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How To Cite References Using APA Style

Examples of APA Citation Style for use in Reference Lists.

APA 6th Edition Examples - Books & Book Chapters

  • One Author

Drucker, P. F. (1998). Peter Drucker on the profession of management. Boston: Harvard Business School.

  • Two Authors

McGuire, M. T., & Anderson, W. H. (1999). The US healthcare dilemma: Mirrors and chains. Westport, CT: Auburn House.

  • Three authors

Marquart, J. W., Olson, S. E., & Sorensen, J. R. (1994). The rope, the chair, and the needle: Capital punishment in Texas, 1923-1990. Austin: University of Texas Press.

  • More than three authors

Sakakibara, S., Hidetoshi, Y., Hisakatsu, S., Kengo, S., & Shimon, F. (1988). The Japanese stock market: Pricing systems and accounting information. New York: Praeger.

  • No author

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1998). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

  • Corporate author

American Health Association. (2000). American Hospital Association guide to the health care field. Chicago: Author.

  • Edited Book

Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological interventions with minority youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

  • Article or chapter in an edited book

Massaro, D. (1992). Broadening the domain of the fuzzy logical model of perception. In H. L. Pick Jr., P. van den Broek, & D. C. Knill (Eds.), Cognition: Conceptual and methodological issues (pp. 51-84). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

  • Edition

Philips, M., & Rasberry, S. (1997). Marketing without advertising (2nd ed.). Berkley, CA: Nolo Press.

  • Book in several volumes

Magill, F. N. (1993). Survey of social science: Psychology series (Vol. 2). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.

  • E-book

Shotton, M. A. (1989). Computer addiction? A study of computer dependency [DX Reader Version]. Retrieved from http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/htm/index.asp

  • E-book with DOI

Schiraldi, G. R. (2001). The post-traumatic stress disorder sourcebook: A guide to healing, recovery, and growth [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi: 10.10.36/0071393722

  • E-book from a database

Munroe, M. (2009). Echoes of the Haitian Revolution, 1804-2004 [Monograph]. Retrieved from ebrary.

  • E-book only (no print version, no DOI)

O’Keefe, E. (n.d.). Egoism & the crisis in Western values. Retrieved from http://www.onlineoriginals.com/showitem.asp?itemID=135

  • Chapter in an e-book

Strong, E. K. Jr., & Uhrbrock, R. S. (1923). Bibliography on job analysis. In L. Outhwaite (Series Ed.), Personnel Research Series: Vol. 1. Job analysis and the curriculum (pp. 140-146). doi: 10.1037/10762-000

  • Online reference book (author listed)

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/

  • Online reference book (no author listed)

Heuristic. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/heuristic

  • APA Style Manual

American Psychological Association (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

E-Books

For whole e-books, include the E-reader version and its original retrieval URL or doi

If the ebook has no DOI, try to find a permalink for the book.

If the book is read online, such as Google Books, ebrary, ebl, EbscoBooks, do not include the E-reader version.

For example, this is a book from ebrary. I read it online, so I do not need to include an E-reader version. I used the Share Link to Book to get a permalink for a book title.

Denzin, N. K. (2016). Searching for Yellowstone : Race, gender, family and memory in the Postmodern West. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wayne/detail.action?docID=10411861

In text citing from e-books

For e-books from platforms that are read online do not have page numbers (such as Books 24x7), add an overarching heading plus a paragraph number within that section. If the heading is too long to cite in full, create a short title in quotation marks.

In-text citation, no page numbers, using a heading   (Smith, 1978, Introduction section, para. 5)

In-text citation, no page numbers, create a short title   (Smith, 1978, "The Future of Libraries," para. 1)

APA 6th Edition Examples - Periodical Articles

Journal Articles
  • Journal article (print)

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 Executive Forum Journal, 8(1), 73-82.

