APA Citation Basics

Edition

This guide will provide information about:

• Understanding the fundamentals of APA citations, including:

o Capitalization rules

o Author formatting

o Organizing a reference list

• APA citation examples of source types, including:

o Popular and scholarly sources

o Audiovisual media

• Tips and examples for citing online sources

• Creating parenthetical, in-text citations, including:

o Formatting parenthetical citations and block quotes

o Citing sources with multiple authors and corporate authors

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Citation Fundamentals

pp. 1-3

Chapter 2: Examples of Popular Sources

pp. 4-7

Chapter 3: Web Rules & Citations

pp. 8-10

Chapter 4: Parenthetical Citations

pp. 11-15

APA Citation Fundamentals

APA Citation

Fundamentals

APA Citation Fundamentals

Contributor Information & Titles

One author Last, F. M.

Two authors Last, F. M., & Last, F. M.

Three to seven authors Last, F. M., Last, F. M., & Last, F. M.

Seven or more authors Last, F. M., Last, F. M., Last, F. M., Last, F. M., Last, F. M.,

Last, F. M., . . . Last, F. M.

Sometimes there are other contributors to a work, such as an editor. If there is an editor but no

author, place the editor’s name in the author’s position of the citation and add “(Ed.)” or “(Eds.)”

after the last editor’s name.

For works with an author

and

an editor – such as an article in an edited anthology – place the

editor’s name(s), uninverted, before the source’s title. Note: The name(s) should be preceded by

“In” and followed by the source title.

Do not include author credentials (e.g., Ph.D, M.D.) in your citations.

The main contributors to the source, normally the authors, are placed first in the citation. All

author names are formatted by last name, followed by the first and middle (if available) initial of

the author. If there is more than one author, arrange them in the same order as found in the

source. (For more information, see the APA’s Publication Manual, 6

Edition, 6.27.)

*For sources with 7+ authors: list the first six authors, insert ellipses, then insert the last author listed in the source.

Author and editor Author, F. M. (Year). Title of chapter. In F. M. Editor (Ed.), Title of

work (pp. xx-xx). Location: Publisher.

Editor, no author Editor, F. M., & Editor, F. M. (Eds.). (Year). Title of work. Location:

Publisher.

Generally, APA citations require some or all of the following bibliographic data:

• Publisher

• City and state of publication

• Page or paragraph numbers

• Author

• Title

• Publication year

• Publication month and date

APA Citation Fundamentals

Kessman, J.

Kessman, R.

Chan, D.

Gover, E.

Kalita, R.

Parekh, R.

Selleck, A. C.

Arrange citation entries in a reference list alphabetically by author’s last name.

Multiple works by different authors with the same last name should be alphabetized by the

author’s first initial:

If a work is authored by a group or corporation, alphabetize it by the first main word in the group’s

name.

Organizing Your Bibliography

Alberto, A.

Association of National Advertisers.

Covert, K.

Ikemoto, W.

Capitalization Rules

Capitalization in APA style varies based on the source you are citing.

Article or chapter titles:

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word of the title and any subtitles after a colon, as well as

the first letter of any proper nouns.

Journal, newspaper or magazine titles (periodical works):

• Include the entire title in uppercase and lowercase letters.

• Italicize the title.

Book or report titles (nonperiodical works):

• Capitalize the first word in the title and subtitle, and any proper nouns.

• Italicize the title.

• If the work includes an edition or volume number, include it in parentheses after the title.

APA Examples of Popular Sources

APA Examples of

Popular Sources

APA Examples of Popular Sources

Book

Author, F. M. (Year of publication). Book title: Subtitle. City, State: Publisher.

Green, J. (2012). The fault in our stars. New York, NY: Dutton Books.

APA

Ex:

Chapter/Anthology

APA

Ex:

Author, F. M. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In F. M. Editor (Ed.), Title

of book (pp. xx-xx). Location: Publisher.

Melville, H. (1989). Hawthorne and his mosses. In N. Baym (Ed.), The Norton

anthology of American literature (pp. 5-25). New York, NY: W. W.

Norton.

