About APA Style
Using this guide
This guide provides basic information about how to format, cite, and build a reference using the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Publication Manual.
For examples of how to reference specific types of sources, search our collection of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Writing help
Students from the School of Community Studies and the School of Health and Wellness can book an online appointment with their educational assistant.
All other students can email the Academic Success Centre to have a writing specialist give feedback on a written assignment.
What is APA Style?
American Psychological Association (APA) Style is a set of rules for how to:
- format your assignments
- write in an academic setting
- credit the sources you use.
Why give credit?
In college assignments, you are expected to support your assignments with reliable sources of evidence. Evidence can come from many different types of sources: books, book chapters, journal articles, reliable webpages, conference proceedings, reports, news articles, etc.
Any time you use information from another source, you are required to give credit. Giving credit allows you to:
- Avoid plagiarism by acknowledging and valuing the original ideas of others
- Support your statements with evidence
- Connect your reader with the sources you used
Where do I give credit?
When you use information from a source, you need to give credit in two places:
All of the sources you use to support your assignment must have both a citation and a reference.