APA Style Guide: Home

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW TO VIEW EXAMPLES OF CITATIONS FOR...

Journal Articles
Books (includes Chapter in an Edited Book and Entry in a Reference Work)
Audiovisual Media
Websites and Webpages (Including Blog Posts)
PowerPoint Slides or Lecture Notes
Codes of Ethics
Tests, Scales, and Inventories
Artwork & Images

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Journal Articles

GENERAL RULE:

AUTHOR	DATE	TITLE	JOURNAL INFORMATION	DOI or URL
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B.  Name of Group. Author, C. C.  [Username].  Username.	(2020).  (2020, January). (2020, February 16).	Title of article.	Title of Periodical, 34(2), 5-14. Title of Periodical, 2(1-2), Article 12. Title of Periodical.	https://doi.org/xxxx https://xxxxx

EXAMPLE:

Devine, S. (2023). Therapeutic impact of public art exhibits during COVID-19. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 40(1). 50-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2022.2131359   Parenthetical citation: (Devine, 2023) Narrative citation: Devine (2023) explores the impact of...

NOTES ON FORMATTING:

Case

• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article's title (even if that word is an article or preposition), the first letter of the first word of the article's subtitle, and the first letter of any proper nouns. The rest of the title should be lowercase.
• Use title case for the journal's title (capitalize the first letter of all words except for short prepositions and articles).

Punctuation

• A period should follow each element in the citation (author, date, title, journal info...).
• No period should follow the DOI or URL element.
• Italicize the title of the journal and the volume number (break from italics with the first parenthesis enclosing the issue number).
   

WHAT IS A DOI, AND WHERE DO YOU FIND IT?

DOI stands for digital object identifier. It is a unique ID number ideally given to all digitized journal articles and ebooks. The DOI is listed along with the article citation in many databases. DOI numbers are also sometimes found on the first page of an article PDF. Alternately, DOI numbers can be found by searching the Crossref website http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/.
  

WHAT IF YOU CAN'T FIND A DOI?

If no DOI is available for an article that is widely available, such as an article found in an academic research database or in a print journal, end the citation with the page numbers. If the article does not have a DOI but is freely available on a website, include the URL for the work.
 

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Books

GENERAL RULE: 

AUTHOR or EDITOR	DATE	TITLE	PUBLISHER INFORMATION	DOI or URL
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. Name of Group Editor, E. E. (Ed.) Editor, E. E., & Editor, F. F. (Eds.).	(2020).	Title of book. Title of book (2nd ed., Vol. 4).   Title of book [Audiobook].   Title of book (E. E. Editor, Ed.). Title of book (T. Translator, Trans.; N. Narrator, Narr.).	Publisher Name. First Publisher Name; Second Publisher Name.	https://doi.org/xxxx https://xxxxx

EXAMPLES:

Capuzzi, D. & Stauffer, M. D. (2016). Human growth and development across the lifespan: Applications for counselors. Wiley.   Parenthetical citation: (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016); (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022)

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787   Narrative citation: As noted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2022)...

NOTES ON FORMATTING:

Case

• Follow the same case rules for book titles as you do for article titles (only leading letters of first words of title, first words of subtitles, and proper nouns should be capitalized).

Punctuation

• Book titles should be italicized.

Author Element Abbreviations

• Abbreviations for group authors are not required in the APA style but may be used if the abbreviation is common or the group author is mentioned multiple times.
• The first time you name the American Psychiatric Association in your paper, spell the whole name out.
• Afterwards, you can use the abbreviation "APA." 

First in-text citation: (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022). Subsequent in-text citations: (APA, 2022).

 

Chapter in an Edited Book

GENERAL RULE: 

CHAPTER AUTHOR	DATE	CHAPTER TITLE	EDITED BOOK INFORMATION	DOI or URL
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. Name of Group	(2020).	Title of chapter.	In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. 3-13). Publisher Name. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 212-255). Publisher Name.	https://doi.org/xxxx https://xxxxx

EXAMPLE:

Balsam, K. F., Martell, C. R., Jones, K. P., & Safren, S. A (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G. Y. lwamasa & P. A Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287-314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/ 10.1037 /0000119-012   Parenthetical citation: (Balsam et al., 2019) Narrative citation: Balsam et al. (2019)

 

Entry in a Reference Work

EXAMPLE:

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Neurodevelopmental disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).

