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APA Citation Examples
Some General Rules
REFERENCE LIST EXAMPLES
- Articles
- Books
- E-books
- Web Sites
- WebTycho Classroom Materials
- Technical and Research Reports
- Dissertations and Theses
- Images
- Interviews, E-mail Messages, and Other Personal Communications
Need More Help?
For a more detailed explanation of how to use APA style, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. This is the APA's official citation guide. The manual is unfortunately not available online, but reference copies are available in all 16 University of Maryland libraries.
You can also contact a librarian 24-7 for help finding a copy in a library near you or to ask a citation-related question.
Some General Rules
(Smith, 2004)
(Smith, 2004, p. 39)
Smith (2004, p. 39) claims that...
Use only the date or date and page number.
An online article with no page numbers.
(Myers, 2000, ¶ 5)
(Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1)Use the symbol ¶ or the abbreviation para. followed by the paragraph number you are citing. When possible, specify a section of the article.
See Authors, below.
Reference List Citation
In-Text CitationCourtois, C. A. (2004). (Courtois, 2004) Kelley, P. C., & Chang, P. L. (2007). (Kelley & Chang, 2007) Hughes, J. C., Brestan, E. V., & Valle, L. A. (2004). First citation:
(Hughes, Brestan, & Valle, 2004)Subsequent citations:
(Hughes et al., 2004)Carter, A., Dougherty, S., Addington, M., Stanley, R., Stanley, C., Schuffler, G., et al. (2004). Just list the first six authors, followed by "et al."
(Carter et al., 2004) American Dietetic Association. (1999). First citation:
(American Dietetic Association [ADA], 1999)Subsequent citations: (ADA, 1999)
None to claim their bones: Relics of an old Brooklyn graveyard. (1888, April 12). New York Times, pp. 3-4. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from ProQuest Newspapers database.
List the source by title in your reference list. Alphabetize reference list entries beginning with a title using the primary word of the title (excluding a, an, or the).
("None to Claim Their Bones," 1888)
In cases where the title contains a colon, use only the text before the colon in your in-text citation.
Capitalization: Capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle and proper nouns only. Do not capitalize the rest.
Italics: Titles are italicized for the following items:
- Book titles
- E-Book titles
- Periodical titles (e.g. journals, magazines, newspapers) and volume numbers
- Web site titles
- Dissertation/thesis titles
- Reports/technical paper titles
- Work of art titles
Freud's Vienna revisited Student cheating and plagiarism in the Internet era: A wake-up call
APA style does not write out Volume, Vol., v. or Issue, or I. or other such abbreviations. Use italics for the volume number.
12(4) 12 is the volume number (in italics) and 4 is the issue number.
Sometimes you use p. or pp. to indicate page numbers (for example, newspaper articles and book chapters) and sometimes you do not (for example, journal and magazine articles). Follow the examples in this guide. National Geographic, 300. 300 is the volume number. Follow the volume number of the magazine or journal with a period.
Use "(n.d.)" (for "no date") in your citation.
In-Text Citation No date given Knowles, A. (n.d.). House of dust [Collage]. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Retrieved August 7, 2006, from Grove Art Online database.
(Knowles, n.d.)
Citing a Source within a Source
You read a 2006 article by Brown that cites an earlier article, by Larsen. You want to cite Larsen's article, but you have not read Larsen's article itself.
Brown, J. D. (2006). Librarians as business people: A review of the literature. Journal of For-Profit Librarianship, 28(4), 421-436. Retrieved December 4, 2007, from Academic Search Premier database.
Your Reference list will contain the article you read, by Brown. Your Reference list will NOT contain a citation for Larsen's article.
Larsen's study (as cited in Brown, 2006) found that . . .
Your in-text citation gives credit to Larsen and shows the source in which you found Larsen's ideas.
Articles
Courtois, C. A. (2004). The transition to retirement: Stages and factors that influence retirement adjustment. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 59(1), 63-84. Retrieved April 21, 2006, from Academic Search Premier database.
