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APA Citation Guide

American Psychological Association (APA) style is commonly used for citing references in science and social science courses, such as Psychology and Social Work.This guide is based on the APA Manual (7th ed.).

By a single author

Author's name. (Year of publication). Book title italicized. Publisher's name. DOI or URL (if available)

Example:   Mitchell, T. R. (1987).  People in organizations: An introduction to organizational

                       behavior. McGraw-Hill.

 

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Mitchell, 1987) 

Narrative Citation Example: Mitchell (1987) 

By two authors

Authors' names. (Year of Publication). Book title italicized. Publisher's name. DOI or URL (if available)

Example:   Beck, C. A. J., & Sales, B. D. (2001). Family mediation: Facts, myths, and future

                      prospects. American Psychological Association.

 

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Beck & Sales, 2001)

Narrative Citation Example: Beck and Sales (2001)

By three or more authors

All authors' names. (Year of publication). Book title italicized. Publisher's name. DOI or URL (if available)

Example:   Daniels, H., Garner, P., & Jones, C. (1999). Inclusive education. Kogan Page.

 

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Daniels et al., 1999)

Narrative Citation Example: Daniels et al. (1999)

 

NOTE: Up to 20 authors should be included in a reference list entry. When there are more than 20 authors, list the first 19 and the additional authors' names are replaced with an ellipsis (…) followed by the final listed author's name.

Two books, same author

Author's name. (Year of publication). Book title. Publisher's name.

Sort by date, oldest first.

Example:    

Hemingway, E. (1929). A farewell to arms. Scribner.

Hemingway, E. (1952). Old man and the sea. Scribner.

 

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Hemingway, 1929)

Narrative Citation Example: Hemingway (1929)

 

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Hemingway, 1952)

Narrative Citation Example: Hemingway (1952)

Two books, same author and year

Author's name. (Year of publication). Book titlePublisher's name.

Examples:

Hemingway, E. (1926). The sun also rises. Scribner.

Hemingway, E. (1926). The torrents of spring. Scribner.

 

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Hemingway, 1926a)

Narrative Citation Example: Hemingway (1926a)

 

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Hemingway, 1926b)

Narrative Citation Example: Hemingway (1926b)

 

N.B: "When multiple references have an identical author (or authors) and publication year, include a lowercase letter after the year. These letters are assigned when the references are placed in order in the reference list (alphabetically by title, following the guidelines in Section 9.47).

The year–letter combination is used in both the in-text citation and the reference list entry." 

https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/same-year-author 

Edited book

Editors' names (Eds.). (Year of publication). Book title. Publisher's name.

Example:   Gibbs, J. T., & Huang, L. N. (Eds.). (1991). Children of color: Psychological interventions

                      with minority youthJossey-Bass.

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation Example: (Gibbs & Huang, 1991)

Narrative Citation Example: Gibbs and Huang (1991)

 

Note:

If you have more than one editor list their name(s) after the first editor listed in the book, giving their initials and last name. Before the last editor's name put an ampersand (&).

When you have one editor the short form (Ed.) is used after the editor's name. If you have more than one editor use (Eds.) instead.

Book, no author or editor

Title in author position. (Year of publication). Publisher's name.

Example: Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (1993). Merriam-Webster.

 

Cited in text:

Parenthetical Citation: (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 1993)

Narrative Citation: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (1993)

Authored book chapter

An authored book is one in which the same person has written all the chapters.

NOTE: If you used information from one chapter of an authored book, write a reference for the whole book, do not write a reference list entry for only a chapter in an authored book.

Author names. (Year of publication). Title of book. Publisher. DOI or URL (if available)

Example: Dym, B., & Hutson, H. (2005). Leadership in nonprofit organizations. Sage Publications. 

 

Cited in text: 

Parenthetical citation: (Dym & Hutson, 2005)

Narrative citation: Dym and Hutson (2005)

 

 

Chapter in an edited book

Author names. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In Editors' Names (Eds.), Title of

        book (pp.). Publisher. 

Example: Wood, R., Hall, D. M., & Hasian, M., Jr. (2008). Globalization, social justice movements, and

                       the human genome diversity debates: A case study in health activism. In H. M. Zoller

                       & M. J. Dutta (Eds.), Emerging perspectives in health communication: Meaning,

                       culture, and power (pp. 431-446). Routledge. 

 

Cited in text: (Wood et al, 2008) 

 

Note:

If you have more than one editor list their name(s) after the first editor listed in the book, giving their initials and last name. Before the last editor's name put an ampersand (&).

When you have one editor the short form (Ed.) is used after the editor's name. If you have more than one editor use (Eds.) instead.

Encyclopedia or dictionary

Editor or lead editor et al. (Eds.). (Year of publication). Title (Edition, number of volumes). Publisher.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title of book (ed). Publisher name.

 

Example:   Sadie, S., & Tyrell, J. (Eds.). (2002). The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians (2nd

                      ed., Vols. 1-10). Macmillan.

Cited in text: (Sadie & Tyrell, 2002)

An entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary

Author of entry. (Year of publication). Title of entry. In title of encyclopedia (Vol. #, pp.). Publication information.

Example: Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-

                    508). Chicago, IL: Encylopedia Brittanica.

Cited in text: (Bergmann, 1993).

An entry in an online encyclopedia or dictionary

Author's Name. (Year). Title of entry. In Dictionary/encyclopedia name. Retrieval date (month day, year), from URL 

 

Example: 

Oxford University Press. (n.d). Duplicitous. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/242637?rskey=Ml5P3Z&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid 

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Duplicitous. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved January 6, 2022, from hhttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/duplicitous

Cited in text:

 

 

 

eBooks

Author. (Year of publication). Title of book. [Electronic version]. Retrieved from URL.

ExamplePeterson, B., & Carco, D. (1998). The smart way to buy information technology:

How to maximize value and avoid costly pitfalls [NetLibrary version]. Retrieved from

http://www.netlibrary.com

Cited in text: (Peterson, 1998)

Chapter from an electronic book

Author. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In editor's name (Ed.) [if applicable], Title of book

  (pp. xx-xx) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from URL. 

Example: Young, M.D. (2003). Troubling policy discourse: Gender, constructions, and the leadership 

                        crisis. In M.D. Young & L. Skrla (Eds.), Reconsidering feminist research in educational

                        leadership (pp. 265-298) [NetLibrary version]. Retrieved from

                        http://www.netlibrary.com

Cited in text: (Young, 2003)