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Beispiel APA-Richtlinien: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift (Journal)

Veröffentlicht am 16. November 2015 von Annika Heinemeyer . Aktualisiert am 18. Januar 2024.

Nach den APA-Richtlinien werden Quellenangaben für wissenschaftliche Zeitschriften – im Englischen ‚Journals‘ genannt – immer nach dem gleichen Format erstellt.

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Zeitschrift zitieren nach apa, online-versionen von journals zitieren, pdf-versionen von zeitschriften zitieren, häufig gestellte fragen.

Wissenschaftliche Zeitschriften werden von Forschenden dafür genutzt, Artikel und Ergebnisse von Studien zu veröffentlichen. Somit geben Journals dir Zugang zu aktuellen Forschungen und Informationen.

Besonders Artikel aus frei zugänglichen Journals sind daher eine gute Quelle für die Literaturrecherche deiner wissenschaftlichen Arbeit.

Nach den APA-Richtlinien werden Fachzeitschriften mit einem Verweis im Text und einem Eintrag im Literaturverzeichnis zitiert.

Du musst immer die Ausgabe und den Band der Zeitschrift angeben. Der Titel der Zeitschrift und der Band werden kursiv geschrieben.

Alle benötigten Informationen für die vollständigen Quellenangaben findest du in dem von dir zitierten Zeitschriftenartikel.

Artikel: Informationen für ein Journal finden

Mit der Scribbr-Quellenvorschau kannst du dir die Quellenangabe für eine Zeitschrift als Printversion und Online-Version sowie mit mehreren Autoren anschauen.

Scribbr-Quellenvorschau: Artikel aus einer Zeitschrift zitieren

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Bei Online-Versionen von Zeitschriften gibst du immer die URL in deiner Quellenangabe im Literaturverzeichnis nach APA an. Ist die Zeitschrift mit einem DOI (Digital Object Identifier) versehen, gibst du diesen anstelle der URL an.

• doi: 10.1080/02626667.2018.1560449
• https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2018.1560449

Zeitschriften sind oft als PDF-Dateien verfügbar. Sind die PDF-Datei und die Printversion des Journals identisch, gibst du die Zeitschrift wie die gedruckte Version in deiner Quellenangabe an.

Sind die Versionen nicht identisch (z. B. abweichende Seitenzahlen), werden sie wie zwei verschiedene Publikationen behandelt.

Fehlende Seitenzahlen in PDF-Versionen von Zeitschriften

Manchmal besitzen PDF-Versionen von Zeitschriften keine Seitenzahlen. Die APA-Richtlinien bieten dir verschiedene Möglichkeiten dafür, direkte Zitate ohne Seitenzahlen in deinen Verweisen im Text nach APA anzugeben.

Für fehlende Seitenzahlen kannst du angeben:

• das Kapitel
• den (gekürzten) Titel des Kapitels

„Ein einheitlicher Zitierstil ist wichtig“ (Neuer, 2020, Kap. 4 ).

Du kannst wissenschaftliche Zeitschriften nach APA-Richtlinien zitieren , indem du einen Verweis im Text und einen Eintrag im Literaturverzeichnis erstellst.

Bei Zeitschriften musst du die Ausgabe und die Nummer angeben. Handelt es sich um eine Online-Version, gibst du die URL oder den DOI an.

Beispiel: Zeitschrift zitieren nach APA

Verweis im Text: (Müller, 2020)

Literaturverzeichnis Müller, T. (2020). Ein Fazit für deine Bachelorarbeit schreiben. Scribbr Academia , 1 (3), 257–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/152700250000100304

Um Online-Versionen von Zeitschriften nach APA-Richtlinien zu zitieren, gibst du möglichst den DOI (Digital Object Identifier) an.

Nach der 7. Auflage der APA-Richtlinien werden DOIs gleichermaßen formatiert wie URLs. Die Bezeichnung DOI ist nicht länger notwendig.

Beispiel: DOI angeben nach APA

Müller, T. (2020). Ein Fazit für deine Bachelorarbeit schreiben. Scribbr Academia , 1 (3), 257–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/152700250000100304

Zeitschriften sind oft als PDF-Dateien verfügbar. Du kannst die PDF-Version einer Zeitschrift nach APA-Richtlinien genau wie die Printversion zitieren, wenn die beiden Versionen identisch sind.

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Heinemeyer, A. (2024, 18. Januar). Beispiel APA-Richtlinien: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift (Journal). Scribbr. Abgerufen am 21. August 2024, von https://www.scribbr.de/apa-standard/beispiel/wissenschaftliche-zeitschrift-journal/

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Das hat anderen studierenden noch gefallen, beispiel apa-richtlinien: wissenschaftlicher artikel (journal) in vorveröffentlichung, apa-richtlinien 7. auflage: die wichtigsten änderungen, literaturverzeichnis laut apa-richtlinien, aus versehen plagiiert finde kostenlos heraus.

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How to Cite a Research Paper in APA

Last Updated: October 19, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Gerald Posner . Gerald Posner is an Author & Journalist based in Miami, Florida. With over 35 years of experience, he specializes in investigative journalism, nonfiction books, and editorials. He holds a law degree from UC College of the Law, San Francisco, and a BA in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. He’s the author of thirteen books, including several New York Times bestsellers, the winner of the Florida Book Award for General Nonfiction, and has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. He was also shortlisted for the Best Business Book of 2020 by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. There are 12 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 162,247 times.

If you’re citing a research article or paper in APA style, you’ll need to use a specific citation format that varies depending on the source. Assess whether your source is an article or report published in an academic journal or book, or whether it is an unpublished research paper, such as a print-only thesis or dissertation. Either way, your in-text citations will need to include information about the author (if available) and the date when your source was published or written.

Sample Citations

Writing an In-Text Citation

• For example, you may write, “Gardener (2008) notes, ‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (p. 199).”

• For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (Meek & Hill, 2015, p.13-14).”
• For articles with 3-5 authors, write out the names of all the authors the first time you cite the source. For example: (Hammett, Wooster, Smith, & Charles, 1928). In subsequent citations, write only the first author’s name, followed by et al.: (Hammett et al., 1928).
• If there are 6 or more authors for the paper, include the last name of the first author listed and then write "et al." to indicate that there are more than 5 authors.
• For example, you may write, "'This is a quote' (Minaj et al., 1997, p. 45)."

• For example, you may write, “‘The risk of cervical cancer in women is rising’ (American Cancer Society, 2012, p. 2).”

• For example, you may write, “‘Shakespeare may have been a woman’ (“Radical English Literature,” 2004, p. 45).” Or, “The paper notes, ‘There is a boom in Virgin Mary imagery’ (“Art History in Italy,” 2011, p. 32).”

• For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (“Iconography in Italian Frescos,” 2015, p.13-14).”

• For example, you may write, “‘There are several factors to consider about lobsters’ (Gardner, 2008, p. 199).” Or, “The paper claims, ‘The fallen angel trope is common in religious and non-religious texts’ (“Iconography in Italian Frescos,” 2015, p.145-146).”

• For example, you may write, “‘The effects of food deprivation are long-term’ (Mett, 2005, para. 18).”

Creating a Reference List Citation for a Published Source

• Material on websites is also considered “published,” even if it’s not peer-reviewed or associated with a formal publishing company.
• While academic dissertations or theses that are print-only are considered unpublished, these types of documents are considered published if they’re included in an online database (such as ProQuest) or incorporated into an institutional repository.

• For example, you may write, “Gardner, L. M.” Or, “Meek, P. Q., Kendrick, L. H., & Hill, R. W.”
• If there is no author, you can list the name of the organization that published the research paper. For example, you may write, “American Cancer Society” or “The Reading Room.”
• Formally published documents that don’t list an author or that have a corporate author are typically reports or white papers .

• For example, you may write, “Gardner, L. M. (2008).” Or, “American Cancer Society. (2015).”

• For example, you may write, “Gardner, L. M. (2008). Crustaceans: Research and data.” Or, “American Cancer Society. (2015). Cervical cancer rates in women ages 20-45.”

• For example, for a journal article, you may write, “Gardner, L. M. (2008). Crustaceans: Research and data. Modern Journal of Malacostracan Research, 25, 150-305.”
• For a book chapter, you could write: “Wooster, B. W. (1937). A comparative study of modern Dutch cow creamers. In T. E. Travers (Ed.), A Detailed History of Tea Serviceware (pp. 127-155). London: Wimble Press."

• For example, you may write, “Kotb, M. A., Kamal, A. M., Aldossary, N. M., & Bedewi, M. A. (2019). Effect of vitamin D replacement on depression in multiple sclerosis patients. Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders, 29, 111-117. Retrieved from PubMed, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30708308.
• If you’re citing a paper or article that was published online but did not come from an academic journal or database, provide information about the author (if known), the date of publication (if available), and the website where you found the article. For example: “Hill, M. (n.d.). Egypt in the Ptolemaic Period. Retrieved from https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ptol/hd_ptol.htm”

Citing Unpublished Sources in Your Reference List

• Print-only dissertations or theses.
• Articles or book chapters that are in press or have been recently prepared or submitted for publication.
• Papers that have been rejected for publication or were never intended for publication (such as student research papers or unpublished conference papers).

• If the paper is currently being prepared for publication, include the author’s name, the year when the current draft was completed, and the title of the article in italics, followed by “Manuscript in preparation.” For example: Wooster, B. W. (1932). What the well-dressed man is wearing. Manuscript in preparation.
• If the paper has been submitted for publication, format the citation the same way as if it were in preparation, but instead follow the title with “Manuscript submitted for publication.” For example: Wooster, B. W. (1932). What the well-dressed man is wearing. Manuscript submitted for publication.
• If the paper has been accepted for publication but is not yet published, replace the date with “in press.” Do not italicize the paper title, but do include the title of the periodical or book in which it will be published and italicize that. For example: Wooster, B. W. (in press). What the well-dressed man is wearing. Milady’s Boudoir.