  • Journal article with Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi: 10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225

  • Article from an online-only journal

Frederickson, B. L. (2000, March 7). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3. Retrieved from http://journals.apa.org/prevention/volume3/pre0030001a.html

  • Article with more than seven authors

Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical Communication, 57, 323-335.

  • Electronic copy of a journal article retrieved from a database

Borman, W. C., Hanson, M. A., Oppler, S. H., Pulakos, E. D., & White, L. A. (1993). Role of early supervisory experience in supervisor performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78 (3), 443-449.

Note: When providing a citation for an article retrieved from an online database, provide the appropriate print citation. If the item was difficult to retrieve, you can provide a more thorough citation by providing the item number, accession number or the text Retrieved from psycARTICLES database. Do not include retrieval dates. For more about citing articles retrieved from electronic databases, see pages 187-192 of the APA Publication Manual.
 
Newspaper Articles
  • Newspaper (print) (author listed)

Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.

  • Newspaper (print) (no author listed)

Obesity affects economic, social status. (1993, September 30). The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.

  • Online newspaper article

Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com

Magazine Articles

  • Magazine article (print) (author listed)

Chamberlin, J., Novotney, A., Packard, E., & Price, M. (2008, May). Enhancing worker well-being: Occupational health psychologists convene to share their research on work, stress, and health. Monitor on Psychology, 39(5), 26-29.

Note: For weekly magazines, add the day in addition to the month and year (2008, May 24).

  • Magazine article (print) (no author listed)

Enhancing worker well-being: Occupational health psychologists convene to share their research on work, stress, and health. (2008, May). Monitor on Psychology, 39(5), 26-29.

Note: For weekly magazines, add the day in addition to the month and year (2008, May 24).

  • Online magazine article

Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retrieved from http://apa.org/monitor/

  • Electronic copy of a magazine article retrieved from a database

Frank, M. (1993, June). The wild, wild, West. Architectural Digest, 50, 180-185, 193. 

Note: When providing a citation for an article retrieved from an online database, provide the appropriate print citation. If the item was difficult to retrieve, you can provide a more thorough citation by providing the item number, accession number or the text Retrieved from psycARTICLES database. Do not include retrieval dates. For more about citing articles retrieved from electronic databases, see pages 187-192 of the APA Publication Manual.
 

Editorials, Reviews, Interviews, etc.

  • Editorial/ Letter to the Editor

Marshall-Pescini, S., & Whiten, A. (2006). “What is a disaster” and why does this question matter? [Editorial]. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 14, 1-2.

  • Review of a book

Schatz, B. R. (2000, November 17). Learning by text or context? [Review of the book The social life of information, by J. S. Brown & P. Duguid]. Science, 290, 1304. doi: 10.1126/science.290.5495.1304

  • Online book review

Zacharek, S. (2008, April 27). Natural women [Review of the book Girls like us]. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck-t.html?pagewanted=2

  • Review of a DVD

Axelman, A., & Shapiro, J. L. (2007). Does the solution warrant the problem? [Review of the DVD Brief therapy with adolescents, produced by the American Psychological Association, 2007]. PsycCRITIQUES, 52(51). doi: 10.1037/a0009036

  • Interview (published in a periodical)

The entry should follow the format of the original source of the interview (in this case, a journal article with one author).  In this example, the interview lacks a title, so a description of the interview is given in brackets

Archer, N. (1993). [Interview with Helen Burns, author of Sense and Perception]. Journal of Sensory Studies, 21, 211-216.

If the interview has a title, include the title (without quotation marks) after the year, and then give a further description in brackets if necessary. 

Fromm, M. G. (2014). Interview with Frank Ochberg. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 31(2), 206-216. doi:10.1037/a0036147

Example adapted from http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/citation/apa/interview/

APA 6th Edition Examples - Electronic Resources

  • An entire website (but not a specific document on the site)

Do not include in reference list; cite in text only. [More Information]

Example: The Michigan Online Resources for Educators (MORE) database is a excellent resource for lesson plans (http://more.mel.org/).

