APA Citation Handout (PDF): a four-page quick guide to citing in APA format
Every time you quote or paraphrase someone else’s work, you must indicate:
You give us this information in two places:
The official APA Style & Grammar Guidelines includes a section on Paper Format, which includes information on:
For detailed explanation and sample title pages, see the official APA Style Guidelines Title Page Setup section and Student Title Page Guide (PDF).
The student title page is the first page of your paper and includes:
When you quote or paraphrase from a source (book, article, or webpage) in your paper, you need to insert an in-text citation.
This citation typically consists of the author’s name, year of publication, and page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
“This is a direct citation” (Chapman, 2019, p. 126).
When paraphrasing the idea in your own words, do not use quotation marks and do not include a page number (Jackson, 1999).
Another option is to use the author’s name in the sentence, followed directly by the year in parentheses, with the page numbers in parentheses at the end of the sentence.
According to Chapman (2019), "This is a direct citation" (p. 216).
Jackson (1999) explains that when paraphrasing the idea in your own words, do not use quotation marks and do not include a page number.
Exceptions
Additional Resources from the Excelsior College Online Writing Lab:
The article goes on to say that “People don't do derby just for exercise but usually because it becomes a part of who they are” (Fagundes, 2012, p.1098).
Fagundes (2012) believes that roller derby gives participants "a chance to feel like a superstar" (p. 1098).
He asserts the following:
More importantly, though, the notion of competing under derby names was a perfect fit with the recent reimagination of the sport as a punk-rock spectacle that allowed, and encouraged, participants to develop outrageous public personas. The story of derby-name emergence probably has more to do with coincidence and path dependence than with conscious design. Derby pioneer Ivanna S. Pankin’s classic derby name pre-dated her founding of Arizona Roller Derby in 2003. Rather, it was a handle and email address she used as a musician in Phoenix’s punk rock scene. When she publicized her nascent league using the alias Ivanna S. Pankin, and the entire Austin scene was already using skate names, the leagues that popped up in their wake followed suit,33 and the practice of using colorful nicknames has been used by virtually all derby leagues and skaters since. (Fagundes, 2012, pp.1093-1094)
If you mention the author’s name in the paragraph, then just put the date in parentheses.
If you do not mention the author’s name, then include the author’s name in parentheses before the date.
Author-Date Citation System - Official APA Style and Grammar Guidelines
List by their last names and initials, separated by a comma. Put an & between the final two names.
Brooks, K., & Dunn, R.
Knowles-Carter, B., Carter, B.I., & Carter, S.
List by last names and initials; commas separate author names.
Include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis ... (but no ampersand), and then add the final author’s name:.
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.. (2018).
Start with the article title: Practical oral care for people with intellectual disability.
or Book title: Evicted: Poverty and profit in the American city.
According to the APA Style Guide section on Capitalization, "APA Style is a 'down' style, meaning that words are lowercase unless there is specific guidance to capitalize them."
Here are some basic rules for capitalizing within APA papers:
Diseases, Disorders, Therapies, and More
Proper Nouns, Trade Names, and Generic Drug Names
When in doubt, ask a librarian or consult the APA Dictionary of Psychology.
According to the APA Manual (Section 8.28 Written Material Without Page Numbers), you have three main options when quoting sources that do not have page numbers (webpages, eBooks, etc.). Use the option that will best help your reader find the quotation in the source:
According to the IceBridge Project leader, " in addition to the airborne and satellite measurements, scientists will be out on the ice taking height and density measurements as well" (Gray, 2019, para. 6). Source
Medical consensus is that the flu is spread "mainly by tiny droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019, How Flu Spreads section). Source
Research has shown that an average of 8% of the U.S. population experiences flu symptoms each flu season," with a range of between 3% and 11%, depending on the season" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019, "How Many People" section). Source
One of the basic principles for citing is "to cite a specific part of a source" by including "an author–date citation for the work plus information about the specific part."
