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APA (American Psychological Association) style consists of two elements: citations in the text and a list of references at the end of the document.

APA TEXTUAL CITATIONS

In APA style, a textual citation typically includes the name of the source’s author and the date of its publication. Textual citations vary depending on the type of information cited, the number of authors, and the context of the citation. The following models illustrate a variety of common textual citations; for additional examples, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

1. Summarized or Paraphrased Material For material or ideas that you have summarized or paraphrased, include the author’s name and the publication date in parentheses immediately following the borrowed information.

This phenomenon was identified more than 60 years ago (Wilkinson, 1948).

If your sentence already includes the source’s name, do not repeat it in the parenthetical notation.

Wilkinson (1948) identified this phenomenon more than 60 years ago.

2. Quoted Material or Specific Fact If the reference is to a specific fact, idea, or quotation, add the page number(s) from the source to your citation.

This phenomenon was identified more than 60 years ago (Wilkinson, 1948, p. 36).

Wilkinson (1948) identified this phenomenon more than 60 years ago (p. 36).

3. Source with Multiple Authors For a source written by two authors, cite both names. Use an ampersand (&) in the parenthetical citation itself, but use the word and in regular text.

(Tyshenko & Paterson, 2014)

Tyshenko and Paterson (2014) argued . . .

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For a source written by three, four, or five authors, include all the names the first time you cite the reference; after that, include only the last name of the first author followed by et al.

First Text Citation

Cashman, Walls, and Thomas (2015) argued . . .

Subsequent Citations

Cashman et al. (2015) found . . .

For a source written by six or more authors, use only the first author’s name followed by et al.

(Marken et al., 2016)

Marken et al. (2016) reported . . .

4. Source Authored by an Organization If the author is an organization rather than a person, use the name of the organization.

There is currently ongoing discussion of the scope and practice of nursing informatics (American Nurses Association, 2015).

In a recent publication, the American Nurses Association (2015) discusses the scope and practice of nursing informatics.

If the organization name is commonly abbreviated, you may include the abbreviation in the first citation and use it in any subsequent citations.

First Text Citation

(International Business Machines [IBM], 2016)

Subsequent Citations

(IBM, 2016)

5. Source with an Unknown Author If the source does not identify an author, use a shortened version of the title in your parenthetical citation.

Hawking made the discovery that under precise conditions, thermal radiation could exit black holes (“World Scientists,” 2009).

If the author is identified as anonymous—a rare occurrence—treat Anonymous as a real name.

(Anonymous, 2016)

6. Multiple Authors with the Same Last Name Use first initials if two or more sources have authors with the same last name.

B. Porter (2012) created a more stable platform for database transfers, while A. L. Porter (2012) focused primarily on latitudinal peer-to-peer outcome interference.

7. Multiple Sources in One Citation When you refer to two or more sources in one citation, present the sources in alphabetical order, separated by a semicolon.

This phenomenon has been well documented (Houlding, 2016; Jessen, 2015).

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8. Personal Communication When you cite personal interviews, phone calls, letters, memos, and emails, include the words personal communication and the date of the communication.

D. E. Walls (personal communication, April 3, 2016) provided the prior history of his . . .

9. Electronic Document Cite the author and date for an electronic source as you would for other kinds of documents. If the author is unknown, give a shortened version of the title in your parenthetical citation. If the date is unknown, use n.d. (for no date).

Interpersonal relationships are complicated by differing goals (Hoffman, n.d.).

If the document is posted as a PDF file, include the page number in the citation. If a page number is not available but the source contains paragraph numbers, give the paragraph number.

(Tong, 2010, para. 4)

If no paragraph or page number is available and the source has headings, cite the appropriate heading and paragraph.

The CDC (2007) warns that babies born to women who smoke during pregnancy are 30% more likely to be born prematurely (The Reality section, para. 3).

THE APA REFERENCE LIST

A reference list provides the information your readers will need in order to find each source you have cited in the text. It should not include sources you read but did not use.

Following are some guidelines for an APA-style reference list.

Following are models of reference list entries for a variety of sources. For further examples of APA-style citations, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.

BOOKS

10. Book by One Author Begin with the author’s last name, followed by the first initial or initials. Include a space between initials. Place the year of publication in parentheses, then give the title of the book, followed by the location and name of the publisher.

Power, G. A. (2010). Dementia beyond drugs: Changing the culture of care. Baltimore, MD: Health Professions Press.

