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Friday, February 17, 2012

Citing a Telephone Book (APA Style, 6th ed.)

Figure 1. Yellow Pages: Lethbridge and Area
(ca. 2011) cover . (Click image to enlarge.)
I have been asked to amend my telephone book in APA style for the 6th edition and this is what I suggest:

Like the previous APA edition, there is no one perfect answer to citing a telephone book. What I suggest may be interpreted differently by others. To this end this is my rationale for a general telephone book citation is as follows:

AUTHOR: -leave blank-
  • Since the author is not explicitly given, lead with the title instead. The directory (as a whole) is written by many individuals, companies, and organizations—as demonstrated by some of the subsections and advertisements. It may not be best to attribute authorship solely to The Yellow Pages Group—though editorial credit could arguably be given to that group.

TITLE: Yellow pages: Lethbridge and area [Telephone directory].
  • Since this “book” is not a book that has been published in the traditional sense (i.e., providing copyright date, proper title and publisher’s pages), provide the title of the publication (as disjointed as it seems) and display the “medium” in brackets. This description of the medium is not officially noted in the APA Manual, but it should clear up any confusion that may plague your audience. Review section 6.29 (pp. 185–186) of the APA Manual for details. The title is italicized, but the descriptor in brackets is not.

PUBLICATION DATE: n.d.
  • Though we can reasonably assume that it was released in 2011, no explicit copyright date is given, so the use of “n.d.” for “no date" would be appropriate.
  • Alternately, it may be permissible to use “[ca. 2011]” to indicate a reasonable estimate for the date of publication. An example of such a case can be found on pages 213–214 of the APA Manual.

PLACE OF PUBLICATION: Verdun, Canada.
  • The Yellow Pages Group has many offices across Canada, however, their website (http://www.ypg.com/en/about-us/company-profile) tells us that the head office is in Verdun, Québec, Canada. It may be fair to use this as the place of publication.
     
  • NOTE: In the 6th edition, you only need to include the city and country for publisher location if it is outside the U.S.A., so: Verdun, Québec, Canada or Verdun, QC would not generally be acceptable.

PUBLISHER: Yellow Pages Group.
  • This much still seems (somewhat) clear.
Your basic reference may appear as:

Figure 2. Possible display of the generic telephone book entry in a reference list. Be mindful of properly employing the hanging indent, double-spacing, and italicization of the title in your entry. (Click image to enlarge.)

If you use a particular subsection of the book or advertisements, etc., then everything we have written thus far, may be thrown out the window. A future post will advise you on citing a particular advertisement.

If you want a second opinion, you can prompt an APA expert at The APA Style Blog. They will take suggestions and write about popular queries.

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