• If the paper was written for a conference but never published, your citation should look like this: Riker, W. T. (2019, March). Traditional methods for the preparation of spiny lobe-fish. Paper presented at the 325th Annual Intergalactic Culinary Conference, San Francisco, CA.
• For an unpublished paper written by a student for a class, include details about the institution where the paper was written. For example: Crusher, B. H. (2019). A typology of Cardassian skin diseases. Unpublished manuscript, Department of External Medicine, Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, CA.

• For example, you may write, “Pendlebottom, R. H. (2011). Iconography in Italian Frescos (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). New York University, New York, United States.”

Community Q&A

• If you want certain information to stand out in the research paper, then you can consider using a block quote. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7JournalArticles
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_author_authors.html
• ↑ https://bowvalleycollege.libguides.com/c.php?g=714519&p=5093747
• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://libguides.southernct.edu/c.php?g=7125&p=34582#1951239
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_electronic_sources.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_articles_in_periodicals.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_books.html
• ↑ https://morlingcollege.libguides.com/apareferencing/unpublished-or-informally-published-work
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_apa_faqs.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_other_print_sources.html

About This Article

To cite a research paper in-text in APA, name the author in the text to introduce the quote and put the publication date for the text in parentheses. At the end of your quote, put the page number in parentheses. If you don’t mention the author in your prose, include them in the citation. Start the citation, which should come at the end of the quote, by listing the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the page number. Make sure to put all of this information in parentheses. If there’s no author, use the name of the organization that published the paper or the first few words from the title. To learn how to cite published and unpublished sources in your reference list, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

APA Citation Generator

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, a comprehensive guide to apa citations and format, overview of this guide:.

This page provides you with an overview of APA format, 7th edition. Included is information about referencing, various citation formats with examples for each source type, and other helpful information.

If you’re looking for MLA format , check out the Citation Machine MLA Guide. Also, visit the Citation Machine homepage to use the APA formatter, which is an APA citation generator, and to see more styles .

Being responsible while researching

When you’re writing a research paper or creating a research project, you will probably use another individual’s work to help develop your own assignment. A good researcher or scholar uses another individual’s work in a responsible way. This involves indicating that the work of other individuals is included in your project (i.e., citing), which is one way to prevent plagiarism.

Plagiarism? What is it?

The word plagiarism is derived from the Latin word, plagiare , which means “to kidnap.” The term has evolved over the years to now mean the act of taking another individual’s work and using it as your own, without acknowledging the original author (American Psychological Association, 2020 p. 21). Plagiarism can be illegal and there can be serious ramifications for plagiarizing someone else’s work. Thankfully, plagiarism can be prevented. One way it can be prevented is by including citations and references in your research project. Want to make them quickly and easily? Try the Citation Machine citation generator, which is found on our homepage.

All about citations & references

Citations and references should be included anytime you use another individual’s work in your own assignment. When including a quote, paraphrased information, images, or any other piece of information from another’s work, you need to show where you found it by including a citation and a reference. This guide explains how to make them.

APA style citations are added in the body of a research paper or project and references are added to the last page.

Citations , which are called in-text citations, are included when you’re adding information from another individual’s work into your own project. When you add text word-for-word from another source into your project, or take information from another source and place it in your own words and writing style (known as paraphrasing), you create an in-text citation. These citations are short in length and are placed in the main part of your project, directly after the borrowed information.

References are found at the end of your research project, usually on the last page. Included on this reference list page is the full information for any in-text citations found in the body of the project. These references are listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name.

An APA in-text citation includes only three items: the last name(s) of the author(s), the year the source was published, and sometimes the page or location of the information. References include more information such as the name of the author(s), the year the source was published, the full title of the source, and the URL or page range.

Why is it important to include citations & references

Including APA citations and references in your research projects is a very important component of the research process. When you include citations, you’re being a responsible researcher. You’re showing readers that you were able to find valuable, high-quality information from other sources, place them into your project where appropriate, all while acknowledging the original authors and their work.

Common ways students and scholars accidentally plagiarize

Believe it or not, there are instances when you could attempt to include in-text and full references in the appropriate places, but still accidentally plagiarize. Here are some common mistakes to be aware of:

Mistake #1 - Misquoting sources: If you plan to use a direct quote, make sure you copy it exactly as is. Sure, you can use part of the full quote or sentence, but if you decide to put quotation marks around any words, those words should match exactly what was found in the original source. Here’s a line from The Little Prince , by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”

Here’s an acceptable option:

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves,” stated de Saint-Exupéry (1943, p. 3).

Here’s a misquote:

“Grown-ups barely ever understand anything by themselves,” stated de Saint-Exupéry (1943, p. 3).

Notice the slight change in the words. The incorrect phrasing is an instance of accidental plagiarism.

Mistake #2 - Problems with paraphrasing: When we paraphrase, we restate information using our own words and writing style. It’s not acceptable to substitute words from the original source with synonyms.

Let’s use the same sentence from The Little Prince .

A correct paraphrase could be:

de Saint-Exupéry (1943) shares various ways adults frustrate children. One of the biggest being that kids have to explain everything. It’s too bad adults are unable to comprehend anything on their own (p. 3).

An incorrect paraphrase would be:

de Saint-Exupéry (1943) shares that adults never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for kids to be always and forever clarifying things to them (p.3).

Notice how close the incorrect paraphrase is from the original. This is an instance of accidental plagiarism.

Make sure you quote and paraphrase properly in order to prevent accidental plagiarism.

If you’re having a difficult time paraphrasing properly, it is acceptable to paraphrase part of the text AND use a direct quote. Here’s an example:

de Saint-Exupery (1943) shares various ways adults frustrate children. One of the biggest being that kids have to explain everything, and “it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them” (p. 3).

Information About APA

Who created it.

The American Psychological Association is an organization created for individuals in the psychology field. With close to 121,000 members, they provide educational opportunities, funding, guidance, and research information for everything psychology-related. They also have numerous high-quality databases, peer-reviewed journals, and books that revolve around mental health.

The American Psychological Association is also credited with creating their own specific citation and reference style. Today, this format is used by individuals not only in the psychology field, but many other subject areas as well. Education, economics, business, and social sciences also use APA style quite frequently. Click here for more information . This guide covers general information about the style, but is not affiliated with the American Psychological Association.

Why was this style created?

This format was first developed in 1929 to form a standardized way for researchers in science fields to document their sources. Prior to the inception of these standards and guidelines, individuals were recognizing the work of other authors by including bits and pieces of information in random order. There wasn’t a set way to format citations and references. You can probably imagine how difficult it was to understand the sources that were used for research projects!

Having a standard format for citing sources allows readers to glance at a citation or APA reference and easily locate the title, author, year published, and other critical pieces of information needed to understand a source.

The evolution of this style

The guide below is based on APA style 7th edition, which was released in 2020. In previous versions of APA format, researchers and scholars were required to include the publisher location for books and the date that an electronic resource was accessed. Both are no longer required to be included.

Details on the differences between the 6th and 7th editions is addressed later in this guide.

Citations & References

The appearance of citations & references.

The format for references varies, but most use this general format:

%%Author’s Last name, First initial. (Date published). Title . URL

Researchers and scholars must look up the proper format for the source that they’re attempting to cite. Books have a certain format, websites have a different format, periodicals have a different format, and so on. Scroll down to find the proper format for the source you’re citing or referencing.

If you would like help citing your sources, CitationMachine.com has a citation generator that will help make the APA citation process much easier for you. To start, simply click on the source type you're citing:

• Journal articles

In-text citations

An APA in-text citation is included in research projects in three instances: When using a direct quote, paraphrasing information, or simply referring to a piece of information from another source.

Quite often, researchers and scholars use a small amount of text, word for word, from another source and include it in their own research projects. This is done for many reasons. Sometimes, another author’s words are so eloquently written that there isn’t a better way to rephrase it yourself. Other times, the author’s words can help prove a point or establish an understanding for something in your research project. When using another author’s exact words in your research project, include an APA in-text citation directly following it.

In addition to using the exact words from another source and placing them into your project, these citations are also added anytime you paraphrase information. Paraphrasing is when you take information from another source and rephrase it, in your own words.

When simply referring to another piece of information from another source, also include a citation directly following it.

Citations in the text are found near a direct quote, paraphrased information, or next to a mention of another source. To see examples of some narrative/ parenthetical citations in action, look at the image above, under “All About Citations & References.”

Note: *Only include the page or paragraph number when using a direct quote or paraphrase. Page numbers have a p. before the number, pp. before the page range, and para. before the paragraph number. This information is included to help the reader locate the exact portion of text themselves. It is unnecessary to include this information when you’re simply referring to another source.

Examples of APA in-text citations:

“Well, you’re about to enter the land of the free and the brave. And I don’t know how you got that stamp on your passport. The priest must know someone” (Tóibín, 2009, p. 52).

Student teachers who use technology in their lessons tend to continue using technology tools throughout their teaching careers (Kent & Giles, 2017, p. 12).

If including the author’s name in the sentence, place the year in the parentheses directly next to his or her name. Add the page number at the end, unless it’s a source without any pages or paragraph numbers (See Section 8.10 of the Publication manual for more details).

In-text citation APA example:

According to a study done by Kent and Giles (2017), student teachers who use technology in their lessons tend to continue using technology tools throughout their teaching careers.

The full references, or citations, for these sources can be found on the last part of a research project, titled the “References.”

Here’s how to create in-text citations for specific amounts of authors:

APA citation with no author

When the source lacks an author’s name, place the title, year, and page number (if available) in the text. The title should be in italics if it sits alone (such as a movie, brochure, or report). If the source is part of a whole (as many web pages and articles are), place the title in quotation marks without italics (See Section 8.14 of the Publication manual ).