Magazine

Author, F. M. (Year, month of publication). Article title. Magazine

Title, Volume(Issue), pp-pp.

Winerman, L. (2013, June). Breaking free from addiction. Monitor on

Psychology, 44(6), 30-34.

APA

Ex:

Newspaper

Author, F. M. (Year, month date of publication). Article title. Newspaper title,

pp. xx-xx.

Bowman, L. (1990, March 7). Bills target Lake Erie mussels. The Pittsburgh

Press, pp. A4.

APA

Ex:

APA Examples of Popular Sources

Journal (online)

Author, F. M. (Publication year). Article title. Journal title, Volume(Issue), pp.-pp.

doi:xx.xxxxx OR Retrieved from journal URL

Trier, J. (2007). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 2. Journal of Adolescent

& Adult Literacy, 50(7), 598-603. doi:10.1598/JAAL.50.7.8

APA

Ex:

*Database name and retrieval date are not required in APA journal article citations.

Journal (print)

Author, F. M. (Publication year). Article title. Periodical title, Volume(Issue),

pp.-pp.

Lin, M. G., Hoffman, E. S., & Borengasser, C. (2013). Is social media too

social for class? A case study of Twitter use. TechTrends, 57(2), 39-45.

APA

Ex:

Website

Author, F. M. (Year, month date of publication). Article title. Retrieved from

URL

Limer, E. (2013, October 1). Heck yes! The first free wireless plan is finally

here. Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/heck-yes-the-first-free-

wireless-plan-is-finally-here-1429566597

APA

Ex:

TV/Radio Show

Writer, F. M. (Writer), & Director, F. M. (Director). (Year of airing). Episode

title [Television series episode]. In F. M. Producer (Executive

producer), TV series name. City, State of original channel: Channel.

Dick, L. (Writer), & Yaitanes, G. (Director). (2009). Simple explanation

[Television series episode]. In P. Attanasio (Executive producer),

House, M.D. Los Angeles, CA: Fox Broadcasting Company.

APA

Ex:

APA Examples of Popular Sources

Audio recording

Songwriter, F. M. (Copyright year). Song title [Recorded by F. M. Last

(performer’s name)]. On Album title [Medium of recording]. City, State

of label: Record label name.

Turner, A. (2013). Do I wanna know? [Recorded by Arctic Monkeys]. On AM

[MP3 file]. London, England: Domino Records.

APA

Ex:

Film

Producer, F. M. (Producer), & Director, F. M. (Director). (Release year). Title of

motion picture [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio.

Stiller, B. (Producer) & Ayoade, R. (Director). (2011). Submarine [Motion

picture]. United Kingdom: Film4 Productions.

APA

Ex:

*If the songwriter and performer are the same person, leave out the bracketed data

[Recorded by ____] following the song title.

Online lecture slides

Author, F. M. (Publication year). Name or title of lecture [file format]. Retrieved

from URL

Jacobson, T. E. & Mackey, T. (2013). What’s in a name?: Information literacy,

metaliteracy, or transliteracy [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from

http://www.slideshare.net/tmackey/acrl-2013

APA

Ex:

Thesis/dissertation

Author, F. M. (Publication year). Title of dissertation/thesis (Doctoral dissertation

or Master’s thesis). Retrieved from Name of database. (Accession or

Order No.)

Knight, K. A. (2011). Media epidemics: Viral structures in literature and new

media (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from MLA International

Bibliography database. (Accession No. 2013420395)

APA

Ex:

APA Web Rules

APA provides citation formats for many different source types found on the web,

such as online newspapers, encyclopedias and blogs.

Here are some tips for citing sources you find on the web:

All sources

• Only include retrieval date information if the source’s information is likely to change (i.e., wikis).

o Format it as follows: Retrieved Month Date, Year, from http://xxxxx

• If a URL runs across multiple lines of text in the citation, break the URL off before punctuation

(e.g., periods, forward slashes) –

except

http://.

Journal/newspaper articles

• Include the DOI (digital object identifier) in the citation.

o Format it as follows: doi:xxxxx

• If no DOI is provided, include the URL of the

homepage

for the journal that published the article.

o Format it as follows: Retrieved from http://www.xxxxx

• Do not include database information.

