APA (American Psychological Association) style uses an author-date format for in-text citations. Every in-text citation within your document should be included in the alphabetical reference list. Generally speaking, the author’s last name and year of publication should be inserted into your document text when appropriate. If the author’s name is part of the narrative, then the publication year alone is included in parentheses. If the author’s name is not part of the narrative, then both the author’s last name and the publication year is included in the parentheses.
One author (Manual section 8.10)
Karaka (1884) describes the religious customs and traditions of the Parsis settled in Gujarat.
One of the most prominent men of the time had a close relationship with the British (Karaka, 1884).
Multiple authors (Manual section 8.17 - 8.18)
If a work has two authors, then include both names every time the reference occurs in the text.
Forte and Hewitt (2006) propose the idea that ...
For a work with three or more authors, include the name of only the first author plus "et al." in every citation, including the first citation, unless doing so would create ambiguity. To avoid ambiguity, when the in-text citations of multiple works with three or more authors shorten to the same form, write out as many names as needed to distinguish the references.
Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al. (2017)
Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al. (2017)
The Reference List is your bibliography or works cited page. On a new page, center the word "References" at the top. Arrange citations in alphabetical order by author last name. For more than one work by the same author, arrange in date order, earliest first. A single-author citation precedes multiple-author entries beginning with the same surname. Double space your citations. Create a hanging indent for each citation on this list (the first line is flush with the left margin, but following lines in a citation are indented).
Authored book with a DOI (Manual section 10.2.20)
Brown, L.S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000
For an explanation of DOI, see the section on electronic journal articles.
Authored book, print version, without a DOI (Manual section 10.2.21)
Burgess, R. (2019). Rethinking global health: Frameworks of power. Routledge.
Authored ebook (Manual section 10.2.22)
Christian, B., & Griffiths, T. (2016). Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions. Henry Holt & Co.
Book chapter (Manual section 10.2)
For a chapter in an authored book, create a reference for the whole book (see examples above) and provide the chapter information with the in-text citation only.
Chapter in an edited book without a DOI (Manual section 10.3.39)
Weinstock, R., Leong, G.B., & Silva, J.A. (2003). Defining foreensic psychiatry: Roles and responsibilities. In R. Rosner (Ed.), Principles and practice of forensic psychiatry (2nd ed., pp. 7-13). CRC Press.
Reference book (Manual section 10.2.33)
Zalta, E.N. (Ed.). (2019). The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Summer 2019 ed.). Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/
Entry in an online reference work (Manual section 10.3.48)
Graham, G. (2019). Behaviorism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Summer 2019 ed.). htttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/
Entry in an online reference work, no individual author or editor (Manual section 10.3.47)
Merriman-Webster (n.d.). Self-report. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved July 12, 2019, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-report
Government report (Manual section 10.4.50). See also the Citing Gov Docs tab
National Cancer Institute. (2018). Facing forward: Life after cancer treatment (NIH Publication No. 18-2424). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/life-after-treatment.pdf
Journals and other periodicals
The general format for periodicals (items published on a regular basis, like newspapers, magazines,and journals):
Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, xx, pp-pp. doi:xx.xxxxxxxxx
When there are up to twenty authors, spell out all authors’ names. After the nineteenth author, use ellipses before the last author’s name.
The DOI - Digital Object Identifier
APA style requires the addition of a DOI – Digital Object Identifier – for journal articles if one is available. (Most current journals articles and many historic articles found in databases like PsycInfo will have a DOI.)
If retrieving an article from a private database (examples of private databases include library databases like ProQuest, or PsycInfo), it is not necessary to include the database information in your reference. However, if there is no DOI available for a journal article, you should look up the home page URL of the journal and include it in your reference.
Journal article with a DOI (Manual section 10.1.1)
McCauley, S.M., & Christiansen, M.H. (2019). Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1-51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126
Journal article without a DOI, from a print journal or database (Manual section 10.1.3)
Anderson, M. (2018). Getting consistent with consequences. Educational Leadership, 76(1), 26-33.
