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APA Style (7th ed.)

Elements of Citation

When citing your sources, gather together the following elements of citation from your source. These pieces become the building blocks of your reference list entries and in-text citations. Carefully follow examples for punctuation, capitalization, and italics.

Author

Who wrote this work? 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 work. 
  • If no author, move the title of the work to the author section, in front of the date.

Reference List Entry: Use the family name, plus up to 2 given names (initials only).

Smith, K. E.

In-text Citations: Use the family name only.

Parenthetical: (Smith, Year, p. page).
Narrative: Smith (Year) ... (p. page).

Reference List Entry: Use an ampersand (&) before the last author's name.

Smith, K. E., & Clarke, A.

In-text Citations: For narrative, write the word "and" instead of the ampersand (&).

Parenthetical: (Smith & Clarke, Year, p. page).
Narrative: Smith and Clarke (Year) ... (p. page).

Reference List Entry: List in order that they appear on the source.

Smith, K. E., Clarke, A., & Jones, T. P.

In-text Citations: List the first author's family name followed by et al.

Parenthetical: (Smith et al., Year, p. page).
Narrative: Smith et al. (Year) ... (p. page).

Reference List Entry: Add (Eds.). after the last author name.

Smith, K. E., Clarke, A., & Jones, T. P. (Eds.).

In-text Citations: Omit (Eds).

Parenthetical: (Smith et al., Year, p. page).
Narrative: Smith et al. (Year) ... (p. page).

Reference List Entry: Include unique roles in brackets after the name.

Smith, K. E. (Director), Clarke, A. (Producer), & Jones, T. P. (Illustrator).

In-text Citations: Omit unique roles.

Parenthetical: (Smith et al., Year, p. page).
Narrative: Smith et al. (Year) ... (p. page).

APA calls these group authors.

Reference List Entry: Write the name in full.

Sheridan College.

In-text Citations

Parenthetical: (Sheridan College, Year, p. page).
Narrative: Sheridan College (Year) ... (p. page).

NOTE: For group authors who commonly use an acronym, write out the name in full in the reference list entry. For the first in-text citation, include the full name with the acronym in square brackets [ ], then use only the acronym consistently in subsequent citations. For example:

First citation: (American Psychological Association [APA], Year, p. page).
Subsequent citation: (APA, Year, p. page).

Reference List Entry: Write the name as it appears in the source.

Not_a_geek.

In-text Citations

Parenthetical: (Not_a_geek, Year, p. page).
Narrative: Not_a_geek (Year) ... (p. page).

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

Reference list: Smith, K. E. [Not_a_geek].
In-text: (Smith, Year, p. page).

Use for information that was cited from another source. Where possible, track down the original source. If that isn't possible, provide the citation information from the source you read in the reference list entry, and clarify the original source in the in-text citation. Read the full rules.

Reference List Entry: Include the author information from the source you read.

Smith, K. E.

In-text Citations: add "as cited in" to a parenthetical citation.

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

Reference List Entry: Replace the author name with the title of the work. Follow capitalization and italicization rules for titles.

Works that stand alone: Finding our way at Sheridan College.
Works that are part of a whole: Finding our way at Sheridan College.

In-text Citations: Capitalize each word of the title. Shorten the title to 5 words or less. Titles of books, webpages and reports are italicized, and titles of articles and other documents are put in quotation marks.

Works that stand alone: (Finding Our Way, Year, p. page).
Works that are part of a whole: ("Finding Our Way," Year, p. page).

Date

When was this work written or created? The date refers to the date the document was published:

  • The date always comes second in both the in-text citation and reference list entry.
  • Use the published date, last updated date, or last modified date.
  • If no date can be located, insert (n.d.)

Use for books, journal articles, webpages, reports, etc.

Reference List Entry: Enclose in brackets.

(2023).

In-text Citations

Parenthetical: (Author, 2023, p. page).
Narrative: Author (2023) ... (p. page).

Use for magazines and other monthly publications

Reference List Entry: Enclose in brackets. Year first, then month.

(2023, June).
(2023, Spring).

In-text Citations: Include only the year

Parenthetical: (Author, 2023, p. page).
Narrative: Author (2023) ... (p. page).

Use for newspapers, social media, and other daily publications.

Reference List Entry: Enclose in brackets. Year first, then month and day.

(2023, June 1).