*Note: Purdue OWL includes database information, but the APA Publication Manual (6

ed.) does

not. Check with your instructor to see if they require database and/or retrieval information.

General websites

• If the source is not easily identified as an online:

…cite it as a general website.

• For example, websites like TechCrunch and Gizmodo regularly publish articles, but are

considered neither a blog, nor an online newspaper. These would be general websites.

• Only include retrieval date information if the source is likely to change over time (i.e., wikis).

o Format it as follows: Retrieved Month Date, Year, from http://xxxxx

o Periodical

o Book/chapter

o Reference work

o Government document

o Conference paper/proceeding

o Thesis/dissertation

o Review

o Audiovisual media

o Internet message board/mailing list post

o Blog post

o Software, data set, training video or

o Informally published work

APA Web Rules

Examples of citations for a/an:

General website article with an author

Limer, E. (2013, October 1). Heck yes! The first free wireless plan is finally here. Retrieved

from http://gizmodo.com/heck-yes-the-first-free-wireless-plan-is-finally-here-

1429566597

General website article with no author

India: Country specific information. (2013, October 3). Retrieved 2013, October 23 from

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1139.html

Journal article (found in a database or elsewhere online)

Trier, J. (2007). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 2. Journal of Adolescent & Adult

Literacy, 50(7), 598-603. doi:10.1598/JAAL.50.7.8

Online encyclopedia article

Musser, G. (2013). Hedgehog. In Encylopædia Brittanica. Retrieved from

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259273/hedgehog

Blog post

Silver, N. (2013, July 15). Senate control in 2014 increasingly looks like a tossup [Web log

post]. Retrieved from http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/senate-

control-in-2014-increasingly-looks-like-a-tossup/

Online newspaper article

Kaplan, K. (2013, October 22). Flu shots may reduce risk of heart attacks, strokes and even

death. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com

*Include the homepage URL of the online newspaper at the end of your citation.

*Include the retrieval date and URL if the information on the site may change (this website includes information

about laws, which can change over time).

APA Examples of Popular Sources

APA Parenthetical

Citations

APA Parenthetical Citations

Parenthetical citation when author is mentioned in the text:

According to Belafonte, Harlem was full of artists and musicians in the late 1920s (2008).

Why we include parenthetical/in-text citations

Researchers include brief parenthetical citations in their writing to acknowledge references to other

people’s work. Generally, APA parenthetical citations include the last name of the author and year of

publication. Page numbers are also included when citing a direct quote .

If some of this information is included in the body of the sentence, exclude it from the parenthetical

citation. In-text citations typically appear at the end of the sentence, between the last word and the period.

The event resulted in thousands of participants flocking to the National Mall in support of the

cause (Stewart et al. 2010).

Parenthetical citation without author’s name in the text:

Harlem had many artists and musicians in the late 1920s (Belafonte, 2008).

Works with three to five authors:

• Include all names in the first in-text parenthetical citation, separated by commas and then an

ampersand (&).

• For all subsequent in-text parenthetical citations, include only the first author, followed by “et al.”

and publication year if it is the first citation in a paragraph.

First in-text parenthetical citation:

All subsequent in-text parenthetical citations:

Continued…

Parenthetical citations with multiple authors

Works with two authors:

• Include both names, separated by an ampersand (&).

Rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking (Stewart & Colbert, 2010).

Rallying to restore sanity was a revolutionary undertaking (Stewart, Colbert, & Oliver, 2010).

APA Parenthetical Citations

The study did not come to any definitive conclusions (Rothschild et al., 2013).

Works with six or more authors:

• Include only the last name of the first author, followed by “et al.” and publication year in all

parenthetical citations.

Citing sources without an author

If a work has no author, include the first few words of the bibliography entry (in many cases, the

title) and the year.

• Use double quotations around the titles of articles, chapters and/or websites

• Italicize the titles of periodicals, books, brochures or reports

Statistics confirm that the trend is rising (“New Data,” 2013).

