The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition) outlines the rules for APA style. APA is widely used across the social and behavioral sciences, including education and business.

APA style prioritizes the publication date and the author's surname. This reflects the importance placed on recent information in the fields that use this system.  In fact, this system requires you to include a publication date in in-text citations, right in the body of the paper.

In addition, the single author is less important in these fields; co-authoring is a common presence. And finally, because it does not require the author's first name (only a first initial) it is usually gender-neutral.

The Publication Manual is available in the Valley Library at call number BF76.7.P83