Skip to Main Content
Allen Memorial Library

VCSU Library Citation Guide

Profile Photo
Emily Connor Dafoe
Contact:
Emily Connor Dafoe
Research & Instruction Librarian
Allen Memorial Library
Valley City State University
t. 701-845-7287

Additional Sources

APA Basics

  • All citations should be double spaced
  • Indent after the first line of each entry
  • Entries are not numbered
  • If an element is not present, omit it
  • Alphabetize by the first word of the entry
  • Enter author's last name followed by first and middle initials
  • Italics must be used for book and periodical titles
  • Capitalize ONLY the first word of a title, the first word of a subtitle, and proper nouns in titles of books and articles, no matter how they appear in a database or catalog
  • Use (n.d.) if no date is given

Elements of a Citation

Author The creator of the source. Usually a person (or people) - can also be an organization, company, government body, etc. 
Date of Publication The date the source was created
Article Title An article is a written composition on a topic of interest, which forms a separate part of a book, magazine or newspaper.
Journal Title Journal is a type of magazine which contains articles and other descriptions on a particular discipline or professional activities.
Volume  volume typically refers to the number of years the publication has been circulated
Issue issue refers to how many times that periodical has been published during that year
Page Range Page range of the entire article should be included in bibliography, not just the page you used for information
DOI or URL DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a string of characters used to permanently identify an article or document and link to it on the web. If citing an electronic source a DOI or URL should be included.
Publisher The company that published the source, often a university press

Title Page

Bibliography 

 

Basic Format

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)

Edited Book (no author)                                                                                            

Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. DOI (if available)

Chapter in an Edited Book                                                                                             

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI (if available)

Multi Volume Work                                                                                                      

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle(Vol. #). Publisher. DOI (if available)

Translated Book                                                                                                          

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (T. Translator, Trans.). Publisher. (Original work published YEAR) DOI (if available)

Dictionary, Encyclopedia, etc. 

Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of entry. In F. M. Lastname (ed.), Title of reference work (edition, page numbers). Publisher.

Basic Format                                                                                                               

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Baniya, S., & Weech, S. (2019). Data and experience design: Negotiating community-oriented digital research with service-learning. Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement, 6(1), 11–16. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316979

 

Federal or State Statute 

Name of Act, Public Law No. (Year). URL

Report by Government Agency or Other Organization

Organization Name. (Year). Title of report. URL

Report by Individual Authors at Government Agency or Other Organization

Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of report. Organization Name. URL

Film or Video

Director, D. D. (Director). (Date of publication). Title of motion picture [Film]. Production company.

TV Series

Executive Producer, P. P. (Executive Producer). (Date range of release). Title of series [TV series]. Production company(s).

TV Series Episode

Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Original air date). Title of episode (Season number, Episode number) [Tv series episode]. In P. Executive Producer (Executive Producer), Series title. Production company(s). 

YouTube Video

Person or group who uploaded video. (Date of publication). Title of video[Video]. Website host. URL 

Podcast

Executive Producer, E. P. (Executive Producer). (Range of publication). Title of podcast [Audio podcast]. Production company. URL

Single Podcast Episode

Executive Producer, E. P. (Executive Producer). (Date of publication). Title of podcast episode (Episode number) [Audio podcast episode]. In Title of podcast. Production company. URL

Music Album

Recording artist. (Year of release). Title of album [Album]. Record label.

Single Song or Track

Recording artist. (Year of release). Title of song [Song]. On Title of album[Album]. Record label. 

Artwork 

Artist, A. (Year of release). Title of artwork [medium]. Name of museum, City, State, Country. URL of museum

Basic Format

Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of dissertation/thesis (Publication No.) [Doctoral dissertation/Master’s thesis, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree]. Database or Archive Name.

Tweet

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words[Tweet]. Site Name. URL

Twitter Profile

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

Facebook Post

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Type of post]. Site Name. URL

Facebook Page

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group. (n.d.). Home [Facebook page]. Site name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

Instagram Post

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Type of post]. Site Name. URL

Blog Post

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of post. Publisher. URL

Website (with author)

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Website (organization as author)

Group name. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Website (organization same as site name)

Title of page. (Year, Month Date). Site name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

 

Basic Format (same as for scholarly articles)

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

When citing indirect citations (if a source references or quotes another source) provide the source in which the original work was referenced in the bibliography. For the in-text citation: (Miller, 1953, as cited in Agrios, 2005). 

Authors & In-Text Citations in APA

- When listing author in bibliography use last name and first initial; only use last name in the in-text citation.

- If direct quoting, also include page number: (Smith, 2021, 34). 

- If you name the author in the sentence, omit the author name in the in-text citation.

- If you have multiple sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation: (Smith, 2021a) / (Smith, 2021b). 

  In-Text          Bibliography
Single Author

(Smith, 2021)

Smith, J. 
Two Authors

(Smith & Thompson, 2021). 

Smith, J., & Thompson, E.
3-19 Authors

(Smith et al., 2021). 

List by their last names and initials. Separate author names with a comma. Use the ampersand (&) instead of "and."
20+ Authors (Smith et al., 2021).

List by last names and initials; commas separate author names. After the first 19 authors’ names, use an ellipsis in place of the remaining author names. Then, end with the final author's name (do not place an ampersand before it). There should be no more than twenty names in the citation in total.