APA Style Guide

APA Style is a set of guidelines developed by the American Psychological Association to help writers consistently format papers and document sources.

The following APA citation examples are based on the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and the Concise Guide to APA Style. Copies of both guides are available in the Reference room (REF BF76.7 .P83 2020 and REF BF76.7 .C66 2020).

Reference Examples

Book with two Authors

Denning, P., & Little, J. (2017). Over the influence: The harm reduction guide to controlling your drug and alcohol use (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Ebook with a DOI

Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

Ebook wihout a DOI from an academic research database (same as citation for print book)

Purnell, L. D., & Fenkl, E. A. (2019). Handbook for culturally competent care. Springer.

Chapter in an Edited Book or Anthology

Ash, P. (2016). School shootings and mental illness. In L. H. Gold & R. I. Simon (Eds.), Gun violence and mental illness (pp. 105-26). American Psychiatric Association.

Chapter in one volume of a multivolume work

Purdy, E. R. (2017). 2012: Hurricane Sandy. In R. S. Carmichael (Ed.), Notable natural disasters: Vol. 3. Events 1971 to 2016 (2nd ed., pp. 1039-1043). Salem Press.

DSM-5 (Author & Publisher the same—omit publisher)

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

Entry in an Online Dictionary

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Insanity. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved January 9, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insanity

Note: Include a retrieval date in the reference, since entries in online dictionaries like Merriam-Webster are updated over time and not archived.

Journal article, without DOI, with a nondatabase URL

McGuinness, M. A. (2019). Preparing for medical emergencies. Dimensions of Dental Hygiene, 17(4), 30–33. https://dimensionsofdentalhygiene.com/article/preparing-medical-emergencies/

Journal article, with DOI, 3-20 authors

Lim, F., Paguirigan, M., & Cernivani, D. (2018). Delivering LGBTQ-sensitive care. Nursing Critical Care, 13 (4), 14–19. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.CCN.0000534918.70677.9c

Note: Cite all authors in your reference --up to 20 authors.

For 21 or more authors: Cite the first 19 authors, . . .LastAuthor. (Year).

Newspaper editorial from print source, no author

Gay rights are civil rights [Editorial]. (2020, June 16). The New York Times, A30.

Newspaper article from website

Zimmer, C. (2019, January 16). Air pollution, evolution, and the fate of billions of humans. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/science/air-pollution-fires-genes.html

Film or Video

Earp, J. (Director), & Katz, J. (Presenter) (2013). Tough guise 2: Violence, manhood & American culture [Film; educational DVD]. Media Education Foundation.

YouTube video or other streaming video

McKee, A. (2015, May 15). Introduction to criminal justice, section 1.2 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/ZXnp8OQwgH8

Webpage on a news website

Howard, J. (2019, December 16). Vaping linked with long-term risk of respiratory disease in new study. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/16/health/vaping-respiratory-disease-study/index.html

Webpage on a website with a group author

World Health Organization. (2018, December). Gaming disorder. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/gaming-disorder

In-text Citations

A writer must document all information and ideas taken from others, whether quoting that source or putting it in your own words. To do this, you can use in-text citations which point your reader to the exact source on your Reference list, as well as the location within that source. APA uses an author-date style for in-text citations. Parenthetical citations include the author's surname(s) and the year of publication. Use n.d. if no date given.

Parenthetical Citation Examples

One author: (McGuinness, 2019)
Two authors: (Denning & Little, 2017)
Three or more authors: (Lim et al., 2019)
Group author: (World Health Organization, 2018)
No author: (“Gay Rights Are Civil Rights,” 2020)

Narrative citations include the author's name in the sentence, immediately followed by the date in parentheses.

Example: According to the World Health Organization (2018), gaming addiction…

Quotations

APA recommends paraphrasing sources taken from others by putting them in your own words. Quoting sources word for word should be limited to reproducing an exact definition, or capturing an author’s exact wording because it was memorable or in order to respond to it. Add page numbers to your in-text citations for direct quotes (p. or pp. for multiple pages). When a work has no author, use the first few words of the title. Put quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter, and italicize the title of a periodical or book.

Short Quotations (Fewer than 40 Words)

Enclose the quotation with double quotation marks, and place the author(s), the year of publication, and the page number of the quoted text in parentheses immediately at the end of your quote, preceding the closing punctuation.

Parenthetical citation for a short direct quote

“The heart of patient-centered care is sensitive face-to-face communication” (Lim et al., 2018, p. 17).

Narrative citation for a short direct quote

According to Lim et al. (2018), “The heart of patient-centered care is sensitive face-to-face communication” (p. 17).

Block Quotations (40 or More Words)

Place the quotation in a block, indented five spaces from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks. The parenthetical documentation follows the closing punctuation. Use double spacing, as in the rest of your paper.

References

Start your reference list at the top of a new page. Entries are arranged alphabetically and double-spaced. Use a hanging indent for citations in the reference list, so the reader of your paper can easily scan the list to locate a specific citation in your paper. Every recoverable source cited in your paper should be included on your reference list, and every source on your reference list should be cited at least once in your paper.