literature review example apa 6th edition

Literature Review

• Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
• Finding "The Literature"
• Organizing/Writing
• Sample Literature Reviews
• FAMU Writing Center

APA 6th Edition

• Purdue OWL Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• The Writer's Handbook APA documentation guide from University of Wisconsin-Madison

Many Social Science disciplines use APA format for citing sources.  The most recent guide is the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association 6th Edition.  See our additional page to format in-text or parenthetical citations.  

The following examples of the most commons types of citations are adapted from the 6th edition (2010) of the APA manual.  For additional examples, consult chapter 7 (pages 193-224) of the APA Manual or browse the APA Style online guide at http://www.apastyle.org/index.aspx  

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• Last Updated: Oct 20, 2022 11:24 AM
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Exercise Science Research Guide

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• Literature Review Example / APA Examples & Tools

Literature Review Examples

• Literature Review Example Paper
• STRATEGIES FOR WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW
• Writing a Literature Review
• APA 6th Template
• Academic Writer APA Manual of Style, writing templates, plagiarism tutorials, and research tools.
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Literature Review: Conducting & Writing

• Sample Literature Reviews
• Steps for Conducting a Lit Review
• Finding "The Literature"
• Organizing/Writing
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Sample Lit Reviews from Communication Arts

Have an exemplary literature review.

• Literature Review Sample 1
• Literature Review Sample 2
• Literature Review Sample 3

Have you written a stellar literature review you care to share for teaching purposes?

Are you an instructor who has received an exemplary literature review and have permission from the student to post?

Please contact Britt McGowan at [email protected] for inclusion in this guide. All disciplines welcome and encouraged.

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• Last Updated: Mar 22, 2024 9:37 AM
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Apa 6th ed. style guide: citing sources in text.

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• Citing Sources in Text
• Formatting an APA Paper
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The table below provides examples of how to cite your sources in text, whether you use the author's name as part of the narrative or you include the citation information in parentheses (called a parenthetical citation ). For more information, refer to sections 6.11-21 of the APA Style Manual , 6th edition.  

Frequently Asked Questions about In-Text Citation: 

How do I cite a direct quote? (6.03)

When quoting, always provide the author, year, and specific page number. If the work doesn't have pages, use a paragraph number instead. If the quotation is less than 40 words, incorporate it into the text and enclose it with double quotation marks. If the quotation appears in mid-sentence, include the author(s) and year the sentence, and include the page number in parentheses after the quote. 

Robbins et al. (2003) suggested that the "therapists in dropout cases may have inadvertently validated parental negativity about the adolescent without adequately responding to the adolescent's needs or concerns" (p. 541), contributing to an overall climate of negativity. 

If the quotation appears at the end of the sentence, include the author(s) and year with the page number in parentheses after the quote. 

Confusing this issue is the overlapping nature of roles in palliative care, whereby "medical needs are met by those in the medical disciplines; nonmedical needs may be addressed by anyone on the team" (Csikai & Chaitin, 2006, p. 112). 

For help citing block quotations, see section 6.03 of the APA Manual.

What if the work doesn't have an author? (6.15)

In text, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title of an article, chapter, or web page and italicize the title of a periodical, book, brochure, or report: 

("Study Finds," 2016) 

the report  Mental Health and College Students  (2017)

How do I cite more than one source in the same parentheses? (6.16)

In some cases, you may want to cite more than one source as evidence (in a literature review, for example). In that case, order the citations in the same order in which they appear in the reference list, separated by semicolons. If citing more than one work by the same author, order them by year of publication, separated by commas. 

(Fischer et al., 2011; Hasan, 2017; Polman et al., 2008)

(Drapalski, 2016, 2018)

How do I cite an indirect (secondary) source? (6.17)

An indirect or secondary source is one that is cited in another person's work. Whenever possible, find and cite the original work. In some cases, however, the original work may be unavailable, and so you must rely on the secondary citation. However, use this type of source sparingly! Consult a librarian for help finding the original source if needed. Provide the secondary source in the reference list, NOT the original source; in text, name the original work and give the citation for the secondary source (listed in your reference list): 

Gunderson's research (as cited in Kuthrapali, 2017) 

How do I cite a personal communication? (6.20)

Cite personal communications such as emails, letters, telephone conversations, personal interviews, etc. in the text only. Since you can't provide retrieval information for these sources, they are not included in the reference list. Gie the initials as well as the surname of the communicator, and provide as exact a date as possible for when the communication occurred: 

N.D. Tyson (personal communication, June 10, 2017)

(M. Gillespie, personal communication, May 15, 2018)

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• Last Updated: Jul 12, 2022 12:05 PM
• URL: https://guides.zsr.wfu.edu/apa6

APA Research Paper Formatting: APA 6th Edition Resources

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• APA 6th Edition Resources

APA (American Psychological Association) style was developed by social and behavioral scientists to standardize scientific writing. It is used for term papers, research reports, empirical studies, literature reviews, theoretical articles, methodological articles, and case studies. (APA website)

Writers in the following disciplines usually use APA style:

• Social sciences- psychology, sociology, economics, criminology

*IMPORTANT NOTE: In October 2019 the American Psychological Association released the latest edition of the APA format - the 7th edition. For Spring term 2021 many instructors will have shifted to using APA 7th edition, while some may still request (or allow) students to choose APA 6th edition. It would be a good idea to verify which edition your professor will be requiring.  

