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 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.
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)
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.
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)
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)
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/
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
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
Tugend, A. (2018, October 1). Intersectionality in the workplace. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/
Author, A. [Screen name]. (year, month day). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. www.youtube.com/xxx
Author/Organization. (year, month day). Title goes here. Website/Organization Name. https://www.urlgoeshere.com
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)
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.