The APA Common Reference Examples guide provides references and their corresponding in-text citations.
APA references are all based on the same general formula:
For each source, you will need to locate the Author(s), Date of Publication, Title of the Document, and the Source (URL, publishing company, etc.).
When you find these pieces of information about your source, you can build a reference using the general formula.
Below are some reference examples for many different types of information sources.
In text
The conclusion reached in a recent study (Cochrane, 2007) was that...
Reference
Cochrane, A. (2007). Understanding urban policy: A critical approach. Blackwell.
Include the name of only the first author plus "et al." in every citation including the first citation.
In text
In a recent study (Seeley et al., 2011, p. 143) concluded that…
Reference
Seeley, R., VanPutte, C., Regan, J., & Russo, A. (2011). Seeley’s anatomy & physiology. McGraw-Hill.
Arrange alphabetically by title in the Reference List. Place lowercase letters (“a”, “b”, “c”, etc.) immediately after the year.
In text
Leadership and change in schools have been major topics of discussion for several years (Fullan, 1996a, 1996b) and this conference…
References
Fullan, M. (1996a). Leadership for change. In K. Leithwood, J. Chapman, D. Corson, P. Hallinger, & A. Hart (Eds.), International handbook of educational leadership and administration (pp. xxx–xxx). Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Fullan, M. (1996b). The new meaning of educational change. Cassell.
A DOI is a unique, permanent identifier assigned to many electronic documents.
An open textbook is a digital book with a url, cite the same as any online textbook or eBook.
In text
We found helpful information about deaf children (Niemann et al., 2004) that meant we could…
Reference
Niemann, S., Greenstein, D., & David, D. (2004). Helping children who are deaf: Family and community support for children who do not hear well. Hesperian Health Guides. http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_deaf.php
In text
A discussion about Australia’s place in today’s world (Richards, 1997) included reference to…
Reference
Richards, K. C. (1997). Views on globalization. In H. L. Vivaldi (Ed.), Australia in a global world (pp. 29-43). Century.
In text
Some aspects of forensic science are more challenging than others (Browne, n.d.) and for this reason…
Reference
Browne, J. D. (n.d.). Forensic science as a career. Tower Publishing.
Include information about editions, volume numbers and page numbers in parenthesis following the title in the Reference List.
In text
Peters (2001, p. 6) argued that “...”
Reference
Peters, T. (2001). The elements of counselling (2nd ed.). Macmillan.
In text
According to one definition of “bivalence" (VandenBos, 2007, p. 123) …
Reference
VandenBos, G. R. (Ed.). (2007). APA dictionary of psychology. American Psychological Association.
In text
Kramer and Bloggs (2002) stipulated in their latest article …
Reference
Kramer, E., & Bloggs, T. (2002). On quality in art and art therapy. American Journal of Art Therapy, 40, 218-231.
In text
A recent study to investigate the effects of an organizational stress management program on employees (Elo et al., 2008) concluded that...
Reference
Elo, A., Ervasti, J., Kuosma, E., & Mattila, P. (2008). Evaluation of an organizational stress management program in a municipal public works organization. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 13(1), 10-23.
A DOI is a unique, permanent identifier assigned to articles. Include the DOI if one is provided.
In text
A study examining priming (Johns & Mewhort, 2009) discovered …
Reference
Johns, E., & Mewhort, D. (2009). Test sequence priming in recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: ​Learning, Memory and Cognition, 35, 1162-1174. https://10.1037/a0016372
In text
The notion of a Bill of Rights may be inappropriate in the Australian context (Waterford, 2007).
Reference
Waterford, J. (2007, May 30). Bill of Rights gets it wrong. The Canberra Times, p. 11.
In text
(Egyptian cobra, n.d.)
Reference
Egyptian cobra. (n.d.). http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/article/Egypt/ Egyptian-Cobra---------/3252
In text
(American Kennel Club, 1994, para. 2)
Reference
American Kennel Club. (1994, March 31). AKC meet the breeds: Labrador Retriever. http://www.akc.org/breeds
/labrador_retriever/index.cfm
Use the abbreviation para. to indicate the specific location on a webpage.