11. Book by Multiple Authors When citing a work by from two to seven authors, separate the authors’ names with a comma or commas, and use an ampersand (&) instead of and before the final author’s name.

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Tyshenko, M. G., & Paterson, C. (2010). SARS unmasked: Risk communication of pandemics and influenza in Canada. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

To cite more than seven authors, list only the first six, followed by three dots (an ellipsis) and the last author’s name.

12. Multiple Books by the Same Author Arrange the entries by date, with the earliest date first.

Tabloski, P. A. (2007). Clinical handbook for gerontological nursing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Tabloski, P. A. (2010). Gerontological nursing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

If you use multiple works by the same author written in the same year, arrange the books alphabetically by title and include a, b, and so forth after the year—both in your reference list and in your parenthetical citations.

Agger, B. (2007a). Fast families, virtual children: A critical sociology of families and schooling. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.

Agger, B. (2007b). Public sociology: From social facts to literary acts. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

13. Book Authored by an Organization Use the full name of the organization in place of an author’s name. If the organization is also the publisher, use the word Author in place of the publisher’s name.

American Nurses Association. (2010). Nursing’s social policy statement: The essence of the profession (3rd ed.). Silver Spring, MD: Author.

14. Book by an Unknown Author If the author of the book is unknown, begin with the title in italics.

The PDR pocket guide to prescription drugs (9th ed.). (2010). New York, NY: Pocket Books.

15. Edited Book Place the abbreviation Ed. (singular) or Eds. (plural) in parentheses after the name(s), followed by a period.

Haugen, D., Musser, S., & Lovelace, K. (Eds.). (2010). Global warming. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press.

16. Chapter or Section in an Edited Book

Jyonouchi, H. (2010). Possible impact of innate immunity in autism. In A. Chauhan, V. Chauhan, & W. T. Brown (Eds.), Autism: Oxidative stress, inflammation, and immune abnormalities (pp. 245–276). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

17. Book in an Edition Other Than the First Include the edition number in parentheses following the title.

Quinn, G. R. (2010). Behavioral science (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Medical.

18. Multivolume Work Include the number of volumes after the title.

Weiner, I. B., & Craighead, W. E. (Eds.). (2010). The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology (Vols. 1–4). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

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19. Translated Book Name the translator after the title.

Bieler, A., & Gutmann, H.-M. (2010). Embodying grace: Proclaiming justification in the real world (L. M. Maloney, Trans.). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

20. Non-English Book Give the original title, then the English translation in brackets.

Hernandez, G. H., Moreno, A. M., Zaragoza, F. G., & Porras, A. C. (Eds.). (2010). Tratado de medicina farmacéutica [Treatise on pharmaceutical medicine]. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Médica Panamericana.

21. Entry in a Reference Work Begin with the title of the entry if it has no author.

Kohlrabi. (2010). In R. T. Wood (Ed.), The new whole foods encyclopedia: A comprehensive resource for healthy eating (2nd ed., pp. 178–179). New York, NY: Penguin Books.

PERIODICALS

22. Journal Article Follow the author’s name and the year of publication with the article title; then give the journal title, followed by a comma. For all journals, include the volume number (italicized). For journals that begin each issue with page 1, also include the issue number in parentheses (not italicized). Insert a comma and end with the page number(s).

Cumsille, P., Darling, N., & Martinez, M. L. (2010). Shading the truth: The pattern of adolescents’ decisions to avoid issues, disclose, or lie to parents. Journal of Adolescence, 33, 285–296.

23. Magazine Article Include the month after the year. If it’s a weekly magazine, include the day. Give the volume and issue numbers, if any, after the magazine title.

Stix, G. (2011, March). The neuroscience of true grit. Scientific American, 304 (3), 28–33.

24. Newspaper Article Include the specific publication date following the year.

Seltz, J. (2010, December 26). Internet policies examined: Schools aim to clarify social rules. Boston Globe, p. 1.

25. Newsletter Article Cite a newsletter article as you would a magazine article. If the date is given as a season, insert a comma following the year and then include the season.

Meyerhoff, M. K. (2010, September/October). Paying attention to attention. Pediatrics for Parents, 26 (9/10), 8–9.