Giancola, P. R. (2004). Executive functioning and alcohol-related aggression. American Psychologist, 59(2), 5-7. Retrieved January 12, 2006, from http://www.apa.org/journals/amp/amp59129.pdf
Hughes, J. C., Brestan, E. V., & Valle, L. A. (2004). Problem-solving interactions between mothers and children. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 26(1), 1-16.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Recent changes in APA style call for the use of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Your professor may ask you to use DOIs in accordance with the latest APA changes. If so, here is how to use a DOI in APA style:
Some library databases, such as PsycARTICLES and PsycINFO, list a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each article. In the database record for an article, you will see an element that looks like this:
When a DOI is present, you should include it at the end of your APA reference for the article, like this:
Sagarin, B. J., & Lawler-Sagarin, K. A. (2005). Critically evaluating competing theories: An exercise based on the Kitty Genovese murder. Teaching of Psychology, 32(3), 167–169. doi:10.1207/s15328023top3203_8
By including an article's DOI in your citation, you enable your reader to go to a Web site such as www.doi.org, enter the DOI number, and retrieve further information about the article, including the full-text if available.
Many library databases do not list DOIs. If that is the case for an article you are citing, your reference would not include a DOI. Instead, you will include the database name, as in the following example:
Leimbach, M. (2007). Strange son: Two mothers, two sons, and the quest to unlock the hidden world of autism. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 30(3), 428-429. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
In the above example, no "Retrieved" date is given. According to the recent APA changes, if you are citing a database article that has been published in its final form in a journal, you omit the date you retrieved the article.
Again, follow the above DOI instructions only when a professor requires you to use DOIs in accordance with the recent APA changes. If a professor does not require you to use DOIs, then it is acceptable to follow the other citation examples given throughout this page.
Daily or Weekly Magazines
Borowitz, A. (2004, November 15). Pavlov's brother. New Yorker, 80, 63-66. Retrieved June 12, 2006, from Academic Search Premier database.
Springen, K. (2005, January 17). Artful aging. Newsweek, 145, 25-27. Retrieved January 12, 2005, from http://www.msnbc.com/6803302/newsweek/
Borowitz, A. (2004, November 15). Pavlov's brother. New Yorker, 80, 63-66.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Monthly Magazines
Ives, F., & Lydon, J. (2005, January). Freud's Vienna revisited. Discover, 26, 16-17. Retrieved June 11, 2006, from PsycINFO database.
Gelb, N. (2003, May). Winter of discontent. Smithsonian, 34, 50-55. Retrieved April 3, 2005, from http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/may03/gelb/
Ives, F., & Lydon, J. (2005, January). Freud's Vienna revisited. Discover, 26, 16-17.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Tip:
- When an issue of a magazine covers several months, the name of the first and last month in the range should be given in the citation, separated by a dash, for example: "(1993, June-July)".
Brown, P. L. (1999, September 5). Tiffany glass and other tales from the crypt. New York Times, pp. 1, 5. Retrieved June 20, 2006, from ProQuest Newspapers database.
Foreman, J. (2003, August 12). Allston gothic. Boston Globe. Retrieved June 12, 2006, from http://www.boston.com/03_8_12/allston
Brown, P. L. (1999, September 5). Tiffany glass and other tales from the crypt. New York Times, pp. 1, 5.
Note that the page number of a newspaper article is preceeded by "p." in a reference list citation. In cases where an article spans a range of pages, the page range is preceeded by "pp." (for example, "pp. 4-5"). When an article appears on discontinuous pages, separate the page numbers with a comma (ex. "pp. 4, 8"). When a newspaper uses section letters in its page numbers, these should be included in your citation (ex. "p. A1", "pp. B1, B6").
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Articles Freely Available on the Web
George, A. (2004). The Brontes and the world they made. The Victorian Web. Retrieved January 10, 2005, from http://www.victorians.org/bronte.html
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Book, Film and Product Reviews
Grimes, W. (2006, December 13). Beyond Mandalay, the road to isolation and xenophobia [Review of the book The river of lost footsteps: Histories of Burma]. New York Times, pp. E8, E10. Retrieved December 21, 2006, from ProQuest Newspapers database.
