Research Guides: Citation Resource Guide: APA

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is widely used in behavioral and social sciences. Make sure to check your class syllabus or ask your instructor if you should use the 6th edition (2010) or the 7th edition (2019) for your assignments.

APA 7th Edition Update

The Library will be updating its website with APA 7th edition resources as they become available. This will include content from Academic Writer, the APA's citation and writing tool (expected in August 2020), and a digital companion to our "APA Reference Guide" handout.

We also recommend the following resources:

From the APA website: Formatting heading levels in a student paper
From the APA website: Reference Quick Guide for your works cited page
From the APA website: Sample student papers with annotations
In-text citation, formatting, and reference help at The Excelsior OWL APA website

Borrow the Manual

Copies of the Manual (6th or 7th edition) can be borrowed from the National University Library. If you live outside of San Diego, you can request that a copy be delivered to your home address or nearest campus using our Books Direct service.

See if a copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) is available here.
See if a copy of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) is available here.

APA Academic Writer

Academic Writer is the APA's own online resource for APA style. Once you've logged in, you can:

Click the LEARN tab to search the Manual and a collection of tutorials, download sample papers, or see example citations for hundreds of source types.
Click the REFERENCE tab to build and manage your own list of references in APA style.
Click the WRITE tab to write your paper using an APA style template, and invite your teammates to help.

Click here to get started! Academic Writer will be updated for the 7th edition in late summer 2020.

Suggested Websites

We like to use the following websites:

APA Style and Grammar Guidelines: Examples and instructional handouts from the APA (7th edition).
Excelsior Online Writing Lab (OWL): APA: Provides instructions and examples for formatting and citing in APA style (both 6th and 7th edition).

NU Library Handouts

The Library and Writing Center have created the following handouts to help NU students use APA style:

Download a copy of our APA 7th Edition Changes Handout handout here.
Download a copy of our APA Reference Guide (6th edition) handout here.