Structure of an APA format citation in the text narratively, with the author's name missing:

Title of Source (Year) or “Title of Source” (Year)

Structure of an APA style format citation, in parentheses at the end of the sentence, with the author’s name missing: (Title of Source, Year) or (“Title of Source,” Year)

Structure for one author

In the text, narratively: Last name of Author (Year)...(page number).

In parentheses, at the end of the sentence: (Last name of Author, Year, page number).

Structure for two authors

Place the authors in the order they appear on the source. Only use the ampersand in the parenthetical citations (see Section 8.17 of the Publication manual ). Use ‘and’ to separate the author names if they’re in the text of the sentence.

In the text, narratively: Last name of Author 1 and Last name of Author 2 (Year)....(page number).

In parentheses, at the end of the sentence: (Last name of Author 1 & Last name of Author 2, Year, page number).

Structure for three or more authors

Only include the first listed author’s name in the first and any subsequent citations. Follow it with et al.

(Last name Author 1 et al., Year, page number)

(Agbayani et al., 2020, p. 99)

Last name of Author 1 et al. (Year)...(page).

Agbayani et al. (2020)...(p. 99)

One author, multiple works, same year

What do you do when you want to cite multiple works by an author, and the sources all written in the same year?

Include the letters ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’ and so on after the year in the citation.

(Jackson, 2013a)

Jackson (2013a)

Writers can even lump dates together.

Example: Jackson often studied mammals while in Africa (2013a, 2013b).

On the APA reference page, include the same letters in the full references.

Groups and organizations

Write out the full name of the group or organization in the first citation and place the abbreviation next to it in brackets. If the group or organization is cited again, only include the abbreviation. If it doesn’t have an abbreviation associated with it, write out the entire organization’s name each and every time (see Section 8.21 of the Publication manual ).

First APA citation for an organization with an abbreviation: (World Health Organization [WHO], Year)

World Health Organization (WHO, Year)

Notice in the example directly above, the name of the organization is written out in full in the text of the sentence, and the abbreviation is placed in parentheses next to it.

Subsequent APA citations in the text for an organization with an abbreviation: (WHO, Year) OR WHO (Year)

All citations in the text for an organization without an abbreviation: (Citation Machine, Year) or Citation Machine (Year)

One in-text citation, multiple works

Sometimes you’ll need to cite more than one work within an in-text citation. Follow the same format (author, year) format but place semicolons between works (p. 263).

(Obama, 2016; Monroe et al., 1820; Hoover & Coolidge, 1928)

Reminder: There are many citation tools available on CitationMachine.com. Head to our homepage to learn more, check out our APA citation website, and cite your sources easily! The most useful resource on our website? Our APA citation generator, which doesn’t just create full references, it’s also an APA in-text citation website! It’ll do both for you!

Click here to learn more about crediting work .

Reference list citation components

References display the full information for all the citations found in the body of a research project.

Some things to keep in mind when it comes to the references:

• All references sit together on their own page, which is usually the last page(s) of a paper.
• Title the page ‘References’
• Place ‘References’ in the center of the page and bold it. Keep the title in the same font and size as the references. Do not italicize, underline, place the title in quotation marks, or increase the font size.
• The entire page is double spaced.
• All references are listed in alphabetical order by the first word in the reference, which is usually the author’s last name. If the source lacks an author, alphabetize the source by the title (ignore A, An, or The)
• All references have a hanging indent, meaning that the second line of text is indented in half an inch. See examples throughout this guide.
• Remember, each and every citation in the text of the paper MUST have a full reference displayed in the reference list. The citations in the text provide the reader with a quick glimpse about the sources used, but the references in the reference list provide the reader with all the information needed to seek out the source themselves.

Learn more about each component of the reference citation and how to format it in the sections that follow. See an APA sample paper reference list at the end of this entire section.

Author’s names

The names of authors are written in reverse order. Include the initials for the first and middle names. End this information with a period (see Section 9.8 of the Publication manual ).

Format: Last name, F. M.

• Angelou, M.
• Doyle, A. C.

Two or more authors

When two or more authors work together on a source, write them in the order in which they appear on the source. You can name up to 20 authors in the reference. For sources with 2 to 20 authors, place an ampersand (&) before the final author. Use this format:

Last name, F. M., & Last name, F. M.

Last name, F. M., Last name, F. M., Last name, F. M., Last name, F. M., & Last name, F. M.

Kent, A. G., Giles, R. M., Thorpe, A., Lukes, R., Bever, D. J., & He, Y.

If there are 21 or more authors listed on a source, only include the first 19 authors, add three ellipses, and then add the last author’s name.

Roberts, A., Johnson, M. C., Klein, J., Cheng, E. V., Sherman, A., Levin, K. K. , ...Lopez, G. S.

If you plan on using a free APA citation tool, like the one at CitationMachine.com, the names of the authors will format properly for you.

###No authors

If the source lacks an author, place the title in the first position in the reference (Section 9.12 of the Publication manual ). When the source’s title begins with a number (Such as 101 Dalmatians ), place the reference alphabetically as if the number was spelled out. 101 Dalmatians would be placed in the spot where ‘One hundred’ would go, but keep the numbers in their place.

Additionally, if the title begins with the words ‘A’, ‘An,’ or ‘The,’ ignore these words and place the title alphabetically according to the next word.

See the “Titles” section below for more information on formatting the title of sources.

###Corporate/Organization authors

On an APA reference page, corporate authors are always written out in full. In the text of your paper, you may have some abbreviations (such as UN for United Nations), but in the full references, always include the full names of the corporation or organization (following Section 9.11 of the official Publication manual ).

%%United Nations. (2019). Libya: $202 million needed to bring life-saving aid to half a million people hit by humanitarian crisis. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/02/1031981

Publication date & retrieval date

Directly after the author’s name is the date the source was published. Include the full date for newspapers and magazine articles, and only the year for journals and all other sources. If no date is found on the source, include the initials, n.d. for “no date.”

%% Narducci, M. (2017, May 19). City renames part of 11th Street Ed Snider Way to honor Flyers founder. The Philadelphia Inquirer . http://www.philly.com/

If using our APA Citation Machine, our citation generator will add the correct format for you automatically.

Giving a retrieval date is not needed unless the online content is likely to be frequently updated and changed (e.g., encyclopedia article, dictionary entry, Twitter profile, etc.).

%%Citation Machine [@CiteMachine]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. Twitter. Retrieved October 10, 2019, from https://twitter.com/CiteMachine

When writing out titles for books, articles, chapters, or other non-periodical sources, only capitalize the first word of the title and the first word of the subtitle. Names of people, places, organizations, and other proper nouns also have the first letter capitalized. For books and reports, italicize the title in the APA citation.

Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Roots: The saga of an American family.

For articles and chapters in APA referencing, do not italicize the title.

Wake up the nation: Public libraries, policy making, and political discourse.

For newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and other periodicals, capitalize the first letter in each word and italicize the title.

The Seattle Times.

A common question is whether to underline your title or place it in italics or quotation marks in the reference list. Here’s a good general rule: When a source sits alone and is not part of a larger whole, place the title in italics. If the source does not sit alone and is part of a larger whole, do not place it in italics.

Books, movies, journals, and television shows are placed in italics since they stand alone. Songs on an album, episodes of television shows, chapters in books, and articles in journals are not placed in italics since they are smaller pieces of larger wholes.

The Citation Machine citation generator will format the title in your citations automatically.

Additional information about the title

If you feel it would be helpful to include additional information about the source type, include a descriptive noun or two in brackets immediately following the title. Capitalize the first letter.

%%Kennedy, K., & Molen, G. R. (Producers), & Spielberg, S. (Director). (1993). Jurassic Park [Film]. USA: Universal.

Besides [Film], other common notations include:

• [Audio podcast]
• [Letter to the editor]
• [Television series episode]
• [Facebook page]
• [Blog post]
• [Lecture notes]
• [PowerPoint presentation]
• [Video file]

If you are using Citation Machine citing tools, additional information about the title is automatically added for you.

Publisher information

For books and reports, include the publisher name but not the location (see Section 9.29 of the Publication manual ). Older editions of the style required the city, state and/or country, but this hasn't been the case since the 7th edition was released.

It is not necessary to include the entire name of the publisher. It is acceptable to use a brief, intelligible form. However, if Books or Press are part of the publisher’s names, keep these words in the reference. Other common terms, such as Inc., Co., Publishers, and others can be omitted.

For newspapers, journals, magazines, and other periodicals, include the volume and issue number after the title. The volume number is listed first, by itself, in italics. The issue number is in parentheses immediately after it, not italicized. There is no space after the closing parenthesis and before the volume number.

%%Giannoukos, G., Besas, G., Hictour, V., & Georgas, T. (2016). A study on the role of computers in adult education. Educational Research and Reviews , 11 (9), 907-923. https://doi.org/10.5897/ERR2016.2688

After including the publisher information, end this section with a period.

Perseus Books.

Electronic source information:

For online sources, the URL or DOI (Direct Object Identifier) are included at the end of an APA citation.

DOI numbers are often created by publishers for journal articles and other periodical sources. They were created in response to the problem of broken or outdated links and URLs. When a journal article is assigned a DOI number, it is static and will never change. Because of its permanent characteristic, DOIs are the preferred type of electronic information to include in APA citations. When a DOI number is not available, include the source’s URL (see Section 9.34 in the Publication manual ).

For DOIs, include the number in this format:

http://doi.org/xxxx

For URLs, type them in this format:

http:// or https://

Other information about electronic sources:

• If the URL is longer than a line, break it up before a punctuation mark.
• Do not place a period at the end of the citation/URL.
• It is unnecessary to include retrieval dates, unless the source changes often over time (like in a Wikipedia article).
• It is not necessary to include the names of databases

If using the Citation Machine APA citation website autocite features, the online publication information will be automatically replaced by the DOI. The Citation Machine APA template will properly cite your online sources for you.

