chat loading...
Skip to Main Content

Citing and Avoiding Plagiarism

APSA Style: An Introduction

APSA is the citation style used for political science. APSA citation style was created by the American Political Science Association to serve as the standard style guide for both students and faculty.

APSA Style Resources

Examples of APSA Citations

For examples not found in this list, see the print version of the Style Manual for Political Science, available for use at the Circulation Desk in your MGA Library.
Source Type Reference List In-text or Parenthetical Citation
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.
(Gates 1997, 102)
Book: 2 - 3 authors Jacobson, Gary C., and Jamie L. Carson. 2016. The Politics of Congressional Elections, 9th edition. Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield. (Jacobson and Carson 2016)
Book: 4 or more authors Janda, Kenneth, Jeffrey M. Berry, Jerry Goldman, Deborah J. Schildkraut, and Paul Manna. 2018. The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in Global Politics, 14th edition. Boston: Cengage.  (Janda et al. 2018)
Book: Editor, Translator, or Compiler (instead of author) Manley, William A. and Sigrid Roteutscher, eds. 2007. Social Capital and Associations in European Democracies: A Comparative Analysis. New York: Routledge. (Manley and Roteutscher 2007)
Book Chapter Halchin, L. Elaine. 2001. “And This Parent Went to Market: Education as Public Versus Private Good.” In School Choice in the Real World, eds. Robert Maranto, Scott Milliman, Frederick Hess and April Gresham, 39–57. Boulder, CO: Westview. (Halchin 2001, 44)
Journal Article Aldrich, John H. 1980. “A Dynamic Model of Presidential Nomination Campaigns.” American Political Science Review 74 (3): 651–69. (Aldrich 1980, 658)

 

Source Type Reference List In-Text or Parenthetical Citation
Journal Article from a Database

Brzoska, Michael. 2015. “International Sanctions Before and Beyond UN Sanctions.” International Affairs 91 (6): 1339–49. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.12449.

(Brzoska 2015)
Page on a Website Pew Research Center. 2019. "Little Public Support for Reductions in Federal Spending." Pew Research Center: U.S. Politics and Policy, April 11. https://www.people-press.org/2019/04/11/little-public-support-for-reductions-in-federal-spending/ (Pew Research Center 2019)
Article from an Online Newspaper Erlanger, Steven. 2015. "NATO Nations No Longer Question Need for Alliance." The New York Times, December 15. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/16/world/europe/nato-nations-no-longer-question-need-for-alliance.html?searchResultPosition=80 (Erlanger 2015)

 

Source Type Reference List In-text or Parenthetical Citation
Government Publication U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of Census. 2006. Statistical Abstract of the United States. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce.

1st use: (U.S. Department of Commerce 2006; hereafter DoC)

Subsequent uses: (DoC 2006)

Hearing Facebook, Social Media Privacy, and the Use and Abuse of Data: Joint Hearing Before the S. Comm. on the Judiciary and the S. Comm. on Commerce, Science and Transportation, 115th Cong. (2018) (statement of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook). (Facebook, Social Media Privacy, and the Use and Abuse of Data 2018)
Legal Case or Court Decision Eaton v. IBM Corp., 925 F. Supp. 487 (S.D. Tex. 1996). (Eaton v. IBM Corp. 1996)
Law or Statute Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107–296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2012). (Homeland Security Act 2002)
Treaty Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, U.S.-U.K.-U.S.S.R., Aug. 5, 1963, 14 U.S.T. 1313. (Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water 1963)
Technical Report Gottfredson. L.S. 1980. How Valid Are Occupational Reinforcer Pattern Scores? Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University. ERIC, ED 182 465. (Gottfredson 1980)

 

Contact a Campus:

478-471-2709 for the Macon campus library | 478-934-3179 for the Roberts Memorial Library at the Cochran campus | 478-275-6772 for the Dublin campus library

478-374-6833 for the Eastman campus library | 478-929-6804 for the Warner Robins campus library | On the Go? Text-A-Librarian: 478-285-4898

Middle Georgia State University Library

Book an Appointment With a Librarian