apa essay how to

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How to Cite in APA Format (7th edition): Citation Style Guide

Table of Contents

What is APA 7th Edition ?    

The American Psychological Association (APA) introduced the latest edition of the APA Style Manual (i.e., APA 7 th edition ) in 2019. APA Style has its origins in 1929 , when a group of academics and professionals decided to develop a set of guidelines that would standardize scientific writing. The earliest form was a seven-page guide published in the Psychological Bulletin . The first formal edition of the APA Publication Manual was published in 1952, with subsequent editions appearing in 1974, 1983, 1994, 2001, 2009, and most recently, in 2019.  

Over the years, the APA style guide has evolved considerably to meet the changing needs of a wide range of disciplines, from social and behavioral sciences to health care, natural sciences, and humanities. APA Style is widely used by academic journals and books.  

As APA 7 th edition is the current and most updated version, students and researchers should familiarize themselves with the style guidelines, including the reference and citation styles.  

Who Should Use APA 7th Edition ?    

The aim of style guides such as the APA Style Guide is to simplify the work of editors and make it easier for readers to understand a text by ensuring a uniform format for a given publication. For example, the APA Style Guide will contain guidelines that lay down the APA reference format and APA style citation for authors to follow.  

The APA Style Guide can be a valuable reference when writing and formatting academic papers, irrespective of discipline. However, this style is primarily used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social sciences (e.g., sociology, psychology, anthropology), behavioral sciences, education, business, and nursing.  

If you are a student, you may consult with an instructor to check what style your discipline uses before using APA Style in your work. Most importantly, be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you plan to publish in to ensure APA 7 th edition is the correct style to use.   

APA In-text Citations    

Researchers rely on citations and references to give credit to original sources, support their arguments, and guide readers to additional information for further study. Let us now look at how to cite sources in APA format. The formatting requirements of APA 7th edition citation for referring to secondary sources in your text are as follows.  

The APA citation format includes the author’s last name and the year of publication. When referring to a particular part of a source, the page number may be included, e.g., “(Rawat et al., 2018, p. 115).”  

APA style citation in the text may be parenthetical or narrative.  

In parenthetical citation, the author’s name and the year of publication are placed in parentheses within the text. This style is used at the end of a sentence. See below for an example:  

• Gender, age, education, and income determine a person’s risk and adaptive capacities (Birkmann et al., 2022).  

In narrative citation, the author’s name appears as a part of the sentence, followed by the publication year in parentheses. See below for an example:  

• Birkman et al. (2022) note that gender, age, education, and income determine a person’s risk and adaptive capacities.

Table 1: How to cite sources in APA format when there are multiple authors and organizations as authors  

*First time with an abbreviation: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016); all subsequent citations: (WHO, 2016)  

Table 2: How to cite sources in APA format when some information is missing  

  APA Reference Format    

After APA citations , let us now look at the APA reference format. As an academic, you might use a wide array of source types. According to the APA style guide , each type is formatted in a certain manner. The most commonly used sources are journal articles, books, and dissertations. However, you occasionally might need to cite webpages, podcasts, and news article. How would all these appear in an APA 7 reference page ? You will find your answers in Table 3!  

Table 3: How to format various sources in the APA reference list  

Formatting the APA Paper    

Papers formatted according to APA 7th edition typically contain the following elements:  

Title page with the title (bold, centered), running head and page number in the header, author names and affiliations, and author notes (ORCID ID, conflicts of interest, etc.); see below:  

Next comes the abstract . It should be double spaced and use consistent font. The keywords appear below the abstract, with an indent.  

For the main text, margins are 1 inch on all four side s. T he text is double spaced . T he font used should be consistent . H eadings are used to separate sections , and d etails on heading levels are as follows:  

Source: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/headings

Finally, the APA 7 reference page contains the references to all sources used in the paper. References are double-spaced and use hanging indents :  

Style guides in academic writing serve to standardize formatting, citations, and language use across scholarly works. They provide readers with cues they can use to follow the text more efficiently and to locate information of interest to them. In other words, it avoids distraction of unfamiliar or non-uniform formatting.  

In this piece about APA 7th edition , we have explained in detail the nuances of APA citations , including how to cite in APA format and how to format the APA 7 reference page . A brief primer on formatting a manuscript in line with APA 7th edition is also provided.  

