Why does academic work call for very careful citation practices when writing for the general public may not? The answer is that readers of academic work expect source citations for several reasons:

The guidelines for APA style tell you exactly what information to include in your citation and how to format that information.

Types of sources

Look at the Directory to APA-style references for guidelines on citing various types of sources—print books (or parts of print books), articles in print periodicals (journals, magazines, and newspapers), and digital written-word sources (an online article or a book on an e-reader). A digital version of a source may include updates or corrections that the print version lacks, so it’s important to provide the correct citation information for readers. For sources that consist mainly of material other than written words—such as a film, song, or artwork—consult the other sections of the directory. And if you can’t find a model exactly like the source you’ve selected, see Quick Help.

Print and digital sources

If your source has printed pages—a book or a newspaper, for instance—and you read the print version, you should look at the Directory to APA Style for information on citing a print source. If the print source is a regularly issued journal, magazine, or newspaper (look for a date or seasonal information such as “Spring” on the cover or first page), consider it a periodical rather than a book.

If you access the digital version of a magazine or newspaper article, or if you read a book on an e-reader device such as a Kindle, then you should cite your source not as a print text but as a digital one. A digital version of a source may include updates or corrections that the print version lacks, so APA guidelines require you to indicate your mode of access and to cite print and digital sources differently.

Articles from web and database sources

You need a subscription to look through most databases, so individual researchers almost always gain access to articles in databases through the computer system of a school or public library that pays to subscribe. The easiest way to tell whether a source comes from a database, then, is that its information is not generally available for free. Many databases are digital collections of articles that originally appeared in edited print periodicals, ensuring that an authority has vouched for the accuracy of the information. Such sources often have more credibility than free material available on the web.

Back to top

Parts of citations

APA citations appear in two parts of your text—a brief in-text citation in the body of your written text and a full citation in the list of references, to which the in-text citation directs readers. The most straightforward in-text citations include the author’s name, the publication year, and the page number. (See variations on this basic format.)

In the text of her research essay Tawnya Redding includes a paraphrase of material from an online journal that she had accessed through the publisher’s website. She cites the authors’ names and the year of publication in a parenthetical reference, pointing readers to the entry for “Baker, F., & Bor, W. (2008)” in her references list.

Back to top

Content notes

APA style allows you to use content notes, either at the bottom of the page or on a separate page at the end of the text, to expand or supplement your text. Indicate such notes in the text by superscript numerals (¹). Double-space all entries. Indent the first line of each note five spaces, but begin subsequent lines at the left margin.

Back to top