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Audiovisual Media

MEDIA TYPE	INCLUDE AS THE AUTHOR
Film	Director
TV series	Executive producer(s)
TV series episode	Writer and director of episode
Podcast	Host or executive producer
Podcast episode	Host of episode
Webinar	Instructor
Classical music album or song	Composer
Modern music album or song	Recording artist
Artwork	Artist
Online streaming video	Person or group who uploaded the video
Photograph	Photographer

GENERAL RULE: 

AUTHOR	DATE	TITLE	PUBLISHER	URL
Director, D. D. (Director). Producer, P. P. (Executive Producer). Host, H. H. (Host). Artist, A. A. Uploader, U. U.	(2020).	Title of work [Description].	Production Company. Label. Museum Name, Museum Location. Department Name, University Name.	https://xxxxx

EXAMPLES:

Tomlinson, K. & Borges, P. (Directors). (2017). Crazywise: Rethinking madness: Psychosis and spiritual awakening [Film]. Green Planet Films. https://www.kanopy.com/en/swc/video/2151020   Parenthetical citation: (Tomlinson & Borges, 2017)

Xo Rad Magical. (2022, February 25). Why do schizophrenic people draw eyes so much? [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube,com/watch?v=MJSnHqwVCYM   Narrative citation: Content creator Xo Rad Magical (2022) explains...

 

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Websites and Webpages

GENERAL RULE: 

AUTHOR	DATE	TITLE	WEBSITE NAME	URL
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. Name of Group	(2020). (2019, August). 2020, September 28). (n.d.).	Title of work.	Site Name.	https://xxxxx

EXAMPLES:

Webpage with individual author(s)

Bongiovanni, A. (n.d.). A quick and easy guide to they/them pronouns. Archie Bongiovanni. https://www.archiebongiovanni.com/they-them   Narrative citation: Bongiovanni (n.d.) offers resources on...

Webpage with a group author

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018, January 23). People at high risk of developing flu-related complications. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/high_risk.html   Parenthetical citation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).

 

Blog Posts

EXAMPLE:

Eleazer (2019, July 8). On these shoulders, I stand. Southwestern College. https://www.swc.edu/art-therapy-swc/on-these-shoulders-i-stand/

 

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PowerPoint Slides or Lecture Notes

EXAMPLES:

Albright Knash, J. (2023, February 27). [Lecture notes on group art therapy with youth]. Department of Art Therapy/Counseling. Southwestern College. swc.populiweb.com   Parenthetical citation: (Albright Knash, 2023).

Housand, B. (2016). Game on! Integrating games and simulations in the classroom [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare. http://www.slideshare.net/brianhousand/gameon-iagc-2016   Narrative citation: Housand (2016) demonstrated the effect of...

NOTE ON SOURCE ELEMENT:

If the slides come from a classroom website, learning management system ( e.g., Populi), or company intranet and you are writing for an audience with access to that resource, provide the name of the site and its URL (use the login page URL for sites requiring login; see Section 8.8 of APA Manual).
 

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Codes of Ethics

EXAMPLES:

American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center   Narrative citation: American Counseling Association (2014) states in its Code of Ethics...

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx   Parenthetical citation: (American Psychological Association, 2017)

 

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Tests, Scales, and Inventories

GENERAL RULE: 

AUTHOR	DATE	TITLE	DATABASE	URL
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. Group Author	(2020).	Title of the test. Title of the Test Database Record [Database record].	Test Database Name.	https://xxxxx

EXAMPLES:

Manual for a test, scale, or inventory

Tellegen, A., & Ben-Porath, Y. S. (2011). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality lnventory-2 Restructured Form (MMP/-2-RF): Technical manual. Pearson.   Parenthetical citation: (Tellegen & Ben-Porath, 2011) Narrative citation: Tellegen and Ben-Porath (2011)

Test, scale, or inventory itself

Project Implicit. (n.d.). Gender-Science IAT. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html   Parenthetical citation: (Project Implicit, n.d.) Narrative citation: Project Implicit (n.d.)