The report includes some bleak results (Information Illiteracy in Academia, 2009).

See Table 6.1 in the APA Publication Manual (6

ed.) for more information on formatting parenthetical

citations.

When citing a specific part of a work, provide the relevant page number or section identifier, such

as chapters, tables or equations. Direct quotes should always have page numbers.

Continued…

Citing part of a work

One of the most memorable quotes is when he says, “You are going to live a good and long

life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet!” to Augustus

(Green, 2012, p. 272).

*Note: Unlike in your reference list, parenthetical citations of articles, chapters and/or website should

have all major words capitalized.

APA Parenthetical Citations

Corporations, government agencies and associations can be considered the author of a source

when no specific author is given.

Write out the full name of the group in all parenthetical citations:

However, you may abbreviate the group name if the group’s name is lengthy and it is a commonly

recognized abbreviation in all subsequent parenthetical citations:

Citing groups or corporate authors

The May 2011 study focused on percentages of tax money that goes to imprisonment over

education funding (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 2011).

The report found that over a half billion of taxpayer dollars went to imprison residents “from

24 of New York City’s approximately 200 neighborhoods” (NAACP, 2011, pp. 2).

Citing classical works

For classical sources, such as ancient Greek works, cite the year of the translation or version used.

Precede this information with “trans.” or “version,” respectively.

Continued…

(Homer, trans. 1998).

If the source does not include page numbers (such as online sources), you can reference specific parts of the

work by referencing the:

• Paragraph number (if given) with the abbreviation “para. xx”

• Section or heading and the number of the paragraph in which the information is found

o For lengthy headings, use the first few words of the title in the parenthetical citation

He quickly learned that pandas were not considered good pets (Chan, 2011, para. 3).

The sample population included both red and giant pandas (Chan, 2011, Methodology section,

para. 1).

APA Parenthetical Citations

When citing specific content from these sources, include the paragraph/line numbers that are used

in classical works. This information is consistent across versions/editions, and is the easiest way to

locate direct quotes from classical works.

Remember, you do not need to create formal citations in your reference list for classical works.

The Bible extols the virtues of love; “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not

boast, it is not proud” (1 Cor. 13:4 New International Version).

Citing and formatting block quotes

When directly quoting information from sources in your writing, you may need to format it

differently depending on how many words are used.

If a quote runs on for more than 40 words:

• Start the direct quotation on a new line

• Indent the text roughly half an inch from the left margin

o If there are multiple paragraphs in the quotation, indent them an extra half inch

• Remove any quotation marks

• Double-space the text

• Add the parenthetical citation after the final sentence

…here is some text from the book that clearly defines early on in the novel:

He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare

smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or

five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole eternal world for an instant,

and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. (Fitzgerald,

2012, p. 44)

APA Visual Guides

Part 1

Table of Contents

1 Books

pp. 2-4

2 Journal articles

pp. 5-6

3 Newspapers

pp. 7-9

4 Reports

pp. 10-11

5 Scholarly projects

pp. 12-13

5 Online lecture notes

pp. 14

7 Encyclopedias

pp. 15

8 Religious/classical works

pp. 16

APA Visual Guides Part 1

This guide will provide visual examples of citing the following in

APA style:

• Books

• Journal articles

• Newspapers

• Reports

• Scholarly projects (theses/dissertations)

• Lecture notes

• Encyclopedia entries

• Religious/classical works

Be sure to check out Part 2, which provides visual guides for

citing multimedia and electronic source types.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year of publication).

Title of work.

Publisher City, State: Publisher.

Title Page

Much of the information you need to

create a print book citation can be

found on the title page.

The title page is found within the first

couple of pages of the book.

Title of work

Author

Publisher

city /state

Year of

publication

Citing a book in print

Citation:

James, H. (2009).

The ambassadors.

Rockville, MD: Serenity Publishers.

*Capitalize the first letter of the first word of the title and any subtitles (the first word that

follows a colon), as well as the first letter of any proper nouns. See our APA Citation Basics

guide or the APA Publication Manual for more information.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

*Some e-books may be available online through your library’s databases or catalog.

