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Citing Sources: APA Citation Examples

Learn how to cite your sources

APA Citations

Basic Format for a Book:

  • Reference List: Authors' Last name, First Initial. (Year). Book title: Subtitle. (Edition) [if other than the 1st]. Publisher.

  • In-text: (Author, Year)

   ~ Book with One Author:

  • Reference List: Brader, T. (2006). Campaigning for hearts and minds: How emotional appeals in political ads work. University of Chicago Press. 

  • In-text: (Brader, 2006)

   ~ ​Book with Two Authors:

  • Reference List: Miller, T. E., & Schuh, J. H. (2005). Promoting reasonable expectations: Aligning student and institutional views of the college experience. Jossey-Bass.

  • In-text: (Miller & Schuh, 2005)
    *for more than two authors (3 or more), list only the first author’s name followed by “et al.” in every citation, even the first, unless doing so would create ambiguity between different sources. Example: (Kernis et al., 1993)

Basic format for an eBook:
  • Reference List: Author's Last name, First Initial. (Year). Book title [format of book]. Publisher. URL 
  • In-text: (Author, Year)
  ~ Example:
  • Reference List: Brock, J., & Arciuli, J. (2014). Communication in autism [eBook edition]. John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4806-2
  • In-text: (Brock & Arciuli, 2014)

 

Basic Format for a Print Journal Article: 

  • Last name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine/Journal/Newspaper Title, Volume number(Issue number), Page numbers of the entire article.

   ~ Example:

  • Newman, J. L., Fuqua, D. R., Gray, E. A., & Simpson, D. B. (2006). Gender differences in the relationship of anger and depression in a clinical sample. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84, 157-161.

Basic Format for an Online Journal Article:

  • Author’s Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Article title. Magazine/Journal/Newspaper Title, Volume number(Issue number), Page numbers. doi or URL of publication home page

   ~ Online Journal Article with DOI Assigned:

  • Basic Format: 

    • Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), page range. https://doi.org/10.0000/0000

  • Example:

    • Denhart, H. (2008). Deconstructing barriers: Perceptions of students labeled with learning disabilities in higher education. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41(6), 483-497. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219408321151

   ~ Online Journal Article with no DOI Assigned:

  • Basic Format:

    • Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number). http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

  • Example: 

    • von Busch, O., & Palmas, K. (2016). Designing consent: Can design thinking manufacture democratic capitalism? Organizational Aesthetics, 5(2), 10-24. http://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/oa/. 

Basic Format for a Print Article: 
  • Last name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine/Journal/Newspaper Title, Volume number(Issue number), Page numbers of the entire article.
   ~ Magazine Article:
  •  White, C. (2006, April). The spirit of disobedience: An invitation to resistance. Harper's Magazine, 312(1871), 31-40. 
   ~ Newspaper Article: 
  • Zernike, K. (2015, October 25). White House moves to limit school testing. New York Times, p. A1. 
  • Note: For newspaper articles, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference in APA style. Single pages take p., e.g., p. B2; multiple pages take pp., e.g., pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-C4. 
   ~ Newspaper Article Found on a Newspaper's Website:
  • Basic Format:
    • Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. 
      http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ 
  • Example:
    • Zernike, K. (2016, February 29). Testing for joy and grit? Schools nationwide push to measure students’ emotional skills. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/us/testing-for-joy-and-grit-schools-nationwide-push-to-measure-students-emotional-skills.html?_r=

For patents, cite the inventor, the year the patent was granted, the title, the patent number, the name of the patent office, and the URL. 

Basic Format:

Inventor Last Name, First Initials. (Year Patent Issued). Title of patent (Patent No. x,xxx,xxx). Name of the patent office. URL

Example:

Farley, B., & Small, D. (2009). Device and method for an electronic tag game (U.S. Patent No. 7,632,187). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patents.google.com/patent/US7632187B1

Basic Format for citing an image in the Reference List:
  • Last name, First initial. (Year image was created). Title of work [Type of work]. URL 
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
           Two orange cats sleeping next to each other
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:
  1. Understand the copyright status of the image.
  2. Determine whether permission is needed to reproduce the image.
  3. Secure permission to reproduce the image, if permission is needed. 
  4. Write the APA Style copyright statement and reference list entry for the image. 
For more information on copyright and finding safe to reuse images, see the library's Copyright Guide.