University

APA Citation Guide

Quick Links

Books

One Author
Two Authors
Multiple Authors (3 - 20)
Chapter in an Edited Book

Journals

Guidelines
How to Cite a Journal Article in APA (Print)
How to Cite an Online Journal Article in APA (URL)
How to Cite an Online Journal Article in APA (DOI)
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Group Authors*

(*government agency, association, nonprofit organization, business)

Online Resources
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Electronic Resources

Wikipedia Articles
YouTube Videos
Web Page (Article) - Individual Author
PDFs
Video - No Author, No Date
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Examples

DSM-5 (print edition)
DSM-5-TR (good example of square brackets)
Yorkville University MACP Skills Learning Lab Videos
Abbreviations and In-text Citations
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Good APA Resources

University of Nevada, Reno: APA Citation Guide (7th Edition)
DSM - APA Citation Style (7th Edition)
Use of square brackets LibGuides at UCOL - Universal College of Learning
APA Style - Reference Examples
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One Author

Parenthetical Citation 1
Format: (Author Last Name, Year Published)
Example: (Curtis, 2020)
Narrative Citation 1
Format: Author Last Name (Year Published)
Example: Curtis (2020)
Reference Entry 1, 2, 3
Format: Author last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Date Published). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
Example: Wynne-Jones, T. (2015). The emperor of any place. Candlewick Press.

Two Authors*

* Authors should be cited in the exact order that they are listed by the source, even if they have not been listed alphabetically.

Parenthetical Citation 1
Format: (1st Author & 2nd Author, Year Published)
Example: (Curtis & Williams, 2020)
Narrative Citation 1
Format: 1st Author & 2nd Author (Year Published)
Example: Curtis & Williams (2020)
Reference Entry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Format: 1st Author last name, First initial, & 2nd Author last name, First initial. (Date Published). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
Example: Buss, A. H., & Pomin, R. (1975). A temperament theory of personality development. Erlbaum.

Multiple Authors (3 - 20)*

* Authors should be cited in the exact order that they are listed by the source, even if they have not been listed alphabetically.

Parenthetical Citation 1
Format: (1st Author et al., Year Published)
Example: (Harris et al., 2020)
Narrative Citation 1
Format: 1st Author et al. (Year Published)
Example: Harris et al. (2020)
Reference Entry 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Format: Author last name, First initial of all but last author separated by comma, & Last author last name, First initial. (Date Published). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
Example: Alper, S., Schloss, P. J., Etscheidt, S. K., & Macfarlane, C. A. (1995). Inclusion: Are we abandoning or helping students? Corwin Press.

Chapter in an Edited Book

  • Do not create references for chapters of authored books.
  • Instead, write a reference for the whole authored book and cite the chapter in the text if desired.
Parenthetical Citation 15
Format: (Author Last Name, Year Published, Chapter number, p. NULL)
Example: (McEwen & Wills, 2014, Chapter 16, p. 363)
Reference Entry 15
Format: Author last name, First initial. Middle initial. (Date Published). Chapter Name. In Editor Names (Eds.), Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle Page Numbers. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
Example: Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345-359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016

Journals 6

Guidelines
  • Structuring journal article titles in APA
    • Only capitalize the first letter of the first word of the article.
    • Do not italicize or underline the title of the article.
    • Follow the article title with a period.
  • Structuring the journal name in APA
    • The name is capitalized throughout, just as the publication capitalizes the title
    • The name should be italicized and followed by a comma.
  • Structuring volume and issue numbers in APA
    • The volume and issue numbers follow the publication title.
    • After the comma following the italicized title, put the volume number in italics.
    • Then, omitting the space, put the issue number in parentheses without italics.
    • Place a period after the closing parentheses, again omitting the space after the parentheses.
  • Structuring website addresses (URLs) and DOIs in APA
    • URLs and DOIs for a journal article come after the volume and issue number. After the period following the issue number, put a space followed by the full URL or DOI with no period at the end.
    • Since URLs can potentially change and DOIs cannot, APA journal citation style recommends using a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) instead of a website URL when possible.
    • If a source has a DOI, it should be included; it doesn’t matter if you viewed the print or online version.
    • In previous editions of APA, an APA website citation always included “Retrieved from” or “Accessed from” before a URL. Since APA 7th edition, you no longer need to include this.
How to Cite a Journal Article in APA (Print)
Format: Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page number(s). https://doi.org/—– (if available)
Example: Jacoby, W. G. (1994). Public attitudes toward government spending. American Journal of Political Science, 38(2), 336-361. https://doi.org/10.2307/2111407
How to Cite an Online Journal Article in APA (URL)
Format: Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article title. Online Journal Name, Volume(Issue). URL
Example: Poiger, U. G. (1996). Rock ‘n’ roll, female sexuality, and the Cold War battle over German identities. The Journal of Modern History, 68(3). https://www.jstor.org/stable/2946768
How to Cite an Online Journal Article in APA (DOI)
Format: Author’s last name, Author’s first initial. Author’s middle initial. (Year, Month Date published). Article title. Online Journal Name, Volume(Issue). https://doi.org/—–
Example: Poiger, U. G. (1996). Rock ‘n’ roll, female sexuality, and the Cold War Battle over German Identities. The Journal of Modern History, 68(3), 577. https://doi.org/10.1086/245343

Online Resources 1

NOTE: For an online resource, the author could be the name of the organization hosting the webpage or website, rather than the name of just one content contributor.

