Basics of APA (Purdue OWL) Reference list

Basic Form
APA style dictates that authors are named last name followed by initials; publication year goes between
parentheses, followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and
proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume
number which, with the title, is also italicized. If a DOI has been assigned to the article that you are using,
you should include this after the page numbers for the article. If no DOI has been assigned and you are
accessing the periodical online, use the URL of the website from which you are retrieving the periodical.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical,

volume number(issue number), pages. http://dx.doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy

The following rules for handling works by a single author or multiple authors apply to all APA-style references
in your reference list, regardless of the type of work (book, article, electronic resource, etc.)

Single Author Last name first, followed by author initials.

Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in

Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.

Two Authors List by their last names and initials. Use the ampersand instead of "and."

Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic

contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.

Three to Seven Authors. List by last names and initials; commas separate author names, while
the last author name is preceded again by ampersand.

Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S. (1993). There's

more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-

esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.

More Than Seven Authors. List by last names and initials; commas separate author names.
After the sixth author's name, use an ellipses in place of the author names. Then provide the final
author name. There should be no more than seven names.

Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . .

Rubin, L. H. (2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical

Communication, 57, 323-335.

Organization as Author

American Psychological Association. (2003).

 Unknown Author

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.).(1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

NOTE: When your essay includes parenthetical citations of sources with no author named, use a shortened
version of the source's title instead of an author's name. Use quotation marks and italics as appropriate. For
example, parenthetical citations of the source above would appear as follows: (Merriam-Webster's, 1993).

Two or More Works by the Same Author. Use the author's name for all entries and list the
entries by the year (earliest comes first).

Berndt, T. J. (1981).

Berndt, T. J. (1999).

When an author appears both as a sole author and, in another citation, as the first author of a group, list the
one-author entries first.

Berndt, T. J. (1999). Friends' influence on students' adjustment to school. Educational

Psychologist, 34, 15-28.

Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (1995). Friends' influence on adolescents' adjustment to

school. Child Development, 66, 1312-1329.

References that have the same first author and different second and/or third authors are arranged
alphabetically by the last name of the second author, or the last name of the third if the first and second
authors are the same.

Wegener, D. T., Kerr, N. L., Fleming, M. A., & Petty, R. E. (2000). Flexible corrections of

juror judgments: Implications for jury instructions. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 6,

629-654.

Wegener, D. T., Petty, R. E., & Klein, D. J. (1994). Effects of mood on high elaboration

attitude change: The mediating role of likelihood judgments. European Journal of Social

Psychology, 24, 25-43.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

If you are using more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same
order) published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article
or chapter. Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay as they appear in your
reference list, e.g.: "Berdnt (1981a) makes similar claims..."

Berndt, T. J. (1981a). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions and behavior

between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17, 408-416.

Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and behavior. Child

Development, 52, 636-643.

 Article in Journal Paginated by Volume. Journals that are paginated by volume begin with
page one in issue one, and continue numbering issue two where issue one ended, etc.

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of

Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Article in Journal Paginated by Issue. Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every
issue; therefore, the issue number gets indicated in parentheses after the volume. The
parentheses and issue number are not italicized or underlined.

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5-13.

Article in a Magazine

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31.

Article in a Newspaper. Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a
newspaper reference in APA style. Single pages take p., e.g., p. B2; multiple pages take pp., e.g.,
pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-C4.

Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country

Today, pp. 1A, 2A.

Note: Because of issues with html coding, the listings below using brackets contain spaces that are not to be
used with your listings. Use a space as normal before the brackets, but do not include a space following the
bracket.

Letter to the Editor

Moller, G. (2002, August). Ripples versus rumbles [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American,

287(2), 12.

Review

Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower:

A hero under control, by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert]. Contemporary Psychology, 38, 466-467.

Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location:

Publisher.

Note: For "Location," you should always list the city and the state using the two letter postal abbreviation
without periods (New York, NY).
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal

publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Edited Book, No Author

Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY:

Russell Sage Foundation.

Edited Book with an Author or Authors

Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals. K. V. Kukil (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.

A Translation

Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory,

Trans.). New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1814)

Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates:
Laplace (1814/1951).

Edition Other Than the First

Helfer, M. E., Kempe, R. S., & Krugman, R. D. (1997). The battered child(5th ed.). Chicago, IL:

University of Chicago Press.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B.

Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.

Note: When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the
numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical
references, except for newspapers.

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: A metaphor for

healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the

life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer.

Multivolume Work

Wiener, P. (Ed.). (1973). Dictionary of the history of ideas (Vols. 1-4). New York, NY:

Scribner's.
 Reference List: Other Print Sources

An Entry in an Encyclopedia

Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia Britannica. (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508).

Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica.

Work Discussed in a Secondary Source. List the source the work was discussed in:

Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route

and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608.

NOTE: Give the secondary source in the references list; in the text, name the original work, and give a
citation for the secondary source. For example, if Seidenberg and McClelland's work is cited in Coltheart et al.
and you did not read the original work, list the Coltheart et al. reference in the References. In the text, use
the following citation:

In Seidenberg and McClelland's study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993),

...

Dissertation Abstract

Yoshida, Y. (2001). Essays in urban transportation. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62,

7741A.

Dissertation, Published

Lastname, F. N. (Year). Title of dissertation (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Name of

database. (Accession or Order Number)

Dissertation, Unpublished

Lastname, F. N. (Year). Title of dissertation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Name of

Institution, Location.

Government Document

National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS

Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

For information about citing legal sources in your reference list, see the University of Nebraska, Kearney page
on Citing Legal Materials in APA Style.
 Report From a Private Organization

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Practice guidelines for the treatment of patients with

eating disorders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Conference Proceedings

Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995). Proceedings from CSCL '95: The First

International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Electronic Sources (Web Publications). Please note: There are no spaces used with brackets in
APA. When possible, include the year, month, and date in references. If the month and date are not available,
use the year of publication. Please note, too, that the OWL still includes information about print sources and
databases for those still working with these sources.

Article From an Online Periodical. Online articles follow the same guidelines for printed articles.
Include all information the online host makes available, including an issue number in parentheses.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online

Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart: For People Who Make

Websites, 149. Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving

Online Scholarly Journal Article: Citing DOIs

Please note: In August of 2011 the formatting recommendations for DOIs changed. DOIs are now rendered
as an alpha-numeric string which acts as an active link. According to The APA Style Guide to Electronic
References, 6th edition, you should use the DOI format which the article appears with. So, if it is using the
older numeric string, use that as the DOI. If, however, it is presented as the newer alpha-numeric string, use
that as the DOI. The Purdue OWL maintains examples of citations using both DOI styles.

Because online materials can potentially change URLs, APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier
(DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL. DOIs are an attempt to provide stable, long-lasting links
for online articles. They are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code. Many-but not
all-publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document.

Note that some online bibliographies provide an article's DOI but may "hide" the code under a button which
may read "Article" or may be an abbreviation of a vendor's name like "CrossRef" or "PubMed." This button will
usually lead the user to the full article which will include the DOI. Find DOI's from print publications or ones
that go to dead links with CrossRef.org's "DOI Resolver," which is displayed in a central location on their home
page.

Article From an Online Periodical with DOI Assigned

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume

number, page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 or http://dx.doi.org/10.0000/0000

Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European

Journal of Marketing, 41, 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161

Wooldridge, M.B., & Shapka, J. (2012). Playing with technology: Mother-toddler interaction

scores lower during play with electronic toys. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology,

33(5), 211-218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2012.05.005

Article From an Online Periodical with no DOI Assigned. Online scholarly journal articles
without a DOI require the URL of the journal home page. Remember that one goal of citations is to provide
your readers with enough information to find the article; providing the journal home page aids readers in this
process.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume

number. Retrieved from http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist

Ethics, 8. Retrieved from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

Article from a Database. Please note: APA states that including database information in citations is not
necessary because databases change over time (p. 192). However, the OWL still includes information about
databases for those users who need database information.

When referencing a print article obtained from an online database (such as a database in the library), provide
appropriate print citation information (formatted just like a "normal" print citation would be for that type of
work). By providing this information, you allow people to retrieve the print version if they do not have access
to the database from which you retrieved the article. You can also include the item number or accession
number or database URL at the end, but the APA manual says that this is not required.

If you are citing a database article that is available in other places, such as a journal or magazine, include the
homepage's URL. You may have to do a web search of the article's title, author, etc. to find the URL.

For articles that are easily located, do not provide database information. If the article is difficult to locate, then
you can provide database information. Only use retrieval dates if the source could change, such as Wikis. For
more about citing articles retrieved from electronic databases, see pages 187-192 of the Publication Manual.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume

number, page range. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Smyth, A. M., Parker, A. L., & Pease, D. L. (2002). A study of enjoyment of peas. Journal of

Abnormal Eating, 8(3), 120-125. Retrieved from

http://www.articlehomepage.com/full/url/

Abstract. If you only cite an abstract but the full text of the article is also available, cite the online abstract
as any other online citations, adding "[Abstract]" after the article or source name. However, if the full text is
not available, you may use an abstract that is available through an abstracts database as a secondary source.

