Graziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)
Reference List
(Abstracts)
Sometimes an author wishes to reference just an abstract, rather than a complete article. This is often the case for papers presented at conferences, where the abstracts for each paper, but not the papers themselves, are published in the Proceedings of the conference (a book summarizing the conference).
Sometimes the abstract is from a published paper, but the abstract is obtained from a secondary source, such as PsycINFO. Although abstracts may be cited as the information source for a paper, it is better to obtain and read the entire paper and cite it as the source of information.
Details of Format
The format for listing an abstract is to list (1) the author(s), (2) the year the paper was published or presented, (3) the title of the paper, (4) where the paper was published, if it was published, and (5) the source of the abstract, which is italicized.Examples
Nevin, J. A., & Grace, R. C. (1998). Response strength, reinforcer omission, and resistance to extinction. Proceedings and abstracts of the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, 69, 56.
Preval, H., & Pakyurek, A. M. (1997). Psychotic episode associated with dexfenfluramine. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 1624-1625. Abstract obtained from PsycSCAN: Clinical Psychology, 1998, 19(2), Abstract No. 15.