  • Document on an organization's website

Canarie, Inc. (1997, September 27). Towards a Canadian health IWAY: Vision, opportunities and future steps. Retrieved from http:www//canarie.ca/press/publications/pdf/health/healthvision.doc

  • Website (no author, no year, no page number)

Social workers come out in support of marriage for same-sex couples. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/2004/081704.asp

  • Online newspaper article

Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com

  • Online magazine article

Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retrieved from http://apa.org/monitor/

  • Online book review

Zacharek, S. (2008, April 27). Natural women [Review of the book Girls like us]. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck-t.html?pagewanted=2

  • Online product review (such as epinions.com)

Pixeltech. (2010, December 10). Sony VAIO L Series Just Touch it [Review of Sony VAIO notebook]. Retrieved from: http://www.epinions.com/reviews/Sony_VAIO_L_VPCL137FX_R_24_All_in_One_Touchscreen_Computer_Red_PC_Notebook

  • Online government report

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools (NIH Publication No. 02-2650). Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/asth_sch.pdf

  • Email

Do not include in reference list; cite in text only.

Example: According to S. D. Cathcart (personal communication, September 20, 2001), management is refusing to agree to the proposal.

  • Message posted to a newsgroup, online forum, or discussion group

Ramperdas, T. (2005, June 8). Re: Traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions [Online forum content]. Retrieved from http://www.wipo.int/roller/comments/Weblog/theme_eight_how_can_cultural#comments

  • Electronic mailing list (Listserv)

Smith, S. (2006, January 5). Re: Disputed estimates of IQ [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/Group/ForensicNetwork/message/670

  • Blog post

MiddleKid. (2007, January 22). Re: The unfortunate prerequisites and consequences of partitioning your mind [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/01the_unfortunate_prerequisites.php
 

APA 6th Edition Examples - Miscellaneous & Unpublished

  • Annual report

Home Depot. (2001). Home Depot 2000 annual report. Atlanta, GA: Author.

  • Online annual report

Proctor & Gample Company. (2010). P & G 2010 annual report. Retrieved from http://www.pg.com/annualreport2010/index.shtml

  • Interview or personal communication

Do not include in reference list;cite in text only.

Example: P. Drucker (personal communication, September 20, 2001) believes that there are several different types of managers.

  • Doctoral dissertation or master's thesis retrieved from the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database

McNiel, D. S. (2006). Meaning through narrative: A personal narrative discussing growing up with an alcoholic mother (Master’s thesis). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1434728)

IMPORTANT:  The Publication Number is located in the field titled Publication Number in the Indexing Document Details area of the record in the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database. The number is prefaced with AAT, which should not be included in the Publication Number. The Publication Number is equivalent to the UMI number that appears in the example for the APA citation for the dissertation or theses on page 208, APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition.

  • ERIC document

Greenberg, J. & Walsh, K. (2010). Ed school essentials: A review of Illinois teacher preparation. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality. (ED512668)

  • Conference proceedings (Unpublished paper or speech)

Smith, S. (2009, August). Putting the grrrr! Back in progressive. Paper presented at the meeting of the Progressive Librarians Guild, Detroit, MI.

  • Conference proceedings (Unpublished poster)

Ruby, J., & Fulton, C. (1993, June). Beyond reading: Editing software that works. Poster session at the annual meeting of the Society for Scholarly Publishing, Washington, DC.

  • Brochure/pamphlet

National Cancer Institute. (2000, June). Cancer research-because lives depend on it [Brochure]. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute.

  • Court case

Brown v. Board of Educ., 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

  • Legal statute

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 42 U.S.C. § 4331 (1970).

  • Code of Federal Regulations

FDA Prescription Drug Advertising Rule, 21 C.F.R. § 202.1 (2006).

  • Government report

U.S. Bureau of the Census. (2002). Statistical abstract of the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

  • Online government report

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools (NIH Publication No. 02-2650). Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/asth_sch.pdf

  • House or Senate Committee Report

Iraq: Meeting the challenge, sharing the burden, staying the course, a trip report to members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (S. Prt. 108-31). (2003).