There are many possible "specific parts" to cite, including pages, paragraphs, sections, chapters, video time stamps, and slide numbers in PowerPoint presentations.
For examples, see Citing Specific Parts of a Source.
APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available. DOIs provide stable, long-lasting links for online articles.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article: Subtitle words. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy
Nguyen, T. T., Gildengorin, G., & Truong, A. (2007). Factors influencing physicians' screening behavior for liver cancer among high-risk patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22(4), 523-526. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0128-1
Ryan,E., & Redding, R. (2004). A review of mood disorders among juvenile offenders. Psychiatric Services, 55(12), 1397-1407.
APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available. DOIs provide stable, long-lasting links for online articles.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year, Month Day). Title of article: Subtitle words. Title of Magazine, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy
Lane, A., & Brody, R. (2019). No laughing matter. New Yorker, 95(41), 65-67.
Schaefer, N. K., & Shapiro, B. (2019, September 6). New middle chapter in the story of human evolution. Science, 365(6457), 981-982. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3550
Hall, M. (2017, March). The faces of Obamacare. Texas Monthly, 45(3), 116-197. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-faces-of-obamacare/
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article: Subtitle words. Title of Newspaper, volume number(issue number), pages.
Seitz, M. J. (2020, June 26). El Paso's Bishop Mark Seitz: Black lives matter. National Catholic Reporter, 13-16.
Bowles, N. (2019, July 7). Virtual pre-K closes a gap, and exposes it. New York Times, 168(58381) , 1, 15.
Glauber, B. (2020, July 30). DNC convention will meet for just two hours nightly during Milwaukee convention. Green Bay Press Gazette. https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/07/29/dnc-meet-2-hours-nightly-during-milwaukee-convention/5541718002/
Author, A. A. (Date published or updated). Title of report or document: Subtitle of report. Organization Name. http://someurl
What if there's more than one author or no author?
Granath, B. (2016, April 22). Astronaut photography from space helped “discover the Earth”. NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronaut-photography-from-space-helped-discover-the-earth
Hoyert, D. L. (2021, March 23). Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2019. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality-2021/maternal-mortality-2021.htm
Name of Professional Organization. (Date published or updated). Title of document: Subtitle of document. Publisher if different from group author. http://someurl
American Nurses Association. (2017). Sharps injury prevention. https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/work-environment/health-safety/safe-needles/
Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. (2019, January 8). Heart failure fact sheet. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control. https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_heart_failure.htm
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2016, December). Cardiac rehabilitation. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/cardiac-rehabilitation
You are not required to abbreviate the name of a group author, but you can if
If the group name first appears in the signal phrase in the sentence, include the abbreviation before the year in parentheses, separated with a comma.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2017) provided information on men and depression.
If the group name first appears in a parenthetical citation, include the abbreviation in square brackets, followed by a comma and the year.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle words. Publisher Name.
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Publisher Name.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without the racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield.
Olsen, Y., & Sharfstein, J. M. (2019). The opioid epidemic: What everyone needs to know. Oxford University Press.
Kindler, L. L., & Polomano, R. C. (2017). Pain. In S. L. Lewis, S. R. Dirksen, M. M. Heitkemper, & L. Bucher (Eds.), Medical-surgical nursing (10th ed., pp. 114-139). Elsevier.
Scott, C.L. (2014). Historical perspectives for studying workforce diversity. In M.Y. Byrd (Ed.), Diversity in the workforce: Current issues and emerging trends (pp. 3-33). Routledge.
Pedersen, P. B., Lonner, W. J., Draguns, J. G., Trimble, J.E., & Scharrón-del Río, M. R. (Eds.). (2016). Counseling across cultures (7th ed.). Sage.
If the book comes from a library database and has no DOI, end the reference after the publisher name, just like a print book.
Goodwin, G., & Sachs, G. (2010). Fast facts: Bipolar disorder. Health Press.
