The 7th edition (2020) of the APA Manual is the most current edition in use.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of the article. Title of the Periodical, xx, pp-
pp.https://doi.org/xxxx
List author's last names in order of appearance on the article. Only list the authors initials for first and middle names.
Use a comma to separate each author's name. Even if there are only two authors, include a comma before the "&".
With articles that contain 21 or more authors, include the first 19 names, insert an ellipsis "..." instead of the "&", and then add the final author's name. Do not use et. al in the reference list, but do use it in the in-text citation (see Chapter 10, Example 4).
All words in the title of the article are lowercase except for proper nouns and the first word of the sentence and the first word after a colon.
The title of the periodical and the volume should be in italics and written in title case. If an issue number is available, add it after the volume and in parenthesis. The issue number is not in italics.
The second and subsequent lines are indented, or "hanging" indentation. Present DOIs and URLs as hyperlinks - do not break them to make them fit neatly on the page with hanging indentation (as we did in some of these examples). Consider using an online tool (such as shortDOIs or tinyurl) to shorten lengthy hyperlinks.
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. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-
6133.24.2.225
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.
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.
Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse of
research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). http://www.apa.org/monitor/
Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington
Post, A1, A4.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher Name. https://doi.org/xxxx
List author's last names in order of appearance on the book cover or title page. Only list the authors initials for first and middle names.
Use a comma to separate each author's name. Even if there are only two authors, include a comma before the "&".
Use only an "&", no comma, to separate two group authors.
For suffixes, use a comma to separate initials and the suffix (e.g. Author, A. A., Sr., & Author, B.).
All words in the book title are lowercase except for the first word of the sentence, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns (see pp. 165-169 for more on capitalization).
Include only the publisher name, not the location. Do not include business structure designations (e.g. Inc., LLC).
Always include the DOI if one is available. Double check using CrossRef.org.
The second and subsequent lines are indented, or "hanging" indentation (see pp. 321-328 for more details on citing various types of books)..
Peters, G., & Woolley, J. T. (2013). The presidency A to Z (5th ed.). CQ Press.
Henley, G., & McMullen, A. J. (Eds.). (2018). Gerald of Wales: New perspectives on a medieval
writer and critic. University of Wales Press.
Kallock, S. (2018). Sex work. In J. Elias, & A. Roberts (Eds.). Handbook on the international
political economy of gender (pp. 392-410). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Genova, L. (2015). Inside the O'Briens. (S. Sudduth, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Simon & Schuster.
American Psychology Association. (n.d.). Factorial analysis of variance. In APA dictionary of
psychology. Retrieved January 22, 2019, from http://dictionary.apa.org/factorial-analysis-of-
Audiovisual media should be cited as you would cite other types of work with the author, date, title, and source.
Consider if the work stands alone (e.g. film, artwork, music album) or if it is one part of a bigger whole (e.g. episode in a TV series, song from a music album, picture in a book).
In-text citations follow the same pattern of author name and year (e.g. Roberts, 2019).
After the name of the creator(s), you may need to include a description of who they are in relation to the material (e.g. Spielberg, S. (Director), Thompson, C. (Writer)). In the case of a work of art or painting, you do not need to include the word 'artist' or 'painter'.
After the title of the piece, include in brackets a description of the material (e.g. [Film], [TV series], [Audiobook], [Painting], [Digital image], etc).
Present URLs as hyperlinks - do not break them to make them fit neatly on the page with hanging indentation. Consider using an online tool such as tinyurl.com to shorten a lengthy URL..
For the most part, Fair Use guidelines allow you to lawfully cite materials that are strictly for classwork. But if you wish to reproduce audiovisual work, you may need to seek permission from the copyright owner and/or provide copyright attribution according to image/audio license terms (see Section 12.15 of the APA Manual for further details)..
Audiovisual Author, A. A., (date). Title of the visual work or a description of it. [Description]. Name
of the Source or Publisher. https://xxxxxxx
Photograph
Stanmeyer, J. (2019). Djibouti 2013 [Photograph]. National
Geographic. https://tinyurl.com/qsphoqs
Leutze, E. (1851). Washington crossing the Delaware [Painting]. Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City, NY, United States.
LifesBiggestQuestions. (2017, September 25). How do hurricanes form? [Video].
YouTube. https://youtu.be/ZO3aJ31wzGg
Demme, J. (Director). (1991). Silence of the lambs [Film]. Orion Pictures.
Audiovisual Author, A. A.(Role). (date). Title of the specific work [Description]. In A. A. LastName,
& B. B. LastName (Contributor's Role) Title of the Encompassing Work. Production Company.
https://xxxxx
Bright, K. (Director), & Malins, G. (Writer). (1998). The one with all the Thankgivings (Season 5,
Episode 8) [TV series episode]. In D. Crane & M. Kauffman (Creators), Friends.
Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions; Warner Bros. Television.
Sagal, P., & Kurtis, B. (Hosts). (2020, January 18). Alison Roman [Audio podcast episode].
In Wait, wait...don't tell me! NPR & WBEZ Chicago. https://tinyurl.com/wgz927q
Simon, P. (1986). You can call me Al [Song]. On Graceland. Warner Bros.
When citing an image taken from Google Images, you must click onto the image and go to the website from which it has originated. This is where you will find the information needed to cite the image.
The University of Vermont Libraries have a Guide on the finding, using (copyrights), and citing of images from Google and other places. It can help you properly attribute the images in your work.
Author, A. A. (date, if one). Title of the work. Site Name. https://xxxxxxx
If you are just mentioning a website in your text, use the name of the site and provide the (URL) in parentheses. Do not create a reference or use in-text citations for general mentions of a particular site.
If the author of a website or webpage is not immediately evident, check the "about us" or acknowledgement sections of the website. If you are still unable to locate an author, use the group/site name as the author.