Make sure you run your completed paper through the Citation Machine Plus smart proofreader, which scans for grammar, spelling, and plagiarism. Whether it’s an adjective , verb , or pronoun out-of-place, our technology helps edits your paper for you!

Annotated bibliographies:

An APA annotated bibliography is a full bibliography that includes a small note for each reference citation. Each note should be short (1-2 paragraphs) and contain a summary or your evaluation about each source. When creating your citations on CitationMachine.net, there is a field at the bottom of each form to add your own annotations.

Follow the publication manual guidelines on paper format and writing style. Let your instructor guide other details about your annotations. Still confused? Read our guide on annotated bibliographies .

These types of projects look different depending on the style you’re using. Use the link at the top of the page to access resources related to the Modern Language Association’s style. Here’s information related to Chicago citation style .

Page formatting

Need help with the design and formatting of your paper? Look no further! This section provides the ins and outs of properly displaying the information in your APA essay.

• Times New Roman, 12-point size.
• Calibri, Arial, or Georgia, 11-point size
• Lucida, Sans Unicode, or Computer Modern, 10-point size
• Indents = Every paragraph should start with an indent.
• Margins = 1 inch around the entire document
• Spacing = Double space everything!

Arrange your pages in this order:

• Page 1 - APA Title Page (see below for information on the title page)
• Page 2 - Abstract (If your professor requests one)
• Page 3 - First page of text
• References begin on their own page. Include the list of references on the page after the text.
• Tables and figures

Keep in mind that the order above is the recommendation for papers being submitted for peer review. If you’re writing an APA style paper for a class, your professor may be more lenient about the requirements. Also, if you’re submitting your paper for a specific journal, check the requirements on the journal’s website. Each journal has different rules and procedures.

Just a little nudge to remind you about the Citation Machine Plus smart proofreader. Whether it’s a conjunction or interjection out of place, a misspelled word, or an out of place citation, we’ll offer suggestions for improvement! Don’t forget to check out our APA citation maker while you’re at it!

Running heads

In older editions of APA, running heads were required for all papers. Since the 7th edition, that’s changed.

• Student paper: No running head
• Professional paper: Include a running head

The running head displays the title of the paper and the page number on all pages of the paper. This header is found on every page of a professional paper (not a student paper), even on the title page (sometimes called an APA cover page) and reference list (taken from Section 2.8 of the Publication manual ).

It's displayed all in capital letters at the top of the page. Across from the running head, along the right margin, is the page number.

• Use the header feature in your word processor. Both Google Docs and Word have these features available.
• Use one for the recommended fonts mentioned under "Page formatting."

Title pages

A title page, sometimes called an APA cover page, graces the cover of an essay or paper. An APA title page should follow rules from Section 2.3 of the official Publication manual and include:

• Page number, which is page 1
• Use title case and bold font
• The title should be under 12 words in length
• The title should be a direct explanation of the focus of the paper. Do not include any unnecessary descriptors such as “An Analysis of…” or “A Study of…”
• Exclude any labels such as Mr., Ms., Dr, PhD...
• Name of the school or institution
• Course number and/or class name
• Name of your instructor, including their preferred honorifics (e.g., PhD, Dr., etc.)
• Paper’s due date
• If this is a professional paper, also include a running head. If this is a student paper, do not include one.

Follow the directions for the running head and page number in the section above. Below the running head, a few lines beneath, and centered in the middle of the page, should be the title. The next line below is the author’s name(s), followed by the name of the school or institution, the class or course name, your instructor’s name, and the paper’s due date.

All components on this page should be written in the same font and size as the rest of your paper. Double space the title, names, name of school or institution, and all other information on the page (except for the running head and page number).

Example - Student Title Page APA:

Example - Professional Title Page APA:

If you’re submitting your paper to a journal for publication, check the journal’s website for exact requirements. Each journal is different and some may request a different type of APA format cover page.

Looking to create an APA format title page? Head to CitationMachine.com’s homepage and choose “Title Page” at the top of the screen.

An abstract briefly but thoroughly summarizes dissertation contents. It’s found in the beginning of a professional paper, right after the title page. Abstracts are meant to help readers determine whether to continue reading the entire document. With that in mind, try to craft the lead sentence to entice the reader to continue reading.

Here are a few tips:

• Be factual and keep your opinions out. An abstract should accurately reflect the paper or dissertation and should not involve information or commentary not in the thesis.
• Communicate your main thesis. What was the examined problem or hypothesis? A reader should know this from reading your abstract.
• Keep it brief. Stick to the main points and don’t add unnecessary words or facts. It should not exceed 250 words.
• Consider your paper’s purpose. It’s important to cater your abstract to your paper type and think about what information the target audience for that paper type would want. For example, an empirical article may mention methodology or participant description. A quantitative or qualitative meta-analysis would mention the different variables considered and how information was synthesized.
• Use verbs over noun equivalents, and active voice. Example: “There was research into…” becomes “We researched…”

Formatting guidelines:

• The abstract goes after the title page.
• It should have the same font (size and type) as the rest of the paper.
• It should stick to one page.
• Double-space all page text.
• Center and bold the word “Abstract” at the top of the paper.
• Don’t indent the first line of the abstract body. The body should also be in plain text.
• For the keywords, place it on the line after the abstract and indent the first line (but not subsequent lines). The word “Keywords:” is capitalized, italicized, and followed by a colon. The actual keywords are sentence case and in plan font.
• List each keyword one after the other, and separate them by a comma.
• After the last keyword, no ending punctuation is needed.

Tables & Figures

If your paper includes a lot of numerical information or data, you may want to consider placing it into a table or a figure, rather than typing it all out. A visual figure or simple, organized table filled with numerical data is often easier for readers to digest and comprehend than tons of paragraphs filled with numbers. Chapter 7 of the Publication manual outlines formatting for tables and figures. Let's cover the basics below.

If you’d like to include a table or figure in your paper, here are a few key pieces of information to keep in mind:

• At the end of the paper after the APA reference page
• In the text after it is first mentioned
• The table first mentioned in the text should be titled ‘Table 1.’ The next table mentioned in the text is ‘Table 2,’ and so on. For figures, it would be 'Figure 1,' 'Figure 2,' and so forth.

• Even though every table and figure is numbered, also create a title for each that describes the information it contains. Capitalize all important words in the title.
• For tables, do not use any vertical lines, only use horizontal to break up information and headings.
• Single spacing is acceptable to use in tables and figures. If you prefer double spacing your information, that is okay too.
• Do not include extra information or “fluff.” Keep it simple!
• Do not include the same exact information in the paper. Only include the complete information in one area—the table or the text.
• All tables and figures must be referenced in the text. It is unacceptable to throw a table or figure into the back of the paper without first providing a brief summary or explanation of its relevance.

Publication Manual 6th Edition vs 7th Edition

The 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association was released in 2009. The current 7th edition came out in the fall of 2019 and was designed to be more student focused, provide more guidance on accessibility, and address changes that have developed over the last 10 years.

Below, we’ve listed what we feel are the most relevant changes related to APA format.

Journals and DOIs

DOI stands for “digital object identifier.” Many journal articles use and have a unique DOI that should be included in a full citation.

When including a DOI in a citation, format it as a URL. Do not label it “DOI.” Articles without DOIs from databases are treated as print works. For example:

6th edition:

%%Gänsicke, B. T., Schreiber, M. R., Toloza, O., Fusillo, N. P. G., Koester, D., & Manser, C. J. (2019). Accretion of a giant planet onto a white dwarf star. Nature, 576 (7785), 61–64. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1789-8

7th edition:

%%Gänsicke, B. T., Schreiber, M. R., Toloza, O., Fusillo, N. P. G., Koester, D., & Manser, C. J. (2019). Accretion of a giant planet onto a white dwarf star. Nature, 576 (7785), 61–64. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1789-8

Citing Books

There are few new guidelines when you are citing a book. First, the publisher location no longer needs to be indicated.

%%Zack, P. O. (2001). The shoals of time. Bloomington, IN: First Books Library.

%%Zack, P. O. (2001). The shoals of time. First Books Library.

Second, the format of an ebook (e.g., Kindle, etc.) no longer needs to be indicated.

%%Niven, J. (2012). Ada Blackjack: A true story of survival in the Arctic [Kindle].

%%Niven, J. (2012). Ada Blackjack: A true story of survival in the Arctic .

Lastly, books from research databases without DOIs are treated the same as print works.

When using a URL in a citation, you no longer need to include the term “Retrieved from” before URLs (except with retrieval dates). The font should be blue and underlined, or black and not underlined.

6th Edition:

%%Flood, A. (2019, December 6). Britain has closed almost 800 libraries since 2010, figures show. The Guardian . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/britain-has-closed-almost-800-libraries-since-2010-figures-show

7th Edition:

%%Flood, A. (2019, December 6). Britain has closed almost 800 libraries since 2010, figures show. The Guardian . https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/06/britain-has-closed-almost-800-libraries-since-2010-figures-show

Within a full APA citation, you may spell out up to 20 author names. For two to 20 authors, include an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author. For sources with 21 or more authors, structure it as follows:

Structure: First 19 authors’ names, . . . Last author’s name.

7th edition example: Washington, G., Adams, J., Jefferson, T., Madison, J., Monroe, J., Adams, J. Q., Jackson, A., Van Buren, M., Harrison, W. H., Tyler, J., Polk, J. K., Taylor, Z., Filmore, M., Pierce, F., Buchanan, J., Lincoln, A., Johnson, A., Grant, U. S., Hayes, R. B., Garfield, . . . Trump, D.