For more examples, see the Book/Ebook References section on the APA Style & Grammar Guidelines
A dissertation or thesis is considered published when it is available from a database such as ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, an institutional repository, or an archive. (Published Dissertation or Thesis References)
Author, A. A. (Date published). Title of dissertation: Subtitle of dissertation [Doctoral dissertation, Name of University]. Name of Repository or Database. url
Author, A. A. (Date published). Title of dissertation: Subtitle of dissertation [Master's thesis, Name of University]. Name of Repository or Database. url
Robinson, G. D. (2019). Promoting persistence among LGBTQ community college students [Doctoral dissertation, Illinois State University]. ISU ReD Repository. https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2041&context=etd
Lindmark, S. A. (2019).. "Watching their souls speak": Interpreting the new music videos of Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter [Master's thesis, UC Irvine]. University of California eScholarship. https://escholarship.org/content/qt5gw3v7bf/qt5gw3v7bf.pdf
Author, A.A. [Screen name]. (year, month day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. http://xxxxx
Use the name of the account that uploaded the video as the author.
If the user’s real name is not available, include only the screen name, without brackets
The capitalization [or lack thereof] in the screen name is in keeping with how it appears online.
Bozeman Science. (2014, March 10). Integumentary system [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/z5VnOS9Ke3g
Fox, D. J. [Dr. Daniel Fox]. (2019, February 19). Empathy paradox and borderline personality disorder [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/mGa3tQCoJ-E
TED Talk from YouTube
Follow the YouTube video basic format shown above.
List the owner of the YouTube account as the author. In most cases, it will be the TED YouTube account.
TED. (2022, May 10). An Olympic champion's mindset for overcoming fear | Allyson Felix [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIne-UO7wUo
TED Talk from the TED website
Use the name of the speaker as the author.
Include [Video] after the title of the talk.
Credit TED Conferences as the publisher of the TED Talk and end with the URL.
Schor, J. (2022, April). The case for the 4-day work week [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/juliet_schor_the_case_for_a_4_day_work_week
Title of video: Subtitle of video [Video]. (year). Films on Demand. http://xxxxx
Films on Demand Video Examples
Method and madness: In search of science [Video]. (2013). Films on Demand. https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=102581&xtid=55680
Suctioning: Nasotracheal suctioning and monitoring complications [Video]. (2018). Films on Demand. https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=102581&xtid=154477
Instructor last name, Initial. (year). Title of PowerPoint presentation [PowerPoint slides]. NWTC Blackboard Learn. https://blackboard.nwtc.edu/webapps/login/
PowerPoint Slides Example
Chapman, J. M. (2019). Overview of citations: What's new with APA [PowerPoint slides]. NWTC Blackboard Learn. https://blackboard.nwtc.edu/webapps/login/
If you want to cite an interview, email, chat, text message or other personal communication, you only need to do so as a parenthetical citation in the body of your paper; you do NOT need to include it in your References.
Use this format for the parenthetical citation:
(P. Malone, personal communication, December 3, 2020).
APA style does not have an official format to acknowledge Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers as a reference; however, NorQuest College Librarian Lorisia MacLeod and NorQuest College Indigenous Student Centre staff have designed templates to meet this need. While not officially adopted into the APA citation style guide, MacLeod’s templates are supported by many universities and colleges across North America. (source)
Format:
Last name, First initial. Nation/Community. Treaty Territory, if applicable. Where they live if applicable. Topic/subject of communication if applicable. personal communication. Month Date, Year.
Example:
Cardinal, D. Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. personal communication. April 4, 2004.
Template Source: NorQuest College's First Nations and Indigenous Studies Research Guide (CC BY-NC 4.0)
The APA Publication Manual does not provide specific instructions on how to format a PowerPoint presentation; however, many college libraries recommend the following:
Slideshow on how to prepare APA Style PowerPoint presentations (Bennett College Library)
How to format a PowerPoint presentation in APA Style (Goodwin College Library)
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