Frequently Asked Questions    

• What are the major changes from APA 6th to APA 7th Edition ?  

The updates from APA 6th to APA 7th Edition reflect a commitment to improving clarity, inclusivity, and usability in scholarly writing. The salient differences from APA 6 th edition are as follows:  

• Title page format: The title page has been updated for professionals. The author note includes information such as ORCID IDs and conflict of interest disclosures.
• Running head: The running head format has been simplified for professional authors.
• Font flexibility : There is greater flexibility in font specifications to enhance accessibility.
• Bias-free language guidelines: The guidelines for bias-free language have been updated to promote inclusivity and respect when writing about various identities.  
• Reference formatting: In APA 7th edition , the number of authors included in a reference entry has changed to allow up to 20 authors before using an ellipsis. The presentation of DOIs and URLs has been standardized.  
• In-text citations: In-text citations for works with three or more authors have been simplified to include only the first author’s name followed by “et al.”
• Accessibility: APA 7th edition emphasizes accessibility for users with disabilities, ensuring that guidelines support various modalities, including screen readers.  
• How do I cite a journal article in APA 7th Edition ?  

According to APA 7 th edition , a reference would appear as below:  

Author, A. A. (Year of Publication). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, volume number (issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy .  

The in-text citation would include the author name(s) and year of publication, e.g., (Andriolatou, 2007).   

• How should multiple authors be cited in APA 7th Edition?  

APA 7 citation style would vary depending on the number of authors and whether you are citing the source parenthetically or narratively:  

Single author, parenthetical: (Bik, 2020)  

Single author, narrative: Bik (2020) reported that…  

Two authors, parenthetical: (Bik & Urs, 2019)  

Two authors, narrative: As demonstrated by Bik and Urs (2019), …  

Three or more authors, parenthetical: (Bik et al., 2023)  

Three or more authors, narrative: Bik et al. (2023) have published…  

• How do I format in-text citations for a direct quote?  

When someone else’s words are copied verbatim in your paper, it refers to a direct quote.   

For APA 7 citation of short direct quotes (<40 words), use quotation marks around the quote and cite the author, year, and page number:  

Another way to look at it is how people “get a broader range of experience than they would on a feature” (Catmull, 2014, p. 209).  

For APA 7 citation of longer quotes, or block quotes, the sentence preceding the quote ends in a colon and is followed by the quoted text. No quotation marks are used. The quote is indented and cited without a period at the end (see the figure below).   

Figure: How to cite block quotes in APA citations

To conclude  

Over the years, the APA style guide has evolved significantly. The current version, APA 7th edition , has expanded in both scope and size to accommodate the needs of wide-ranging fields and to address changing times. Despite these changes, the core intention—to provide clear, consistent guidelines for effective communication—remains at the heart of APA Style .   

For busy researchers, not only is it difficult to remember the different elements of citations and references and the subtle differences in formatting, but it also a tedious task to manually format in-text citations and reference lists and ensure consistency between them. In addition, you might need to format (and even re-format) your manuscript according to different journals, which might follow styles different from APA 7th edition (MLA, Chicago, AMA, etc.)! But there is no need to worry…help is at hand!

Citation generators are online tools that format references in different styles. There are a number of citation generators available, and Paperpal has launched its new citation generator , which stands out from the others in many ways. As a part of Paperpal’s writing workflow, you can easily find and cite sources accurately in a matter of seconds.

This free citation generator supports the updated recent versions of 10,000+ styles, including APA 7th edition . Therefore, it can serve as an APA 7th edition citation generator if you need one! What’s more, you don’t need to switch between multiple tools to search, save, or format your citations. You can rely Paperpal’s citation generation feature for help with citing sources accurately and consistently in your writing. Explore Paperpal for free now!  

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• Research Guides
• Citing Your Sources

Citing Your Sources: APA (7th)

• Citing Basics
• Writing & Citing
• Chicago: Author-Date (17th)
• Chicago: Notes (17th)
• Citation Tools

About APA Style

Developed by the American Psychological Association, this style is most widely used for research papers in psychology and social sciences.

Citing a source in this style consists of two parts:

• An in-text citation
• A reference list entry

See How to Format In-Text Citations ,  How to Format the Reference List , and the Examples  in the left navigation for details.

How to Format In-Text Citations

For more detailed information see Chapter 8 of the  Publication Manual .