In text
"In the 17th and early 18th centuries, "Canada" referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River" ("Canada", n.d., para. 6).
Reference
Canada. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Canada&oldid=984884709
In text
(Bologna, 2018)
Reference
Bologna, C. (2018, June 27). What happens to your mind and body when you feel homesick? HuffPost.
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/what-happens-mind-body-homesick_n_5b201ebde4b09d7a3d77eee1
If an artificial intelligence tool was used in the creation of an assignment, the content it created must be cited.
In text
(OpenAI, 2023)
Reference
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
In text
(National Institute of Mental Health, 2018)
Reference
National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, November 28). Suicide affects all ages, genders, races, and ethnicities. Check out these 5 Actions Steps for Helping Someone in Emotional Pain [Infographic]. Facebook. http://www.bit.ly/321Qstq
In text
(Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, n.d.)
Reference
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. (n.d.). Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://www.facebook.com/nationalzoo/
In text
(White, 2018)
Reference
White, B. [@BettyMWhite]. (2018, June 21). I treasure every minute we spent together #koko [Image attached] [Tweet]. https://twitter.com/bettymwhite/status/1009951892846227456
In text
(BBC News, 2023)
Reference
BBC News [@bbcnews]. (2023, May 4). Want to drop everything and live on a farm? [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr01MdMo8mt/?hl=en
In text
(McCurry, 1985)
Reference
McCurry, S. (1985). Afghan girl [Photograph]. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/national-geographic-magazine-50-years-of-covers/#/ngm-1985-jun-714.jpeg
In text
(Cable, 2013)
Reference
Cable, D. (2013). The racial dot map [Map]. University of Virginia, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. https://demographics.coopercenter.org/racial-dot-map
In text
(Thomson, 1915)
Reference
Thomson, T. (1915). Fire-swept hills [Painting]. The Hudson's Bay Company Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada.
If the slides you are citing come from a classroom website or learning management system (e.g., Brightspace) and you are writing for an audience that has access to the resource, (e.g., the instructor or classmates) provide the name of the site and its URL (use the login page URL for sites requiring a login).
In text
(Lowe, 2020)
Reference
Lowe, H. (2020, October 2). The marketing plan [Video]. Brightspace. https://nscconline.brightspace.com
The person/group who uploaded the video is put in the author position. Include both the real name and the screen name when available. If the user’s real name is not available, include only the screen name, without brackets.
In text
(Apsolon, 2011)
Reference
Apsolon, M. [markapsolon]. (2011, September 9). Real ghost girl caught on Video Tape 14 [Video]. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v+6nyGCbxD848
When located on TED's website
In text
(Giertz, 2018)
Reference
Giertz, S. (2018, April). Why you should make useless things [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talk /simone_giertz_why_you_should_make_useless_things?language=en
When located on YouTube, list the owner of the YouTube account (here TED is the author) as the author.
In Text
(TED, 2012)
Reference Entry
TED. (2012, March 16). Brene Brown: Listening to shame [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/psN1DORYYV0TV
In text
(Barris, 2017)
Reference
Barris, K. (Writer & Director). (2017, January 11). Lemons (Season 3, Episode 12) [TV series episode]. In K. Barris, J. Groff, A. Anderson, E. B. Dobbins, L. Fishbourne, & H. Sugland (Executive Producers), Black-ish. Wilmore Films; Artists First; Cinema Gypsy Productions; ABC Studios.
Include an URL in the reference if that location is the only means of retrieval.
In text
(Bach, 1721/2010)
Reference
Bach, J. S. (2010). The Brandenburg concertos: Concertos BWV 1043 & 1060 [Album recorded by Academy of St Martin in the Fields]. Decca. (Original work published 1721)
Include an URL in the reference if that location is the only means of retrieval.
