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Citation

What is APA Citation?

APA 7 Format

General Paper Format:

  • Font should be widely available and accessible to all users. Some suggested fonts and sizes:
    • 11-point Calibri
    • 11-point Arial
    • 12-point times New Roman
    • 11-point Georgia
  • 1-inch margins on all sides.
  • Page numbers (beginning with title page) in upper right header.
  • Double-space paper throughout, including title page and References.
  • Indent first line of each paragraph one half-inch.

Title Page:

  • Title is centered in upper half of page.
  • Center the following elements below the title:
    • Author Name 
    • Institution Name 
    • Course Name
    • Instructor Name
    • Month Day, Year
APA Citation requires two elements—
1. List of References: An alphabetized list at the end of your paper which gives comprehensive author and publication information about each source. Enough information must be provided for your readers to find the sources for themselves.
2. In-Text Citations: In your paper, a short note in parentheses after each quote or rephrased point directing the reader to the corresponding alphabetical entry in your Works Cited list.

 

APA In-Text Citations: The Basics

Include an in-text citation every time you mention information from your sources. 

  • Citations are indicated in parentheses at the end of the sentence before the period.
    • The information in parentheses must match the beginning of the source’s entry in the Works Cited.

 

  • The author's last name should be the first thing listed, followed by a comma and the year of publication.
Periodic breaks in a study routine are helpful for retention (Sears, 2019).
  • If you don’t know the author’s name, the title should be the first thing listed, followed by a comma and the year of publication.
This is distressful for the patient ("Dissociative Identity Disorder," 2013).
  • If you are using more than one source by the same author, indicate which one you are referring to by listing the author’s last name and the date of publication of the source. 
Studies indicate that there may be biological reasons why some people prefer to listen to rock music at high volume levels (Owen, 2017).
  • If your source has two authors, list both last names separated by “&.”
The health impacts of these practices are significant (Smith & Tully, 2018).
  • If your source has three or more authors, list the first author by last name followed by “et al.”
Studies of mobile phone data suggest a connection between gender, poverty and mobility in urban areas. (Carlyle et al., 2015).
  • When quoting a source word-for-word, indicate this with quotation marks. Include a page number for the quote after the year and a comma.  
One researcher stated "the results cannot be generalized between studies" (Holt, 2017, p.171).
  • For quotations of 40 words or longer: 
    • present the quote as a block of text indented ½ inch from the left margin. 
    • include a citation after the final punctuation.
    • do not use quotation marks for block quotes.
At the close of chapter 96, Ishmael comments: 
Give not thyself, then, up to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee; as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. (Melville, 2017, p. 531)
APA Citation requires two elements—
1. List of References: An alphabetized list at the end of your paper which gives comprehensive author and publication information about each source. Enough information must be provided for your readers to find the sources for themselves.
2. In-Text Citations: In your paper, a short note in parentheses after each quote or rephrased point directing the reader to the corresponding alphabetical entry in your Works Cited list.

 

Formatting the References List

  • Your list of sources will begin on a new page after the end of your paper.
  • The title, References, should appear at the top of the page, centered but not bold, italicized, or in quotation marks.
  • The References list is double-spaced.
  • The list is alphabetized by first element in each entry.
  • Each entry has a hanging indent, meaning the first line is flush with the left margin and all following lines are indented one half-inch.  

Order of Elements in APA References Entry

Author

Date

Title

Source: Description

Source: Location

Last, First Initial, Middle initial.

(Year, Month Day). or (n.d.)

Title of webpage/book/article/entry.

In Editor/Other Contributor, Title of Journal/Reference book/Web site containing article/entry/web page.

 Page number, DOI or URL
  • Present titles which are not stand-alone sources in unitalicized sentence case.
  • Present periodical (magazine, newspaper, journal) titles in title case and italicized.
  • Italicize titles of free-standing works such as web pages, websites, books and reports and present them in sentence case.
  • Present websites in the Source element unitalicized in title case.
  • Follow titles of books and reports with any further information (e.g. edition, volume number) in parentheses.
  • Begin the entry with title followed by date if author is unknown.
  • Use (n.d.) for the Date element if publication date is unavailable.
  • Provide a date of access at the end of the citation for online sources without publication dates. 
  • Provide DOI if available, even if you are citing a print copy.
  • Provide URL and access date for online journals if DOI is unavailable.  

Multiple Authors:

If a source has two authors, list both authors by last name, a comma, and then initial(s). Add another comma and ampersand, then the second name in the same style.

Nguyen, K., & Hernandez, J. (2014). The politics of identity. Beacon Press.

For a work with three to twenty authors, list all authors by last name, comma, and initials, separating all names with commas. The very last name will be separated by an ampersand. 

Hernandez, J., Thompson, L., Kim, Y., Rodriguez, M., Smith, J., Garcia, S., Williams, R., & Martinez, L. (2020). Innovations in sustainable development. Springer.

For a source with more than twenty authors, list the first nineteen authors in the same style indicated above, each followed by a comma. Follow with an ellipsis and the final author credited in the source.

Walters, J., Brandt, J. R., Bergkamp, B., Greene, E. B., Harrow, F., Bahr, Q., Owens, S., Hand, R., Barnes, C., Charles, Z., Wendt, S., Ratliff, D., Wilson, I., Traynor, J., Allen, M. J., Scrivener, T. O.,  Reagan, E., Kreiger, K., Wilkinson, R., . . .  Shane, H. (2019). Exploring quantum entanglement in  brain-computer interfaces: A theoretical framework. Journal of Advanced Neural Networks and  Quantum Computing, 100(10), 2043-2061. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0270.1

 

APA 7 Sample paper