Additional information on APA STYLE FORMATTING may be found at these sites:
In-Text Citations
APA Style uses parenthetical author-date citations. After summarizing or quoting a source, add parentheses containing the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number of the work.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).
If you use more than one work by the same author, use the letters a, b, etc., after the year.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007a, pp. 7-8).
If more than one author has the same last name, add their first initial.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (D. Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).
If two or more authors wrote the work, see the chart below.
If using the author's name in your text, do not include it in the parentheses.
Example: In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss observed that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (2007, pp. 7-8).
Example: In 2007, Dr. Seuss suggested that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (pp. 708).
If no author name is available, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title). Use quotation marks around titles of articles or web pages and italicize titles of books, periodicals, etc.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Fox in Socks, 2007).
If no pagination information is available, use paragraph numbers instead.
Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, para. 5).
Note: When paraphrasing or mentioning another work, it is helpful to still provide pagination information if the source text is long or difficult, or if it would help the reader find the text being paraphrased.
| Type of Citation | Mentioned in Text | Subsequent Citations in Text | Parenthetical Format, First Citation in Text | Parenthetical Format, Subsequent Citations in Text |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One work by one author | Walker (2007) says... | Walker (2007) | (Walker, 2007) | (Walker, 2007) |
| One work by two authors | Walker and Allen (2004) believe that... | Walker and Allen (2004) | (Walker & Allen, 2004) | (Walker & Allen, 2004) |
| One work by three to five authors | Bradley, Ramirez, and Soo (1999) disagree... | Bradley et al. (1999) | (Bradley, Ramirez, & Soo, 1999) | (Bradley et al., 1999) |
| One work by six or more authors | Wasserstein et al. (2005) feel that... | Wasserstein et al. (2005) | (Wasserstein et al., 2005) | (Wasserstein et al., 2005) |
| Groups as authors (readily identified through abbreviation) | National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2003) report... | NIMH (2003) | (National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2003) | (NIMH, 2003) |
| Groups as authors (no abbreviation) | University of Pittsburgh (2005) professors see... | University of Pittsburgh (2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) | (University of Pittsburgh, 2005) |
Source: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, D.C. (adapted)
| Journal: General |
AuthorLastname, F. I. (Date). Article title. Journal Title, Vol, pages. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxxx (Note: Include the digital object identifier (DOI) if one is assigned. If you retrieved the article online and no DOI is available, include the journal's home page URL.) |
|
Journal Article with 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 |
| Journal Article without DOI |
Graham, S. (2006). Impossible to hold: Women and culture in the 1960s. Journal of American Studies, 40, 156-159. Sillick, T. J., & Schutte, N. S. (2006). Emotional intelligence and self-esteem mediate between perceived early parental love and adult happiness. E-Journal of Applied Psychology, 2(2), 38-48. Retrieved from http://ojs.lib.swin.edu.au/index.php/ejap |
|
Journal with Non-Continuous Pagination (each issue begins on page 1) |
Simmons, C., & Becker-Olsen, K. (2006). Achieving marketing objectives through social sponsorships. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 154-169. |
|
Magazine Article |
Reed, S. (2006, August 21). Seeing past the war. Business Week, 16(4), 35-36. |
| Online Magazine Article |
Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). Retreved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/ |
|
Newspaper Article |
Seward, Z. (2006, December 14). Colleges expand early admissions. Wall Street Journal (Eastern ed.), pp. D1-D2. |
| Online Newspaper Article |
Brody, J. E. (2007, December 11). Mental reserves keep brain agile. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com |
| Book: General |
AuthorLastname, F. N. (Year). Book title. Location: Publisher. |
|
Entire Book: Print Version |
Gutman, R. W. (1999). Mozart: A cultural biography. New York: Harcourt Brace. |
| Entire Book: Electronic Version |