APA 6th Edition Examples - Audiovisual Media

The following are interpretations based on rules put forth by the APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition. The Manual does not speak specifically to many types of online visual resources.

General rules

Always check your URL to make sure it works

Follow standard form for author’s name when possible (Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial.)

Use n.d. if no date exists

Do not use a URL if material was retrieved from a library database. Use the library database name.

  • Online Video Blog Post (YouTube, TED, Vimeo, TeacherTube, etc).

Use the designated shareable link as the URL, such as the Share URL in YouTube.

For Corporate Author or Channel, use as the Author. Use upload date as date if no creation date is available

Author Last Name, Author First Initial. Author Middle Initial. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL

TEDtalksDirector. (2009, February 16). Barry Schwartz: The real crisis? We stopped being wise [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/lA-zdh_bQBo

  • Image found in a free online resource

To assure copyright compliance, use a resource such as Flickr’s Creative Commons http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Creator’s last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Role of creator). (Year of creation). Description or title of image. [Type of work]. Retrieved from URL.

Examples:

Comas, J. S. (Photographer). (2007). Jordi Comas Teaching. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from http://www.flickr.com/photos/24567742@N03/4475421910/

Konopacki. (Cartoonist). Overcrowding. [Cartoon]. Retrieved from http://www.sites4teachers.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons/teachertoons/images/kono2DEC.gif

  • Image found in a library database

If it is a single image you found in a search in a library database. If there are credits under the image for the author or the original publisher, that should be noted in the citation.

Creator name. (Role of creator). (Year of creation). Description or title of image. [Type of work]. Retrieved from Database Name.

Cusic-McClatchy, C. C. (Photographer). (2009). Middle School Sex Education Class. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from GALE Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

  • If the image is part of an article, cite the source in your bibliography and follow the discussion of the image with an in-text reference to the published source. For non-standard presentation, such as Powerpoint, Wiki, etc., follow the reproduction of the image with a caption that includes (Article Author(s) Last Name, Year, p. xx, title of image)

Example: This would appear immediately following the reference to the image from the article, book, etc.

(Andrews & Sayers, 2006, p. 35, Table 1)

This would be the citation for the reference:

Andrews, P. & Sayers, J. (2006). Conditions for learning: Part 3. Mathematics Teaching, 199. 34-38. Retrieved from ProQuest Research Library.

  • Music recording

Artist. (Year) Name of Song. On Name of Collection/Album [Medium of recording]. City, State: Recording Label Company.

Coldplay. (2000). Trouble. On Parachutes [iTunes]. EMI Records Ltd. Retrieved from http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/parachutes/id23533494

  • Podcast

Van Nuys, D. (Producer). (2007, December 19). Shrink rap radio [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/

  • Television show episode

Egan, D. (Writer), & Alexander, J. (Director). (2005). Failure to communicate [Television series episode]. In D. Shore (Executive producer), House. New York, NY: Fox Broadcasting.

  • Live television broadcast

Crystal, L. (Executive Producer). (1993, October 11). The MacNeil/Lehrer news hour [Television broadcast]. New York and Washington, DC: Public Broadcasting Service.

  • Motion Picture/Video

Grey, B., King, G., & Pitt, B. (Producers), & Scorsese, M. (Director). (2006). The Departed [Motion Picture]. United States: Plan B Entertainment.

Author Names

When citing an author with a hyphenated first name in order of appearance, use the first letter with period, then present the second letter preceded by a hyphen.

Example:

Author is Jean-Baptise Lamour      Reference citation style is  Lamour, J.-B.

Author is Ru-Jye Chuang                Reference citation style is   Chuang, R.-J.

Source:  APA Publication Manual, 6th Edition, 6,27, p 184

If an author's first name is hyphenated, retain the hyphen and include a period after each initial. Do not put a space after the period of the first initial and the - preceding the second initial.