Citing an e-book found in a database

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year of publication).

Title of work.

Retrieved from http://xxxxx OR

doi:xxxxx

Title of work

Authors

Year of

publication

DOI

Citation:

Rodriguez-Garcia, R., & White, E. M. (2005).

Self-assessment in managing for

results: Conducting self-assessment for development practitioners

. doi:

10.1596/9780-82136148-1

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Kindle HDX

Book title

Author

Year of

Publication

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year of publication).

Title of work

[E-reader version]

Retrieved

from http://xxxxx OR doi:xxxxx

Citation:

Stoker, B. (2000).

Dracula

[Kindle HDX version]. Retrieved from

http://www.overdrive.com/

Citing an e-book from an e-reader (Kindle, iPad, nook, etc.)

Version

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing a journal article found online (in a database or elsewhere)

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year). Article title.

Periodical Title

Volume

(Issue),

pp.-pp. doi:XX.XXXXX OR Retrieved from journal URL

*Database information and retrieval date are not required in APA journal article citations.

DOI

Title

Author

Periodical title

Publication year

Volume and issue

Citation:

Trier, J. (2007). “Cool” engagements with YouTube: Part 2.

Journal of

Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50

(7), 598-603. doi:10.1598/JAAL.50.7.8

*If no DOI is listed, use the periodical’s homepage URL (e.g., Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1936-2706).

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing a journal article found in print

Structure:

Author, F. M., Author, F. M, & Author, F. M. (Publication year). Article title.

Periodical Title

Volume

(Issue), pp.-pp.

Title

Author

Periodical title

Publication year

Volume and issue

Citation:

Lin, M. G., Hoffman, E. S., & Borengasser, C. (2013). Is social media too social for

class? A case study of Twitter use.

TechTrends, 57

(2), 39-45.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing a newspaper in print

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year, Month Date of publication). Article title.

Newspaper Title,

pp. xx-xx.

*If the article is printed on discontinuous pages, list all of the page numbers/ranges and separate

them with a comma. (e.g., pp. C2, C4, C7-9.)

Citation:

Bowman, L. (1990, March 7). Bills target Lake Erie mussels.

The Pittsburgh

Press

, pp. A4.

Newspaper title

Author

Article

title

Page

Publication date

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year, Month Date of publication). Article title.

Newspaper Title

Retrieved from newspaper homepage URL

Citing an online newspaper

Citation:

Kaplan, K. (2013, October 22). Flu shots may reduce risk of heart attacks,

strokes and even death.

Los Angeles Times

. Retrieved from

http://www.latimes.com

Newspaper

title

Author

Article

title

Publication date

*Use the URL of the newspaper’s home page to avoid broken links.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Tips for Citing Online Newspaper Articles

• You do not need to include retrieval information (e.g., date of

access) in APA citations for electronic resources.

• If you found a newspaper article through an online database

(e.g., EBSCO’s Academic Search Complete), you do not need

to include that information in the citation, either.

• If a URL runs across multiple lines of text in the citation, break

the URL off before punctuation (e.g., periods, forward

slashes) –

except

http://.

• When you use a bibliography tool like EasyBib to help you

with your citations, make sure you are citing a

newspaper

article

– not a website!

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing an online report

Cover page

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year).

Title of report

(Report No. XXX). Retrieved

from Agency name website: URL

*If the agency is identified as the author, do not include it in the retrieval information.

Agency name

Title of report

Title page

Publication year

Acknowledgements page

Author

Citation:

Gorbunova, Y. (2013).

Laws of attrition: Crackdown on Russia’s civil society

after Putin’s return to the presidency.

Retrieved from Human Rights

Watch website: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/

russia0413_ForUpload_0.pdf

*Since no report number was identified, it was not included in the citation.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing a print report

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year).

Title of report

(Report No. XXX). Publisher

City, State: Publisher.

*If no specific author is identified, list the organization behind the report.

Acknowledgements page

Publisher

city/state

Citation:

Turnitin. (2013).

What’s wrong with Wikipedia?: Evaluating the sources used by

students.

Oakland, CA: iParadigms, LLC.