An untitled book, film, or product review (for example, a review covering multiple works):
Guha, M. (2006). [Review of the books Fleeting pleasures: A history of intoxicants and Substance use among young people in urban environments]. Journal of Mental Health, 15, 713-716. Retrieved April 2, 2006, from PsycARTICLES database.
Cohen, P. (2007, May 9). Love, honor, cherish, and buy [Review of the book One perfect day: The selling of the American wedding]. New York Times. Retrieved May 11, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/
2007/05/09/books/09bride.html
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Books
Jans, N. (1993). The last light breaking: Life among Alaska's Inupiat Eskimos. Anchorage, AK: Alaska Northwest Books.
Miller, J., & Smith, T. (Eds.). (1996). Cape Cod stories: Tales from Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
For a single editor, use "(Ed.)".
Arking, R. (2006). The biology of aging: Observations and principles (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Culliney, J. L. (2006). Islands in a far sea: The fate of nature in Hawai'i (Rev. ed.). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press.
Green, C. M. (1962-1963). Washington (Vols. 1-2). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
If volumes in a work or set are published in different years, give the range of years separated by a dash as above.
Eliot, T. S. (2001). Tradition and the individual talent. In V. B. Leitch (Ed.), The Norton anthology of theory and criticism (pp. 1092-1097). New York: W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1920)
Note that the page numbers of an article or chapter are preceeded by "pp." when citing it (for example, "pp. 25-50"). In cases where an article/chapter occupies a single page, the page is preceeded by "p." (ex. "p. 4").
If an article has been reprinted from a source published earlier, give the original date of publication in the "original work" element of the citation as shown above (when using this element, the final period in a citation is omitted).
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Tips:
- Cities, States and Countries: For these U.S. cities, use the city name alone when identifying place of publication: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco. For all others, add the standard postal abbreviations for states (for example, "Chatham, MA"). Foreign cities should be followed by the name of their country (ex. "Brisbane, Australia") with the following exceptions: Amsterdam, Jerusalem, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tokyo and Vienna.
- Place of publication: Separate place of publication from publisher with a colon (for example "New York: Zone Books"). If more than one city is given, list only the first.
- Publisher names: "Co.", "Inc." and related elements of publisher names should not be included in citations (for example, "Ivan R. Dee, Inc." should be rendered as "Ivan R. Dee".)
E-Books
Kornblum, W. (2002). At sea in the city: New York from the water's edge. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books. Retrieved June 23, 2006, from NetLibrary database.
Seton, E. T. (1911). The Arctic prairies: A canoe-journey of 2,000 miles in search of the caribou. New York: C. Scribner's Sons. Retrieved May 2, 2006, from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/6818
Herlong, M. (2003). Traces of the past in Blagden Alley. In R. Shepard, & M. Herlong (Eds.), Washington palimpsest (pp. 102-115). Washington, D.C.: Reedbird Hill Press. Retrieved September 3, 2006, from Academic Search Premier database.
EBSCO databases such as Academic Search Premier include chapters from books. Information about the publisher of a book can be found by clicking on its title in the record for the chapter in Academic Search Premier. Author information may be omitted from your citation if it is not available in the record.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Tips:
- Cities, States and Countries: For these U.S. cities, use the city name alone when identifying place of publication: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco. For all others, add the standard postal abbreviations for states (for example, "Chatham, MA"). Foreign cities should be followed by the name of their country (ex. "Brisbane, Australia") with the following exceptions: Amsterdam, Jerusalem, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tokyo and Vienna.
- Place of publication: Separate place of publication from publisher with a colon (for example "New York: Zone Books"). If more than one city is given, list only the first.
- Publisher names: "Co.", "Inc." and related elements of publisher names should not be included in citations (for example, "Ivan R. Dee, Inc." should be rendered as "Ivan R. Dee".)