In-text Citations: Include only the year

Parenthetical: (Author, 2023, p. page).
Narrative: Author (2023) ... (p. page).

Reference List Entry: Add a letter (a, b, c, etc) after the year, in alphabetical order, to indicate different sources.

(2023a).
(2023b, June 1).

In-text Citations: Include only the year and corresponding letter.

Parenthetical: (Author, 2023a, p. page).
Narrative: Author (2023a) ... (p. page).

Reference List Entry: Enclose n.d. in brackets.

(n.d.).

In-text Citations

Parenthetical: (Author, n.d., p. page).
Narrative: Author (n.d.) ... (p. page).

Title

What is this work called? The title is the unique name given to the work you are citing:

  • The title usually comes after the date of publication in the reference list entry.
  • If there is no author, the title is moved in front of the date of publication.
  • Follow examples of capitalization and italicization carefully.

Use for books, reports, websites, and similar standalone publications.

Reference List Entry: The title should be italicized and capitalized in sentence case

Finding our way at Sheridan College.
Finding our way at Sheridan College: A first year experience.

Use for articles, book chapters (where the author of the chapter differs from the book author/editor), anthologies, course packs, and similar types of publications.

Reference List Entry: Use sentence case capitalization. No italics.

Finding our way at Sheridan College.
Finding our way at Sheridan College: A first year experience.

Use for books with edition and/or volume numbers.

Reference List Entry: Add edition and/or volume number after title in brackets

Finding our way at Sheridan College (2nd ed.).
Finding our way at Sheridan College: A first year experience (2nd ed., Vol. 2).

Use for a work that isn't a traditional academic resource.

Reference List Entry: Add format of content after title in square brackets

Finding our way at Sheridan College [Blog post].
Finding our way at Sheridan College [Photograph].
Finding our way at Sheridan College [Video file].
Finding our way at Sheridan College [Books 24x7 version].

Reference List Entry: Replace the author name with the title of the work. Follow capitalization and italicization rules for titles.

Works that stand alone: Finding our way at Sheridan College.
Works that are part of a whole: Finding our way at Sheridan College.

In-text Citations: Capitalize each word of the title. Shorten the title to 5 words or less. Titles of books, webpages and reports are italicized, and titles of articles and other documents are put in quotation marks.

Works that stand alone: (Finding Our Way, Year, p. page).
Works that are part of a whole: ("Finding Our Way," Year, p. page).

Source

Where was this work found or published? The source information is unique depending on the type of work you are citing.

Reference List Entry: Includes periodical title, volume, issue, page range, and DOI or URL.

Canadian Journal of Chemistry, 100(12), 853-866. http://login.library.sheridanc.on.ca/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=160327022&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Canadian Theatre Review, 192, 10–13. https://doi-org.library.sheridanc.on.ca/10.3138/ctr.192.003

Reference List Entry: Include publisher and URL if available.

Emerald Publishing Limited.

Emerald Publishing Limited. http://login.library.sheridanc.on.ca/login?url=https://search-ebscohost-com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=2664456&site=ehost-live&scope=site

NOTE: For chapters where the author is different from the author of the book, include author/editor and title for the whole book. (Also use for encyclopedia and dictionary entries).

In G. A. Liam & D. M. McInerny (Eds.), Promoting Motivation and Learning in Contexts: Sociocultural Perspectives on Educational Interventions. Information Age Publishing Inc.

Reference List Entry: Include webpage URL.

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines

NOTE: If webpage author is different from website name, include the website name before the URL.

Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying

Page or Paragraph Numbers

Where did you find this information within the work? Page number, paragraph number, or other source parts are used in in-text citations. They are required for direct quotations, but are not mandatory for paraphrases and summaries.

Page numbers are always preferred. If there is no page number, consider using one of these alternatives:

  • Paragraph number
  • Section title or heading
  • Video time stamp
  • PowerPoint slide number
  • Book chapter number

The page number, or other source part, appears in brackets at the end of the in-text citation.  

In-text Citations: Include "p." or "pp." before the number.

(Author, Year, p. 3).
(Author, Year, pp. 3-4).
(Author, Year, pp. 3, 4, 8).

In-text Citations: Include "para." before the number.

(Author, Year, para. 3).

In-text Citations: Include the title of the heading and the paragraph number. Use quotation marks only if shortening the title of the section heading.

(Author, Year, Introduction section, para. 3)
(Author, Year, "History of Social Work", para. 5)

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