ELECTRONIC SOURCES

Generally, include the same elements for electronic sources as you would for print sources. Include any information required to locate the item. Many scholarly publishers are now assigning a digital object identifier (DOI) to journal articles and other documents. A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency. It provides a persistent link to unchanging content on the Internet. When available, substitute the DOI for a URL. If the content is subject to change, include the retrieval date before the URL. Use the exact URL for open-source material; use the home-page or menu-page URL for subscription-only material or content presented in frames, which make exact URLs unworkable. Break URLs before a punctuation mark (or after http://), and avoid using punctuation after a URL or DOI so as not to confuse the reader.

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26. Nonperiodical Web Document To cite a nonperiodical web document, provide as much of the following information as possible: author’s name, date of publication or most recent update (use n.d. if there is no date), document title (in italics), and URL (or DOI, if available) for the document.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, June 1). Teens behind the wheel: Graduated driver licensing. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafety/Teen_Drivers/GDL/Teens_Behind_Wheel.html

If the author of a document is not identified, begin the reference with the title of the document. If the document is from a university program’s website, identify the host institution and the program or department, followed by a colon and the URL for the document.

Safety manual. (2011, March 18). Retrieved from Harvard University, Center for Nanoscale Systems Web site: http://www.cns.fas.harvard.edu/users/Forms/CNS_Safety_Manual.pdf

Journal Articles

27. Article with DOI Assigned

Iemolo, F., Cavallaro, T., & Rizzuto, N. (2010). Atypical Alzheimer’s disease: A case report. Neurological Sciences, 31, 643–646. doi:10.1007/s10072-010-0334-1

28. Article with No DOI Assigned

Srivastava, R. K., & More, A. T. (2010). Some aesthetic considerations for over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical products. International Journal of Biotechnology, 11 (3–4), 267–283. Retrieved from http://www.inderscience.com

29. Preprint Version of Article

Wang, T. J., Larson, M. G., Vasan, R. S., Cheng, S., Rhee, E. P., McCabe, E., . . . Gerszten, R. E. (2011). Metabolite profiles and the risk of developing diabetes. Nature Medicine. Advance online publication. doi:10.1038/nm.2307

Electronic Books

30. Entire Book Use “Retrieved from” if the URL leads to the information itself and “Available from” if the URL leads to information on how to obtain the content.

Einstein, A. (n.d.). Relativity: The special and general theory. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5001

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Dissertations and Theses

31. Dissertation Retrieved from Database For a commercial database, include the database name, followed by the accession number. For an institutional database, include the URL.

Siegel, R. S. (2010). Mediators of the association between risk for mania and close relationship quality in adolescents (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_dissertations/426

Reference Materials

Give the home-page or index-page URL for reference works.

32. Online Encyclopedia

Cross, M. S. (2011). Social history. In J. H. Marsh (Ed.), The Canadian encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com

33. Online Dictionary

Conductance. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conductance

34. Wiki

Tsunami. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2016, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami

Raw Data

35. Data Set

Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). FDA peanut product recalls [Data set]. Retrieved from http://www.data.gov/communities/node/81/data_tools/350

36. Graphic Representation of Data

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2011, April 4). Civilian unemployment rate (UNRATE) [Line graph]. Retrieved from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Web site: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE

37. Qualitative Data

Jaques, C. (2010). They called it slums but it was never a slum to me [Audio stream]. Retrieved from StoryCorps Web site: http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/category/historias

Other Electronic Documents

38. Technical or Research Report

Moran, R., Rampey, B. D., Dion, G. S., & Donahue, P. L. (2008). National Indian education study 2007, Part 1. Performance of American Indian and Alaska native students at grades 4 and 8 on NAEP 2007 reading and mathematics assessments (Report No. NCES 2008–457). Retrieved from National Center for Education Statistics Web site: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2008457.pdf

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39. Presentation Slides

Wyominginspector. (2010). Cell phone use in the mining industry [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/wyominginspector/cell-phone-use-in-the-mining-industry

General-Interest Media and Alternative Presses

40. Newspaper Article

Applebaum, A. (2011, February 14). Channeling Egypt’s energy of the crowd into positive change. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com

41. Audio Podcast Include the presenter, producer, or other authority, if known; date; episode title; any episode or show identifier in brackets, such as [Show 13]; show name; the words Audio podcast in brackets; and retrieval information.

Cooper, Q. (Presenter). (2011, February 10). Science in Egypt. The Material World [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/material#playepisode8

42. Online Magazine Content Not Found in Print Version

Greenemeier, L. (2010, November 17). Buzz kill: FDA cracks down on caffeinated alcoholic beverages. Scientific American. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id5fda-caffeinated-alcohol

Online Communities

43. Message Posted to an Electronic Mailing List, Online Forum, or Discussion Group If an online posting is not archived and therefore is not retrievable, cite it as a personal communication and do not include it in the reference list. If the posting can be retrieved from an archive, provide the author’s name (or the author’s screen name if the real name is not available), the exact date of the posting, the title or subject line or thread name, and a description of the type of post in brackets. Finish with the address.

Gomez, T. N. (2010, December 20). Food found in archaeological environments [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/2010/1297.html

44. Blog Post

Joseph j7uy5. (2010, May 11). Another rTMS update [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2010/05/another_rtms_update.php

Telecom. (2011, February 22). Cellphone use tied to changes in brain activity [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/cellphone-use-tied-to-changes-in-brain-activity/#comment-643942

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45. Email Message or Real-Time Communication Do not cite email messages in the reference list. Instead, cite them in the text as personal communications. (See item 8.)

OTHER SOURCES

46. Technical or Research Report Include an identifying number in parentheses after the report title. If appropriate, include the name of the service used to locate the item in parentheses after the publisher.

Arai, M., & Mazuka, R. (2010). Linking syntactic priming to language development: A visual world eye-tracking study (TL2010-18). Tokyo: Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.

47. Government Document For most government agencies, use the abbreviation U.S. instead of spelling out United States. Include any identifying document number after the publication title.

U.S. Department of State. (2010, June). Trafficking in persons report (10th ed.). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

48. Brochure or Pamphlet After the title of the document, include the word Brochure or Pamphlet in brackets.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, October). How to clean and disinfect schools to help slow the spread of flu [Pamphlet]. Washington, DC: Author.

49. Article from Conference Proceedings After the proceedings title, give the page numbers on which the article appears.

Sebastianelli, R., Tamimi, N., Gnanendran, K., & Stark, R. (2010). An examination of factors affecting perceived quality and satisfaction in online MBA courses. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Decision Sciences Institute (pp. 1641–1646). Atlanta, GA: Decision Sciences Institute.

50. Lecture or Speech

Culicover, P. W. (2010, March 3). Grammar and complexity: Language at the intersection of competence and performance. Lecture presented at the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.

51. Audio Recording Give the role (narrator, producer, director, or the like) of the person whose name appears at the beginning of the entry in parentheses after the name. Give the medium in brackets after the title.

Young, J. K. (Lecturer). (2007). The building blocks of human life: Understanding mature cells and stem cells [CD]. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books.

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52. Motion Picture Give the name of at least one primary contributor, such as the producer or director, and follow the film’s title with the words Motion picture in brackets. List the country in which the film was produced and the studio’s name. If the film was not widely distributed, give instead the distributor’s name and address in parentheses.

Fincher, D. (Director). (2010). The social network [Motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.

53. Television Program Start with the director, producer, or other principal contributor and the date the program aired. Include the words Television broadcast or Television series in brackets after the program title.

Fine, S. (Executive Producer). (2011). NOVA scienceNOW [Television series]. Boston, MA: WGBH.

For a single episode in a television series, start with the writer and director of the episode or other relevant editorial personnel. Include the words Television series episode in brackets after the episode title. Also include information about the series. End with the location and name of the station or network.

Dart, K., Evans, N., & Stubberfield, T. (Producers & Directors). (2010, October 26). Emergency mine rescue [Television series episode]. In H. Swartz (Executive Producer), NOVA. Boston, MA: WGBH.

54. Published Interview If it is not clear from the title that the entry is an interview, or if there is no title, include the words Interview with and the subject’s name in brackets.

Jackson, L. (2010, December 6). The EPA is not the villain [Interview with Daniel Stone]. Newsweek, 156 (23), 14.

55. Personal Interview Consider interviews you conduct, whether in person or over the telephone, as personal communications and do not include them in the reference list. Instead, cite them in the text. (item 8.)

56. Personal Correspondence Like emails, personal letters and memos should not be included in the reference list. Instead, cite them in the text. (item 8.)

57. Unpublished Data Where the title would normally appear, include a description of the data in brackets.

Standifer, M. (2007). [Daily temperatures, 2007, Barton Springs municipal pool, Austin, TX]. Unpublished raw data.

SAMPLE APA REFERENCE LIST

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Following is a sample reference list using the APA citation system.

Nonperiodical web document with no DOI

Journal article, paginated by volume

Online article with a DOI

Chapter in an edited book

Book in an edition other than the first

Online article, paginated by issue, with no DOI