NOTE:

Cite the test, scale, or inventory itself only if a manual or other supporting literature is not available to cite; if a manual is available for a test, cite the manual, not the test (see Example 81 in APA Manual).

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Artwork & Images

 

GENERAL RULE: 

AUTHOR	DATE	TITLE	PUBLISHER	URL
Artist, A. A.	(2020).	Title of work [Description].	Museum Name, Museum Location. Website	https://xxxxx

EXAMPLES:

ARTWORK IN A MUSEUM or ON A MUSEUM WEBSITE

Delacroix, E. (1826-1827). Faust attempts to seduce Marguerite [Lithograph]. The Louvre, Paris, France.   Parenthetical citation: (Delacroix, 1826-1827)

Wood, G. (1930). American gothic [Painting]. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States. https://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/6565   Parenthetical citation: (Wood, 1930)

NOTES:

• Use this format to cite all types of museum artwork, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, drawings, and installations; always include a description of the medium or format in square brackets after the title.
• For untitled art, include a description in square brackets in place of a title.

 

CLIP ART OR STOCK IMAGE

GDJ. (2018). Neural network deep learning prismatic [Clip art]. Openclipart. https:// openclipart.org/ detail/309343/neural-network-deep-learning-prismatic   Parenthetical citation: (GDJ, 2018)

NOTE:

• Use this format to cite (but not reproduce) most clip art or stock images. To reproduce clip art or stock images, permission and/or a copyright attribution may be necessary in addition to the reference. No citation, permission, or copy-right attribution is necessary for clip art from programs like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.

 

PHOTOGRAPH

McCurry, S. (1985). Afghan girl [Photograph]. National Geographic. https://www. nationalgeographic.com/magazine/national-geographic-magazine-50-yearsof-covers/#/ngm-1985-jun-714.jpg   Parenthetical citation: (McCurry, 1985)

Rinaldi, J. (2016). [Photograph series of a boy who finds his footing after abuse by those he trusted]. The Pulitzer Prizes. https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/jessica-rinaldi   Parenthetical citation: (Rinaldi, 2016)

NOTES:

• Use this format to cite (but not reproduce) photographs or other artwork not connected to a museum. To reproduce a photograph, permission and/or a copyright attribution may be necessary in addition to the reference (see Section 12.15).
• The source is the name of the site from which the photograph was retrieved.
• For an untitled photograph, include a description in square brackets in place of a title.

REFERENCE PAGE
 

BASICS

• The References page should be a separate page
• Center the word References in bold at the top of the page
• List the citations for all the sources that you cited within the body of your research paper (the only exception being a personal communication, which does not need a reference page entry)
• Arrange the citations in alphabetical order by author's last name
• Use double-spacing for the whole list
• Use a hanging indent for each citation (all but the first line of each citation should be indented) 

 

WHEN A CITATION LISTS MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR:

Alphabetize by the name of the first author listed.
 

IF THE CITATION DOESN'T LIST AN AUTHOR:

Move the title of the article, book, or other source before the date and alphabetize by the first word in the title. Ignore words like 'a', 'an', or 'the'.

EXAMPLE:

Social learning. (2002, September 20). The Washington Post, p. A1.

 

IF MULTIPLE CITATIONS HAVE THE SAME AUTHOR:

Arrange the entries by year of publication with the earliest first.

EXAMPLE:

Smith, G. (2010). Plants of the early... Smith, G. (2012). Habitat loss in the African...

 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES

An annotated bibliography is a method of collecting and/or presenting research, wherein citations for resources (formatted according to APA standards) are presented and then each entry is followed by a short description of the resource, known as an annotation. The content of the annotation varies, based on factors like the focus of the research and the assigning instructor's preferences. For guidelines on the content of annotations, be sure to consult your instructor. Formatting of annotated bibliographies is standardized by APA 7th edition guidelines. Here's a summary of those guidelines:

An annotated bibliography follows the same basic format as a reference page (hanging indents for citations, double-spaced type, no extra spaces between entries...).

Entries should be presented in alphabetical order by author's last name.

Each annotation should be a new paragraph just below it's reference entry

Indent the entire annotation 0.5 inches from the left margin (same as a block quotation)

If the annotation includes multiple paragraphs, indent the first line of the second and any subsequent paragraphs an additional 0.5 inches.

