys, religious organizations, and practitioners regarding professional standards of care, competency issues, and perpetration and sequelae of childhood sexual abuse.  She has authored and coauthored several articles, book chapters, and books on various topics relating to professional standards for mental health practitioners and clinical practice.

by Timothy McAdoo

 Henry W. “Indiana” Jones Jr.: “I like Indiana."
Henry W. Jones Sr.: “We named the dog Indiana.”

Much like the intrepid Dr. Jones, when writing a paper, you never know what riddles you’ll have to solve. (Unlike Indiana, you can always ask the APA Style team for help!) I hope to clear up one such riddle here: how to handle suffixes in author names.

Quick Summary (in case you need to make a dramatic exit before the end of this post!)*

"Jr.," “III,” or other suffixes are not included with in-text citations, but they are included in the reference list entries.

References

In a reference, include the suffix, set off with commas, as shown here:

You may note that in the first example, because the names in the author portion of a reference are inverted, commas are needed before the suffix. In the second example, the suffix is in the editor name; because names are not inverted in the editor portion of the reference, the comma is not needed. More examples can be found in this post on citing book chapters in APA Style.

If the suffixes are numerals, alphabetize the entries by these numerals. For example,

Citations

For the citation in your text, do not include the suffix. Just use the author’s last name as you normally would:

*If you’re feeling adventurous, you can find the keys to this post throughout the Publication Manual. The fourth bullet on page 184 explains how to punctuate suffixes within a reference, and page 204 has an example with “Jr.” (Example 24). The guideline for alphabetizing appears in the second bullet at the top of page 182.