Paterson, P. (2008). How well do young offenders with Asperger Syndrome cope in custody?: Two

prison case studies [Abstract]. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), 54-58.
Hendricks, J., Applebaum, R., & Kunkel, S. (2010). A world apart? Bridging the gap between

theory and applied social gerontology. Gerontologist, 50(3), 284-293. Abstract retrieved from

Abstracts in Social Gerontology database. (Accession No. 50360869)

Newspaper Article

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry handbook linked to drug industry. The New York Times.

Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/psychiatry-handbook-linked-to-drug-

industry/?_r=0

Electronic Books. Electronic books may include books found on personal websites, databases, or even in
audio form. Use the following format if the book you are using is only provided in a digital format or is difficult
to find in print. If the work is not directly available online or must be purchased, use "Available from," rather
than "Retrieved from," and point readers to where they can find it. For books available in print form and
electronic form, include the publish date in parentheses after the author's name. For references to e-book
editions, be sure to include the type and version of e-book you are referencing (e.g., "[Kindle DX version]"). If
DOIs are available, provide them at the end of the reference.

De Huff, E. W. (n.d.). Taytays tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian tales. Retrieved from

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/taytay.html

Davis, J. (n.d.). Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available from

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio? inkey=1-9780931686108-0

Kindle Books. To cite Kindle (or other e-book formats) you must include the following information: The
author, date of publication, title, e-book version, and either the Digital Object Identifer (DOI) number, or the
place where you downloaded the book. Please note that the DOI/place of download is used in-place of
publisher information.

Heres an example:

Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Chapter/Section of a Web Document or Online Book Chapter

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. In Title of book or

larger document (chapter or section number). Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Engelshcall, R. S. (1997). Module mod_rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine. In Apache HTTP Server

version 1.3 documentation (Apache modules). Retrieved from

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html
Peckinpaugh, J. (2003). Change in the Nineties. In J. S. Bough and G. B. DuBois (Eds.), A

century of growth in America. Retrieved from GoldStar database.

NOTE: Use a chapter or section identifier and provide a URL that links directly to the chapter section, not the
home page of the Web site.

Online Book Reviews. Cite the information as you normally would for the work you are quoting. (The
first example below is from a newspaper article; the second is from a scholarly journal.) In brackets, write
"Review of the book" and give the title of the reviewed work. Provide the web address after the words
"Retrieved from," if the review is freely available to anyone. If the review comes from a subscription service or
database, write "Available from" and provide the information where the review can be purchased.

Zacharek, S. (2008, April 27). Natural women [Review of the book Girls like us]. The New York

Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck

-t.html?pagewanted=2

Castle, G. (2007). New millennial Joyce [Review of the books Twenty-first Joyce, Joyce's

critics: Transitions in reading and culture, and Joyce's messianism: Dante, negative

existence, and the messianic self]. Modern Fiction Studies, 50(1), 163-173. Available from

Project MUSE Web site: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/mfs52.1.html

Dissertation/Thesis from a Database

Biswas, S. (2008). Dopamine D3 receptor: A neuroprotective treatment target in Parkinson's

disease. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3295214)

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries. Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide bylines
(authors' names). When no byline is present, move the entry name to the front of the citation. Provide
publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is present in the entry.

Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopdia Britannica online. Retrieved from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism

Online Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies

Jrgens, R. (2005). HIV/AIDS and HCV in Prisons: A Select Annotated Bibliography. Retrieved from

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/alt_formats/hpb-dgps/pdf/intactiv/hiv-vih-aids-sida-prison-

carceral_e.pdf

Data Sets. Point readers to raw data by providing a Web address (use "Retrieved from") or a general place
that houses data sets on the site (use "Available from").

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2008).Indiana income limits [Data

file]. Retrieved from http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf

 Graphic Data (e.g. Interactive Maps and Other Graphic Representations of Data). Give the
name of the researching organization followed by the date. In brackets, provide a brief explanation of what
type of data is there and in what form it appears. Finally, provide the project name and retrieval information.

Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment. (2007). [Graph illustration the SORCE Spectral Plot May

8, 2008]. Solar Spectral Data Access from the SIM, SOLSTICE, and XPS Instruments. Retrieved

from http://lasp.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/ion-p?page=input_data_for_ spectra.ion

Qualitative Data and Online Interviews. If an interview is not retrievable in audio or print form, cite
the interview only in the text (not in the reference list) and provide the month, day, and year in the text. If an
audio file or transcript is available online, use the following model, specifying the medium in brackets (e.g.
[Interview transcript, Interview audio file]):

Butler, C. (Interviewer) & Stevenson, R. (Interviewee). (1999). Oral History 2 [Interview

transcript]. Retrieved from Johnson Space Center Oral Histories Project Web site: http://

www11.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_histories.htm

Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides. When citing online lecture notes, be sure to provide
the file format in brackets after the lecture title (e.g. PowerPoint slides, Word document).

Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web

site: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/

index.html

Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides].

Retrieved from http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html

Nonperiodical Web Document or Report. List as much of the following information as possible (you
sometimes have to hunt around to find the information; don't be lazy. If there is a page like
http://www.somesite.com/somepage.htm, and somepage.htm doesn't have the information you're looking for,
move up the URL to http://www.somesite.com/):

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from

http://Web address

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010,

May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or
entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

To cite a YouTube video, the APA recommends following the above format.

Computer Software/Downloaded Software. Do not cite standard office software (e.g. Word, Excel)
or programming languages. Provide references only for specialized software.

Ludwig, T. (2002). PsychInquiry [computer software]. New York: Worth.

 Software that is downloaded from a Web site should provide the softwares version and year when available.

Hayes, B., Tesar, B., & Zuraw, K. (2003). OTSoft: Optimality Theory Software (Version 2.1)

[Software]. Available from http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/otsoft/

E-mail. E-mails are not included in the list of references, though you parenthetically cite them in your main
text: (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

Online Forum or Discussion Board Posting. Include the title of the message, and the URL of the
newsgroup or discussion board. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs,
newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author's name is not available, provide the screen name. Place
identifiers like post or message numbers, if available, in brackets. If available, provide the URL where the
message is archived (e.g. "Message posted to..., archived at...").

Frook, B. D. (1999, July 23). New inventions in the cyberworld of toylandia [Msg 25]. Message

posted to http://groups.earthlink.com/forum/messages/00025.html

Blog (Weblog) and Video Blog Post. Include the title of the message and the URL. Please note that
titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the authors name
is not available, provide the screen name.

J Dean. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the mirror? [Web log comment].

Retrieved from http://www.spring.org.uk/the1sttranspor.

Psychology Video Blog #3 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqM90eQi5-M

Wikis. Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like
Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects that cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their
entries.

OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2011 from the OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop.

org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay

Audio Podcast. For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following
information will be available. Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.

Bell, T., & Phillips, T. (2008, May 6). A solar flare. Science @ NASA Podcast. Podcast retrieved

from http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.htm

Video Podcasts. For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following
information will be available. Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.

Scott, D. (Producer). (2007, January 5). The community college classroom [Episode 7]. Adventures

in Education. Podcast retrieved from http://www.adveeducation.com

 In-text Citations
Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to
describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found...

If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater
within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose.

(Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media.)

When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word: Natural-Born Cyborgs.
Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of
Hitchcock's Vertigo."
Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television
series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The Wizard of Oz; Friends.
Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited
collections, television series episodes, and song titles: "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible
Worlds"; "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Summary or paraphrase
If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year
of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number
(although it is not required.)

According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners.

APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199).

Citing an Author or Authors

A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite
the work. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in the
parentheses.

Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports... or .(Wegener & Petty, 1994)

A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time
you cite the source. Use the word "and" between the authors' names within the text and use the ampersand in
the parentheses.

(Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, & Harlow, 1993)

In subsequent citations, only use the first author's last name followed by "et al." in the signal phrase or in
parentheses.

(Kernis et al., 1993)

Six or More Authors: Use the first author's name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

Harris et al. (2001) argued...

(Harris et al., 2001)

Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use
the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of
articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks.

A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using APA," 2001).

Note: In the rare case the "Anonymous" is used for the author, treat it as the author's name (Anonymous,
2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author.

Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the

organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source.

According to the American Psychological Association (2000),...

If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the
source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations.

First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000)

Second citation: (MADD, 2000)

Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more
works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list (viz., alphabetically), separated by a semi-
colon.

(Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983)

Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names.

(E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998)

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author
in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use
the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that...

Citing Indirect Sources

If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the
secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses.

Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).

Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the
original material and cite the original source.

Electronic Sources
If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style.
Kenneth (2000) explained...

Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or
the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation "n.d." (for "no date").

Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with

tutoring ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.).

When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers
find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the abbreviation
"para." followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the
document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under that heading.
Note that in some electronic sources, like Web pages, people can use the Find function in their browser to
locate any passages you cite.

According to Smith (1997), ... (Mind over Matter section, para. 6).

Note: Never use the page numbers of Web pages you print out; different computers print Web pages with
different pagination.