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Sociology

Find books, articles, databases, and other resources for research in Sociology.

APA Style


The APA or American Psychological Association style of citation is mainly used for the social sciences. The style is currently in its 7th edition.

Purdue OWL: APA Formatting and Style Guide

APA OWL

This resource, updated to reflect the APA Handbook (7th ed.), offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the references page. Check here for help citing more resources or make an appointment with an Oxford librarian!

Icons are from the Noun Project and under Creative Commons licence (CCBY): books by sandra, article by Arfan Khan Kamol, website by Julynn B, link by Nathan Diesel, Video by Aybige, Audio by Manasa, Image by Mohammad Iqbal, hashtag by Gregor Cresnar.

Books

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Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!

 

Basic Book Citation

Author Last Name, Author First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Capital first word subtitle. Publisher.

How To Cite...

Stoneman, R. (2008). Alexander the Great: A life in legend. Yale University Press.

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. New York University Press.

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. American Psychological Association.

Artman, J., Sundquist, J., & Dechow, D. R. (2016). The craft of librarian instruction: Using acting techniques to create your teaching presence. Association of College and Research Libraries.

Armstrong, D. (2019). Malory and character. In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.), A new companion to Malory (pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.

Articles

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When citing a scholarly article from a database if you can not find a DOI, a permalink or a nondatabase URL then you do not need to provide a link in APA 9th edition, unless requested by your professor.   

Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!

Basic Newspaper Citation 

Author Last Name, Author First Initial. (Publication Year, Month Day). Title of the article. Newspaper Title. Page number, if known. DOI

Basic Scholarly Journal Article Citation 

Author Last Name, Author First Initial. (Publication Year). Title of the article. Journal Title, Volume #(Issue #), page numbers. DOI

 

How To Cite...

McAninch, D. (2019, July 15). Seeing France’s wild mountains through a clouded, classic windshield. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/travel/cevennes-france-drive.html

Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today, 1A, 2A.

In Print

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.

From an Online Database

Baniya, S., & Weech, S. (2019). Data and experience design: Negotiating community-oriented digital research with service-learning. Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement, 6(1), 1116. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316979

Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower: A hero under control, by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert]. Contemporary Psychology, 38(5), 466–467.

Irwin, D. (2019, July 9). Wot I think: Gato Roboto. [Review of the video game Gato Roboto, published by Devolver Digital, 2019]. Rock Paper Shotgun.  https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/07/09/gato-roboto-review/

Website

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In APA style, individual webpages and documents hosted online are cited similarly to print content. Note, however, that the URL is typically included at the end of the entry. In APA style, you only need to include the date of access if the page's content will probably change over time (i.e. a wiki page).

Basic Website Citation

Authors Last name, Authors First Initial. (Publication Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

 

If the resource was written by a group or organization, use the name of the group/organization as the author. If the author and site name are the same, omit the site name from the citation.

Group name. (Publication Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide. Follow the link for more examples!

How To Cite...

Oxford College Library. (n.d.). Mission and Vision - Oxford College Library. https://oxford.library.emory.edu/about/about-oxford-college-library/mission-and-vision

Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist. Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01

Axelrod, A. (2019, August 11). A century later: The Treaty of Versailles and its rejection of racial equality. Code Switch, NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/08/11/742293305/a-century-later-the-treaty-of-versailles-and-its-rejection-of-racial-equality

Digital Resources


Citing personal photos, digital files, or other electronic resources can be confusing. The important thing to remember is that everything you use for academic or professional work, even if you made it yourself, does need to be cited - every time!

Some URL Notes from Purdue OWL:

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  • Many scholarly journal articles found in databases include a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is available, cite the DOI number instead of the URL.
  • Online newspapers and magazines sometimes include a permalink, which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.

If you have a question or need to cite something not listed here, schedule a consultation with a librarian!

Digital Resources in APA Style: How Do I Cite...

Visit the Purdue OWL Pages on citing Audiovisual Media and Electronic Sources in APA for more examples!

If the author’s name is the same as the uploader, only cite the author once. If the author is different from the uploader, cite the author’s name before the title.Play Button Icon

Lushi, K. [Korab Lushi]. (2016, July 3). Albatross culture 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AMrJRQDPjk&t=148s

Tedx Talks. (2011, Nov. 15). TEDxHampshireCollege - Jay Smooth - How I learned to stop worrying and love discussing race [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdxeFcQtaU

Make sure to list as much information as possible to help your user find the file - if information such as record label or producer are unavailable from your source, do not list them.Speaker Icon

Song

Zuckerman, J. (2015, July 22). To heal [Song]. https://soundcloud.com/jeremy-zuckerman/to-heal

Dacus, L. (2018). Night shift [Song]. On Historian [Album]. Matador Records.

Personal Interview

A personal interview is one that you have conducted yourself - the "author" is the interviewee. Note that APA style does not require a reference to a personal interview.

Crowl, P. (2019, July 12). Personal interview.