In general, it is not necessary to cite the work being annotated in the annotations, because the origin of the information is clear through context. However, do include in-text citations if you refer to multiple works within an annotation to clarify the source.

Click the Annotated Bibliography - APA 7th Edition sample, on the right side of the screen, to access a visual guide and MS Word template for creating your own annotated bibliography.

 

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW FOR IN-TEXT CITATION EXAMPLES FOR...

General Guidelines
Direct Quotes
Multiple Authors and Sources
Secondary Sources
Personal Communication
Citations with Missing Information
 

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Any time you include in your writing a direct quote, paraphrase, statistic, or idea derived from another resource, you must credit the authors/creators of the resource. In APA style, in-text citations use an author-date citation which directs readers to a full reference list entry. Along with giving credit to the originator of an idea, this system enables readers to locate the corresponding entry in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper.

 

General Guidelines

• Both paraphrases and quotations require citations.
• There are two types of in-text citations: narrative and parenthetical, both are acceptable.

EXAMPLES:

Narrative: Ross and Myers (2009) argue that traffic stops deserve more critical attention because of the wide range of privacy rights issues and officer safety issues they can pose. Parenthetical: Issues surrounding traffic stops require careful Fourth Amendment analysis (Ross & Myers, 2009).

• Be sure to provide citations for any facts, figures, or statistics that you include in your writing.

EXAMPLE:

In 2015 roughly 45 percent of Americans consumed most of their news via social media; by 2020 that number had ballooned to over 70 percent (Hoffstead and Vincetti, 2023).

 

Direct Quotes

• If you use a direct quote from the source include a page number in the parentheses at the end of your sentence.

EXAMPLE:

Ross and Myers posit that “the touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness” and that it has been considered reasonable for police to remove any or all occupants from a vehicle during a traffic stop at their discretion (2009, p. 470).

• Each work cited must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in the text.
• The leading author name in an in-text citation must be the same as the leading element of that resource's reference page entry.

EXAMPLE:​​​

In-Text:  (Stead & Davis, 2016) Reference Page Entry: Stead, BG. B. & Davis, B. L. (2016). Culture and context in constructionist approaches to career counseling. In Busacca, L. & Rehfuss, M., (Eds.), Postmodern career counseling: Handbook of culture, context, and cases (pp. 65-75). American Counseling Association.

 

Multiple Authors and Sources

• Long strings of citations may be disruptive to the flow of your writing and difficult for readers to understand (especially those using assistive technology like a screen reader). To avoid such disruption, include only citations needed to support your immediate point.
• When citing a text with two authors, include both authors' last names (connected by an ampersand) in the citation.

EXAMPLES:

Narrative: Kyle and Isley (2022) explore this concept.... Parenthetical: (Kyle & Isley, 2022).

• When citing a work with three or more authors, you need only to name the first author (as listed on the reosurce), followed by the abbreviation "et al.", followed by the date.

EXAMPLES:

Narrative: The idea is elaborated upon by Wayne, et al. (2021)... Parenthetical: (Wayne, et al., 2021)

• When multiple studies support the point you are making, you may include a citation for each of them inside the same set of parentheses. Within the parentheses, alphabetize the citations, so that they are listed in the same order in which they're listed on your references page, and separate them with semicolons.

EXAMPLE:

Despite evidence of cross-cultural efficacy generated by rigorous qualitative measures, there is no consensus among practitioners on clinical application of poetry therapy (Agee, 2017; Finger & Kane, 2022; Neidhart & Smith, 2019; Urai, et al., 2021).

 

Secondary Sources

• Avoid citing secondary sources when possible. The library can assist in locating a primary source referenced or quoted in a resource you are reviewing. However, when you must cite a secondary source follow the format: author of primary source, date of primary source, as cited in author of secondary source, date of secondary source. Then on your references page, include a citation for the secondary source only.

EXAMPLE:

In-Text:  (Zunker, 1999, as cited in Stead & Davis, 2016) Reference Page Entry: Stead, BG. B. & Davis, B. L. (2016). Culture and context in constructionist approaches to career counseling. In Busacca, L. & Rehfuss, M., (Eds.), Postmodern career counseling: Handbook of culture, context, and cases (pp. 65-75). American Counseling Association.