When creating an in-text citation for a source with 3 or more authors, use “et al.” after the first author’s name. This helps abbreviate the mention.

6th Edition: (Honda, Johnson, Prosser, Rossi, 2019)

7th Edition: (Honda et al., 2019)

Tables and Figures

Instead of having different formats for tables and figures, both use one standardized format. Now both tables and figures have a number, a title, name of the table/figure, and a note at the bottom.

If you’re still typing into Google “how to cite a website APA” among other related questions and keywords, click here for further reading on the style .

When you’re through with your writing, toss your entire paper into the Citation Machine Plus plagiarism checker , which will scan your paper for grammar edits and give you up to 5 suggestions cards for free! Worry less about a determiner , preposition , or adverb out of place and focus on your research!

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) (2020). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Updated March 3, 2020

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Wendy Ikemoto. Michele Kirschenbaum has been an awesome school librarian since 2006 and is an expert in citing sources. Wendy Ikemoto has a master’s degree in library and information science and has been working for Citation Machine since 2012.

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What is the Cite This For Me APA Citation Generator?

If you are working on an APA style project or paper, you know that formatting APA citations can be a complicated task that requires a lot of patience. Fortunately, referencing has never been so easy. Introducing your new best friend: the Cite This For Me APA citation generator. Using this automated citation machine to create accurate citations helps you to work smarter, leaving more time to focus on your studies and research.

The Cite This For Me citation generator fully-formats all of your APA citations in just a few clicks. So if you’re unsure how to accurately follow the APA citation format, or you need to cite all of your sources quickly, using the Cite This For Me accurate and intuitive generator will help you avoid losing valuable points on your work. Using this generator can help you create proper citations which prevents you from plagiarizing and allows you more time to focus on the content of your paper. All you have to do is enter the information from your sources as prompted by the generator, and it will create both a reference page citation you can copy and paste directly onto your reference page and an in-text citation for use within your paper.

This guide provides you with everything we believe you need to know to cite APA and get the grade that reflects all your hard work. Read ahead for tips on how to structure and present your work according to the APA formatting guidelines, how to avoid charges of plagiarism, and how to cite sources both in-text and in your reference list and bibliography.

Popular APA Citation Examples

• Dictionary entry 
• Edited book 
• Image or video online
• PDF or E-book
• Presentation or lecture
• Video, film, or DVD

Why Do I Need To Cite?

Essentially, citing is the crediting of sources used in academic work. When another source contributes to your work you must acknowledge the original author with an accurate reference, unless it is common knowledge (e.g., Barack Obama is the first American of mixed race to be elected president). Failing to cite all of your sources or citing them incorrectly constitutes plagiarism , which is considered a serious academic offense. It is important to remember that information doesn’t just belong to anyone who happens to stumble upon it. If you are caught plagiarizing it is more than likely that you will lose points on your assignment, or even face expulsion from your university.

Aside from avoiding plagiarism, attributing your research is crucial in ensuring that your work is firmly anchored in academic tradition. Correctly citing your sources validates the statements and conclusions you make in your work by providing supporting evidence. For many students, citing can be a frustrating process, but it’s an excellent way to enhance the quality of your work and inject it with authority.

Imagine if all the stress of referencing simply vanished. Well, the Cite This For Me APA citation generator is here to help you – now you can create in-text citations and reference lists in the APA format without the usual frustrations of referencing. Creating an APA citation has never been easier.

Note that using a citation generator is not cheating or plagiarizing, unless the requirements for your paper specify that you do all citations manually, which is very uncommon. Consider citation generators as a tool similar to spell check – it doesn’t write the paper for you, but it helps prevent you from making errors in your citations. Also, unless you have the citation handbook memorized, using a generator is usually a much faster method for creating references.

What is the APA Citation Style?

The APA citation style (6th Edition) is a parenthetical author-date style, so you need to put the author’s last name and the publishing date into parentheses wherever another source is used in the narrative.

The APA format consists of in-text citations and a reference list, along with guidelines for formatting the paper itself. Both the in-text citations and the reference list can be created in using the Cite This For Me APA reference generator.

Although primarily used by social and behavioural sciences, the APA style citation is used amongst other scientific publications for its editorial efficiency. The Cite This For Me APA citation generator uses the (6th) edition of the APA format. Whether you are using the APA format generator for university assignments or are preparing research projects for publishing, Cite This For Me is there for you 24/7.

Aside from the APA format there is a plethora of different citation styles out there – the use of which depends on your discipline, university requirements, your professor’s preference or the publication you are submitting the work to. It is important to make sure that you are using the correct style – so if you’re unsure, consult your department and follow their guidelines exactly.

If no format is specified, be careful to use the same format throughout your paper and reference list. Do not mix citation styles, as this could lead to confusion in your references and a reduction of points.

Cite This For Me is not only an APA citation website; it can help you generate citations in multiple formats. The citation generator above will generate your references in APA format as standard. You can also sign up to Cite This For Me to select from over 7,000+ styles, including individual college variations. So, whether your professor prefers that you use the MLA format , or your discipline requires you to adopt the Chicago style citation , your referencing will be supported. Cite This For Me also provides citation generators and handy guides for styles such as ASA , AMA , IEEE or Harvard .

How do I Create and Format My Citations?

When you want to create an APA reference for a source within a paper; whether it is using a direct quote, repurposing an image, or simply referring to an idea or theory, you should:

• Insert an in-text citation APA (the author’s surname and the date of publication within parentheses) straight after a direct quote
• Insert an in-text citation at the end of the sentence when the author’s name is not included in the narrative of the sentence
• If you have already mentioned the author’s name in the sentence, you only need to insert the date immediately after their surname in parentheses
• Include page numbers within the parentheses (after the date), if referring to a particular page or section of the source
• When citing a source with three to five authors, include all surnames for the first in-text citation, then use the first author’s surname followed by ‘et al.’ for subsequent citations
• When citing six or more authors – use the first author’s surname followed by ‘et al.’ for all citations
• If you are mentioning both the year and author in the text, don’t include an additional citation in parentheses – unless you are referring to a particular section of the source, in which case you should cite the page number
• Provide an alphabetical list (ordered by author’s surname) of all sources used, titled ‘References’, on a separate page at the end of the narrative
• Inclusive page numbers for the electronic version of a print source (e.g., a PDF)
• Provide your appendices on a separate page after the reference list

When in doubt, it’s always better to create a citation instead of risking plagiarizing. If the thought or idea didn’t come from your head and isn’t considered common knowledge, cite a credible source. Use the Cite This For Me APA citation maker to help you create citations with ease; this will allow you to add citations to your project, edit on the spot, and export separate in-text citations as well as fully-formatted reference lists.

APA Citation Examples (7th Edition)

You will use an in-text citation to credit a source within the context of your paper. You can use an in-text citation after a direct quote or at the end of a sentence containing thoughts and ideas from a source, even if the sentence is not in quotations. To create an APA in-text citation, you will need some information from your sources, such as the author’s name, the year of publication, and the page number, if applicable.

The example below directly follow rules from Chapter 10 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th edition.

In-text citation examples:

• Page specified, author mentioned in text:

Lutz & Huitt (2010, p. 4) argue that “the statistical significance of …”

• Page specified, author not mentioned in text:

The results were consistent throughout the study (Fernández-Manzanal, Rodríguez-Barreiro, & Carrasquer, 2007).

• Six authors:

The study found that … (Sania et al., 2011)

The data presented …. (“How sleep enhances memory retention”, 2015).

Reference examples:

• Book, one author, multiple editions:

Hawking, S. W. (1998). A brief history of time: From the big bang to black holes (10th ed.). New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group.

• Ebook, online only:

Tyler, G. (n.d.). Evolution in the systems age . http://www.onlineoriginals.com/showitem.asp?itemID=142&action=setvar&vartype=history&varname=bookmark&v1=1&v2=46&v3=2

• Journal article, three authors, with a DOI:

Fernández-Manzanal, R., Rodríguez-Barreiro, L., & Carrasquer, J. (2007). Evaluation of environmental attitudes: Analysis and results of a scale applied to university students. Science Education , 91(6), 988–1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.20218

• How to cite a website in APA:

Veterans Affairs Canada. (2019, February 14). Indigenous people in the Second World War . https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/aborigin

• Online newspaper article:

Smith, D. (2019, October 22). The banner, the rings, the season opener: Champion Raptors return on a night like no other. The Toronto Star . https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/2019/10/22/the-banner-the-rings-the-season-opener-champion-raptors-return-on-a-night-like-no-other.html

• Article from an online news website (HuffPost, MSNBC, Vox, etc.):

Wade, L. (2013, March 6). ‘Sunstone’ crystal from British shipwreck may be vikings’ legendary navigation aid . HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sunstone-british-shipwreck-viking-navigation_n_2818858

• Video, online:

CrashCourse. (2015, April 30). Mars: Crash course astronomy #15 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-88YWx71gE

How Do I Format My Reference List?

Drawing on a range of relevant sources in your work proves that you have read widely around your chosen topic, so it’s a surefire way to impress your reader. Your reference page may need to include citations for a variety of reference types, including books, websites, academic journals, videos, sheet music, song lyrics, paintings, and more.

To ensure your reader’s ease of comprehension you must adhere to the style’s formatting guidelines. On an APA reference page, or an APA works cited page, a list of all the sources that have directly contributed to your work should be placed on a new page at the end of the narrative and titled ‘References’ (center align the title). The references should all have a hanging indentation – the second and subsequent lines of each reference should start ½ inch from the margin.

You may also be required to provide a full bibliography. The difference between a bibliography and a reference page is that a reference page only cites the sources which are used directly in the paper, or those that are cited with in-text citations. For an APA bibliography, you will need to create a comprehensive list of all the source material you used to complete the assignment, even if it was not cited in the text. It should include any book, journal, article, etc., that you may have consulted throughout your research and writing process in order to get a deeper understanding of the subject at hand.

