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APA stands for American Psychological Association and is a set of rules for formatting documents and citing research sources. There are different style guides for different fields and organizations, and APA is what we use at Sophia.
APA style is standardized, and following this style will make your work look professional, keep your ideas organized, and give credit to the original authors of any sources you use in your work.
For your Touchstone, you may need to create a document that follows the APA style. Take a look at how this sample document is set up:
In this section, we'll look at a sample reference page and some examples of citations for different types of sources.
In your assignment, you may use evidence or quotations from sources to support your ideas. If so, APA formatting requires a reference page at the end of your document to list the sources you use in your work. The reference page provides bibliographic information for these sources, which are the identifying details for a specific source, including elements such as the author's name, title of the work, and publication date.
Each source that you mention in your assignment should be listed on the reference page so that your readers can easily find that information. You don’t need to include any sources that you consulted but did not use directly.
Take a look at how this sample reference page is set up:
Let's look at a sample reference page for a research essay to understand how it should be constructed. We will then look at each entry separately to understand what bibliographic information is included for different types of sources:
Take a look at a citation of an online newspaper article with the elements you will need to include.
Take a look at a citation of a scholarly journal with the elements you will need to include:
Here is a citation of a book:
Review a citation of a website:
Take a look at a citation of an anthology, or collection of works:
In this section, we'll look at some options for in-text citations and examples for different types of sources.
An in-text citation is a brief reference within the text of your essay or assignment that indicates the source of information or ideas you have used. It requires less bibliographic information than a reference page entry. According to APA guidelines, in-text citations must include the following bibliographic data:
The original source material includes the ideas or words you are using from an outside source, either through direct quotation, summary, or paraphrase. A signal, also known as signal phrase, is how you introduce the quote, paraphrase, or summary. It helps your writing flow by giving some context for the reader. There are many different ways to signal to your reader that you are shifting from your words to another source, as you'll see in the examples below. Parenthetical references include any remaining bibliographic information that was not included in the signal.
Let’s look at some different ways to create in-text citations. In each example, look for the original source material, the signal, and the parenthetical reference.
Chang (2008) emphasized that “engaging in weight-bearing exercise consistently is one of the single best things women can do to maintain good health” (p. 49).
Historian Jeanine Laplante (1997) argues that there are precious few examples of a people who had the ability to oppress another people, and did not (p. 3).
Ryan Onizu (2013) is less certain: “The only sure thing about NASA's future is that the legacy it has already achieved will outlast the scope of congressional budget hearings” (p. 24).
Notice in these examples that the signal phrase introduces the author before the quotation, so the source's publication year follows the author's name in parentheses. After the quotation or paraphrase, there is another parenthetical reference with the page where the content appears.
As doctors continue to point out, “It is never too late to quit smoking. The health risks associated with this habit begin to decrease soon after a smoker quits” (Garrison & Gould, 2010, p. 101).
The quickest way to Rome, it seemed, was to go around: “Finding the Mediterranean blockaded, Hannibal was forced to bring his army through the Iberian Peninsula” (Martinez et.al., 1978, p. 102).
In these examples there is a signal phrase, a quotation or paraphrase, and then the parenthetical reference with the authors, year, and page where the content appears. Notice the punctuation. The quotation marks come immediately after the quoted material, followed by the parenthetical reference and a period. Notice also the use of et. al., which is a Latin abbreviation for "and others," and is used when a work has three or more authors.
As researchers have explained, “Incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into one’s diet can be a challenge for residents of areas where there are few or no easily accessible supermarkets” (Smith & Jones, 2006, para. 4).
In this example, there is a signal phrase, a quotation, and then the parenthetical reference with the authors, year, and paragraph number where the content appears. Notice the punctuation.
Scientists have suggested that electromagnetic radiation from cellular telephones may pose a risk for developing certain cancers (“Cell Phones and Cancer,” n.d.).
In this example, there is a signal phrase, a summary, and then the parenthetical reference with the article title, and n.d., which stands for no date.
Did you know that you can use Sophia tutorials as content sources too? If you want or need to use a tutorial as a Touchstone source, it's easy to cite them.
Using APA formatting, the parenthetical reference for the in-text citation will look like this:
The entry on your reference page will look like this:
- (Tutorial Title, n.d.)
- (Romanesque Architecture, n.d.)
- Sophia Learning, L.L.C. (year). Tutorial Title. In Course Name. Sophia Learning. URL.
- Sophia Learning, L.L.C. (2025). Romanesque Architecture. In Art History I.
- Sophia Learning. https://app.sophia.org/tutorials/romanesque-architecture-example
Source: THIS TUTORIAL WAS AUTHORED BY SOPHIA LEARNING. PLEASE SEE OUR TERMS OF USE.
REFERENCES
American Psychological Association. (2024). APA Style. Retrieved from www.apastyle.apa.org/
