The preferred style manual for political science is the American Political Science Association's APSA Style Manual for Political Science revised August 2006 predicated on The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 15^th edition. Pay particular attention to the Citations and References sections of the manual.

Using the APSA Format at the Texas A&M Libraries may be of help as may UNT Libraries' APSA Style information.

Also see the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries' APSA page.

There is NOT one format that fits all references.

If your reference is a printed journal article, use the above to find the correct format for a printed journal article.

If your reference is an online journal article, use the above to find the correct format for an online journal article.

If your reference is a book, use the above to find the correct format for a book.

If your reference is a website, use the above to find the correct format for a website.

If your reference is from an online database, use the above (especially the TAMU link) to find the correct format for references from online databases.

In other words, whatever each individual reference is, you need to find the correct format for that particular type of reference.

EXAMPLES OF APSA FORMATS

List all references alphabetically by author. Indent all lines after the first in each entry.

The following examples (in green) and explanations are from the APSA Style Manual. Examples and explanations of additional types of references are in the APSA Style Manual and in any of the other links above.

PRINT ARTICLE CORRECT FORMAT:

Aldrich, John H. 1980. “A Dynamic Model of Presidential Nomination Campaigns.” American Political Science Review 74 (September): 651–69.

The author’s name (Give the full first name instead of an initial.) and date appear first. Reference format for print journal articles includes month, season or issue number (only one of those three, in that order of preference). The issue identification should be enclosed in parentheses and follow directly after volume number. The article takes headline capitalization regardless of how it was handled in the actual journal and is enclosed in quotation marks. Put the issue number in parentheses and allow one space between the colon and the pages. The journal name is italicized. Note correct spacing and punctuation marks.

ELECTRONIC ARTICLE CORRECT FORMAT:

Browning, Tonya. 1997. “Embedded Visuals: Student Design in Web Spaces.” Kairos: A Journal for Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environment 3 (1). http://english.ttu.edu/-kairos/2.1/features/browning/index.html (October 21, 1997).

The author’s name (Give the full first name instead of an initial.) and date appear first. Give as much of the following information as is known: author’s name, document date (year), title of the article capitalized and in quotation marks, title of the journal capitalized and italicized, any additional information provided (month and day), full retrieval path, date of last access in parentheses. Note correct spacing and punctuation marks. If print forms and electronic forms of the material are the same, a reference for the print form is preferred. If electronic and print versions are not the same, the format should be as similar to that of an article or book as possible, with the addition of the full retrieval path (URL, FTP, etc.) and the date of last access.

BOOK CORRECT FORMAT:

Kessel, John H. 1968. The Goldwater Coalition: Republican Strategies in 1964. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

The author’s name (Give the full first name instead of an initial.) and date appear first, followed by the book title capitalized and italicized, place of publication and publisher. If the city is well known, there is no need to identify the state. Use postal acronyms for states (MA, OH). Chapter and page numbers should be in the citations, not the references. Note correct spacing and punctuation marks. The and Inc. may be omitted from publisher names, as may Press (except for University Press), Publisher and Company.

Sorauf, Frank J., and Paul Allen Beck. 1988. Party Politics in America. 6th ed. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.

The surname comes first for the initial author only, and a comma followed by and, separates the names.

OTHER EXAMPLES:

Book - One Author

Gates, Robert M. 1997. From the shadows: the Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. New York: Touchstone.

Book - Two Authors

Mitchell, T. R., & John Larson. 1987. People in organizations: An introduction to organizational behavior 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Book Review

McCartney, Alison Millett. 2004. Review of German Policy-Making and Eastern Enlargement of the EU During the Kohl Era: Managing the Agenda?, by Stephen D. Collins. Debatte:  Review of Contemporary German Affairs 12 (May): 98-99.

Journal Article, One Author

Aldrich, John H. 1980. “Dynamic Model of Presidential Nomination Campaigns.” American Political Science Review 74 (September): 651-69.

Magazine Article

Prufer, Olaf. 1964. “The Hopewell Cult.” Scientific American, December, 13-15.

Journal Article from a Database

Brzoska, Michael. 2003. “From Dumb to Smart? Recent Reforms of U.N. Sanctions.” Global Governance 9 (October-December): 519-535. Academic Search Premier (September 27, 2005).

OR

Korzi, Michael J. 2004. “The President and the Public: Inaugural Addresses in American History.” Congress & the Presidency 31 (Spring): 21-52. http://www.epnet.com/.

Document from a Web Site

King, Gary, Michael Tomz, and Jason Wittenberg. 1998. “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation.” September 7. http://gking.harvard.edu/preprints.shtml (October 22, 1988).

Document from a Web Site, without an author or date

Death Penalty Information Center. 2005. “Crimes Punishable by the Death Penalty.” http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=144&scid=10 (January 29, 2007).

OR

U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. 2004. Colombia: Cocoa Cultivation Survey. June. http://www.unodc.org/pdf/colombia/colombia_coca_survey_2003.pdf (February 2, 2005).

OR

“Annan: World Has Become More Unequal,” CNN.com, <http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/americas/06/12/annan.un/index.html> May 30, 2005.

IN-TEXT CITATIONS

APSA formatting uses in-text citations (sometimes called embedded citations or parenthetical citations). If you are unfamiliar with that style, any of the links given above for formatting your references also contain instructions on and examples of in-text citations.

Whenever you include words, facts or ideas that are not your own, you MUST refer the reader to the original source of that information. APSA in-text citations use the following formatting. 

• A citation requires the last name of the author, year of publication and page or chapter numbers. You MUST use the page or chapter number unless the reference is to the entire work as a whole.
• You MUST use page numbers for all direct quotes.
• Pages and chapters follow the date, preceded by a comma. Use chap or chaps. Omit p. and pp.
• You MUST include all works cited in the reference list at the end of your paper, including those in citations for tables/figures/etc.
• Do NOT separate the author and date with a comma.

• You should format citations of internet sites as similarly to print references as possible.

• Author’s Name in Text:

§  Walker (2000) compared reaction times...

§  According to Jones (1998), “Students often had difficulty using the APSA style.” (199)

• Author’s Name in Reference:

§  In a recent study of reaction times (Walker 2000)...

§  She stated, “Students often had difficulty using the APSA style.” (Jones 1998, 198-99)

§  (Rex 1985, chaps. 6, 8)

§  two or three authors – (Kelly, Colter, and Lane 1980, 149)

§  four or more authors – (Angel et al. 1986, chap. 1)

§  more than one study –  (Confucius 1951; Gurdjieff 1950; Wanisaburo 1926)

§  two or more authors with same last name – (B. Ripley 1988; R. Ripley 1964)

§  two works by same author – (Barbarosa 1973; 1978)

§  two works by same author published in same year – (Frankly 1957a; 1957b)

• Government:

§  court case

(Baker v. Carr 1962)

The US Supreme Court ruled that foreigners currently held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay are entitled to habeas corpus rights. (Rasul v. Bush 2004)

§  government document

Although many schools report incidents of violence, far fewer experience “serious violent incidents.” (US Department of Education 2004, 2)

US International Trade Commission (1978, 12; hereafter USITC)

(USITC 1978, 16)

§  statute

(Budget and Impoundment Act 1987, 16-20)

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