APA 7th Edition
GEC 5: Purposive Communication
American Psychological
Association (APA)
Publication Manual
IN-TEXT CITATIONS
AND REFERENCES
REFERENCE BASICS
• Capitalize all major words in journal titles
• Italicize titles of longer works such as books and
journals
• Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the
titles of shorter works such as journal articles or
essays in edited collections
MAKING THE REFERENCE LISTS
APA is a complex system of citation. When compiling the
reference list, the strategy below might be useful:
1. Identify the type of source:
Is it a book? A journal article? A webpage?
2. Make sure that the entries are listed in alphabetical
order and that the subsequent lines are indented.
MAKING THE REFERENCE LISTS
Works are listed in alphabetical order in the reference list,
by the first word of the reference list entry.
• Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the surname
of the first author followed by the initials of the author's
given name(s).
• When alphabetizing names, disregard any spaces or
punctuation marks in two-word surnames. Also
disregard anything in parentheses or square brackets.
• When alphabetizing by title, disregard the words "A,"
"An," and "The."
IN-TEXT CITATION: BASICS
In-text citations help readers locate the cited source in the References
section of the paper. In-text citations follow either a parenthetical format
or a narrative format.
A parenthetical citation includes both the author’s last name and year of
publication, separated by a comma, in parentheses at the end of the
sentence.
EX: Research suggests that the Purdue OWL is a good resource for
students (Atkins, 2018).
A narrative citation includes the author’s name directly in the sentence,
with the year of publication directly following the author’s last name.
EX: Atkins (2018) suggested that the Purdue OWL is a good resource
for students.
IN-TEXT CITATION: PAGE
NUMBERS
If the source you’re citing includes page numbers, add that information
to your citation.
For a parenthetical citation, the page number follows the year of
publication, separated by a comma, and with a lowercase p and a
period before the number (p.)
EX: Research suggests that the Purdue OWL is a good resource for
students (Atkins, 2018, p. 12).
For a narrative citation, the page number comes at the end of the
sentence, once again preceded by a lowercase p and a period (p.)
EX: Atkins (2018) suggested that the Purdue OWL is a good resource
for students (p. 12).
IN-TEXT CITATION:
QUOTATIONS
When quoting:
Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase
If using the parenthetical citation, include the author, date of
publication, and page number at the end of the quotation.
EX: As scientific knowledge advances, “the application of CRISPR
technology to improve human health is being explored across public
and private sectors”(Hong, 2018, p. 503).
If using the narrative-style citation, include the author’s last name in
the signal phrase, with the page number at the end of the quote.
EX: Hong (2018) stated that “the application of CRISPR technology to
improve human health is being explored across public and private
sectors” (p. 503).
IN-TEXT CITATION: TWO OR
MORE WORKS
When the parenthetical citation includes two or more works:
• Order them in the same way they appear in the reference list—the
author’s name, the year of publication—separated by a semi-colon.
EX: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet (Adams, 2018; Collins, 2017).
IN-TEXT CITATION: WORKS WITH
TWO AUTHORS
When citing a work with two authors:
•In the narrative citation, use “and” in between the authors’ names
EX: According to scientists Depietri and McPhearson (2018),
“Understanding the occurrence and impacts of historical climatic hazards
is critical to better interpret current hazard trends” (p. 96).
•In the parenthetical citation, use “&” between names
EX: When examining potential climate threats, “Understanding the
occurrence and impacts of historical climatic hazards is critical to better
interpret current hazard trends” (Depietri & McPhearson, 2018, p. 96).
IN-TEXT CITATION: WORKS WITH
3+ AUTHORS
When citing a work with three or more authors:
•list the name of the first author plus “et al.” in every citation.
EX: Lin et al. (2019) examined how weather conditions affect the
popularity of the bikesharing program in Beijing.
EX: One study looked at how weather conditions affected the
popularity of bikesharing programs, specifically the Beijing Public
Bikesharing Program (Lin et al., 2019).
IN-TEXT CITATION: UNKNOWN
AUTHOR
When citing a work with an unknown author:
•Use the source’s full title in the narrative citation.
•Cite the first word of the title followed by the year of publication in the
parenthetical citation.
EX: According to “Here’s How Gardening Benefits Your Health” (2018)
EX: (“Here’s,” 2018)
Titles:
Articles and Chapters = “ ”
Books and Reports = italicize
IN-TEXT CITATION: GROUP
AUTHORS
When citing a group author:
•Mention the organization the first time you cite the source in either the
narrative citation or the parenthetical citation.
•If you first mention the group in a narrative citation, list the
abbreviation before the year of publication in parentheses, separated
by a comma.
EX: “The data collected by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA, 2019) confirmed…”
•If you first mention the group in a parenthetical citation, list the
abbreviation in square brackets, followed by a comma and the year of
publication.
EX: (Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 2019).
IN-TEXT CITATION: SAME LAST
NAME/AUTHOR
When citing authors with the same last names:
•Use first initials with the last names.
EX: (B. Davis, 2018; Y. Davis, 2020)
When citing two or more works by the same author and
published in the same year:
•Use lower-case letters (a, b, c) after the year of publication to order
the references.
EX: Chen’s (2018a) study of bird migration…
IN-TEXT CITATION: PERSONAL
COMMUNICATION
When citing personal communication (interviews, letters, e-mails,
etc.):
•Include the communicator’s name, the fact that it was personal
communication, and the date of the communication.
•Narrative citation:
EX: B. E. Anderson (personal communication, January 8, 2020) also
claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style.
•Parenthetical citation:
EX: One teacher mentioned that many of her students had difficulties
with APA style (Anderson, personal communication, January 8, 2020).
•Do not include personal communication in the reference list.
References
Basics
• Invert authors’ names
• last name first followed by initials: Smith, J.Q.
• Alphabetize reference list entries by the last
name of the first author of each work
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of
a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or
a dash in the title, and proper nouns:
Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography
References
Basic Format for Books
• Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of
work: Capital letter also for subtitle.
Location: Publisher.
Ex.
Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing
manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
References
Article from an Online Periodical
• With DOI Assigned
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication).
Title of article. Title of Journal, volume
number, page range. doi:0000000/000000000000
Ex.
Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An
annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41,
1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161
References
Article from an Online Periodical
• With no DOI Assigned
• Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require
the URL of the journal home page.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article.
Title of Journal, volume number.
http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/
Ex.
Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human
rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8.
http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html
References
Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
• Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide
bylines (authors' names). When no byline is present,
move the entry name to the front of the citation.
Provide publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if
no date is present in the entry.
Ex.
Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism
References
Web Document, Web Page, or Report
• List as much of the following information as
possible
• Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of
document. http://Web address
Ex.
Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., &
Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
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