Cover page

Organization

(no author listed)

Title of report

Publication year

*Since no report number was identified, it was not included in the citation.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing a scholarly project (thesis, dissertation, etc.) from a database

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year).

Title of dissertation/thesis

(Doctoral

dissertation or Master’s thesis). Retrieved from Name of database.

(Accession or Order No.)

Title of dissertation

Publication year

Name of database

Accession no.

Author

Citation:

Knight, K. A. (2011).

Media epidemics: Viral structures in literature and new

media

(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from MLA International

Bibliography database. (Accession No. 2013420395)

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing a scholarly project (thesis, dissertation, etc.) from a website

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year).

Title of dissertation/thesis

(Doctoral

dissertation or Master’s thesis). Retrieved from URL

Title of thesis

Author

Publication

year

URL

Structure:

Simich, G. M. (2012).

Social media as a performance space

(Master’s thesis).

Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1234099/

Masters_Thesis_Social_Media_as_a_Performance_Space

*In this case, the URL runs across two lines. When this happens, break the URL after a forward slash or

other punctuation.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing online lecture notes or presentation slides

Title Slide of Lecture

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year).

Name or title of lecture

[file format]

Retrieved from URL

Lecture title

Authors

Publication year

Citation:

Jacobson, T. E. & Mackey, T. (2013).

What’s in a name?: Information

literacy, metaliteracy, or transliteracy

[PowerPoint slides].

Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/tmackey/acrl-2013

*If you are citing a classroom presentation, include the same data except the retrieval information.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Citing an encyclopedia entry in print

Author(s)

Front Cover

Encyclopedia title

Karen McGhee and George McKay

Title Page(s) Provide

Publication Information

First published in North America in 2007 by

the National Geographic Society 1145 17th

Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-4688

Publisher

City of publication

Publication

year

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Publication year). Entry title. In

Encyclopedia title.

(Vol. XX, pp.

XX-XX). City, State of publication: Publisher.

First Page of the Article

Page Number

Entry title

Citation:

McGhee, K., & McKay, G. (2007). Insects. In

Encyclopedia of animals

(p.

175). Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

*Tertiary sources are not typically appropriate for research papers. Check with your instructor.

APA Visual Guides Part 1

Bible title and version

Take note!

Classical religious texts, like the Bible, do not require a citation in the reference list in APA

style. However, you must include an in-text citation anytime you reference these texts in

your writing.

In-text Citations

• When quoting or paraphrasing specific excerpts from the text, include the “relevant

names and/or numbers of chapters/verses/lines” in your in-text citation (Lee, 2009).

Source: Lee, C. (2009, December 31). Happy holiday citing: Citation of classical works [Web log post].

If the version of the Bible you are using

is relevant, mention it in the first

reference in your writing – this can be

as either a general reference or a

formal in-text citation.

Remember, you only need to cite the version of the Bible used in the first general

reference to or in-text citation of the source. In all other instances, leave it out.

In-text citation:

The Bible extols the virtues of love; “Love is patient, love is kind. It does

not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud” (1 Cor. 13:4 New International

Version).

APA Visual Guides

Part 2

Table of Contents

1 Blogs

pp. 2

2 Musical recordings

pp. 3

3 Films

pp. 4

4 TV/radio programs

pp. 5

5 Online dictionary entries

pp. 6

6 Websites

pp. 7-8

APA Visual Guides Part 2

This guide will provide visual examples of citing the following in

APA style:

• Blogs

• Musical recordings

• Films

• Television and radio programs

• Online dictionary entries

• Websites

Be sure to check out Part 1, which provides additional visual

guides for citing different source types.

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Citing a blog or podcast

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year, Month, Date of post). Title of blog post [Web log post].

Retrieved from URL of blog post

Citation:

Silver, N. (2013, July 15). Senate control in 2014 increasingly looks like a

tossup [Web log post]. Retrieved from

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/senate-control-

in-2014-increasingly-looks-like-a-tossup/

*Note: If a full name is not given, use the author’s screen name or handle instead.

