APA Style uses the author–date citation system, in which a brief in-text citation directs readers to a full reference list entry. The in-text citation appears within the body of the paper (or in a table, figure, footnote, or appendix) and briefly identifies the cited work by its author and date of publication. This enables readers to locate the corresponding entry in the alphabetical reference list at the end of the paper.
Each work cited must appear in the reference list, and each work in the reference list must be cited in the text (or in a table, figure, footnote, or appendix).
Both paraphrases and quotations require citations.
The following are guidelines to follow when writing in-text citations:
Note: Adapted from APA Basic Principles by the APA Style Blog, 2021 (https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles).
The following citation resources for education & teaching students relate to the American Psychological Associations (APA) Style Guide, 7th Edition, which is the preferred.
Below are some resources for the 7th Edition (2020) formatting rules for APA citations:
Introduction to APA
Run Time: 2:53
Key Student Learning Competencies:
APA In-text Citations
Run Time: 2:55
Key Student Learning Competencies:
APA Reference Lists
Run Time: 2:38
Key Student Learning Competencies:
APA Complete: Intro, In-text, & Ref Lists
Run Time: 7:45
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Basic Format for a Book:
Book with One Author:
Book with Two Authors:
Basic format for an eBook:
~ Example:
Basic Format for a Print Article:
~ Magazine Article:
~ Journal Article:
~ Newspaper Article:
Basic Format for an Online Article:
~ Online Journal Article with DOI Assigned:
~ Online Journal Article with no DOI Assigned:
~ Newspaper Article Found on a Newspaper's Website:
Basic Format for citing an image in the Reference List:
Note: If you can only find the screen name of an author, use that as the author's name. Maintain the formatting of the screen name. For example, if a screen name is in all lower case, keep the name in lower case in your citations. If there is no title, create your own title that describes the content of the image.
Example of a Reference List citation for an image:
Formatting Figures in Your Paper:
Each image in your paper should have a figure number, a title, and a caption. The caption should describe the image, provide a citation for the image, and provide copyright information. For example:
Figure 1
Two Cats Resting
Note. This photo shows two orange cats resting in the "loaf" position. From Nap time [Photograph], by D. Sipler, 2005, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/photofarmer/284159867/in/set-72157594353612286). CC BY 2.0.
If you have taken the photo or created the image, you do not need to cite it or provide copyright information for it. You will still need to label the picture with a figure number and title, and you will need to provide a caption with information on what the image shows.
For more information on formatting tables and figures in your APA style paper, see:
Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images
If you did not create the image, you need to provide a copyright statement for that image. The APA Style Blog takes you through the four steps of navigating copyright for reproduced images:
For more information on copyright and finding safe to reuse images, see the library's Copyright Guide.
Reference List Format:
Inventor, A. A. (Year patent issued). Title of patent (U.S. Patent No. ###). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. URL
Reference List Example:
Bell, A. G. (1876). Improvement in telegraphy. (U.S. Patent No. 174,465). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patents.google.com/patent/US174465A/en
In-Text Citation Format:
In text, cite the patent identifier and the year.
In-Text Citation Example:
(U.S. Patent No. 174,465, 1876)
Citation management tools are software clients loaded on your computer or web/cloud-based applications that are used to store, organize and utilize bibliographic citations. Essentially, these tools are a database of the researcher's selected citations.
Most provide the following functions:
Which is best? That completely depends on your needs and preferences. They generally offer the same general functionality, but with different interfaces --- and with different "bells & whistles".
Currently, The WPI Gordon Library provides institutional access to EndNote Desktop/Client, EndNote Web, and Mendeley. We also support Zotero, a freely available, open source citation management system.
Check out some of the information below about citation managers!