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APA Basics
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 |
To properly format your paper, use the following guidelines:
A student paper's title page should have the following information:
And should follow the following Formatting Rules:
The reference page for an APA paper should follow these guidelines:
Example formatting for each type of source can be found in the tabs on this page. Also see the sample papers below for helpful examples!
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
Name of Act, Public Law No. (Year). URL
Organization Name. (Year). Title of report. URL
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. Record label.
Artwork
Artist, A. (Year of release). Title of artwork [medium]. Name of museum, City, State, Country. URL of museum
Clip Art or Stock Image
Theitation requirements for images depend on the license connected with the image. If your image says "no attribution required," you do not need to create a citation. Use the guidelines below for an image that requires attribution. (If you don't know, always cite!)
APA guidelines say you should use images as figures in your paper. Put a Copyright Statement with the image, then your reference list entry with your other references.
Copyright Statement:
Title of image [format], by Author, Year of release, Name of Website (URL). License.
Reference List Entry:
Artist, A. (Year of release). Title of image [format]. Name of Website. URL
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
Instagram Reel
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Video]. Site Name. URL
Instagram Profile
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Page of profile being cited [Instagram Profile]. Instagram. Retrieved Month Date, Year. URL
TikTok Video
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Video]. TikTok. URL
TikTok Profile
Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@username]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the bio up to the first 20 words [TikTok Profile]. TikTok. Retrieved Month Date, Year. 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 (no author)
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).
APA Style considers personal communications to be any work that cannot be recovered by the reader of a paper.
Personal communications include:
These types of communication are only cited as in-text citations.
Parenthetical Citation: (J. Kirk, personal communication, March 22, 2009)
Narrative Citation: J. Kirk (personal communication, March 22, 2009)
When citing information from the Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions of Indigenous Peoples, there are times when using a form of personal communication citations are appropriate. The APA Style online guide discusses these citations in their personal communications guide. Personal Communications and Citing Traditional Knowledge.
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. |