Citation Guides: APA

The following links are to guides and resources available at the American Psychological Association website.

The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) also provides information and guidelines for APA 7.

Here are APA 7th edition citation guides you can print.

 

Cite Your Sources

Whenever you quote or base your ideas on another person's work, you must document the source you used. Even when you do not quote directly from another work, if reading that source contributed to the ideas presented in your paper, you must give the authors proper credit.

Citations allow readers to:

• locate and further explore the sources you consulted
• show the depth and scope of your research
• give credit to authors for their ideas

Citations provide:

• evidence for your arguments
• add credibility to your work by demonstrating that you have sought out and considered a variety of resources

In written academic work, citing sources is standard practice and shows that you are responding to this person, agreeing with that person, and adding something of your own. Think of documenting your sources as providing a trail for your reader to follow to see the research you performed and discover what led you to your original contribution.

The OWL Citation Maker (at the Purdue University site), and Citation Machine are free bibliography and citation generators that use APA 7th edition tools. EasyBib and KnightCite continue to use APA 6th edition tools. Please be aware that citations created within the research databases do not always adhere to APA 7th edition guidelines.

Check this link for information on "Accidental Plagiarism."

APA Basic Information

• When creating your citation list, begin each entry flush with the left margin.
• If an entry requires more than one line, indent the subsequent lines by ½ inch (one tab space on the computer) or five spaces (on a typewriter) from the left margin.
• Double-space the entire list. This is done within each entry as well as between each entry.
• Ensure that a period appears after each reference element—after the author, date, title, and source. Do not put a period after a DOI or URL because it may interfere with link functionality. And if a title ends with a question mark, the question mark replaces the period.
• Use sentence case for titles and subtitles, but proper nouns, place names and historic periods are capitalized within a title.
• APA In-text citations basic

Below are examples of some commonly used citations.  For detailed information on documenting your research using the American Psychological Association (APA) style, please use the 7th edition of The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Links to various tutorials are provided in this guide.

A Book with One Author

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Example:

Christensen, W. M. (2018). Mothers of the military: support and politics during wartime. Rowman & Littlefield.

A Book with Two Authors

Basic format:

Author, A. & Author, B. (Publication year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Example:

Kallick, B. & Zmuda, A. (2017). Students at the center: personalized learning with habits of mind. ASCD.

A Book with Three to Twenty Authors

Basic format:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C. & Author, D. D. (Publication year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Example:

Marcus, A. S., Stoddard, J. D., &  Marcus, A. S. (2017). Teaching history with museums: Strategies for K-12 social studies.

          Routledge.

A Book with More than Twenty Authors

NOTE: When there are 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (but no ampersand), and then add the final author’s name.

Example:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F.,   Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author,

          I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L.      L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author,

          Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.

A Book with One Editor

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Ed.). (Publication year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Example:

Robertiello, G. (Ed.). (2017). The use and abuse of police power in America: Historical milestones and current controversies.

          ABC-CLIO.

A Book with More than One Editor

Basic format:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Eds.). (Publication year). Title of the book. Publisher.

Example:

Okilwa, N. S., Khalifa, M, & Briscoe, F. (Eds.). (2017). The school to prison pipeline: The role of culture and discipline in

          school. Emerald Publishing Limited.  

Chapter in an Edited Book

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (if available). (Publication year). Title of the chapter. In Name(s) of Editor(s), Title of the larger work (Vol.,

          page range). Publisher. doi (if available)

Example:

Pyle, C. M. (2010).  Bridging the gap: A different view of Renaissance humanism and science. In R. Bod, J. Maat, & T.

          Weststeijn (Eds.), The making of the humanities (Vol. 1, pp.39-58). Amsterdam University Press.

Several Volumes of a Multivolume Work

Basic format:

Author or Editor, A. A. (Publication year). Title of the multivolume work (add edition if 2nd or higher, number of volumes).

          Publisher.

Example:

Holbrook, J. B. (Ed.). (2015). Ethics, science, technology, and engineering: A global resource (2nd ed., Vols. 1-4).

          Macmillan Reference USA.
 

PERIODICALS

A Database Journal Article with DOI

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication year). Title of the article. Journal title, volume(issue), page range. doi

Example:

Adams, J.M., Green, W.A. & Zhanga, Y. (2008). Leaf margins and temperature in the North American flora: Recalibrating

          the paleoclimatic thermometer. Global and Planetary Change, 60(3-4), 523-534. https://doi.org/10.1016

          /j.gloplacha.2007.07.001

A Database Journal Article without DOI

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication year). Title of the article. Journal title, volume(issue), page range.

Example:

Larson, J., & Lizardo, O. (2019). Institutional movement logics and the changing shape of the US social movement field,

          1960–1995. Social Forces, 97(4), 1389-1421. 
 

A Magazine Article without DOI

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication date). Title of the article. Magazine title, volume(issue), page range.

Example:

Tarafdar, T. (2019, January). You can do it! M&B shares tips to make returning to work after maternity leave as painless as

          possible. Mother & Baby, 11(9), 84-87.

Magazine Article on the Web

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication date). Title of the article. Publication title. URL

Example:

Denby, D. F. (2007, October 22). Idols: Have stars lost their magic? The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com

          /magazine/2007/10/22/fallen-idols

A Newspaper Article in Print

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication date). Title of the article. Newspaper title. Section and page.

Example:

Hackman, M. (2018, March 2). U.S. news: Teachers brace for ruling. The Wall Street Journal. A6.

A Newspaper Article on the Web

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication date). Article title. Newspaper title. URL

Example:

Cramer, M. (2020, February 11). Yet another Vermont police chief quits over fake social media accounts. The New York

          Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/11/us/burlington-police-jan-wright-twitter.html?searchResultPosition=4

OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES  

Webpage on a Website with a Governmental Agency Group Author

Basic format:

Governmental agency title. (Most recent date). Title of the page. Names of the parent agencies. URL

Example:

National Institute of Mental Health. (2019, July). Suicide prevention. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

          National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml

Webpage on a Website with an Individual Author

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Last edited date). Title of resource. Name of the website. URL

Example:

Goldiner, S. (2012 January). Medicine in the Middle Ages. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

            https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/medm/hd_medm.htm

Blog

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (Publication date). Blog entry title. Blog title. URL

Example:

Poling, J. (2020, April 6).  Race, class, and “hybrid” masculinities. Everyday Sociology.                               

          https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2020/04/race-class-and-hybrid-masculinities.html

YouTube Videos

Basic format:

Name of account uploader. (Date video was uploaded). Title of the video [Item description]. Site name. URL

Example:

PBS News Hour. (2019, July 22). The Harlem Renaissance's cultural explosion, in photographs [Video]. YouTube.

          https://www.pbs.org/video/harlem-in-pictures-1563834855/

The American Psychological Association and Purdue OWL are working on developing additional APA 7 resources, including videos. The video below discusses APA 6th edition only.