Podcast

Prime, K. (Host). (2019, March 29). For whom the cowbell tolls [Audio podcast episode]. In Radiolab. WNYC Studios. https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/whom-cowbell-tolls

Personal PhotoPhoto Icon

Remember to get the permission of all the people in the photo (or their guardians, if minors) before you use it in your work!

Garofalo, C. (2019, April 12). [CSCE contributor gift table] [Photograph]. https://www.christophervisuals.com/OxfordCollege/CSCE/i-wP8vMbB/A

Online Photo or Image

The title of the item for the reference comes from its caption, so if the image has no official caption, you will describe the item inside square brackets. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

Williams, M. O. (2016, March 10). An Ouled Nail woman in Algeria wears a tattoo that is customary for dancers, 1949 [Photograph]. https://natgeofound.tumblr.com/post/140802561912/an-ouled-nail-woman-in-algeria-wears-a-tattoo-that

Cash, I. (2011, April 5). Infographic of infographics. [Infographic]. https://imgur.com/DNxvj

Only include the first 20 words of the post/caption when citing a social media post in APA style. If the post includes images, videos, or links to other sources, indicate that information in brackets after the content description. Also attempt to replicate emojis if possible; if not, describe the emoji (i.e. [Face with Tears of Joy emoji])

FacebookHashtag Icon

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2020, January 10). Like frosting on a cake, snow coats and clings to the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/USInterior/photos/a.155163054537384/2586475451406120/?type=3&theater

Twitter

National Geographic [@NatGeo]. (2020, January 12). Scientists knew African grays are clever, but now they’ve been documented assisting other members of their species—even strangers [Tweet; thumbnail link to article]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/1216346352063537154

Instagram

BBC [@bbc]. (2020, January 12). Skywatchers have been treated to the first full moon of 2020-known as a “wolf moon”-at the same time as a [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7OkWqbBwcf/

Images and Videos

Figure 1. Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses

          

Note. From Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses [Painting], by Paul Cézanne, 1890, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882. Public Domain.

*Figures cited in-text must be both captioned and cited in the bibliography.

In-text citation:

(see fig. X)

(see fig. 3)

Figure Title and Note:

In APA, for images in papers you have the figure number, title and then a note, which serves as the caption. In the note if using copyrighted materials use From when reprinting an image and Adapted from  if you have adapted an image. For description you place in Brackets this is often the format/medium of artwork, such as painting, photograph, sculpture, etc. 

Fig. X. Title of work or Description of the work 

Note. From Title [description in brackets], by artist full name, creation year; Institution, URL. Licensing information/public domain information/fair use notation. 

Figure 3. Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses

Note. From Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses [Painting], by Paul Cézanne, 1890, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882). Public Domain.

Figure. 5. Atlanta Streetcar, 

Note. From Atlanta Streetcar [Photograph], by Lauren Holley, 2014, Flickr (flickr.com/photos/atlantadowntown/16106577510/). CC BY 2.0.

Bibliography:

Author Last Name, First Initial. (year of publication). title [description in brackets]. Source. URL. 

Cézanne, P. (1890). Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses [Painting]. The Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, NY, United States.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.


Image has no known title?

If the work has no title provide a concise but informative description of the work and put it in the brackets. 

Mackintosh, C. R. (1897-1900). [Chair of stained oak]. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England,

Image has no known author?

Omit the author's name, start with the title and move the date after the title:

Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses. 1890. The Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, NY, United States. metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.


No creation date?

Use (n.d.) in place of the date, this means "no data"

Cézanne, P. (n.d). Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses [Painting]. The Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York, NY, United States.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.

Are you using a video screenshot?

Fig. X. Still from title of work 

Note. From title [description in brackets], by director/ creator, creation year; Institution, URL. Licensing information/public domain information/fair use notation. 

Figure 4. Still Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Note. From Lord of the rings: fellowship of the ring [Still from Film], by Peter Jackson, 2001, Wingnut Films; The Saul Zaentz Company. Copyright 2001 by The Saul Zaentz Company. 

 MLA Video Citation Examples

 

 YouTube & Streaming Video:

  Creator name. (Year, Month day). Title [description]. Platform, URL.

  Modern Librarian Memoirs. (2017, November 2) What is Information Literacy? [Video]. YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbe6xBibOL4.

 

 

In-Text Citations

APA uses parenthetical citations for in-text citation. Include the author's last name and the date of the work. Typically you put this at the end of the sentence just before the period.  

 

Format:

(author's last name, date)  

Example:

Scholars argue about who is the original leader of the Justice League, but one scholar is convinced it is Superman (Kent, 1938).

In APA, only include the page number if you are directly quoting a source. (If quoting more than one page, use pp. instead of p.).

Format:

(author's last name, date, p. page number)  

Example:

While impressive, some claim that Batman's skills are "overblown by the Gotham police" and his actual contributions to the recent decrease in crime in the city are minimal (Kent, 1938, p. 12).

To cite more than one source, put a semicolon between the two sources' citations.

Format:

(author's last name, date; author's last name, date) 

Example:

Despite the disagreement, both authors agree that global crime has decreased thanks to the effort of the Justice League (Kent, 1938; Wayne, 1939).  

For more information on APA, see the Purdue OWL page about in-text citation.