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APA Style (6th ed)

Author

NOTE: This page reflects the old version of the APA Publication Manual (6th ed). If you require the current version, please see APA Style (7th ed)

The Basics

The author includes the person, persons, or organization (group) responsible for the work you are citing:

  • The author always comes first in both the in-text citation and reference list entry.
  • For personal authors, be sure to list names in the order given in the original source. 
  • If no author, move the title of the work to the author section, in front of the date.

Examples

 

In-text citation

Reference List

Personal Author

For in-text citations, use the family name only;
For references, use the family name, plus up to 2 given names (initials only)

(Smith, Year, p. page)

Smith, K. E. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

Multiple Personal Authors

For in-text citations, limit to 5 authors (note use of [et al.] to replace names);
For references, limit to 7 authors (note use of [...] to skip names)

(Smith, Clarke, & Jones, Year, p. page)

Smith, K. E., Clarke, A., & Jones, T. P. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

(Smith et al., Year, p. page)

Smith, K. E., Clarke, A., Jones, T. P., Goodfellow, J. K., Oakey, L. M., Lints, P., . . . Shepley, M. D. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL
Editor(s) (Smith, Clarke, & Jones, Year, p. page) Smith, K. E., Clarke, A., & Jones, T. P. (Eds.). (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

Personal author(s), with unique roles

(Smith, Clarke, & Jones, Year, p. page)

Smith, K. E. (Director), Clarke, A. (Producer), & Jones, T. P. (Illustrator). (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

Group Author

For Group Authors who commonly use an acronym, include the full name with the acronym in square brackets [ ] for the first in-text citation, then use only the acronym consistently in subsequent citations

(Sheridan College, Year, p. page)

Sheridan College. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

(American Psychological Association [APA], Year, p. page)

(APA, Year, p. page)

American Psychological Association. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

Username, user id

If the personal name is known, provide the username/id in square brackets [ ] after the personal name, in the reference list only.

(Smith, Year, p. page)

Smith, K. E. [Not_a_geek]. (Year, Month Day). Post text [Social Media Site]. Retrieved from URL

(Not_a_geek, Year, p. page)

Not_a_geek. (Year, Month Day). Post text [Social Media Site]. Retrieved from URL

Works Cited in another Source

Sheridan College claims this "quote" (as cited in Smith, Year, p. page).

Smith, K. E. (Year). Title. Retrieved from URL

No Author

For in-text citations, titles of books and reports are italicized, and titles of articles and other documents are put in quotation marks

(Finding our way at Sheridan College, Year, p. page)

Finding our way at Sheridan College. (Year). Retrieved from URL

("Finding our way at Sheridan College," Year, p. page)

Finding our way at Sheridan College. (Year). Title of publication, volume(issue), page-page. Retrieved from URL

See the Publication Manual: 6.27 Author and Editor Information

Your professor may have different citing expectations than library staff. Always check at the beginning of term and before starting assignments that the citing rules you are using are appropriate for your class.

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