APA Format Example:

Fernández-Manzanal, R., Rodríguez-Barreiro, L., & Carrasquer, J. (2007). Evaluation of environmental attitudes: Analysis and results of a scale applied to university students. Science Education , 91(6), 988–1009. doi:10.1002/sce.20218

A note on journals and website citations: If you are wondering how to cite a website in APA, you will need the URL of the website. If you use an online journal as a source, then you should first look for a DOI, or digital object identifier, and use that instead of a URL. A DOI is a more precise way to locate an article than a URL because the DOI will follow the article even if the URL changes. A DOI is typically located at the top of the page of an online journal article.

The DOI or URL (never both) should be the last part of your citation for the website or online journal article on the reference page. To create an in text citation for a website, follow the same structure required for books, putting the author’s last name first followed by a comma and the year of publication, followed by a comma and the page numbers if applicable.

Sound like a lot of work? Although the style guidelines are strict in regard to how references should be formatted, the Cite This For Me APA citation machine helps take the weight off your shoulders by accurately compiling your reference list and bibliography in a matter of a few clicks.

APA Style Paper Formatting Guidelines (7th Edition)

Along with specifications for in-text and reference page citations, APA style also has guidelines to follow when formatting the rest of your paper. When following these guidelines, you must pay attention to presentation details such as font type, line spacing, margins and page headers to ensure your work is easily legible.

The information provided here is an overview of only the most important formatting elements; a more thorough description of paper elements and formatting can be found in Chapter 2 of the APA 7 Publication Manual , beginning on page 29.

• 1 inch margins on all sides
• Use Times New Roman, 12 pt. size
• Double-space the entirety of the paper
• The page number is included at the top of the page, aligned to the right
• Title of the paper in all capitals, 50 characters or less, in the header on each page of the body (the ‘running head’), aligned to the left. A running head is only required for professional papers and not student papers
• For students, the paper should typically include three major sections – Title Page, Main Body and References.
• An APA cover page, also known as an APA title page, should include the following elements: the running head, page number, paper title, author name, and the institutional affiliation.
• If infographics (tables, charts) were used in the narrative you should also add Appendices as a separate section at the end of the paper.
• An APA sample paper may have an APA format title page that also includes an author’s note, but this is usually optional and not considered a requirement.

APA Title Page

Not all instructors will require a title page, also sometimes called an APA cover page. If they do, include these four parts:

• Title of your paper
• Running head (see above section)
• Author’s/Your name
• Institutional affiliation

The title of your paper should:

• Be centered on the page and use title case (a combination of lower and uppercase letters).
• Not be italicized, bolded, or underlined
• Use a 12-point font
• Be a maximum of 2 lines and not more than 12 words long
• Not include abbreviations

Underneath the title, place the author’s name. If you wrote the paper, put your full name here. There’s no need to include titles or degrees (e.g., Ms., PhD, etc.).

Under the author’s name, place the institutional affiliation. For most students, this would be the name of the school, college or university you are attending.

The title, author’s name, and institutional affiliation should all be double spaced.

Here’s an example of an APA format title page:

A Brief History of the APA Format

APA stands for American Psychological Association , the scientific organisation that assembles the publishing manual of the APA format. The style was developed in 1929 by a group of scientists to standardize scientific writing. It was created in the hopes that it would provide a coherent and professional manner of citing sources for students and researchers in the fields of social and behavioural sciences.

The first publication manual of the APA format was published in pursuit of a neat and efficient research formatting style, mainly for editorial purposes. Although some contemporary scientists argued that having such strict regulations restricted personal writing styles, the format has since become one of the most popular referencing styles. Today it is adopted in term papers, research reports, literature reviews, theoretical articles, case studies etc.

Differences Between the 6th Edition and 7th Edition

In the fall of 2019, the American Psychological Association published the 7th edition of its Publication Manual . The 7th edition of the APA paper format includes updated citation rules for more efficiency, new example citations and papers, and revised writing guidelines.

When in doubt about how to cite APA or which edition to use, ask your instructor or a librarian for help. Most of this guide follows the 6th edition, but if you’re looking for guidance on the 7th edition for your paper, these are some notable changes:

• When making an APA book citation do not include the publisher’s location. This also applies to book chapter references
• DOIs are formatted as URLs (i.e., https://doi.org/xxx)
• Don’t include the label “DOI” before the DOI url
• Include the issue number if one exists
• When making a full APA website citation, do not include the words “Retrieved from” before the URL
• When citing an ebook, don’t indicate the format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle)
• Figures are formatted more like notes with a number and title at the top, and a note under the figure/table instead of a caption
• Don’t include running heads on student papers, except when your instructor asks for it by your instructor
• Annotated bibliographies
• Citing social media posts, podcasts, and other modern sources
• There’s only a single space after sentences

APA Writing Guidelines and Suggestions

The American Psychological Association also provides some helpful guidelines regarding overall best practices when writing academic and scientific papers. One important thing to be on the lookout for is bias in your writing. For instance, using the word “man” to represent humans as a species is neither scientific nor without potential bias.

Here are some good rules of thumb to help you avoid bias in your paper:

• Always be specific in your writing and avoid generalizations.
• Do not label people or test subjects unnecessarily.
• When writing about participants in your experiment or study, be sure to acknowledge them as such appropriately. Use the term “participants” instead of “subjects.”
• Use active voice instead of passive voice in your writing. For example, “the participants completed the task” vs. “the task was completed by the participants.”
• Always be cautious when discussing topics such as sexual orientation, racial and ethnic identity, disabilities, etc.
• Never change quotations to better serve your own ends or to better fit with your conclusions.

View Spanish APA Citation Guide

How Do I Create Accurate Citations With the Cite This For Me APA Generator?

APA citing giving you a headache? Let the Cite This For Me APA format generator remove some stress caused by citations by helping you turn your sources into a fully-formatted citation. The citation generator will create your reference in two parts; an in-text APA format citation and a full reference that is ready to be copied straight into your work.

To unlock the full potential of the APA citation maker simply login to the Cite This For Me multi-platform tool. Use the web platform to add and edit citations, export full projects and individual entries, utilize the add-ons and save all of your citations in the cloud. Or make use of the Cite This For Me extension for Chrome – the browser extension for Google Chrome that allows you to instantly create and edit a citation for any online source, without leaving the web page you’re viewing.

Cite This For Me helps give students the confidence to be ethical researchers and writers by encouraging them to research and cite diverse sources. There are so many sources you can cite using the APA citation generator; whether it be a PDF report, podcast, a musical score or many more .

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Nützliches und Unterhaltsames für Wissenschaft und Studium.

Dokumententypen erkennen, erfassen und richtig zitieren

Unter welchem Dokumententyp nehmen Sie Ihre Quelle am besten auf?

Bildnachweis: Fred Heap on Unsplash

Mit den Literaturquellen Ihrer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit ist es wie mit Straßenschildern bei der Führerscheinprüfung: erst wenn Sie wissen, um welche Art Schild es sich handelt, können Sie die Verkehrsregeln richtig anwenden. 

Genauso ist es mit den Zitierregeln Ihres Zitationsstils. Diese sollen dabei helfen, dass der Leser die zitierten Quellen seiner Arbeit schnell und eindeutig wiederfindet. Welche Informationen dafür erforderlich und nützlich sind, hängt von der Art der Quelle ab: dem Dokumententyp .

Mit welchem Dokumententyp haben Sie es bei Ihrer Quelle zu tun?

Schauen Sie sich Ihre Quelle zunächst genau an. Nutzen Sie ein Literaturverwaltungsprogramm, dann wählen Sie für Ihren ersten Entwurf der Titelaufnahme denjenigen Dokumententyp aus , der spontan am besten passen könnte. Das könnte bei medizinischen Arbeiten beispielsweise häufig ein „Zeitschriftenaufsatz" sein. Dann halten Sie die wichtigsten Angaben, die bei jeder Quelle notiert werden sollten und Ihnen direkt ins Auge springen, fest.

Auf der ersten oder zweiten Seite eines Dokuments finden Sie in der Regel wichtige Informationen zum Autor oder Herausgeber (Person oder Institution), dem Titel eines Werkes und auch eine Jahresangabe oder ein Datum .

Das Grundgerüst ist damit vorhanden und die Urheberschaft des Werkes, das Sie zitieren möchten, gekennzeichnet. Wenn Sie später merken, dass Ihre spontane Dokumententyp-Wahl doch nicht passend war, können Sie in Citavi den Dokumententyp leicht wechseln . Je nach Dokumententyp sind andere Details wichtig und Ihnen werden andere Eingabefelder angezeigt. Diese Details unterscheiden sich zudem von Stil zu Stil. In Ihrer Basis sind Sie sich (meist) einig, zum Beispiel:

• Ein Zeitschriftenaufsatz benötigt Details über die Zeitschrift, in der der Aufsatz erschienen ist.
• Bei einem Buch ist der Erscheinungsort wichtig.
• Eine Online-Quelle kann über deren URL wiedergefunden werden.