 

Personal Communication

• Personal communications should be cited in your text. However, since they are not published works which are retrievable by your reader, they do no need to be cited on the references page.

EXAMPLE:

Narrative: J. Albright Knash (personal communication, September 23, 2020) Parenthetical:  (J. Albright Knash, personal communication, September 23, 2020)

 

Citations with Missing Information

• When no author's name (group author or individual author) is attached to a resource, substitute the author element in the citation with the title of the resource.

EXAMPLE:

In-Text (Book):  (Information Literacy in Undergraduate Institutions, 2016) In-Text (Article):  ("The Absence of Evidence," 2021) Reference Page Entry: The absence of evidence (2016). Journal of Culture and Scientific Inquiry, 26(3). 44-51. https://doi.org.10.1080/75868696869968.2016.26785.

• When no date is attached to a resource, replace the year in the date element with the abbreviation n.d.

EXAMPLE:

Narrative: Kyle (n.d.) further examines the implications of such methods... Parenthetical: (Kyle, n.d.)

FORMATTING YOUR PAPER

TITLE PAGE
MARGINS
FONT
LINE SPACING
PARAGRAPH ALIGNMENT/INDENTATION
PAGE NUMBERING
HEADINGS
FIGURES/IMAGES
EXAMPLE PAPER

TITLE PAGE
The required elements for your title page are (in order):

• Paper's title (title case and in bold font)
• Your name (place an extra space between this element and the title above it)
• Department, name of institution (e.g. Art Therapy/Counseling, Southwestern College)
• Course number: course name
• Instructor's name
• Paper's due date

MARGINS
Use 1-inch margins on all sides of the page (top, bottom, left, and right).

FONT
APA does not dictate what font you use but offers these examples as legible fonts and appropriate sizes: 11-point Calibri, 12-point Times New Roman, and 11-point Georgia. Use the same font throughout all elements of your paper.

LINE SPACING
Use double-spacing for all elements of your paper (including references and block quotations). Do not add extra spaces between paragraphs or entries in your references list. Do not add extra spaces after headings or block quotations.

PARAGRAPH ALIGNMENT AND INDENTATION
Align all paragraphs to the left margin, leaving the right margin ragged. Indent the first line of each paragraph to 0.5 inches from the left margin (one stroke of the tab key).

PAGE NUMBERING
Place a page number in the top right corner of each page, beginning with your title page as page 1. According to APA 7th edition, a running head is not required for student papers.

HEADINGS
Throughout the body of your paper, use headings to organize your content and designate specific sections and shifts in focus (e.g. A Review of the Literature, Methodology, etc.). APA 7th edition provides guidelines for formatting five levels of headings. To see examples of level 1 and level 2 headings, as they would appear in a paper, see the sample student paper below.

 

FIGURES / IMAGES
In APA formatting the term figures refers to images you include in your paper. These images include drawings, photographs, line graphs, bar graphs, charts (e.g., flowcharts, pie charts), maps, plots (e.g., scatterplots), infographics, and other illustrations. Figures may be inserted into the body of your paper or presented after your reference page, with each figure on its own separate page.

Rules for Formatting Figures (see the example below for illustration of these rules):

• NUMBER: Start by placing the word Figure followed by an identifying number, flush with the left margin of the page. The figure number should be in bold font (e.g., Figure 1). Number figures in the order in which they are mentioned in your paper.
• TITLE: In addition to a number, each figure should have a brief, descriptive title. The figure title should be placed one double-spaced line below the figure number and flush with the left margin. Figure titles should be italicized and follow title case capitalization.
• IMAGE: The actual image should be place one double-spaced line below the figure title. If you are including text in the image of the figure (e.g., axis labels), use a sans serif font between and 8 and 14 points.
• LEGEND: If your image is a graph or chart, you might include a figure legend or key, which explains any symbols used in the figure image. A legend or key should be positioned within the borders of the figure. Capitalize words in the legend or key in title case.
• NOTE: Three types of notes (general, specific, and probability) can appear below the figure to describe contents of the figure that cannot be understood from the figure title, image, and/or legend alone (e.g., definitions of abbreviations, copyright attribution, explanations of asterisks use to indicate p values). Include figure notes only as needed.

