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Citation Styles

Citing tips and tricks from several styles.

Main Resources for APA

The 7th edition of the APA style guide is available at the library, as a physical book. We do not have an eBook available.

Want to know what's new in the 7th edition? Check out this helpful blog.

Helpful FAQ: How to Create an APA Style Reference for a Canceled Conference Presentation.

APA Style

What is APA Style? 

APA Style comes from a publication manual designed by the American Psychological Association. APA style is used by many different disciplines and majors, especially in the social sciences. 

In-Text Citations

The in-text citation should direct the reader to the works cited page where they can find the full bibliography for the source you are citing. APA uses parenthetical in-text citation styles that generally use the author's last name and year. (Jones, 2020)

If you are citing a direct quote under 40 words, your in-text citation will include a page or paragraph number. Also, if the source has two authors this is what it would look like: (Jones & Dune, 2020, p. 13) OR (Jones & Dune, 2020, para. 3)

if the source has more than 3 authors, the in-text citation you only include the first author’s name and “et al.”. (Jones et al., 2020)

Works Cited/Reference List

An APA style paper includes a works cited page (Reference List) that lists all of the sources cited, in alphabetical order. 

Surnames and initials for all authors should be provided in the reference list.

Reference List Examples

Book

Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., & Robinson, M. (2018). Family health care nursing: Theory, practice, and research (6th ed.). F. A. Davis. DOI number (if available)

Book Chapter 

Downey D.B., Yoon A., & Martin E. (2018). Schools and inequality: Implications from seasons comparison research. In Schneider, B. (Ed). Handbook of the sociology of education in the 21st century (pp. 55-70). Springer International. DOI number (if available)

Dataset

National Center for Education Statistics. (2016). Fast Response Survey System (FRSS): Teachers' use of educational technology in U.S. public schools, 2009 (ICPSR 35531; Version V3) [Data set and code book]. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35531.v3

Pew Research Center. (2018). American trends panel Wave 26 [Data set]. https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-26/ 

eBook

Author, A or Editor, B or Name of Group. (year). Title of book (2nd ed.). Publisher Name. DOI (if available) or URL from publisher's website

Journal Article 

Hunyang Yu, & Wenya Guo. (2018). Individualized teaching for college students’ ideological and political education based on the concept of cognitive science. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 18(6), 3284–3293. https://doi.org/12738/estp.2018.6.232

Newspaper Article 

Tugend, A. (2018, October 1). Intersectionality in the workplace. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/

YouTube Video

Author, A. [Screen name]. (year, month day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. www.youtube.com/xxx

Website

Author/Organization. (year, month day). Title goes here. Website/Organization Name. https://www.urlgoeshere.com

Same Author, Same Date - What do I do?

When you have two or more references that have the same author (organization) and date (could be n/a), APA will have you add a small 'a' and 'b' to the in-text citation as well as to the full reference. See examples below.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2022, August 17a).  International travel to and from the United States. [Blog post}. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/international-travel-during-covid19.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2022, August 17b). Salmonella outbreaks linked to backyard poultry. {Blog post}. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-06-22/index.html

Your in-text citations will mimic the same: (CDC, 2022a)

Citing Legal Resources in APA

Finding the actual statute number, sections, and amended U.S.C. numbers are not easy. Check out the APA Style Blog’s page on how to do just that!

US Supreme Court Case

Name v. Name, Volume # U.S. Page # (Year). URL

In-text reference: (Party v. Party, year)

State Court Case

Name v. Name, Volume # Reporter Page # (Court Year). URL

Federal and State Statutes

Name of Act, Title #. Source § Section # (Year). URL

Name of Act, Title #. Pub. L. No. Number, § Section number, Volume number. Stat. Page number. URL

Citing an Ohio State Statute (Video by the Columbus State Library)

 

For more examples and legal resources see Purdue Owl's APA page on Legal References.