Diese Fragen helfen Ihnen bei der Wahl des passenden Dokumententyps und beim Erfassen der dafür nötigen Details:

• In welcher Form liegt das Dokument vor? Ihre Quelle kann in digitaler oder gedruckter Form vorliegen. Digitale Dokumente wurden häufig online gefunden und lassen sich über eine URL erneut aufrufen. Ein digital veröffentlichtes Dokument kann verschiedene Formen annehmen: es kann beispielsweise eine Webseite, ein Blog-Beitrag, ein Gesetz oder ein E-Book sein. Lässt sich Ihr Online-Dokument einer Form eines gedruckten Dokumententyps zuordnen? Dann wählen Sie besser diesen, z.B. für ein eBook ein Buch (Monographie) . Der Dokumententyp bietet Ihnen Felder für die ISBN oder den Verlag, die etwa der auch passende Dokumentyp Internetdokument nicht hat.
• Steht Ihr Dokument alleine oder ist es ein Teil eines anderen Dokuments oder einer Reihe? Blättern Sie in Ihrem Dokument und suchen Sie nach anderen Autoren, die beispielsweise weitere Kapitel des Buches verfasst haben. Werden Sie fündig, handelt es sich bei dem Buch um ein Sammelwerk , aus dem Sie einzelne Beiträge zitieren. Eine Monographie wäre in diesem Fall die falsche Wahl. Ein Zeitschriftenaufsatz auch, da das Buch einmalig (und nicht periodisch) von einem Herausgeber(-Team) zusammengestellt wurde. Gibt es mehrere Werke zu einem Themengebiet desselben Verlages, könnte Ihr Buch aber Teil einer Reihe sein, die Sie auch erfassen sollten.
• Finden Sie ein weiteres eindeutiges Merkmal bei Ihrem Dokument? Hat das PDF-Dokument, das Sie online gefunden haben, irgendwo eine Jahrgangs-Angabe (engl. Volume)? Dann ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit hoch, dass Sie einen Zeitschriftenaufsatz recherchiert haben. Hat Ihre Quelle eine Dokumentennummer, aber keine DOI und Sie haben sie auf der Webseite einer Firma oder Behörde gefunden? Es könnte ein Bericht oder „ Graue Literatur ” sein. Graue Literatur wurde nicht über einen Verlag veröffentlicht, sondern privat gedruckt. Veröffentlichte Dokumente eines Verlages verfügen hingegen über eine ISBN , die das Dokument eindeutig identifiziert. Finden Sie eine ISBN bei einer Hochschulschrift, sollten Sie diese als Buch ( Monographie ) erfassen.

Im Zweifelsfall ist Spicken erlaubt:

Schauen Sie nach, wie große Bibliotheken oder Datenbanken das Dokument eingeordnet haben, z.B. im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek . Zu Beginn jedes Datensatzes sehen Sie den Dokumententyp, der Ihnen bei Ihrer Entscheidung helfen kann. Vertrauen Sie den Angaben jedoch nicht blind. Beispielsweise unterscheiden viele Bibliothekskataloge nicht zwischen Monographien und Sammelwerken. Dieser Unterschied ist aber später beim Zitieren sehr wichtig. Mit jeder Quelle wird Ihnen die Bestimmung des Dokumententyps leichter fallen. Nicht immer wird jedoch eine eindeutige Entscheidung möglich sein. Sind Sie sich bei einem Dokument unsicher, unterstützt Sie das Bibliotheks-Team Ihrer Institution bestimmt gerne.

Was hat Ihr Zitationsstil mit der Wahl eines Dokumententyps zu tun?

Die Informationen, die Sie in die Felder in Citavi oder Ihre andere Literaturverwaltungssoftware eingeben, werden von Ihrem Zitationsstil ausgegeben. Die Regeln des Stils bestimmen, welche Felder für die Ausgabe des Literaturverzeichnisses verwendet werden – und welche nicht. Wundern Sie sich also nicht, falls der Verlag einer Monographie beispielsweise nicht ausgegeben wird, obwohl Sie ihn erfasst haben.

Ein Beispiel:

Im Manual of Style der American Psychological Association (APA) werden für jeden Dokumententyp genaue Vorgaben definiert. Es ist nach APA exakt festgelegt, wie ein „Journal article with DOI, advance online publication“ zitiert werden soll. Dafür werden Sie in keinem Literaturverwaltungsprogramm einen speziellen Dokumententyp vorfinden. Erfassen Sie den noch nicht gedruckten Artikel deshalb als Zeitschriftennaufsatz. Den Jahrgang lassen Sie leer, eine DOI kennen Sie aber bereits. Im Zitationsstil legt eine Regel fest, dass beim Eintrag einer DOI, aber bei fehlenden Informationen zum Jahrgang und zu den Seitenzahlen der vom Stil gewünschte Zusatz „advance online publication“ erscheint.

In Citavi erhalten Sie eine Vorschau Ihres Stils, indem Sie auf Ansicht > Aktuellen Titel im Zitationsstil anzeigen klicken. Fehlen wichtige Details, prüfen Sie die Beschreibung Ihres gewählten Zitationsstils im Programm. Gegebenfalls übertragen Sie die Information einfach in andere Felder des Dokumententyps, auch wenn deren Feldbezeichnung nicht passend erscheint. Denn die Feldbezeichnung wird später nicht im Literaturverzeichnis sichtbar sein. Niemand erkennt, dass Sie hier „getrickst“ haben. Reichen Ihnen die Felder dennoch nicht aus, nutzen Sie Freitextfelder , die Sie später in Ihrem Zitationsstil für die Ausgabe ergänzen.

Ein Dokumententyp steht nicht zur Auswahl in Ihrem Literaturverwaltungsprogramm?

In Citavi stehen Ihnen 35 Dokumententypen zur Auswahl. Zu jedem Dokumententyp finden Sie eine Beschreibung, die Ihnen bei Ihrer Entscheidung hilft.

Doch was machen Sie, wenn Sie einen Lexikonartikel, Ausstellungskatalog, ein Poster, eine Rezension etc. aufnehmen möchten, aber Ihre Software dafür keine Vorlage zur Erfassung anbietet?

Eigene Dokumententypen können Sie in Citavi nicht definieren, da damit der Einsatz der Zitationsstile erschwert würde und ein Austausch der Literaturdaten mit anderen Anwendern quasi nicht mehr möglich wäre. Tipps zum Erfassen besonderer Dokumententypen finden Sie im Handbuch .

Wählen Sie in dem Fall einen Dokumententyp, der dem Werk, das Sie zitieren möchten, am ähnlichsten ist. Das Wichtigste ist, dass später im Literaturverzeichnis mit Ihrem gewählten Zitationsstil alle nötigen Details fürs Wiederfinden der Quelle erscheinen.

Der Umgang mit Dokumententypen gleicht zu Beginn des wissenschaftlichen Arbeitens einem Teufelskreis. Sie wissen nicht, welche Informationen einen bestimmten Dokumentententyp ausmachen und wissen deshalb nicht, wie Sie ihn in Ihrem Programm aufnehmen sollen. Dazu kommt, dass Sie nicht wissen, wie er in Ihrem Literaturverzeichnis erscheinen sollte.

Das mag frustrierend sein, aber Sie werden merken, dass Sie sich schnell bei der Wahl des am besten passenden Dokumententyps sicherer fühlen.

Die wichtigen Details erfassen Sie schneller und können sicher sein, dass Ihr Zitationsstil die nach Ihren Richtlinien nötigen Details auch ausgibt.

Hat Sie die Wahl eines Dokumententyps zur Verzweiflung gebracht?

Vermissen Sie einen Dokumententyp in Citavi ganz besonders?

Erzählen Sie uns davon auf Facebook .

Erstellt von: Jana Behrendt – Veröffentlicht am: 15.01.2019 Tags: Zitieren

Über Jana Behrendt

Jana Behrendt interessiert sich für alles rund um die persönliche Wissensorganisation – wie man es von einer studierten Bibliothekarin erwarten würde. Dafür liest sie in Ihrer Freizeit ziemlich wenig. Sie liebt es aber, in den Schweizer Bergen zu wandern – solange sie nicht nach unten schauen muss.

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Preprint Article References

This page contains reference examples for preprint articles.

Hampton, S., Rabagliati, H., Sorace, A., & Fletcher-Watson, S. (2017). Autism and bilingualism: A qualitative interview study of parents’ perspectives and experiences . PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/76xfs

Hetland, B., McAndrew, N., Perazzo, J., & Hickman, R. (2018). A qualitative study of factors that influence active family involvement with patient care in the ICU: Survey of critical care nurses . PubMed Central. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5736422/?report=classic

• Parenthetical citations : (Hampton et al., 2017; Hetland et al., 2018)
• Narrative citations : Hampton et al. (2017) and Hetland et al. (2018)
• Ideally, use and cite the final, published version of a work. However, if you used the preprint version of a work, cite that version, as shown in the examples.
• Preprint versions of articles may or may not be peer reviewed or may be the author’s final, peer-reviewed manuscript as accepted for publication.
• Two common repositories for preprint articles are PsyArXiv and PubMed Central. Follow the same format for other preprint archives.

Preprint article references are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 10.8 and the Concise Guide Section 10.7

Generate accurate APA citations for free

• Knowledge Base
• How to cite a website in APA Style

How to Cite a Website in APA Style | Format & Examples

Published on November 5, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on January 17, 2024.

APA website citations usually include the author, the publication date, the title of the page or article, the website name, and the URL. If there is no author, start the citation with the title of the article. If the page is likely to change over time, add a retrieval date.

If you are citing an online version of a print publication (e.g. a newspaper , magazine , or dictionary ), use the same format as you would for print, with a URL added at the end. Formats differ for online videos (e.g. TED Talks ), images , and dissertations .

Use the buttons below to explore the format, or use our free APA Citation Generator to automatically create citations.

Cite a website in APA Style now:

Table of contents, citing an entire website, how to cite online articles, websites with no author, websites with no date, how to cite from social media, frequently asked questions about apa style citations.

When you refer to a website in your text without quoting or paraphrasing from a specific part of it, you don’t need a formal citation. Instead, you can just include the URL in parentheses after the name of the site:

One of the most popular social media sites, Instagram (http://instagram.com), allows users to share images and videos.

For this kind of citation, you don’t need to include the website on the reference page . However, if you’re citing a specific page or article from a website, you will need a formal in-text citation and reference list entry.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Various kinds of articles appear online, and how you cite them depends on where the article appears.

