Radiographic Procedures 2 Collaborative Learning Project Guide

What is APA?

When most people think of APA, they think of citations and research.

That is partially accurate because APA style does provide a format for including and giving credit for research in our writing.

But APA is actually much more than just citations…

APA stands for American Psychological Association, which is the organization that creates and maintains the APA style. 

APA style is a broad but specific set of guidelines for clear and precise writing in various professional fields.

In the video below, Keri from the Writing Center gives a 5-minute overview of APA style.

Things to understand about APA style:

APA style helps writers and readers by providing guidelines for uniformity, consistency, and clear, concise, and organized writing:

• Formatting - How we set up technical aspects of the paper/the "look" of the paper
• Organization - Ensures that the order of ideas presented are predictable and consistent
• Language - Provides guides and suggestions to ensure the language we use in our writing is respectful, bias-free, and "academic"
• Citation of Research - Allows us to easily and briefly give credit to our sources within our writing
• References - Provides a uniform structure to give readers all of the information they need to know exactly where our comformation came from (and find it themselves, if they choose).

The additional content and videos on this page go into greater depth on details such as creating the References Page, how to cite various sources, inserting page numbers and headings, and more.

Your Reference page gives a complete list of the sources used (and cited!) in your paper. Each source has its own entry and will correspond with the in-text citations used in your paper. 

In the video below, Keri from the Writing Center explains some of the general formatting guidelines for a References page in APA style.

Some things to remember about formatting your References page:

• The References page should appear on the next NEW page following the conclusion of your essay
• Write the word References centered and bolded at the top of the page.
• Utilize a hanging indent for each entry (first line of each entry will be flush against the left margin, and subsequent lines are indented)
• Double space evenly throughout the page (with no extra spaces in between entries)
• Alphabetize entries by the first element in each entry

Example APA References List:

Practice creating APA References entries:

Looking for more information?

Check out the example reference entries elsewhere on this guide or visit the recommend sites linked below. 

In the video below, Keri from the Writing Center explains how to create an APA-style Reference entry for a journal article found in a database.

Reference entries for database sources (journal articles) will include:

1. Author Last Name, First Initial.
2. (Date).
3. Title of article.
4. Title of Journal,
5. Volume (Issue Number),
6. Page Numbers.
7. Web Address or DOI…Web addresses are no longer required for APA 7 but some instructors prefer you still include this. 

Example journal article source (with elements color-coded):

Grunwald, A. T. D., Roy, S., Alves-Pinto, A., & Lampe, R. (2021). Assessment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis from body scanner image by finite element simulations. PLoS ONE, 16(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243736

Example journal article source (final, as it would appear on a Reference page):

Example in-text citation for this source (color-coded):

(Grunwald et al., 2021)

In the video below, Keri from the Writing Center explains how to create an APA-style Reference entry for a website with an author.

Reference entries for a website with an author will include:

1. Author Last Name, First Initial.
2. (Date).
3. Title of page
4. Site Name.
5. URL

Example website source (with elements color-coded):

Lustosa, L. (2023). Scoliosis. Radiopaedia. https://radiopaedia.org/articles/scoliosis

Example website source (final, as it would appear on a Reference page):

Example in-text citation for this source (color-coded):

(Lustosa, 2023)

In the video below, Keri from the Writing Center explains how to create an APA-style Reference entry for a website without an author listed.

Reference entries for a website without an author listed will include:

1. Organizational Author.
2. (Date).
3. Title of page.
4. Container or Site Name (if different than the organizational author, if it's the same--skip info here!)
5. URL

Example website source (with elements color-coded):

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases. (2019). Scoliosis in children and teens. National Institute of Health. https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/scoliosis/

Example website source (final, as it would appear on a Reference page):

Example in-text citation for this source (color-coded):

(National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Skin Diseases, 2019)

In the video below, Keri from the Writing Center explains how to create an APA-style Reference entry for a textbook or other book source.

Reference entries for book sources (like textbooks) will include:

1. Author Last Name, First Initial.
2. (Date).
3. Title of book (ed.).
4. Publisher.

Example textbook source (with elements color-coded):

Frey, K.B. (2018). Surgical technology for the surgical technologist (5th ed.). Cengage.

Example textbook source (final, as it would appear on a Reference page):

Example in-text citation for this source (color-coded):

(Frey. 2018)

For more information on citing sources using APA, you can reach out to Keri or the Writing Center tutors or you can also refer to our guide linked below.

Ellen and Keri are both happy to answer your questions about APA style citations and writing. Use the profile boxes in this guide to send us your question or connect with us.

We also work with a great team of writing tutors who are really comfortable with APA. They staff the Writing Center (located in the Learning Commons) as well as a drop-in Zoom Room (use the link below--no appointment necessary), so you can get your questions answered!