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APA Citation Guide (7th Ed.)

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About Reference Lists

If you cite information in the text of your paper, you also need to include a more detailed reference entry for that work in a reference list at the end of your paper.

General rules are demonstrated below.

Author Information

References should be arranged alphabetically by author last name for each entry. List authors in each entry in the order that they appear in the work. Use initials for any first and middle names; if hyphenated retain the hyphen: Xu, A.-J., for Ai-Jun Xu (APA, 2020, p. 286).

One author:

Lunny, A. M. (2017). Debating hate crime: Language, legislatures, and the law in Canada. UBC Press.

 

Two to twenty authors, list them all:

Livingstone, D. W., Pollock, K., & Raykov, M. (2014). Family binds and glass ceilings: Women managers’ promotion limits in a ‘knowledge economy.’ Critical Sociology42(1), 145-166. http://doi.org/10.1177/0896920514532663

 

Twenty one or more authors, only list the first nineteen, . . . and the last author listed:

Arnone, D., Job, D., Selvaraj, S., Abe, O., Amico, F., Cheng, Y., Colloby, S. J.,  O'Brien, J. T., Frodl, T., Gotlib, I. H.,  Ham, B., Kim, M. J.,  Cédric, P., Koolschijn, M. P.,  Périco, C. A. M., Salvadore, G., Thomas, A. J., Van Tol, M.,  van der Wee, N. J. A.,  . . . McIntosh, A. M. (2016). Computational meta‐analysis of statistical parametric maps in major depression. Human Brain Mapping37(4), 1393-1404. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23108

 

Multiple works by the same author, assign an a, b, c, and so on to works published in the same year:

Goffman, E. (1969a). Strategic interaction. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Goffman, E. (1969b)Where the action is: Three essays. Allen Lane.

Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Date of Publication

Include the year of publication in brackets following author information: 

Sunga, S. (2017). Dealing with oppression: Indigenous relations with the state in Canada. Ethics and Social Welfare, 11(2), 135-148. http://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2017.1293118

 

For works published frequently, like newspaper articles and blog posts, include (year, month, day), if provided: 

Cournoyer, D. (2019, April 4). This is sad. Alberta’s leaders’ debate remarkable for being horribly boring. daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics. https://daveberta.ca/2019/04/this-is-sad-albertas-leaders-debate-remarkable-for-being-horribly-boring

 

If no date is given, include (n.d.) in place of a date:

Canadian Association of Research Libraries. (n.d.). Repositories in Canada. https://www.carl-abrc.ca/advancing-research/institutional-repositories/repos-in-canada

Titles of Works

Capitalization

For article titles and titles of non-periodical publications like books, capitalize only the first word of titles, the first word of any sub-titles, and any proper nouns (also known as sentence-style capitalization):

Sunga, S. (2017). Dealing with oppression: Indigenous relations with the state in Canada. Ethics and Social Welfare11(2), 135-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2017.1293118

 

For titles of periodicals, like journals, capitalize all main words in the title (also known as headline-style capitalization): 

Frenzel, E. D., Bowen, K. N., Spraitz, J. D., Bowers, J. H., & Phaneuf, S. (2014). Understanding collateral consequences of registry laws: An examination of the perceptions of sex offender registrants. Justice Policy Journal11(2), 1-22.

 

Italicization

Titles of works that are part of larger works, like book chapters or article titles, should be written in plain font. Titles of works that are published as complete works, like book titles, journal titles, newspaper titles, or website titles, should be italicized

 

Bracketed Descriptions

Describe the format in square brackets following the title only if the source you are citing is something out of the ordinary, e.g. [Infographic] [Facebook status update] [Tweet] [Video]

Beyoncé. (2016). Formation [Song]. On Lemonade. Parkwood; Columbia.

DOI Numbers, Publication and Retrieval Information

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)


Include a DOI if provided. These are commonly noted on the first page of journal articles, and in the front matter of eBooks.

Present DOIs as links starting with https://doi.org/ . . . (see the example below). Links should be live if the work is intended to be read online. 

Sunga, S. (2017). Dealing with oppression: Indigenous relations with the state in Canada. Ethics and Social Welfare11(2), 135-148. https://doi.org/10.1080/17496535.2017.1293118

Note: If ezproxy.macewan.ca appears in the DOI (i.e. https://doi.org.ezproxy.macewan.ca/10...) you will need to reformat using CrossRef's Short DOI Service: shortdoi.org. Enter the DOI number beginning from 10. Steps illustrated below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No DOI? For subscription content (e.g., from a library database) without a DOI do not include a link.

Frenzel, E. D., Bowen, K. N., Spraitz, J. D., Bowers, J. H., & Phaneuf, S. (2014). Understanding collateral consequences of registry laws: An examination of the perceptions of sex offender registrants. Justice Policy Journal11(2), 1-22.

 

If you are unsure if your article has a DOI number or not, try using CrossRef's DOI Lookup tool. 

 


When to Include a URL


If freely available online without a DOI, include a link to the source. Links should be live if the work is intended to be read online.

Pro tip: If worried about a link changing over time, try creating a permanent link using the Internet Archive's Save Page Now tool.

Newton, P., & Holcombe, M. (2020, May 26). Canada wants national sick leave plan in place for second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. CNNhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/05/26/americas/canada-coronavirus-national-sick-leave/index.html


When the database is the content creator / author include the URL to the public website for the database (not the library subscription link).

Lippincott Procedures. (2019, August 15). Delegating care. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from http://lippincottsolutions.lww.com/solutions/procedures.html

 

 

 

Publisher Information


For physical sources, include the publisher at the end of the reference:

Lunny, A. M. (2017). Debating hate crime: Language, legislatures, and the law in Canada. UBC Press.

 

If a source's author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher information at the end to avoid duplication: 

Nault, T. (n.d.). Wakey wakey for eggs n bac'y [Zine]. 

 

Including a Retrieval Date


If information provided by a web source changes over time and the source does not provide stable URLs or permanent links to previous versions, include "n.d." for "no date" rather than a date of publication and a retrieval date as shown:

Edmonton Police Service. (n.d.). Edmonton community safety map - Allendale, break and enter, last 60 days [Interactive map]. Retrieved on May 23, 2019, from https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/8e2c6c41933e48a79faa90048d9a459d

 

If citing a Wikipedia entry, you can instead cite the archived version of the page you have accessed.

To do so, select "View History" from the article page and select the link for the version you have accessed noting its date for the reference entry:

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