Journal article without a DOI, with a non-database URL (Manual section 10.1.2)
Ahmann, E., Tuttle, L.J., Saviet, M., & Wright, S.D. (2018). A descriptive review of ADHD coaching research: Implications for college students. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(1), 17-39, https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/archived-jped/jped-volume-31
Magazine articles (Manual section 10.1.15)
Bergeson, S. (2019, January 4). Really cool neutral plasmas. Science, 363(6422), 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau7988
Bustillos, M. (2013, March 19). On video games and storytelling: an interview with Tom Bissell. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/on-video-games-and-storytelling-an-interview-with-tom-bissell
Newspaper article (Manual section 10.1.16)
Guarino, B. (2017, December 4). How will humanity react to alien life? Psychologists have some predictions. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/12/04/how-will-humanity-react-to-alien-life-psychologists-have-some-predictions/
To mention a website in general, do not create a reference list entry or an in-text citation. Instead, include the name of the website in the text and provide the URL in parentheses (Manuel 10.16). If you are citing multiple or specific documents on a website, however, follow the example(s) below.
Web page with author listed (Manual 10.16.112)
Martin Lillie, C.M. (2016, December 29). Be kind to yourself: How self-compassion can improve your resiliency. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/self-compassion-can-improve-your-resiliency/art-20267193
Web page with a group author (Manual section 10.16.111)
World Health Organization. (2021, February). Food safety. https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/food-safety
Web message/post/comment with author listed (Manual section 10.1.18)
KS in NJ. (2019, January 15). From this article, it sounds like men are figuring out something that women have known forever. I know of many [Comment on the article "How workout buddies can help stave off loneliness"]. The Washington Post. https://wapo.st/2HDToGJ
Provide the comment title or up to the first 20 words of the comment, then write "Comment on the article" and the title of the article on which the comment appeared.
Blog posts (Manual section 10.1.17)
Use the author’s name if known, otherwise use a screen name.
Klymkowsky, M. (2018, September 15). Can we talk scientifically about free will? Sci-Ed. https://blogs.plos.org/scied/2018/09/15/can-we-talk-scientifically-about-free-will/
Podcasts (Manual section 10.13.93)
Vedantam, S. (Host). (2015-present). Hidden brain [Audio podcast]. NPR. https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain
YouTube or other streaming video (Manual section 10.12.90)
Fogarty, M. [Grammar Girl]. (2016, September 30). How to diagram a sentence (absolute basics). [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/deiEY5Yq1qI
Wikipedia or other wiki entry (Manual 10.3.49)
List of oldest companies. (2019, January 13). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_oldest_companies&oldid=878158136
Cite the archived version of the page so that readers can retrieve the version you used. Access the archived version on Wikipedia by selecting "View history" and then the time and date of the version you used. If a wiki does not provide permanent links to archived versions of the page, include the URL for the entry and the retrieval date.
Test, scale, or inventory (Manual section 10.11.82)
Project Implicit. (n.d.) Gender-Science IAT. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
Films
Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring [Film; four-disc special extended ed. on DVD]. WingNut Films; The Saul Zaentz Company.
TV series episode (single episode) (Manual Section 10.12.87)
Barris, K. (Writer & Director). (2017, January 11). Lemons (Season 3, Episode 12) [TV series episode]. In K. Barris, J. Groff, A. Anders, E.B. Dobbins, L. Fishburne, & H. Sugland (Executive Producers), Black-ish. Wilmore Films; Artists First; Cinema Gypsy Productions; ABC Studios.
Data set (Manual section 10.9.75)
Pew Research Center. (2018). American trends panel Wave 26 [Data set]. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-26
Indigenous oral knowledge (https://kula.uvic.ca/index.php/kula/article/view/135/258)
Cardinal, D. Goodfish Lake Cree Nation. Treaty 6. Lives in Edmonton. Oral teaching. personal communication. April 4, 2004.
Artificial Intelligence (https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/how-to-cite-chatgpt)
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat