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PATH Research Guide 2024: APA Formatting and Citations

This guide was created for the 2024 PATH Research Scholars

Introduction to APA

This page offers a (very) brief overview of APA formatting. In the box at the bottom of the page, you will find links to further resources. 

Note: APA 7th edition was released in October of 2019 and is still being adopted by many instructors. There are some instructors who are still using APA 6th edition and expect work to be turned in to use it as well. Please make certain to bring this up with your teacher, especially if it is not listed on your class's syllabus which edition will be used.

For more assistance, please visit the CSUF APA Style Guide

General layout

  • Typed
  • Double-spaced
  • 1" margins on all sides
  • Features a title page
  • Page header (also known as a "running head") at the top of every page
  • Accessible font (i.e., legible) used consistently throughout the paper 

Citations

In-text citations

Example / definition of in-text citation

Reference list citations

Example / definition of reference list citation

Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

Voice describes the relationship between a verb and the subject and object associated with it.

  • Active voice: the subject of a sentence is followed by the verb and then the object of the verb (e.g., “the children ate the cookies”).
  • Passive voice: the object of the verb is followed by the verb (usually a form of “to be” + past participle + the word “by”) and then the subject (e.g., “the cookies were eaten by the children”). If the subject is omitted (e.g., “the cookies were eaten”), it may result in confusion about who performed the action (did the children eat the cookies, or was it the dog?).

 

Both the active and the passive voice are permitted in APA Style. However, writers often overuse the passive voice.

  • Use the active voice as much as possible to create direct, clear, and concise sentences, especially when you are writing about the actions of people. 
  • Use the passive voice when it is more important to focus on the recipient of an action than on who performed the action, such as when describing an experimental setup.

APA Resources