Be as specific as possible with the date, including month, day and year. If you know the site/page is designed to have changing content, include "Retrieved month day, year," before the URL. If the page is archived and will not change, do not include a retrieval date.
Aiken, K. (2020, January 29). The best vegetarian Instant Pot recipes. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/best-vegetarian-instant-pot-recipes_l_5e28b509c5b6d6767fce6c99
American Psychological Association. (2020, January). Five ways to view coverage of the
Coronavirus. https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/bird-fl
Author, A. A. [username]. (date, if one). Content of the post up to the first 20 words. Site Name.
https://xxxxxx
This format is for references to posts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
If there are audiovisuals that go along with the post, include a description of them in brackets after the title.
Do not change the spelling or capitalization of the author or post title, and retain all hashtags, @ symbols, and links. Include emojis if possible, otherwise provide a description of the emoji in squared brackets where it would have appeared.
Present URLs as hyperlinks - do not break them to make them fit neatly on the page with hanging indentation. Consider using an online tool such as tinyurl.com to shorten a lengthy URL.
Ben & Jerry's [@benandjerrys]. (2020, January 26). The perfect accompaniment to new Netflix &
Chilll'd: The Chilll'd-tini! Get the recipe here (for those 21+ only): benjerrys.co/2NWe4u5
[Image attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/benandjerrys/status/1221493124293369856
New Hampshire State Parks. (2020, January 15). Yesterday was a pretty special day at
Mt Washington State Park. Scroll through the images and see why [Images attached] [News
feed post]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/NewHampshireStateParks/posts/10157966518000148
Zylinski, M. [@thelittlecookiebarn]. (2019, December 25). Merry Christmas! [Christmas tree emoji]
I seriously love this little door and wreath! Thanks @maddiescookieco for the inspiration [three
heart emjois] [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B6f-VeSAchD/
Some examples taken directly from the APA manual 6th ed. and modified for the 7th ed. rules.
Kessler (2003) found that among epidemiological samples... (narrative)
In 2003, Kessler's study of epidemiological samples showed that... (narrative)
Early onset results in a more persistent and severe course (Kessler, 2003). (parenthetical)
Kessler (2003) found that "among epidemiological samples..." (p. 15). (narrative)
"Early onset results in a more persistent and severe course" (Kessler, 2003, p. 15). (parenthetical)
as Kurtines and Szapocznik (2003) demonstrated... (narrative)
...as has been shown (Joreskog & Sorbom, 2007) (parenthetical)
Kissangau, et al. (2007) found... (narrative)
...studies revealed differences (Kissangau, et al., 2007) (parenthetical)
(Davis 2012; Kirkpatrick & Phillips 2013, 2014; Reynolds 2010, in press; Sharpton n.d., 2013, 2015) (parenthetical)
Sharpton (n.d., 2013, 2015), Davis (2012), and Reynolds (2010) noted changes in the samples.... (narrative)
Allport's diary (as cited in Nicholson, 2003). (narrative)
T.K. Lutes (personal communication, April 18, 2001) (narrative)
(V.-G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 1998) (parenthetical)
Use the following table to create a reference when one or more information elements are missing. This table is reprinted from:
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association.
(https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000). Reprinted with permission.
Only one space should be used after a period (p. 154).
For the first in-text citation with 3 or more authors, you can list just the first author followed by "et al." (p. 266).
References may include up to 20 names of authors for a single work (p. 286).
Book references should no longer include publisher location (p. 295).
APA style requires the use of DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) for all resources that have one, regardless of whether the work was found and used online or in print (p. 299).
DOIs and URLs should be presented as hyperlinks, and "doi:" and "Retrieved from" are unnecessary prior to a DOI or URL (p. 299).
DOIs should be presented in the following format: https://doi.org/xxxxx with no period at the end. If a source utilizes a different format (e.g. http://dx.doi.org/) change it to the preferred format above. It serves as a direct link to the material and provides consistency throughout the reference list. Long DOIs and URLs can be shortened using an online service (e.g. shortDOI or tinyurl) (pp. 299-300).
The 7th edition provides many more examples of citations and references for online sources. Examples of parenthetical and narrative citations are included with each reference example (See Chapter 10).
This edition provides greater instruction on how to cite digital media, with a section dedicated to Audiovisual Media (e.g. Film, TV series, Podcasts, Photographs etc.) (pp. 341-347) and another section covering many different types of Online Media (Twitter, Facebook, websites, online forums, etc.) (pp. 348-352).
Table 9.1 provides a useful guide on how to correctly format a reference even when important information may be missing (p. 284).
Here are some resources to provide you with the basics of how to use APA Style to correctly organize and attribute credit in your academic papers.
The Introduction video was uploaded October 29th, 2019 by the CSUDH Library.
In addition to the official APA manual and the examples to the right, several institutions have created helpful online guides.
* Be aware! The 7th Edition is still quite new. Some sites may not have updated their guides from the 6th Edition, so always check what edition is being referenced before using their examples! *
APA style of citing requires the use of DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) for all resources that have one regardless of whether the work was found and used online or in print. Many databases will provide the DOI for you along with the rest of an article's citation information (title, author, etc.). However, if you cannot find a DOI for your article, or if you have a DOI, but don't know what article it is for, use the following online DOI Resolver: www.crossref.org. If you are unable to determine the DOI of a work online, you may provide the URL address of the website at the end of the citation. "Retrieved/Accessed from" is no longer used. If the work without a DOI is from an academic database, do not include the URL. Instead leave the reference as you would for the print version.
DOIs were first introduced in 2010. Most articles published before 2010 will not have DOIs assigned to them. However, some publishers are starting to assign DOIs to older articles. You should check CrossRef.org to ensure you have the most accurate information.