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APA Formatting and Style

This guide provides helpful resources that will assist you with APA citations and formatting.

Periodicals

Basic examples are provided below on how to cite both print and ebooks. If you cannot locate a specific element, click here for missing element rules. Consult the APA Style Manual 7th edition for additional examples.

Book (Print Book) - italicize the title and end every element with a period (.)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (7th ed.). Publisher.

Example: Villa, S.S., (2020). Wishing for rain. Random House.

 

Book (Ebook) - italicize the title and end every element with a period (.), with the exception of the end of the URL or DOI

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (7th ed.). Publisher. DOI or URL

Example: Villa, S.S., (2020). Wishing for rain. Random House. https://wishingwebsite.com

 

Book (Dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia) - Italicize the title of any dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia.

Author, A. (Copyright Year). Title of Entry. Title of Source. Publisher.

Example: Villa, S.S., (2020). Western Weeds. Britannica. Yucca Publishing.

Rules:

If you are unable to locate an author's name, but find an editor's name, insert the editor's name in the author element using the following pattern:

Editor, A (Ed).

Basic examples are provided below on how to cite print and digital journal articles. If you cannot locate a specific element, click here for missing element rules. Consult the APA Style Manual 7th edition for additional examples.

 

Journal Article (with a DOI) - italicize the journal name and issue number.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of article. Title of the Journal,Issue#(volume#), page#.DOI

Example: Coloon, T. A., & J,. (1987). Rainy days are here again. Pediatric Mode, 27(111), 11-15. https://doi.org/10.1002.1254

 

Journal Article (without a DOI) - italicize the journal name and issue number.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of article. Title of the Journal,Issue#(volume#), page#.URL

Example: Coloon, T. A., & J,. (1987). Rainy days are here again. Pediatric Mode, 27(111), 11-15. https://www.time.com/rainy-day

Rules:

If your article consists of 20 or less authors, you must include all of the authors' names. An ampersand (&) goes right before the last author's name. See the example below:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B., Author, C.C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I.,

       Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R.

       R., Author, S. S., & Author, T. T. (Copyright Year). Title of article. Title of the Journal. Issue#, (volume#), page#, DOI

 

If there are 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors' names, exclude the ampersand, and insert an ellipsis (...) after the 19th name, then add the final author's name. See the example below:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B., Author, C.C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I.,

       Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R.

       R., Author, S. S., ... Author, Z. Z. (Copyright Year). Title of article. Title of the Journal, Issue#, (volume#), page#DOI

 

Basic examples are provided below on how to cite a print and digital article from a newspaper and magazine. If you cannot locate a specific element, click here for missing element rules. Always consult the APA Style Manual 7th edition for additional examples.

Magazine Article (Print) - Italicize the magazine title and volume number, but not the issue number.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the article. Magazine Title, Volume#(Issue#), page#.

Example: Lindor, C. (2011 April 5). Fire in the house. Loser, 14(37), 22-25.

Magazine Article (Digital) - Italicize the magazine title and volume number, but not the issue number.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the article. Magazine Title, Volume#(Issue#), page #. URL or DOI

Example: Lindor, C. (2011 April 5). Fire in the house. Loser, 14(37), 22-25. https://loser.com/toeri/teoos

 

Newspaper Article (Print) - Italicize the newspaper title.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the article. Newspaper Title. Newspaper Section.

Example: Pepper, D.R. (2011, March 12). Crazy people in our town. Current Argus. C4.

Newspaper Article (Digital) - Italicize the newspaper title and replace the newspaper section with the appropriate URL or DOI.  

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the article. Newspaper Title. URL or DOI

       Example: Pepper, D.R. (2011, March 12). Crazy people in our town. Current Argus. https://www.currentargus.com/crazypeopleinourtown

 

 

Basic examples are provided below on how to cite a webpage. If you cannot locate a specific element, click here for missing element rules. Consult the APA Style Manual 7th edition for additional examples.

Webpage (no author, but group name is available) - Italicize the title.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title. URL

Example: Center for Disease Control. (2018, January 23). People at high risk for developing the flu. https://www.cdc.gov/people-at-

                         high-risk

 

Webpage (with author) - Italicize the title.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title. Website group. URL

Example: Jones, C.G. (2018, January 23). People at high risk for developing the flu. Center for Disease Control. https://www.cdc.gov/people-at-

                  high-risk

 

Webpage (from a news website) - Italicize the title.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title. News Channel. URL

Example: Taylor, G.C. (2018, January 23). People at high risk for developing the flu. CNN. https://www.cdc.gov/people-at-

                       high-risk

Basic examples are provided below on how to cite miscellaneous sources. If you cannot locate a specific element, click here for missing element rules. Consult the APA Style Manual 7th edition for additional examples.

Social Media (Tweet)

Lastname, F. M. or Name of Group [@handle]. (Year, Month Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words. [Tweet].

Site Name. http://www....website goes here

Example: Farmers World Media Group [@crops]. (2009, December 22). Today was a hot day on the farm and I was ready to go

                       home in the good ol’ air conditioner [Tweet]. Twitter. https://www......url.com

TED Talk

TED Talk from the TED website

Last Name, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. Publisher. Streaming Service. URL

Example:  Galinsky, A. (2016, September). How to speak up for yourself [Video]. TED Conferences.

                              https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_galinsky_how_to_speak_up_for_yourself?subtitle=en

  • Parenthetical citation: (Galinsky, 2016)
  • Narrative citation: Galinsky (2016)
  • When the source is from TED’s website, use the speaker's name as the author.
  • Provide as specific a date as possible; in the example, only the year and month are available.
  • Include the description “[Video]” in square brackets after the title of the talk.
  • Credit TED Conferences as the publisher of the TED Talk.
  • Provide the URL.

TED Talk from YouTube

Last Name, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. Publisher. Streaming Service. URL

Example: TED. (2019, November 13). The danger of AI is weirder than you think | Janelle Shane [Video]. YouTube.

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhCzX0iLnOc

  • Parenthetical citation: (TED, 2019)
  • Narrative citation: TED (2019)
  • When the TED Talk is on YouTube, list the owner of the YouTube account as the author to aid in retrieval.
  • Provide as specific a date as possible.
  • Include the description “[Video]” in square brackets after the title of the talk.
  • Credit YouTube as the publisher of the TED Talk.
  • Provide the URL.
  • When the speaker is not listed as the author, integrate their name into the narrative if desired:
    • Shane explained that the artificial intelligence technically “did what they asked it to do—they just accidentally asked it to do the wrong thing” (TED, 2019, 8:51).

Source:  https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/ted-talk-references

Video Streaming

Last Name, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. Streaming Service. URL

Example: Lushi, K. (2016, July 3). Teenage culture [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?