Note: These examples are based on the 6th edition.
All citations should be double spaced and the 2nd & following lines indented 5 spaces. Additional format information provided below.
Book
Author last name, initial(s). (Publication year). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
Okuda, M. A. & Okuda, D. A. (1993). Star Trek chronology: The history of the future. New York, NY: Pocket.
Sources with multiple authors
List all names up to seven authors. For more than seven authors, list first six names followed by three ellipses then the last author's name.
Barber, B., Inkeles, A., & Parsons, T. (1971). Stability and social change. Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Rosenbloom, M. J., Sullivan, E. V., Sassoon, S. A., O'Reilly, A., Fama, R., Kemper, C. A.,...Pfefferbaum, A. (2007). Alcoholism, HIV infection, and their comorbity: Factors affecting self-rated health-rated quality of life. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 68(1), 115-125.
Sources with a corporate, association, etc. author
If thegroup is also the publisher, write "Author" (without quotation amrks) for the publisher.
American Psychological Association. (2007). Getting in: A step-by-step plan for gaining admission to graduate school in psychology. Washington, DC: Author.
Sources with no author
Handbook of U.S. labor statistics: Employment, earnings, prices, productivity, and other labor data.(2003). Lanham, MD: Bernan Press.
Sources with only an editor
Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Sources with an author and editor or translator
Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals (K.V. Kukil, Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.
Sophocles. (1973). Antigone (R. E. Braun, Trans.). New York, NY: Oxford UP.
Electronic book
Author last name, initial(s). (Publication year). Title of book [electronic version]. Location: Publisher. Retrieved from source.
Schlosser, E. (2001). Fast food nation. Boston, MA: Houghlin Mifflin. Retrieved from http://www.netlibrary.com
Kidder, T. (1981). The soul of a new machine. New York, NY: Little, Brown. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books
Article or chapter within a book
Author last name, initial(s) (Publication year). Title of chapter. In A. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.
James, N. E. (1988). Two sides of paradise: The Eden myth according to Kirk and Spock. In D. Palumbo (ed.), Spectrum of the fantastic: Selected essays from the Sixth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (pp. 219-223). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Entry in an encyclopedia or other multi-volume work
Author last name, initial(s) (Publication year). Title of article. In Title of work (vol. , pages of article). Location: Publisher.
Sturgeon, T. H. (1995). Science fiction. In The encyclopedia Americana. (Vol. 5, pp. 203-207). Danbury, CT: Encyclopedia Americana.
Article from a print journal
Author last name, initial(s) (Publication year). Title of article. Title of journal, volume number(issue), pages.
Wilcox. R. V. (1991). Shifting roles and synthetic women in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Studies in Popular Culture, 126, 53-65.
Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.
Article from an online journal
Author last name, initial(s) (Publication Year). Title of article. Title of journal, volume number (issue number if available). Retrieved from URL.
Rohrbaugh, G. & deRosset, L. (2004). A new route to the necessity of origin. Mind, 113(425). Retrieved from http://mind.oupjournals.org/
* NOTE: Because URLs can change, altering accessibility to documented sources, the APA recommends using a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when available, rather than a URL.
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12), 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161
Article from a print magazine
Author last name, initial(s) (year, month day of publication). Title of article. Title of magazine, volume (issue), pages.
Pimentel, D. & Wilson, A. (2004, Sept/Oct). World population, agriculture, and malnutrition. World Watch, 17(5), 22-25.
Article from an online magazine
Author last name, initial(s) (year, month day of publication). Title of article. Title of magazine. Retrieved from URL
Kiser, D. (2004, Oct). No one rules the net, not yet. Information Today.
Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/
Article from a print newspaper
Author last name, initial(s) (year, month day of publication). Title of article. Title of newspaper, pages.
Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, pp.A1, A4.
Article from an online newspaper
Author last name, initial(s) (year, month day of publication). Title of article. Title of newspaper. Retrieved from URL
Assis, C. (2005, January 5). Ghosts in the river. Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved from http://www.hamptonroads.com/pilotonline/
Articles from a library database
* NOTE: APA no longer recommends including database information with citations. Publication access in aggregate databases, such as EBSCO, change, and readers may not have access to the same databases. Instead, include all relevant information and cite as you would a print copy (see examples in this guide).
Website with no print counterpart
Author last name, initial(s) [if given] (year created or last updated). Title. Retrieved [include date only if content is likely to change] from URL
The Muppet Show (2009). Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074028/
Interview, email, or other personal communication
* NOTE: These sources of information are not included in the reference list but are cited within the body of the paper. Use parenthetical citations for the name and date, and note that it was personal communication.
(L. Flowers, personal communication, May 11, 2009)
Notes
- In APA style, the alphabetical list of works cited is titled "References."
- Arrange the items on your reference list alphabetically by author, interfiling books, articles, etc.
- DoubleSpace all lines.
- Indent the second and following lines 5 spaces (or one half inch).
- When a Web address must be divided at the end of a line, break it after a slash or before a period. Do not insert a hyphen.
- If no author is given, start with the title.
- Titles of books are italicized.
- Precede page numbers for newspaper articles with p. or pp.
- If the encyclopedia does not arrange its articles alphabetically, treat the encyclopedia article as if it were a book article. Specific volume and page numbers are cited in the text, not in the list of references.
- For guidelines concerning differences between journals and magazine, consult the library's web page: Magazine vs journal.
- Web sites: include the title of the web page, the name of the entire web site, the organization that posted it (this may be the same as the name of the website). Also include the full date the page was created or last updated (day, month, year if available) and the date you looked at it.
- If a document is contained within a large and complex Web site (such as that for a university or a government agency), identify the host organization and the relevant program or department before giving the URL for the document itself. Precede the URL with a colon.
- Internet Magazine Articles:
- As for page numbers, different databases will provide different information. Include the range of pages (ex. 25-28.); or the starting page followed by a hyphen, a blank space, and a period (ex. 64- .); or the total number of pages or paragraphs (ex. 12 pp. or 33 pars.). If no page information is given, then leave it out.
- The rules concerning a title within a title are not displayed here for purposes of clarity. See the printed version of the manual for details.
- For documents and situations not listed here, see the printed version of the manual.
- APA guidelines require that you use parenthetical citations to document quotations, paraphrases, summaries, and other material from a source used in your paper. These in-text citations correspond to the full bibliographic entries found in a list of references included at the end of your paper. Unless otherwise noted, electronic sources follow the same pattern as printed ones. For a guide on how to do parenthetical citations click here or consult the print version of the APA Style Guide found in Reference BF 76.7 P83 2010
Additional information
The print edition of Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is available in the library.
APA Style blog - information about hard-to-cite sources and clear explanations of changes in the 6th ed.
Citing Information - UNC Chapel Hill Libraries
Bedford/St. Martins Publishers - Citation styles for online sources.