An in-text citation provides your reader with two pieces of information:

• The last name(s) of the author(s)  from the corresponding reference list entry
• The date  of the cited information

Standard Formatting of the In-Text Citation

Myrick (2015) examined the guilty pleasures of watching Internet cats.

Viewing online cats could help to regulate emotions, much like pet therapy in real life (Myrick, 2015).

• 2 authors: cite both names every time.
• 3 or more authors: include the name of the first author only and "et al." (even for the first instance). If shortening the authors leads to multiple references with the same author-date form, use as many subsequent names as needed to make it unique.

(Hinsch & Sheldon, 2013) ... Hinsch and Sheldon (2013) found....

(Nabi et al., 2006) ..... Nabi et al. (2006) demonstrated ....

(J. Moher, 2012 )

(M. Moher & Feigenson, 2013)

Children with bipolar disorder are treated in similar ways as adults (National Institute of Mental Health, 2015).

Polls show that black workers approve of labors unions more than white workers ("Black Workers Matter," 2016).

• No Date : use n.d. in place of the date.

When to Include Page Numbers

For more detailed information see Publication Manual sections 8.23-8.36.

When paraphrasing , APA style does not require page numbers in the in-text citation. However, authors are encouraged to include page numbers if it will help the reader locate the relevant information in longer texts. Consult with your professor regarding the need for page numbers for paraphrased information.

For direct quotations , the author, year and page number must be included. The page number can be given in parentheses at the end of the exact quotation or incorporated into the in-text citation.

Newman (1994) concluded "sibling conflict is so common that its occurrence is taken for granted" (p. 123).

Such findings have prompted one researcher to conclude, “Sibling conflict is so common that its occurrence is taken for granted” (Newman, 1994, p. 123).

For direct quotations from sources without page numbers , there are several possible approaches:

• provide a heading or section name
• give an abbreviated heading or section name, using quotation marks to indicate it has been abbreviated
• provide a paragraph number (manually count the paragraphs if not they are not numbered)
• provide a heading or section name in combination with a paragraph number

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, Watch for Symptoms section)

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, "What is the Difference" section)

(Smith, 2016, para. 1)

(Lee 2015, Discussion section, para. 4)

How to Format the Reference List

For more detailed information see Chapter 9 of the  Publication Manual .

The reference list provides the full details on the sources you used in the research for your paper.

Each entry should include the following reference components:

See the examples in the left navigation for the required elements for each type of source. Continue reading below for details on formatting each reference component and ordering the reference list.

Formatting of Reference Components

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.7-9.12.

• Invert the names of all authors (the last name followed by initials).
• Keep author names in the order they appear on the document.
• Put commas between the names, even when there are only two authors.

Dillard, J. P., & Shen, L. Guastello, D., Braun, S., Gutierrez, J., Johnston, K., & Olbinski, B.

• For multiple authors include all names for two to 20 authors. For 21 or more, give the first 19 names, follow by an ellipsis and the final author's name (do not include an ampersand).

National Institute of Mental Health.

Black workers matter.

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.13-9.16.

(2016, January). (2016, March 7). (2016, Summer).

• End the component with a period.

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.18-9.22.

• Capitalize the first word of the title, subtitle, and any proper nouns.
• Do not enclose in quotation marks or italicize.

Factors influencing infants’ ability to update object representations in memory.

• Capitalize the first word of title, subtitle, and any proper nouns.
• Italicize the title.

The media equation: How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places.

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.23-9.42.

See the examples linked in the left navigation.

Formatting and Ordering the Reference List

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.43-9.52.

General Guidelines

• Start a new page for the reference list.
• Center the word "References" in bold at the top of the page.
• Double space the entries.
• Use the hanging indent feature of your word processor to indent the second and subsequent lines of the entries.

Brown, L. (2016). Brownfield, G. (2015). Browning, R. (2013).

Order of Works with the Same First Author

Brown, L. (n.d.) Brown, L. (2013). Brown, L. (2016).

Oliver, M. B. (2003). Oliver, M. B., Ash, E., & Woolley, J. K. (2013). Oliver, M. B., Ash, E, Woolley, J. K., Shade, D. D., & Kim, K. (2014).

Feigenson, L., & Carey, S. (2003). Feigenson, L., & Carey, S. (2005).

Bartsch, A. (2012a). As time .... Bartsch, A. (2012b) Emotional gratification...

Order of Works by Authors with Same Last Name

Alphabetize by first initial.

Moher, J. (2012). Moher, M., & Feigenson, L. (2013).

Order of Works by Group Authors

Alphabetize by the first significant word; do not abbreviate name.

Moher, J. (2012). National Institute of Mental Health. (2015). Oliver, M. B. (2003).

Order of Works with No Author

Alphabetize by the first significant word in the title. For numbers, alphabetize as though they were written out.

Black workers matter. (2016, March 7) Moher, J. (2012). Oliver, M. B. (2003). The 100 Best Black Movies of the 21st Century. (n.d.).

How do I deal with ___?

Text citation:

Reference List:

National Institute of Mental Health. (2015). Bipolar disorder in children and teens [Brochure]. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-in-children-and-teens/qf-15-6380_152267.pdf

Black workers matter. (2016, March 7). The Nation, 302 (10), 16, 18.

No publication date

Use the abbreviation n.d.

American Psychological Association (n.d.) explains that the symptoms of acute stress are often short-term, such as upset stomach.

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Stress: The different kinds of stress. http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/stress-kinds.aspx

Dates for online sources

Do not use the copyright date found in the footer of the website. Use the "last updated" date on the page you are citing. If there no indication of when the page was published/updated, use n.d. (no date).

If you are citing a source that is designed to change or is continually updated and does not provide access to archived versions, use n.d. and include the retrieval date before the URL.

Missing citation elements for websites

see APA's  Missing Reference Information

Can't find an example reference in the Publication Manual

If there is no example of the type of source you want to cite, create a citation using the four basic elements:

• author: Who is responsible for this work?
• date: When was this work published?
• title: What is this work called?
• source: Where can I retrieve this work?

For more information, see APA's Elements of Reference List Entries .

Using a source quoted in a secondary source

( Publication Manual , 8.6)

It is best to use the original source, but if you cannot obtain it or it is in a language you don't read, you may cite it secondarily by including the secondary source in the reference list and mentioning the original work in the text.

Goldman and Goldman's 1988 study (as cited in Linebarger, 2001) found ....

Linebarger, D. L. (2001). Learning to read from television: The effects of using captions and narration. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93 (2), 288-298. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.2.288

Examples: Books, Chapters

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.29 and 10.2.

Author, A. A. (Year).  Title of work . Publisher Name. DOI or URL

• Write the publisher name as shown on the work on the copyright page. Do not include designations of business structure (e.g., Inc., Ltd., etc.).
• If the work is published by an imprint or division, use that name as the publisher.
• If author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher name from the reference.
• If there are multiple publishers listed, include all of them, separated by semicolons
• Include the DOI at the end of the citation, even if you used the print.

Engle, S. (2015).  The hungry mind: The origins of curiosity in childhood . Harvard University Press.

Subrahmanyam, K., & Šmahel, D. (2011). Digital youth: The role of media in development . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6278-2

Edited Book

For more information see:  Publication Manual , 9.29 and 10.2, examples 23-26.

Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (Year). Title of work . Publisher Name. DOI or URL

If the book has a DOI, include it at the end of the citation, even if you used the print.

Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., & Anderson, C. (Eds.). (2014).  The psychology of social status . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0867-7

Chapter in Book

For more information see:  Publication Manual , 9.28 and 10.3.

• If the work has multiple editions or volumes, include them as listed above; if not, skip those elements.
• Include DOI or URL, if available.

Hane, A. A., & Fox, N. A. (2016). Studying the biology of human attachment. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications  (3rd edition, pp. 223–241). Guilford Press.

Entry in a Reference Book

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.28 and 10.3.

• If there is no author, start the reference with the title of the entry.
• Include edition, volume, and DOI or URL, if applicable.

Kornell, N. (2013). Discrimination learning: Training methods. In H. Pashler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the mind (pp. 250–252). Sage Reference. 

Examples: Articles

Journal article.

For more information see: Publication Manual , chapter 9.25, 9.30, and 10.1.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article.  Journal Title,   vv (ii), pp.–pp. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxxx

• The vv is the volume number, ii is the issue number, and pp is the pages.
• Reproduce the journal title as shown on the work; do not abbreviate it.
• Italicize the journal number. Put the issue number immediately after the volume without a space and enclosed in parentheses.
• For articles with article numbers instead of page numbers, replace the page numbers with the word "Article" and the number.
• If retrieved from a library database, do not include its name or article URL.
• If a DOI is not listed, search metadata at  Crossref . If you don't find one, skip it.

Zaki, S.R. & Kleinschmidt, D. (2014).  Procedural memory effects in categorization: evidence for multiple systems or task complexity?  Memory and Cognition , 42 (3), 508–524. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-013-0375-9

Starr, L. R., Stroud, C. B., Shaw, Z. A., & Vrshek-Schallhorn, S. (2020). Stress sensitization to depression following childhood adversity: Moderation by HPA axis and serotonergic multilocus profile scores. Development and Psychopathology . Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579420000474

Shook, N. J., Fitzgerald, H. N., Boggs, S. T., Ford, C. G., Hopkins, P. D., & Silva, N. M. (2020). Sexism, racism, and nationalism: Factors associated with the 2016 US presidential election results? PLOS ONE , 15 (3), Article e0229432.

Magazine Article

For more information see:  Publication Manual , 9.25, 9.30, and 10.1, example 15.

Author, A. A. (Year, Month). Title of article.  Magazine Title,   vv (ii), pp.–pp. DOI or URL.

• If there is no volume and issue, follow the magazine title with a period and include the URL.

Epley, N., Savitsky, K., & Kachelski, R. A. (1999, Sept./Oct.). What every skeptic should know about subliminal persuasion. Skeptical Inquirer , 23 (5), 40–45, 58.

Weir, K. (2016, December). Policing in black & white. Monitor on Psychology , 47 (11). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/12/cover-policing

Newspaper Article

For more information see: Publication Manual , 9.25, 9.30, and 10.1, example 16.

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article.  Newspaper Title,  pp. xx. URL

• For newspapers, include "p." or "pp." before the page numbers.
• If the article appears on discontinuous pages, give all page numbers, separated by a comma.
• If retrieved online, include the URL.

Engel, S., & Sandstrom, M. (2010, July 22). There's only one way to stop a bully [Op-ed]. The New York Times , A23.

Carey, B. (2014, September 4). Why flunking exams is actually a good thing. The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/magazine/why-flunking-exams-is-actually-a-good-thing.html

Examples: Web, Blogs, Social Media

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.16, 9.13, 9.15, 9.16.

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page . Site Name. URL

• Use the webpage format only if there is no other reference type category that fits the work (e.g., journal article, online newspaper, blog, etc.)
• Include the retrieval date if the page is designed to change over time and is not archived, following this format: Retrieved Month Day, Year, from https://xxx.xxx.xxx
• If the author and site name are the same, omit the site name.

Black, M., & Lee, T. (n.d.). Geography of poverty: A journey through forgotten America . MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.com/interactives/geography-of-poverty/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.).  CDC COVID data tracker . Retrieved September 8, 2020 from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/

For more information see:  Publication Manual , 10.1, example 17 and 9.8.

Author, A. A. [username]. (Year, Month Day). Title. Blog Title . URL

• If the author's username and real name are known, provide the real name, followed by the username in square brackets. Otherwise, use the username (without brackets).

Clark, C. (2016, May 19). Cyber psychology part I - why the best memes go viral. BrainBlogger . http://brainblogger.com/2016/05/19/internet-psychology-part-i-why-the-best-memes-go-viral/

Social Media

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.15 and 9.8.

Author, A. A. [@username]. (Year, Month Day). Title . [Type of content]. Social Media Site Name. URL

• The title is the first 20 words of a posting. If there are no words, provide a short description in brackets.

Obama, B. [@POTUS44]. (2015, June 26).  Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/614435467120001024

Examples: Data Sets and Reports

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.9.

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of data set   (Version x.x) [Type of material]. Publisher Name. DOI or URL

If the author is the same as the publisher, omit the publisher name.

Schmidt, W. (2013). Mathematics teaching in the 21st century [Data file and codebook]. ICPSR. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34430.v1

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.4

Author, A. A. (Year, Month day). Title of report (Report No. xxx). Publisher Name. DOI or URL.

Gray, L., & Taie, S. (2015, April). Public school teacher attrition and mobility in the first five years: Results from the first through fifth waves of the 2007-08 beginning teacher longitudinal study: First look (NCES 2015-337). National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015337.pdf

Examples: Music, Film, TV, Images

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.13 and pp. 341-342.