Before using an abbreviated group name as the author of your citation:

  • Spell out the abbreviation and define the group one time first in the text.
  • Afterward, use the abbreviation of the group name throughout the rest of the paper.
Example of Parenthetical Citation
First parenthetical citation: (Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities [AJCU], 2020)
Subsequent parenthetical citations: (AJCU, 2020)
Example of Narrative Citation
First narrative citation: The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities [AJCU] (2020)
Subsequent narrative citations: The AJCU (2020)

Wikipedia Articles 7, 8

  • Only the first word of the title is capitalized.
  • The in-text citation includes the title of the article (with title-case capitalization, and shortened if necessary) and the year.
  • APA recommends linking to a specific archived version of the Wikipedia article so that the reader can be sure they are accessing the same version.
    • This can be accessed by clicking the “View history” tab at the top of the article and selecting the latest revision.
    • If a wiki does not provide permanent links to archived versions of the page, include the URL for the entry and a retrieval date.
Reference Entry
Format: Article title. (Year, Month Day)*. In Wikipedia. URL
Example: Statistical hypothesis testing. (2022, May 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Statistical_hypothesis_testing&oldid=1090223185

* Date the article was last updated.

In-text citation
Example: (“Statistical Hypothesis Testing,” 2022)

YouTube Videos 9, 10

Parenthetical Citation
Format: (author*, upload date)
Example: (Asian Boss, 2020)

* The author is the name of the account, channel, or person that uploaded the video.

Narrative Citation
Format: author (upload date)
Example: Asian Boss (2020)
Reference Entry
Format: author.* (upload date). video title [Video]. YouTube. url
Example: Asian Boss. (2020, June 5). World’s leading vaccine expert fact-checks COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy: Stay curious #22 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQdLDMLrYIA

* The author is the name of the account, channel, or person that uploaded the video.

Examples

DSM-5 (print edition) - Text Citation 11, 12
Example: (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
DSM-5 (print edition) - Referrence Entry 11, 12
Example: American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Yorkville University MACP Skills Learning Lab Videos
Example: MACP Skills Learning Lab. (n.d.). Case Conceptualization & theories-Level 1: Knowing the basics [Video]. Yorkville University. https://courses.yorkvilleu.ca/iSpring/MACP/Skills-Learning-Lab/Modules/Case-Conceptualization-and-Theories/story.html
Abbreviations and In-text Citations 16
Example: An informal review was held, in which the counseling faculty expressed concern that Ward was refusing to comply with program policies and the ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2005).
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Web Page (Article) - Individual Author

Parenthetical Citation 13
Format: (Author Year)
Example: (Thompson, 2023)
Referrence Entry 13
Format: Author Last Name, First Initial.* (Year, Month Day).** Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Website Name. url
Example: Thompson, J. (2023, January 26). The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think. Quanta Magazine. https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-cause-of-depression-is-probably-not-what-you-think-20230126/

* Include author(s) name for webpage references where possible. An author may be a corporate body or organisation responsible for creating, producing or publishing a webpage. Where there is no identifiable author or authoring body, use the title of the webpage.

** Some webpages will have a 'last updated' date, use this only if it is clearly related to the content you are citing, not if it applies to the whole website. Otherwise use 'n.d.' for 'no date'.

PDFs

Guidelines 14
  • Cite the PDF based on what source the file actually is.
    • If the source you wish to cite is a PDF of a newspaper article, cite the source as you would a newspaper.
  • Cite a PDF the same way you would cite a webpage, including the URL leading to the PDF.

Video - No Author, No Date

  • Use title for author.
  • Include description of work in square brackets as part of the title.
Parenthetical Citation
Example: (PSYC 6104: APA Series - Diagnosis Vs Assessments, n.d.)
Narrative Citation
Example: PSYC 6104: APA Series - Diagnosis Vs Assessments (n.d.)
Reference Entry
Example: PSYC 6104: APA Series - Diagnosis Vs Assessments [Video]. (n.d.) Yorkville University. https://web.microsoftstream.com/embed/video/6a9c3b0f-efd7-403b-9959-48a6bcd8a28a

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