Which of the following reference list entries has correct formatting?

McFarland, Laura Ann, & Ployhart, Rob. (2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social Media: A Contextual Framework to Guide Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social Media: A Contextual Framework to Guide Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), pp. 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

Question

Which of the following reference list entries has correct formatting?

McFarland, Laura Ann, & Ployhart, Rob. (2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social Media: A Contextual Framework to Guide Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social Media: A Contextual Framework to Guide Research and Practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), pp. 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Links to an external site.

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

APA reference rules require authors as "Last name, Initials.", year in parentheses, article titles in sentence case, journal titles in title case, italicized journal title and volume number, issue number in parentheses (not italicized), page range without "pp.", and DOIs as full URLs (https://doi.org/...).

1) Relevant knowledge points:
- Author format: Last name followed by initials with periods and spaces (e.g., McFarland, L. A.), and use an ampersand (&) between two authors.
- Date: Year in parentheses after authors, e.g., (2015).
- Article title: Sentence case — capitalize only the first word and proper nouns; capitalize the first word after a colon (subtitle).
- Journal and volume: Journal title in title case and italicized; volume number italicized; issue number in parentheses (not italicized); pages listed without "pp.".
- DOI: Presented as a URL beginning with https://doi.org/.

2) Step-by-step comparison reasoning:
- Check authors: Option B uses "McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E." — correct initials, punctuation, and ampersand. Option A uses full first names (incorrect for APA). Options C and D match B for authors.
- Check year and parentheses: All options show (2015) — correct.
- Check article title casing: Option B shows "Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice." — sentence case with subtitle’s first word capitalized ("A") — correct. Options C and D use Title Case ("Social Media: A Contextual Framework...") — incorrect for APA. Option A also uses sentence case but fails on author names.
- Check journal/volume/pages/pp.: Option B presents "Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653-1677." — correct format and no "pp." Option D incorrectly includes "pp. 1653-1677."
- Check DOI formatting: All options show the DOI URL; B includes it correctly.

3) Intermediate comparisons shown above demonstrate B meets every APA requirement while others violate one or more rules (A: author names; C & D: title case; D: "pp.").

4) Why B is correct: It follows APA conventions for author initials, sentence-case article title with subtitle capitalization, proper journal/volume/issue/page punctuation, and DOI format.

5) Why other options are incorrect: A uses full author names; C and D use incorrect title capitalization; D additionally uses "pp." before page numbers.

Conclusion: Option B is the correctly formatted reference entry, matching the provided answer B.

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