Example Figure:

NOTE: An embedded figure may take up an entire page; if the figure is short, however, text may appear on the same page as the figure. In that case, place the figure at either the top or bottom of the page rather than in the middle. Also add one blank double-spaced line between the figure and any text to improve the visual presentation.

 

EXAMPLE PAPER
This annotated sample student paper provided by the American Psychological Association (pp. 61-67 in the 7th edition manual) is a great visual reference for seeing these guidelines put to use and for addressing your formatting questions.

BIAS-FREE LANGUAGE GUIDELINES

General Guidelines for Reducing Bias
Age
Disability
Gender
Participation in Research
Racial and Ethnic Identity
Sexual Orientation
Socioeconomic Status
Intersectionality
 

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Authors must strive to use language that is free of bias, meaning the implied or irrelevant evaluation of the group or groups they are writing about. It is unacceptable to use wording that might imply prejudicial beliefs or perpetuate biased assumptions against persons on the basis of age, disability, gender, racial or ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or some combination of these or other personal factors. Instead, authors should use affirming and inclusive language.

Ask people from the groups about which you are writing to read and comment on your material or consult self-advocacy groups to determine appropriate terminology. If you work directly with participants, ask them what terms they use to describe themselves. Language changes over time, and it is important to use the terms that individuals and/or communities use to describe themselves, their experiences, and their practices. (Summary of APA Manual 7th Edition, Chapter 5.)

General Guidelines for Reducing Bias

Describe at the Appropriate Level of Specificity

• Be mindful to describe only relevant characteristics.

Be Sensitive to Labels

• Choose labels with sensitivity, ensuring that the individuality and humanity of people are respected.
• Compare groups with care. Bias occurs when authors use one group as the standard against which others are judged.
   

Reducing Bias by Topic

Age

• Different terms are used for individuals of different ages, and these terms are often gendered. Use the terms individuals use to self-describe, whether these are binary gender categories or nonbinary categories.
• Appropriate age-specific examples may include: infant, child, adolescent, young man, adult woman, and older adult.
• Do not use terms such as seniors or elderly as these are stigmatizing and connote a stereotype. Furthermore, use dementia instead of senility, if necessary, and specify the type of dementia when known.
  
  

Disability

• Encompasses physical, psychological, intellectual, and socioemotional impairments. Members of some groups of people with disabilities have ways of referring to themselves that they would prefer others to adopt.
  • Person-First Language is where the person is emphasized, not the individual's disabling or chronic condition (such as a youth with epilepsy rather than an epileptic). This principle applies to groups of people as well (use people with substance use disorders rather than substance abusers).
  • Identity-First Language is where an individual’s disability becomes the focus. This can allow the individual to claim the disability and choose their identity rather than permitting others to name it or to select terms with negative implications. This is often used as an expression of cultural pride and a reclamation of a disability that once conferred a negative identity.
  • Person-First vs. Identify-First Language. Both approaches to language are designed to respect disabled persons. It is permissible to use either approach unless or until you know that a group clearly prefers one approach, in which case, you should adopt the preferred approach.
• Avoid negative and condescending terminology. These can include terms that imply restriction (wheelchair-bound), slurs (cripple), or euphemisms (special needs). Many people with disabilities consider these terms patronizing and inappropriate. Emphasize both capabilities and concerns instead to avoid reducing people to their deficiencies.
   

Gender

• Terms related to gender and sex are often conflated, making precision essential to writing without bias. Gender is a social construct and refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person's biological sex. Sex refers to one’s biological sex assignment.
• Gender identity is a component of gender that describes a person's psychological sense of their gender and is distinct from sexual orientation. Cisgender refers to individuals whose sex assigned at birth aligns with their gender identity.
• Transgender refers to persons whose gender identity, expression, and/or role does not conform to what is culturally associated with their sex assigned at birth. Some transgender people hold a binary gender, but others have a gender outside of this binary, such as gender-fluid or nonbinary.
• When writing about a known individual, use that person's identified pronouns. Some individuals may alternate between pronouns while others use they as a singular pronoun. When referring to individuals whose identified pronouns are not known use the singular they to avoid making assumptions about an individual's gender.
• Avoid using combinations such as he/she and (s)he as alternatives to the singular they because such constructions imply an exclusively binary nature of gender and exclude individuals who do not use these pronouns.
   