Recording Artist, A. A. (Year). Title of song [Song]. On Title of Album . Recording Label.

• For classical works, give the composer as the author and note the recording artist or group in square brackets after the title. Use the publication date of the recording you used, but provide the year of the original composition in parentheses at the end of the reference. The in-text citation includes both dates, for example, Bach (1721/2010).
• If there are multiple recording labels, separate with a semicolon.

Beyoncé. (2016). Sorry [Song]. On Lemonade . Parkwood; Columbia.

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.12.

Director, D. D. (Director). (Year). Title of film [Film]. Production Studio.

Coogler, R. (Director). (2018). Black panther  [Film]. Marvel Studios; Walt Disney Pictures.

Online Video

For more information see: Publication Manual , 10.12

Author, A. A. [Screen name]. (Year, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. Streaming Site. URL

Who you put as the author depends on where you viewed the video. If a person or organization that posted the video is needed to find the exact version you viewed, such as on YouTube, use that user account as the author.

Stanford University [Stanford]. (2005, June 12).  Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford commencement address [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Jobs, S. (2005, June). How to live before you die [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die

Television Series Episode

Writer, W. W. (Writer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Year, Month Day). Title of episode (Season x, Episode x) [TV episode]. In E. E. Executive Producer (Executive Producer), Title of television series.  Production Company.

Averill, M. (Writer), & Silberlin, B. (Director). (2014, October 27). Chapter three (Season 1, Episode 3) [TV series episode]. In J. Snyder Urman, B. Silverman, G. Pearl, & J. Granier (Executive Producers), Jane the virgin. Poppy Productions; RCTV; Electus; CBS Television Studios; Warner Bros. Television.

For more information see: Publication Manual ,10.14

Artist, A. A. (Year of creation). Title of work [Type of Work]. Museum, Museum Location. URL

• If the image comes from a print source, cite that work (no need to include details about the image; just cite the page number in the in-text citation).
• For infographics, maps, photographs, and PowerPoint slides, replace Museum and Museum Location with the name of the site where the image was retrieved.
• If the work does not have a title, describe it in square brackets.

Lawrence, J. (1940-1941). They also made it very difficult for migrants leaving the South. They often went to railroad stations and arrested the Negroes wholesale, which in turn made them miss their train: The migration series  [Painting]. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, United States. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78540

Examples: Unpublished/Archival

Interview/discussion.

For more information see: Publication Manual , 8.8 and 8.8

Personal communication including unpublished interviews and class discussions are cited in the text only because they do not provide recoverable data that readers can access. An example of an in-text citation would be:

(M. S. Mandel, personal communication, May 15, 2020).

Manuscript/Archival Material

For more information see: APA Style , Archival Documents and Collections

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of material . Name of Collection (Call number, Box number, File name or number, etc.). Name of Repository, Location.

If there is no title on the document, include a description of the material in square brackets.

Cook, D. (1973, March).  Black culture-Imamu Baraka . Black Student Union and Afro-American Society Collection (MC218, box 2, folder 56). Williams College Archives and Special Collections, Williamstown, MA, United States.

Crampton, S. (2001, July 10). Interview by C. R. Alberti. [Tape recording]. Oral History Collection. Williams College Archives and Special Collections, Williamstown, MA, United States. 

Tague W. T. (1970, April). [Photograph of Lansing Chapman rink]. Photograph Collection (General) (MC214). Williams College Archives and Special Collections, Williamstown, MA, United States.

Need More Info?

• APA Style Website Official companion to the Publication Manual . The Style and Grammar Guidelines section provides explanations and examples of common questions. The Blog gives guidance on topics not fully covered in the manual.

What Needs to be Cited?

• Exact wording taken from any source, including freely available websites
• Paraphrases of passages
• Summaries of another person's work
• Indebtedness to another person for an idea
• Use of another student's work
• Use of your own previous work

You do not need to cite common knowledge .

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• Knowledge Base
• APA Style 7th edition
• Setting Up the APA Reference Page | Formatting & References (Examples)

Setting Up the APA Reference Page | Formatting & References (Examples)

Published on November 4, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on January 17, 2024.

On the APA reference page, you list all the sources that you’ve cited in your paper. The list starts on a new page right after the body text.

Follow these instructions to set up your APA reference page:

• Place the section label “References” in bold at the top of the page (centered).
• Order the references alphabetically .
• Double-space all text.
• Apply a hanging indent of 0.5 inches.

