The APA (America Psychological Association) Formatting Style

APA formatting
(Author’s name)
(Institutional Affiliation)
Referencing format
The APA (America Psychological Association) formatting style is often used in social science research papers. There are a number of rules that should be followed when formatting the reference list in APA style. First, the references should be double spaced just like the rest of the essay and should have the title ‘reference’ at the center of the page. In each of the sources listed in the reference page, the second and subsequent line should be indented (hanging indentation) (Campbell, 2005). Secondly, author’s last name should come first in each of the sources. Thirdly, in case of multiple sources, the references should be arranged in an alphabetical order. Fourthly, the keywords in the article title should be capitalized. Finally, books and journal sources that have longer work should have their titles italicized while those with shorter work should not be underlined or italicized (Campbell, 2005).
There are several common mistakes that students make when referencing using the APA style. One of the most common mistake is in text citation where most students use the first name instead of the surname of the author. For instance, if the author’s name is John Doe and the year of publication is 2011 the correct in text citation should be Doe, 2011 instead of Alfred, 2011. Others fail to indent the second and subsequent line of each source in the reference list. The indentation should be approximately 1.5 inches (Campbell, 2005). Failure to in text all the sources in the reference list is also a common violation. All the sources should be cited accordingly and all the sources cited should be in the reference list.
Examples
Hanging indentation
Correct- Ekeland, A. G., Bowes, A., & Flottorp, S. (2010). Effectiveness of telemedicine: a systematic - review of reviews. International journal of medical informatics, 79(11), 736-771.
Incorrect -Ekeland, A. G., Bowes, A., & Flottorp, S. (2010). Effectiveness of telemedicine: a systematic review...