Online articles from newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Articles appearing in online versions of print publications (e.g. newspapers and magazines) are cited like their print versions, but with an added URL.

The same format is used for blog posts. Just include the blog name where you would usually put the name of the magazine or newspaper.

Articles from online-only news sites

For articles from news sites without print equivalents (e.g. BBC News, Reuters), italicize the name of the article and  not  the name of the site.

When a web page does not list an individual author, it can usually be attributed to an organization or government . If this results in the author name being identical to the site name, omit the site name, as in the example below.

If you can’t identify any author at all, replace the author name with the title of the page or article.

In the in-text citation , put the title in quotation marks if it is in plain text in the reference list, or in italics if it is in italics in the reference list. Note that title case is used for the title here, unlike in the reference list. Shorten the title to the first few words if necessary.

When a web page or article does not list a publication or revision date, replace the date with “n.d.” (“no date”) in all citations.

If an online source is likely to change over time, it is recommended to include the date on which you accessed it.

Scribbr Citation Checker New

The AI-powered Citation Checker helps you avoid common mistakes such as:

• Missing commas and periods
• Incorrect usage of “et al.”
• Ampersands (&) in narrative citations
• Missing reference entries

As social media posts are usually untitled, use the first 20 words of the post, in italics, as a title. Also include any relevant information about the type of post and any multimedia aspects (e.g. videos, images, sound, links) in square brackets.

On some social media sites (such as Twitter ), users go by usernames instead of or in addition to their real names. Where the author’s real name is known, include it, along with their username in square brackets:

In some cases, you’ll want to cite a whole social media profile instead of a specific post. In these cases, include an access date, because a profile will obviously change over time:

When citing a webpage or online article , the APA in-text citation consists of the author’s last name and year of publication. For example: (Worland & Williams, 2015). Note that the author can also be an organization. For example: (American Psychological Association, 2019).

If you’re quoting you should also include a locator. Since web pages don’t have page numbers, you can use one of the following options:

• Paragraph number: (Smith, 2018, para. 15).
• Heading or section name: ( CDC, 2020, Flu Season section)
• Abbreviated heading:  ( CDC, 2020, “Key Facts” section)

When you quote or paraphrase a specific passage from a source, you need to indicate the location of the passage in your APA in-text citation . If there are no page numbers (e.g. when citing a website ) but the text is long, you can instead use section headings, paragraph numbers, or a combination of the two:

(Caulfield, 2019, Linking section, para. 1).

Section headings can be shortened if necessary. Kindle location numbers should not be used in ebook citations , as they are unreliable.

If you are referring to the source as a whole, it’s not necessary to include a page number or other marker.

When no individual author name is listed, but the source can clearly be attributed to a specific organization—e.g., a press release by a charity, a report by an agency, or a page from a company’s website—use the organization’s name as the author in the reference entry and APA in-text citations .

When no author at all can be determined—e.g. a collaboratively edited wiki or an online article published anonymously—use the title in place of the author. In the in-text citation, put the title in quotation marks if it appears in plain text in the reference list, and in italics if it appears in italics in the reference list. Shorten it if necessary.

APA Style usually does not require an access date. You never need to include one when citing journal articles , e-books , or other stable online sources.

However, if you are citing a website or online article that’s designed to change over time, it’s a good idea to include an access date. In this case, write it in the following format at the end of the reference: Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://www.uva.nl/en/about-the-uva/about-the-university/about-the-university.html

Instead of the author’s name, include the first few words of the work’s title in the in-text citation. Enclose the title in double quotation marks when citing an article, web page or book chapter. Italicize the title of periodicals, books, and reports.

No publication date

If the publication date is unknown , use “n.d.” (no date) instead. For example: (Johnson, n.d.).

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.

Caulfield, J. (2024, January 17). How to Cite a Website in APA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved August 19, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/website/

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Should I cite R or RStudio?

I ran my data analysis and created my graphs in RStudio, but RStudio is just a platform for R. In my paper should I cite R or RStudio?

• 10 I have never seen anyone cite Rstudio. It would be like citing Word –  Azor Ahai -him- Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 21:26
• 2 Just to be clear to readers who don't know R, the OP didn't "create their graphs in RStudio," there is no functionality to do that in RStudio besides using R and its packages. Yes, it displays them for you, but that's it. –  Azor Ahai -him- Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 18:37

3 Answers 3

RStudio is an IDE for R — essentially an editor and debugger packed together. Your work is made possible by statisticians who developed the language R and graphical packages for it. If you want to cite R in your publication, here is the explanation how to do it.

• 2 You can also type citation() in the console to get the current citation information: It works for packages too -- citation("packagename") –  pep Commented Jul 6, 2021 at 22:31

Google Scholar is probably not doing a great job of tracking these software citations compared to journal articles that fit standard citation formatting better, but RStudio has ~1,800 citations whereas R has over 100,000 using the most common citation aggregate for each.

Many people cite neither and instead cite particular packages that they use, but by far it is more common to cite R which includes all of the base libraries, etc. RStudio is only an IDE, and although it could be useful and you are free to cite it as having been helpful in your development, anyone can take your R code written with the help of RStudio and run it with only R and get the same result.

• To follow on, if my PI and I collaborate on an R script, and I use RStudio and she uses emacs, should we cite both? It would seem wrong to cite emacs, so by extension, I see little reason to cite Rstudio. –  Azor Ahai -him- Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 0:27
• 3 @AzorAhai I agree that it is not typical to cite text editors, IDEs are a bit more involved but you don't typically cite those either. When someone cites something like Matlab or SAS or Stata, they aren't just citing the IDE and GUI but the underlying algorithms that have been tested, validated etc; the equivalent for that would be R, not RStudio. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 0:50

Cite what you use. RStudio has a collection of developers who have made your work possible. Cite them. R is a language so it is, perhaps, less important to cite it. But if it has features that are important to your work, cite it. If you had used Python to do data analysis it might not be necessary to name it if there was nothing special about Python, but R is specialized for statistics so more likely that it should be cited.

Cite what you use. It is a courtesy to those who enable your work if nothing else. Citing RStudio

• 8 @JeremyC Probably coming from the suggestion that citing R is less important and perhaps the misunderstanding that R is "just" a language whereas RStudio is what "made your work possible." –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 23:00
• 7 I did not downvote this, but I 100% defend the right to downvote if one thinks that the content of an answer is wrong / unwise, without need for further comments. –  Federico Poloni Commented Feb 25, 2019 at 23:41
• 7 @Buffy To make more clear, I think the thing that's wrong/dangerous in your answer possibly is that it makes it sound like RStudio is the thing that brings all the code and R is just the language, which is not the case. People that are "using" RStudio are mostly only using it as a text editor/for debugging tools. It is almost certainly more important to cite R than to cite RStudio. OP understands all this, but someone else might not. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 1:49
• 12 @Buffy Have you used R? Your answer makes it sound like you have not. –  Azor Ahai -him- Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 3:43
• 8 @Buffy In my personal opinion, this and many your other answers sound like someone forced you to answer a question on a topic you know very little about. SE is not an exam. If you are not sure of a right/helpful answer to a question, it is quite appropriate to refrain from answering it. –  Dmitry Savostyanov Commented Feb 26, 2019 at 7:43

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How do I cite MATLAB in a bibliography or a published journal?

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How to cite SPSS

SPSS is a popular statistical analysis software package that is used by researchers around the world. SPSS stands for "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" and has a long history dating back to 1968. Originally developed by SPSS Inc., it was acquired by IBM in 2007 and is since running under the name "IBM SPSS Statistics".

APA citation

According to the APA Publication Manual SPSS is a commonly known software package and it is enough to provide the name along with the version number in the text. A citation in the reference list is not required.

The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27) .

We have also prepared a reference list entry for you if a journal or your supervisor requires you to do so:

IBM Corp. (2020). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (Version 27.0) [Computer software]. IBM Corp.

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How to cite packages.

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Dominique Makowski in R bloggers | 0 Comments

[social4i size="small" align="align-left"] --> [This article was first published on Dominique Makowski , and kindly contributed to R-bloggers ]. (You can report issue about the content on this page here ) Want to share your content on R-bloggers? click here if you have a blog, or here if you don't.

What should I cite?

How should i cite it, previous blogposts.

Citing the packages, modules and softwares you used for your analysis is important , both from a reproducibility perspective (statistical routines are often implemented in different ways by different packages, which could explain slight discrepancies in the results. Saying “ I did this using this function from that package version 1.2.3 ” is a way of protecting yourself by being clear about what you have found doing what you have done) but also for acknowledging the work and time that people spent creating tools for others (sometimes at the expense of their own research).

• That’s great, but how to actually cite them?
• I used about 100 packages, should I cite them all ?

Ideally, you should indeed cite all the packages that you used. However, it’s not very diegetic. Therefore, I would recommand the following:

• Cite the main / important packages in the manuscript

This should be done for the packages that were central to your specific analysis ( i.e., that got you the results that you reported) rather than data manipulation tools (even though these are as much important).

For example:

Statistics were done using R 3.5.0 (R Core Team, 2018), the rstanarm ( v2.13.1 ; Gabry & Goodrich, 2016) and the psycho ( v0.3.4 ; Makowski, 2018) packages. The full reproducible code is available in Supplementary Materials .

• Present everything in Supplementary Materials

Then, in Supplementary Materials, you show the packages and functions you used. Moreover, in R, you can include (usually at the end) every used package and their version using the sessionInfo() function.

Finding the right citation information is sometimes complicated. In R, this process is made quite easy, you simply run citation("packagename") . For instance, citation("dplyr") :

For other languages, such as Python or Julia, it might be a little trickier, but a quick search on google ( or github ) should provide you with all the necessary information (version, authors, date). It’s better to have a slightly incomplete citation than no citation at all.

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