RES 8: APSA Quick Guide

Dynamic PDF: APSA Quick Guide

What is APSA style?

American Political Science Association (APSA style) is the official style for students, professors, scholars, editors, and publishers in the field of political science, and the style pays special attention to government documents. According to the APSA Style Manual, this style, for the most part, mirrors guidelines in the 17th Edition of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS). The style aims to streamline publications in the field of political science, while allowing for specific journals to vary in their style requirements.

Why do citations matter?

Whenever you refer to someone’s words or ideas, whether you are paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting, you have a responsibility to your readers to cite your source. If you do not cite your source’s words or information, you are plagiarizing. Whether intentional or accidental, plagiarism has consequences (see MTSU’s definition of plagiarism). Understanding your citation style can go a long way toward helping you write responsibly.

In-text citations:

The APSA style uses the author-date citation style as detailed in CMS, also known as a parenthetical citation. This citation format appears at the end of the sentence and is set off by parentheses.

If using a summary or paraphrase, the in-text citations require the:

  • Last name of the author(s), editors(s), OR translator(s)
  • Year of publication (d. if there is no date, forthcoming if it is not yet published)
  • There is no comma between the last name and the year; the use of the terms or eds. or trans. are not used in the parenthetical citation.

If using a direct quote, you must include a page or chapter number.

  • The numbers can be cited as inclusive or nonconsecutive
  • There is no comma between the last name and the year, but there is a comma after the year and before the page or chapter number.

Multiple authors:

  • With two or three authors, cite all names each time—use and, not an ampersand (&)
  • With four or more authors, use et al. after the first author’s last name—if there are multiple authors with the same last name, use the first and second authors’ last names.

Additional in-text citation rules:

  • When citing multiple sources together, include them in the same parentheses but separate the sources by a semicolon. They should be in alphabetical order. Example (Gygax 1965; Howl 2015; Wolfe 1923)
  • Multiple sources by the same author, that are published in different years, are cited in one parenthetical citation. Example: (author’s last name year; year) or (author’s last name year, page; year, page)
  • When using the author’s name in the sentence, include the year of publication immediately after the name. Example: “Stark (2008) analyzed data surrounding…”
  • A parenthetical citation for a statute or a court case should include the name of the case or the statute and the year.
  • When citing two authors with the same last name, include the authors’ first initials to distinguish between the two. Example: “B. Baggins (2012) and F. Baggins (2013) believed that…”
  • If the same source is being used in a single paragraph multiple times, only page numbers are needed after the first reference.
  • Abbreviate organizations after the first citation. Example: First use “Ministry of Magic (1978, 12; hereafter MoM) …” Second use “. . . (MoM 1978, 16)