In text
(Beyonce, 2016)
Reference
Beyonce. (2016). Formation [Song]. On Lemonade. Columbia.
In text
(Vedantam, 2015-present)
Reference
Vedantam, S. (Host). (2015-present). Hidden brain [Audio podcast]. NPR. ttps://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain
Capitalize only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns; italicize the title.
Include document numbers in parentheses.
In text
(Public Health Agency of Canada, 2005)
Reference
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2005). Make every mother and child count: Report on maternal and child health in Canada (Catalogue No. H -13/2005). http://www.phacaspc.gc.ca/rhs-ssg/pdf/whd_05epi_e.pdf
In text
(Plant, 2007)
Reference
Plant, P. G. (2007). Access and excellence: The campus 2020 plan for British Columbia’s postsecondary education system (Report No. C2007-960088-3). British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development. http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca/campus2020/campus2020-thinkingahead-report.pdf
In text
(Plant, 2007)
Reference
Plant, P. G. (2007). Access and excellence: The campus 2020 plan for British Columbia’s postsecondary education system (Report No. C2007-960088-3). Ministry of Advanced Education.
In text
(Statistics Canada, 2012)
Reference
Statistics Canada. (2012). Age (131) and sex (3) for the population of Canada, provinces, territories, census divisions, census subdivisions and dissemination areas, 2011 Census. (2011 Census of Canada: Topic-based tabulations Statistics Canada Catalogue No. 97-550-XWE2006002). http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2011/dp-pd/tbt-tt/Index-eng.cfm
In text
(British Columbia, 2011)
Reference
British Columbia, Official Report of the Debates of the Legislative Assembly (Hansard), Vol. 27, No. 8, (November 14, 2011) at 8687 (Stilwell). http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/39th4th/H1114am-08.pdf
Name of Act, Volume Source § section number (year).
Canadian statutes should include jurisdiction immediately after the Volume. Session or supplement, chapter, and pinpoint locations should be substituted for the section symbol (§) and section number.
Bill
Bill / Resolution Number, Legislative Session, Volume Source page (year) (enacted).
Canadian bills have official titles which should be included at the start of the citation, followed by a comma. The pinpoint location is substituted for volume, source and page number.
Should be cited with the official or popular title of the legislation, and the year it was passed.
In text
Bill C-26 (2005) had numerous effects on ...
Freedom of association is guaranteed under section 2(d) (Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982).
Name v. Name, Volume Source Page (Court Date).
In Canadian cases, the Court and Date may be located in the neutral citation. The reporter should be considered the Source. If the year of the reporter needs to be included, place it in square brackets before the volume.
(R. v. Latimer, 2001)
In text
(Athenahealth, 2019)
Reference
Athenahealth. (2019). Epocrates (Version 19.10.1) [Mobile app]. http://www.epocrates.com/
In text
(Xero, 2019)
Reference
Xero. (2019). Xero practice manager [Computer software]. https://www.xero.com/nz/features-and-tools/practice-tools/practicemanager/
A Creative Commons image may indicate that the image is free to use without attribution or may require attribution. Attribution means acknowledging the use of someone else’s information or work. If attribution is required, you must provide a copyright attribution (in place of an in-text citation) and provide a reference.
If no attribution is required, then do not provide an APA Style reference, in-text citation, or copyright attribution.
If attribution is required, then provide a copyright attribution in the figure note (next to the image in your assignment) and a reference in the reference list.
The image below was located on Flickr and has a Creative Commons License, CC BY 2.0. The license states that attribution is required.
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Figure 1
Note. From Lava [Photograph], by Denali National Park and Preserve, 2013, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/). CC BY 2.0. |
Denali National Park and Preserve. (2013). Lava [Photograph]. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denalinps/8639280606/
For more information on how to reference images and clip art, visit APA's Clip Art or Stock Image References.
APA. (2020, February). Clip art or stock image references. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/clip-art-references