As of January 2021, the APA citation generators in the Gale and Ebsco databases are formatting APA citations in 7th edition instead of 6th edition.

This Library Guide will also be updated throughout Spring 2021, to add additional resources for the 7th edition and links that should remain accessible for the 6th edition. 

ALL RESOURCES ON THIS PAGE ARE FOR APA 6TH EDITION.

FOR 7TH EDITION RESOURCES, SEE THE 7TH EDITION TAB AT THE TOP OF THIS GUIDE.

APA - Publication Manual

(In 2021 most instructors will be using the 7th edition instead.)

APA 6th ed. Template & Paper Sample

• APA 6th ed. Paper Sample (including headings)
• APA Template - 6th Edition You are going to love this! Save this template somewhere safe or e-mail it to yourself. Then resave it immediately with the name of your new document. This will keep your template safe and ready to reuse again for future assignments.

How to Use the APA Template

How Do I Write a Thesis Statement?

• Thesis Statement Help - Owl @ Purdue

Free Citation Creation Tools on the Web

• BibMe BibMe is a free automatic bibliography generator that supports MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian formatting.
• Citation Machine Select APA citation style. Then choose they type of resource to cite.
• CiteFast APA citation generator. Choose APA tab at top (if not already selected). Then select the source to be cited.
• KnightCite APA citation generator. Choose type of resource on the left.

How to Generate Citations Using CiteFast

Parenthetical References or In-text Citations

• APA Parenthetical (In-text) Citations - Purdue OWL
• APA Parenthetical (In-text) Citations - EasyBib

Everything APA - 6th Edition

• APA Style - Official 6th Edition Archive
• Purdue OWL - APA 6th ed.

APA Inclusive Language Guidelines

American Psychological Association's Inclusive Language Guidelines and related information can be found here:  https://www.apa.org/about/apa/equity-diversity-inclusion/language-guidelines

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• Last Updated: Feb 21, 2024 12:13 PM
• URL: https://libguides.polk.edu/apa

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Note:  This page reflects APA 6, which is now out of date. It will remain online until 2021, but will not be updated. The equivalent APA 7 page can be found here .

APA Style uses a unique headings system to separate and classify paper sections. Headings are used to help guide the reader through a document. The levels are organized by levels of subordination, and each section of the paper should start with the highest level of heading. There are 5 heading levels in APA. The 6 th edition of the APA manual revises and simplifies previous heading guidelines. Regardless of the number of levels, always use the headings in order, beginning with level 1. The format of each level is illustrated below:

Thus, if the article has four sections, some of which have subsections and some of which don’t, use headings depending on the level of subordination. Section headings receive level one format. Subsections receive level two format. Subsections of subsections receive level three format. For example:

Method (Level 1)

Site of Study (Level 2)

Participant Population (Level 2)

Teachers. (Level 3)

Students. (Level 3)

Results (Level 1)

Spatial Ability (Level 2)

Test one. (Level 3)

Teachers with experience. (Level 4)

Teachers in training. (Level 4)

Test two. (Level 3)

Kinesthetic Ability (Level 2)

In APA Style, the Introduction section never gets a heading and headings are not indicated by letters or numbers. Levels of headings will depend upon the length and organization of your paper. Regardless, always begin with level one headings and proceed to level two, etc.

APA also allows for seriation in the body text to help authors organize and present key ideas. For lists where a specific order or numbered procedure is necessary, use an Arabic numeral directly proceeded by a period, such as:

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For lists that do not communicate hierarchical order or chronology, use bullets:

• "This version is easier to use."
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Authors may also use seriation for paragraph length text.

For seriation within sentences, authors may use letters:

Authors may also separate points with bullet lists:

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If your bulleted list is part of the sentence and is not preceded by a colon, treat the bullets like a part of the sentence, adhering to standard capitalization and punctuation.

The purpose of tables and figures in documents is to enhance your readers' understanding of the information in the document. Most word processing software available today will allow you to create your own tables and figures, and even the most basic of word processors permit the embedding of images, thus enabling you to include tables and figures in almost any document.