Web Sites
If you refer to an entire Web site, you do not need to include an entry for it in your reference list, but must identify the source clearly in the text of your paper. For example:
"The Sea Turtle Restoration Project homepage presents a wealth of compelling, well-researched information on the struggle to save the world's sea turtles from extinction (http://www.seaturtles.org)."Sea Turtle Restoration Project. (2006). Global sea turtle population declines. Retrieved June 12, 2006, from http://www.seaturtles.org
In-text Citation:
(Sea Turtle Restoration Project, 2006)
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
WebTycho Classroom Materials
Whitford, D. (2006). Cross-curricular initiatives in NSCI170. Document posted in University of Maryland University College NSCI 170 6981 online classroom, archived at: http://webtycho.umuc.edu
No official APA format for citing online classroom materials exists - this is merely a recommended format to use in citing such documents.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Technical and Research Reports
United States General Accounting Office. (1997, February). Telemedicine: Federal strategy is needed to guide investments (Publication No. GAO/NSAID/HEHS-97-67). Retrieved September 15, 2004, from General Accounting Office Reports Online: www.gpoaccess.gov/gaoreports/index.html
United States General Accounting Office. (1997, February). Telemedicine: Federal strategy is needed to guide investments (Publication No. GAO/NSAID/HEHS-97-67). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Tip:
- The element of the citation giving the publication or report number can be omitted if this information is not available for the source you're citing.
Dissertations and Theses
Dissertations
Pecore, J. T. (2004). Sounding the spirit of Cambodia: The living tradition of Khmer music and dance-drama in a Washington, D.C. community. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park. Retrieved June 16, 2006, from Dissertations and Theses database.
Caprette, C. L. (2005). Conquering the cold shudder: The origin and evolution of snake eyes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus. Retrieved August 9, 2006, from http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi?acc_num=osu1111184984
Caprette, C. L. (2005). Conquering the cold shudder: The origin and evolution of snake eyes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, Columbus.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Master's Theses
Harzbecker, J. J. (1999). Life and death in Washington D.C.: An analysis of the Mortality Census data of 1850. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Massachusetts, Boston. Retrieved August 8, 2006, from Dissertations and Theses database.
Angelova, A. N. (2004). Data pruning. Unpublished master's thesis, California Institute of Technology. Pasadena. Retrieved May 29, 2007, from http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-05282004-000943
Angelova, A. N. (2004). Data pruning. Unpublished master's thesis, California Institute of Technology. Pasadena.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Images
Titled Image
Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved August 8, 2006, from Grove Art Online database.
Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved August 8, 2006, from http://www.uwm.edu/~wash/rousseau.jpg
Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris. By Claire Fresches et al. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. 232.
The plate/image number (or, if this number is not available, the page number on which the image is printed) should follow the name of the publisher as shown.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Untitled Image
Create a brief title for it and place it in brackets, unitalicized.
Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. Retrieved August 7, 2006, from Academic Search Premier database.
Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. River of shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the technological wild West. By Rebecca Solnit. New York: Viking. 52.
The plate/image number (or, if this number is not available, the page number on which the image is printed) should follow the name of the publisher as shown.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.
Tips:
- Medium: If known, the medium of the image should be placed in brackets as shown above, and the collection which owns the image included in your citation along with its location.
- Holding institution locations: For these U.S. cities, use the city name alone when identifying holding institution locations: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco. For all others, add the standard postal abbreviations for states (for example, "Chatham, MA"). Foreign cities should be followed by the name of their country with state or province where appropriate (ex. "Brisbane, Australia", "Toronto, Ontario, Canada") with the following exceptions: Amsterdam, Jerusalem, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tokyo, and Vienna.
Interviews, E-mail Messages, and Other Personal Communications
APA does not require that you cite personal communications (interviews you've conducted, e-mail messages, etc.) in your reference list. Instead, give an in-text citation only using the following model:
Joe Smith (personal communication, November 18, 2006) informed me that the server had crashed several hours ago.
- In-text citation examples
- General Rules has more information about citing multiple authors, undated sources, etc.