For many of your style and citation questions, it's best to go straight to the source! Find a copy of the APA manual at the Help Desk.
APA Citation Style is used when writing or citing works in the social sciences or business. The OWL website provides online guidance for the 7th and 6th editions.
APA Style uses what is called an author-date method of citation. The author's surname is inserted with the correct year of publication for the resource.
This citation is used to identify where an idea, thought, or concept originates as you write a research paper. It is placed at the end of a sentence, paragraph, or thought, depending on where your research appears.
Refer to the examples below to review the different ways you can create an in-text citation.
Material Type |
In-Text Citation Example |
---|---|
Author's name in text |
Kessler (2003) found that among epidemiological samples... |
Author's name as a reference |
The study also showed that there was a high rate of comorbidity with alcohol abuse or dependence and major depression (Kessler, 2003). |
Two authors' names as a reference |
The effects of the study have been demonstrated in the trials (Abrams & Evans, 2007). |
Works with no identified author |
Important data collected by the Dept. of Education in Victoria has prompted the creation of fact sheets that can be found online ("Fact Sheet Four," 2010). |
Your bibliography should be alphabetized by author last name. For works that do not have an author, alphabetize by item title (omitting articles like "a" or "the"). Your bibliography should also be formatted using hanging indents.
Journal Article (Online)
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article: Subtitle of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number),
page numbers. doi: or URL of the journal's home page.
Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology,
24(2), 225-229. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225.
Journal Article (Print)
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page numbers.
Light, M. A., & Light, I. H. (2008). The geographic expansion of Mexican immigration in the United States and its implications for local law
enforcement. Law Enforcement Review Executive Forum Journal, 8(1), 73-82.
Books (Print): One Author
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the work. Publisher.
Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study of computer decency. Taylor & Francis.
Books (Print): Two Authors
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the work. Publisher.
Rosellini, G. & Worden, M. (2010). Of course you're angry: A guide to dealing with the emotions of substance abuse. Hazelden.
Chapter in an Edited Book (Print or Online)
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C.C. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (pp. page of chapter). Publisher.
Link if DOI available
Haybron, M. D. (2008). Philosophy and the science of the subjective well-being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-
being (pp. 17-43). Guilford Press.
Newspaper Article (Print)
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Newspaper title. pp. page numbers
Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.
Newspaper Article (Online)
Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Newspaper title. Link to article website
Report by government agency of other organization
Name of Group. (Year) Title of Report/grey literature. Publisher Name. Link/doi
Australian Government Productivity Commission & New Zealand Productivity Commission. (2012). Strengthening trans-Tasman
economic relations.https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/australia-new-zealand/report/trans-tasman.pdf
Report by individual authors at a government agency or other organization
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year, Month Day). Title of report. Organization/Agency Name. Link/doi
Fried, D., & Polyakova, A. (2018). Democratic defense against disinformation. Atlantic Council.
https://atlanticcouncil.org/images/publications/Democratic_Defense_against_Disinformation_FINAL.pdf
Dictionary, Thesaurus, or Encyclopedia Entry (Online)
Author, A. A. (Year). Title. In A. A. Author (Ed.), Title of Encyclopedia (Edition). From http://www.xxxxx.
Group Author. (Year). Title of entry. In Title of Encyclopedia. Retrieved Month Day, Year, https://xxxx
Graham, G. (2005). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Fall 2007 ed.). Retrieved
from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/.
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Positive transference. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved August 31, 2020, from
https:dictionary.apa.org/positivetransference
Website with an Author*
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website title. Retrieved Month Day, Year, http://www.xxxxx.
Waterman, H. (2016, March 23). On men and women's speech. JSTOR Daily. http://daily.jstor.org/gender-and-public-speech/.
* websites with no author will omit the Author section or use a group author (ex: World Health Organization). If no publication date can be found, you can put a 'n.d.' Include a retrieval date on websites where the content is designed to change
Webpage on a news website (Used for articles published in online news sources like BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, Salon)
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of webpage. Online Newsource Name. https://xxxxx
Bologna, C. (2018, June 27). What happens to your mind and body when you feel homesick? HuffPost.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-happens-mind-body-homesick_us_5b201ebde4b09d7a3d77eee1
Magazine Article (online or print)
Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Publication title, volume number(edition), page-page. Doi/link to website
De Monchaux, N. (2021, December). The city and the city. Wired, 29(12), 94-94.
Blog post
Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of post. Title of Blog. https://xxxx
Fares, R. (2017, August 28). Wind energy Is one of the cheapest sources of electricity, and it's getting cheaper. Scientific American Blog.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/wind-energy-is-one-of-the-cheapest-sources-of-electricity-and-its-getting-cheaper/
Wikipedia entry
Title of entry. (Year, Month Day). In Wikipedia. https://xxxx
Wind turbine. (2021, December 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wind_turbine&oldid=1062380510
Podcast episode
Author, A. (Host). Title of episode (No. Episode) [Audio podcast episode]. In Title of the podcast. Production Company. https://xxxx
Santos, L. (Host). (n.d.). Psychopaths and superheroes (No. 1) [Audio podcast episode]. In The happiness lab with Dr. Laurie Santos.
Pushkin Industries. https://www.happinesslab.fm/season-2-episodes/episode-1
TEDTalk
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of TedTalk [Video]. Ted Conferences. https://xxxx
Giertz, S. (2018, April). Why you should make useless things [Video]. TED Conferences.
https://www.ted.com/talks/simone_giertz_why_you_should_make_useless_things
If TEDtalk came from YouTube
TED. (Year, Month Day). Creator Name: Title of Talk [Video]. YouTube. https://youtube.com/xxxx
TED. (2012, March 16). Brené Brown: Listening to shame [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psN1DORYYV0
PowerPoint slides or lecture notes from Canvas
Mack, R., & Spake, G. (2018). Citing open source images and formatting references for presentations [PowerPoint slides].
WyoCourses. http://wyocourses.uwyo.edu/
Infographic
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of infographic [Infographic]. Publisher of Infographic. https://xxxx
Rossman, J., & Palmer, R. (2015) Sorting through space junk [Infographic]. World Science Festival.
https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2015/11/space-junk-infographic
Tweet
Author, A. A. [@Username]. (Year, Month Day). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Tweet]. Twitter. https://xxxx
Obama, B. [@BarackObama]. (2020, April 7). It’s World Health Day, and we owe a profound debt of gratitude to all our medical
professionals. They’re still giving [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/ BarackObama/status/1247555328365023238
YouTube
Name of account/Creator. (Year Uploaded, Month Day Uploaded). Title of video [Video]. YouTube (or other video hosting platform). URL
Above The Noise. (2017, October 18). Can procrastination be a good thing? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=FQMwmBNNOnQ
Many examples from Publication Manual of American Psychological Association, 7th edition