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Citation Style Guide: APA Citation

Covers four of the most prominent style guides, including citation examples, that can be used for writing papers and completing assignments.

About APA

APA Citation is most commonly used in Psychology, Education & Social Sciences.


A print copy of the APA manual is available at the Research Help Desk in the Academic Commons:

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 
 Call Numbers:
(GAC) Ref. BF76.7 .P83 2020
(CRC) Ref. 808 PUB
 

APA Citation Worksheet

Two Important APA Reference Documents

17 Most Notable Changes in the New 7th Edition APA Manual

APA Citation Examples

NOTE: All citations shall be double-spaced with the second line indented.

ARTICLE FROM A JOURNAL

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of the article. Journal Title, volume number (issue number), pages. DOI or URL

Example: Ke, F., & Hoadley, C. (2009). Evaluating online learning communities. Educational Technology Research & Development, 57(4), 487-510. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-009-9120-2

Without a DOI (Hardcopy)

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of the article. Journal Title, volume number (issue number), pages.

Example: Carter, K. (1995). Teaching stories and local understandings. Journal of Educational Research, 88(6), 326-330.

Without a DOI (Database or Website)

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of the article. Journal Title, volume number (issue number), pages. URL

Example: Goral, T. (2009). The sustainable learning community. University Business, 12(7), 18. https://www.universitybusiness.com/

NOTE: Capitalize the first letter of the first word of the title and any subtitles, as well as the first letter of any proper nouns. The full title of the book, including any subtitles, should be stated and italicized.
NOTE: When a reference has up to seven authors, spell out all authors names in the reference list.
NOTE: Use the following in-text citation example: (Ke et al., 2009).

ARTICLE FROM A MAGAZINE

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of the article. Magazine Title, volume number(issue), pages.

Example: Zimmer, C. (2009, July/August). The brain. Discover, 30(7), 24-25.

ARTICLE FROM A NEWSPAPER

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year, Month Day of publication). Title of the article. Newspaper Title, pages. Discontinuous pages are separated by commas

Example: Poirot, C. (2004, March 17). HIV prevention pill goes beyond 'morning after'. The Hartford Courant, pp. F1, F6.

BOOK BY A SINGLE AUTHOR

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year of publication). Title of the book. Publisher name.

Example: Staff, F.E. (1969). The valentine & its origins. Frederick A. Praeger.

WEBSITE

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). (Year, Month Day of publication or date of last revision, if known). Title of work. Site name. URL.

Example: Burka, L. P. (1993). A hypertext history of multi-user dimensions. California State University. http://www.csun.edu/~hceng028/m-hist.txt

VIDEO

Format: Author's last name, Initial(s). [Screen name]. (Year, Month Day of publication).Title of video [Video file]. URL

Example: BBC News. (2015, February 23). Astronomers discover 7 Earth-sized planets [Video file]. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=YouTube.be&v=xLxrCRfBdi0

In-Text (Paraphrase or Quote): (Author Surname OR Screen name, Year)


DOI: Digital Object Identifier

The DOI is a set of numbers and/or letters given to individual journal articles.

  • You should include the DOI URL for articles retrieved online or from hardcopy

  • The database might give the DOI in the citation section. If not, then you may find it at the top or bottom of the first page

  • When you have a DOI URL, you do not need to include the web address

  • When you do not have a DOI, you must include the URL of the journal's homepage from the publisher's website. If this URL is too long, you may use the publisher's
    homepage. You may have to search for this website online.

    Do not use the direct URL of the article and do not use the database name or URL
    (exceptions; a dissertation, an ERIC document or older JSTOR article)

  • Older hardcopy journals will not have a DOI, so you will cite it without one

Online APA Resources

Some useful online resources include:

APA Style Website:
The Basics of APA Style - APA Video (ONLY Internet Explorer)
What's New in the Sixth Edition - APA Video (ONLY Internet Explorer)

UMGC Library:
APA Citation Examples

Ezcelsior College OWL:
APA References - 7th Edition

Mendeley:
Mendeley Ultimate Citation Cheat Sheet (APA & MLA)
- Download PDF

Purdue OWL:
APA - 6 YouTube Video Series

APA Style Annotated Bibliography

UMGC Library:
How to Write an Annotated Bibliography - APA Style

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