Gutman, R. W. (1999). Mozart: A cultural biography. Retrieved from http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/dxeprint/index.asp Gutman, R. W. (1999). Mozart: A cultural biography [Adobe Digital Editions version]. doi:10.1036/0034586772 |
|
Entire Book: |
Hock, R., & Price, G. (2004). The extreme searcher’s Internet handbook: A guide for the serious searcher. Medford: CyberAge Books. |
|
Entry in Online Reference Work |
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 |
| Entry in Online Reference Work (No Author) |
Trebuchet. (2009). In Merriam-Webster online dictionary (11th ed.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam -webster.com/dictionary/trebuchet |
|
Book: |
Begin citation with title. For example: NAICS Desk Reference: The North American industry classification system desk reference. (2000). Indianapolis: JIST Works. |
| Book: Multivolume |
When citing a multivolume work: Wright, Sewell. (1968-1978). Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. (Vols. 1-4). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. When citing only one volume: Wright, Sewell. (1969). Theory of Gene Frequencies: Vol. 2. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. |
| Chapter in a Book |
Willson, Jr., R. F. (2005). William Shakespeare's theater. In J. Rosenblum (Ed.), The Greenwood companion to Shakespeare: A comprehensive guide for students (pp. 47-64). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. |
| Entire Albums |
The Beatles. (1967). Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club’s Band [Record]. United States: Capitol Records. |
|
Individual Songs |
Glover, Frank. (2009). One way ticket. On Politico [CD]. n.l.: Owl Studios. |
| Rerecording by Artist other than Writer |
Goodenough, J. B. (1982). Tails and trotters [Recorded by G. Bok, A. Mayo, & E. Trickett]. On And so will we yet [CD]. Sharon, CT: Folk-Legacy Records. (1990) |
|
Spoken Word Recording |
Darling, S. (Speaker). (1988). To Kill a Mockingbird (Cassette). United States: Recorded Books. |
|
Musical Score |
Beethoven, Ludwig van. (1932). Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. Boston: Oliver Ditson. |
| Podcast |
Van Nuys, D. (Producer). (2007, December 19). Shrink rap radio [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.shrinkrapradio.com/ |
| Motion Picture | Spielberg, S. (Director). (1982). E.T. the extra-terrestrial [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Pictures. |
| Video |
Ryan, K. O., & Schrank, L. (Writers). (2008). Body language I: Beyond words [DVD]. Available from http://www.learningseed.com/ |
| Single Episode from Television Series |
David, L., & Seinfeld, J. (Writers). (1995). The soup nazi [Television series episode]. In Seinfeld. New York: NBC. |
| Map Retrieved Online |
Lewis County Geographic Information Systems (Cartographer). (2002). Population density, 2000 U.S. Census [Demographic map]. Retrieved from http://www.co.lewis.wa.us/publicworks/maps/Demographics/census-pop-dens_2000.pdf |
List the primary contributors in the author position and use parentheses to identify their contribution.
| Online Posting: General |
AuthorLastname, F. I. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description of form]. Retrieved from http://www.xxxx (If only author's screen name is available, use that for the author's name.) |
|
Entire website |
It is sufficient to give the website address in the text (in parentheses). |
|
Message Posted to Newsgroup, Discussion Group, Online Forum, etc. |
Rampersad, T. (2005, June 8). Traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions [Online forum comment]. Retreived from http://www.wipo.int/roller/comments/ipisforum/Weblog/theme_eight_how_can_cultural#comments |
| Message Posted to Electronic Mailing List |
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 (Note: "Listserv" is a trademarked name for a specific software program, so use "electronic mailing list" instead.) |
|
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/2007/01/the_unfortunate_prerequisites.php (Note: "MiddleKid" is a screen name, which the author used when posting to this blog.) |
Personal communications may be private letters, memos, non-archived electronic communications, personal interviews, etc. Because they do not provide recoverable data, they are not included in the reference list. The same is true of live performances.
Instead, you should cite these sources in your text with initial and last name of the communicator and as exact a date as possible.
Samples:
M. E. Daniels, Jr. (personal communication, July 4, 2009), explained in an email that . . .
(Butler Ballet, performance, December 13, 2008)
If you are citing a recording or archived copy of the performance or personal communication, these forms are recoverable and should be referenced in your Works Cited list as a video, online forum post, tape recording, etc.