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Table of contents

Setting up the apa reference page, apa alphabetization guidelines, which sources to include on the reference page, annotated bibliography, creating apa references.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

References are ordered alphabetically by the first author’s last name. If the author is unknown, order the reference entry by the first meaningful word of the title (ignoring articles: “the”, “a”, or “an”).

Word processors like Word or Google Docs and citation generators can usually order the reference list automatically. However, ordering becomes challenging when citing multiple works by the same author or works by authors with the same last name.

Our in-depth article on ordering references in APA Style explains what to do in these situations.

Only include references for sources cited in the body text (with an APA in-text citation ). Don’t include references for:

• Sources that you only consulted;
• Personal communications (e.g., emails or phone calls);
• General mentions of websites or periodicals ;
• Common knowledge .

For some student papers, it’s common to describe or evaluate the source in an annotation . These annotations are placed on a new line below the corresponding reference entry. The entire annotation is indented 0.5 inches.

If an annotation consists of multiple paragraphs, the first line of the second and any subsequent paragraphs is indented an additional 0.5 inches.

The format of an APA reference differs depending on the source type. Play around with the options in the Scribbr Example Generator to get familiar with APA Style.

Scribbr Citation Generator

With Scribbr’s free APA citation generator you can easily cite your sources according to the new 7th edition guidelines. It’s accurate, fast, and easy to use. Give it a try!

APA Citation Generator

APA citation examples

Check out Scribbr’s citation examples to learn more about citing each type of source, ranging from books and journals to podcasts and tweets !

Periodicals

• Journal article
• Newspaper article

Reports and gray literature

• Press release
• Dissertation or thesis
• Conference paper

Books and reference works

• Dictionary entry
• Encyclopedia entry

Audiovisual works

• Movie or documentary
• YouTube video

Online media

• Personal communication
• Tables and figures

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Streefkerk, R. (2024, January 17). Setting Up the APA Reference Page | Formatting & References (Examples). Scribbr. Retrieved August 29, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/apa-reference-page/

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Session 2: Writing a Compelling Application Statement

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Becoming a Psychological Scientist

October 2022

• Transcript (PDF, 89KB)

Watch a panel discussion with Adrienne Stith Butler, PhD, APA deputy chief of Science, psychological scientists from different subfields, and Application Statement Feedback Program core team members.

This program does not offer CE credit.

More in this series

Watch a short video about about applying to and navigating graduate school for psychology as a student with a disability.

December 2023 On Demand Webinar

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April 2023 On Demand Webinar

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February 2023 On Demand Webinar

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Changes to Quotations

You can change direct quotations under certain circumstances. Some changes require you to explain the change, and others you can make without indicating the change to readers.

Changes to a quotation not requiring explanation

Some changes can be made to direct quotations without alerting readers:

• The first letter of the first word in a quotation may be changed to an uppercase or a lowercase letter to fit the context of the sentence in which the quotation appears.
• Some punctuation marks at the end of a quotation may be changed to fit the syntax of the sentence in which the quotation appears, as long as meaning is not changed (e.g., it might alter meaning to change a period to a question mark, depending on how the sentence is written).
• Single quotation marks may be changed to double quotation marks and vice versa.
• Footnote or endnote number callouts can be omitted.
• Any other changes (e.g., italicizing words for emphasis or omitting words) must be explicitly indicated.

Changes to quotations are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Sections 8.30 to 8.31 and the Concise Guide Sections 8.30 to 8.31

Changes to a quotation requiring explanation

Other changes require you to alert reader to the change:

• Use an ellipsis to indicate that you have omitted words within a quotation (e.g., to shorten a sentence or tie two sentences together).
• Either type three periods with spaces around each ( . . . ) or use the ellipsis character created by your word processing program when you type three periods in a row ( … ), with a space before and after.
• Use four periods—that is, a period plus an ellipsis (. … )—to show a sentence break within omitted material, such as when a quotation includes the end of one sentence and the beginning of another sentence.
• Use square brackets, not parentheses, to enclose material such as an addition or explanation you have inserted in a quotation.
• If you want to emphasize a word or words in a quotation, use italics. Immediately after the italicized words, insert “emphasis added” within square brackets as follows: [emphasis added].

If the quotation contains an error, it is necessary to indicate the error .