Style Manual for Political Science by APSA style is used by the American Political Science Association and is commonly used in political science scholarship. For additional information and example citations, please see the APSA Style Manual for Political Science.
For the reference list, list citations in order by the author's last name. Always reference the version of the source that was used during writing, particularly if electronic versions were used. References to sources accessed electronically should include a DOI or a URL at the end.
For in-text citations, include the author's last name and the publication date, and when quoting from the source also include page numbers for the quoted material. For sources with up to three authors, include each author's last name separated with "and" and a comma as necessary — citations for sources with 4 or more authors should only include the first author's last name followed by "et al."
Examples:
Author, Albert A., and Bernard B. Author. Year. Title of Book: Subtitle. Place: Publisher.
Examples:
Dale, Gareth, Christopher Holmes, and Maria Markantonatou. 2019. Karl Polanyi’s Political and Economic Thought : A Critical Guide. Newcastle upon Tyne: Agenda Publishing.
Eisfeld, Rainer. 2016. Political Science: Reflecting on Concepts, Demystifying Legends. Leverkusen Opladen: Verlag Barbara Budrich.
Giroux, Henry A. 2020. On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
References to chapters in an edited book should include the full page range of the chapter. Alternatively, a chapter number before the title of the book can be included.
Author, Albert A. Year. "Title of Chapter." In Title of Book, ed. Edmund D. Editor, Pages. Place: Publisher.
Examples:
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, L. Elaine. 2001. “And This Parent Went to Market: Education as Public Versus Private Good.” Chap. 1 in School Choice in the Real World, eds. Robert Maranto, Scott Milliman, Frederick Hess and April Gresham. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Kovacheva, Rolitsa. 2020. "Europeanization and Peripheralization of Bulgarian Public Sphere." In In Search of a European Public Sphere: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects ed. Malgorzata Winiarska-Brodowska, 116–145. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
References to articles with multiple authors should list up to nine authors in the order used in publication. If a work has ten or more authors, list up to the seventh author followed by "et al."
Author, Albert A., Bernard B. Author, and Charles C. Author. Year. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical volume # (issue #): Pages. DOI or Permalink.
Examples:
Aldrich, John H. 1980. “A Dynamic Model of Presidential Nomination Campaigns.” American Political Science Review 74 (3): 651–69.
Iber, Patrick. 2023. “The Fate of Milton Friedman.” New Republic 254 (11): 42–45. Business Source Premier.
For news webpages, include a timestamp if it is available as these stories can be frequently updated. If an author is not available (particularly in the case of social media), use the institution or organization's name instead. For sources published through a blog, include "[blog]" after the title of the website.
Author, Albert A. Year. "Title of Webpage." In Title of Website, Publication date. URL.
Examples:
Ganz, John. 2024. "The Führer Next Time: Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed." Unpopular Front [blog], March 1. https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/the-fuhrer-next-time.
Sides, John. 2008. “Who Will Win the Nominations?” The Monkey Cage [blog], January 3. http://themonkeycage.org/2008/01/ who_will_win_the_nominations/.
UNICEF. "Rohingya crisis." UNICEF, February 16. https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/rohingya-crisis.