Blog Post

Date of

post

Author (if no full name is given,

use screen name, handle, or

other username)

Title of blog post

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Citing a musical recording

*Songwriter information can be found in the digital booklet or the CD sleeve (if you’re old school!).

Structure:

Songwriter F. M. (Copyright year). Song title [Recorded by F. M. Last

(performer’s name/musical group)]. On

Album title

[Medium of

recording]

City, State of label: Record label name.

Citation:

Turner, A. (2013). Do I wanna know? [Recorded by Arctic Monkeys]. On

[MP3 file]. London, England: Domino Records.

Artist’s name

Album Title

Album Cover

Back Cover

Song

title

Record label

information

*If the songwriter and performer are the same person, leave out the bracketed data [Recorded by _______]

following the song title.

*In-text citations, include band or track numbers (Turner, 2013, track 1).

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Citation:

Stiller, B. (Producer) & Ayoade, R. (Director). (2011).

Submarine

[Motion

picture]. United Kingdom: Film4 Productions.

Citing a motion picture

Structure:

Producer, F. M. (Producer), & Director, F.M. (Director). (Release year).

Title

of motion picture

[Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio.

*If you cannot locate certain bibliographic data from the film’s cover, consult IMDB.com or a similar website.

Producer and directorStudio Title of motion pictureRelease year

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Citing an episode from TV or radio show

Structure:

Writer, F. M. (Writer), & Director, F. M. (Director). (Year of airing). Episode

title [Television series episode]. In F. M. Producer (Executive

producer),

TV series name

. City, State of original channel: Channel.

Citation:

Dick, L. (Writer), & Yaitanes, G. (Director). (2009). Simple explanation

[Television series episode]. In P. Attanasio (Executive producer),

House, M.D.

Los Angeles, CA: Fox Broadcasting Company.

*This information is found in the opening or closing credits of the episode. If you do not have access to the

episode when compiling your bibliography, consult IMDB.com or a similar website.

TV series name

Episode title and

year of airing

Director

Writer

Executive producer

House, M.D.

originally aired under Fox Broadcasting, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Structure:

Defined word. (Publication year). In

Website Title.

Retrieved from URL

Citation:

Food baby. (2013). In

OxfordDictionaries.com

. Retrieved from

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/food-baby

Here is how you would cite the entry for “food baby” from an online dictionary

accessed October 22, 2013:

Definition word

URL and

website title

Publication year

*Publication year may also be found at the bottom of the page.

*Website title may also be at

the top left of the page.

Citing an online dictionary entry

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Citing a general website article with an author

Take note!

Many sources have APA citation formats for their online versions (e.g., online

newspapers, dictionaries and encyclopedias). Check out our other guides or the APA

Publication Manual (6

ed.) first to see if there is a citation for a specific source type in an

online format.

Structure:

Author, F. M. (Year, Month Date of publication).

Article title

. Retrieved from URL

Citation:

Limer, E. (2013, October 1).

Heck yes! The first free wireless plan is finally here

Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/heck-yes-the-first-free-wireless-

plan-is-finally-here-1429566597

URL

Article title

Date

Author

*Only include the retrieval date if the content is likely to change over time (such as wikis). If

necessary, include the retrieval month date, year, (in that order) between “Retrieved” and “from

URL” in the last segment of the citation.

**When a website does not have an article title, replace it in the citation with the website title.

APA Visual Guides Part 2

Take note!

Many sources have APA citation formats for their online versions (e.g., online

newspapers, dictionaries and encyclopedias). Check our other guides, or the APA

Publication Manual (6

ed.) first to see if there is a citation for citing a specific source

type in an online format.

Citing a general website article with no author

Structure:

Article title

. (Year, Month Date of publication). Retrieved from URL

*Only include the retrieval date if the content is likely to change over time (such as this example,

which includes information about Indian laws and customs). If necessary, include the retrieval

month date, year, (in that order) between “Retrieved” and “from URL” in the last segment of the

citation.

**When a website does not have an article title, replace it in the citation with the website title.

Citation:

India: Country specific information

. (2013, October 3). Retrieved October 23,

2013, from http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1139.html

Article title

Date of publication

URL