Participation in Research

• Always write about the people who participated in a research study in a way that acknowledges their contributions and agency.
• Descriptive terms such as respondents, participants, and subjects are acceptable.
• Use the term patient to describe an individual diagnosed with a mental health, behavioral health, and/or medical disease, disorder, or problem who is actively receiving services from a health care provider.
• Recognize the difference between a case, which is an occurrence of a disorder or illness, and a person who is affected by the disorder or illness.
   

Racial and Ethnic Identity

• Race refers to physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially significant. (Examples may include: Aboriginal, African American or Black, Asian, European American or White, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.)
• Ethnicity refers to shared cultural characteristics such as language, ancestry, practices, and beliefs. (Examples may include: Latino/Latina/Latinx or Native national affiliations.)
• Racial and ethnic groups are designated by proper nouns and are capitalized. If people belong to multiple racial or ethnic groups, the names of the specific groups are capitalized, but the terms multiracial, biracial, and multiethnic are lowercase.
• Language that essentializes or reifies race is strongly discouraged and is generally considered inappropriate as it portrays human groups monolithically, and often perpetuates stereotypes.
• Do not assume that members of minority groups are underprivileged; underprivileged means having less money, education, or resources than the other people in a society. Terms such as economically marginalized and economically exploited may also be used rather than underprivileged. Whenever possible, use more specific terms or refer to discrimination or systematic oppression as a whole.
   

Sexual Orientation

• This is defined as a part of individual identity that includes a person's sexual and emotional attraction to another person and the behavior and/or social affiliation that may result from this attraction. Use the term sexual orientation rather than sexual preference, or sexual identity. All people choose their partners regardless of their sexual orientation; however, the orientation itself is not a choice.
  • First, sexual orientation can be conceptualized by the degree to which a person feels sexual and emotional attraction, utilizing terms that may include sexual, demisexual, and asexual.
  • Second, sexual orientation can be conceptualized as having a direction. For people who identify as sexual or demisexual, their attraction then may be directed toward people who are similarly gendered, differently gendered, and so on. That is, sexual orientation indicates the gendered directionality of attraction, even if that directionality is very inclusive.
• Some examples of sexual orientation are lesbian, gay, heterosexual, straight, asexual, bisexual, queer, polysexual, and pansexual.
• Use the umbrella term sexual and gender minorities to refer to multiple sexual and/or gender minority groups, or write about sexual orientation and gender diversity. Abbreviations such as LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, and LGBTQIA+ may also be used to refer to multiple groups, but be sure that it is representative of the groups about which you are writing.
   

Socioeconomic Status

• This encompasses not only income but also educational attainment, occupational prestige, and subjective perceptions of social status and social class. It also incorporates quality of life attributes and opportunities afforded to people within society and is a consistent predictor of a vast array of psychological outcomes.
• When reporting socioeconomic status, provide as much detailed information as possible about people's income, education, and occupations or employment circumstances.
• Avoid using broad, pejorative, and generalizing terms. Specifically, negative connotations are associated with terms such as homeless, ghetto, and poverty-stricken. Instead, use specific, person-first language such as people experiencing homelessness or people who are homeless rather than homeless.
• Biases around economic and occupational status can result from deficit-based language that blames individuals for their occupational, educational, or economic situation rather than recognizing a broader societal context that influences individual circumstances.
   

lntersectionality

• When authors write about personal characteristics, they should be sensitive to intersectionality – that is, to the way in which individuals are shaped by and identify with a vast array of cultural, structural, sociobiological, economic, and social contexts.
• Because people are unique, many identities are possible. The experiences of a Black lesbian woman may be significantly different from White lesbian women, Black straight women, Black gay men, Black straight men, or any other identity groups that at first glance may seem to overlap.
• Intersectional identities also include experiences of privileged contexts that intersect with those of oppression.
• To address intersectionality in a paper, identify individuals' relevant characteristics and group memberships, and describe how these intersect in ways that are relevant to the study. Likewise, when reporting and interpreting the results, note the impact of any intersections on the findings rather than assuming that one characteristic is responsible.