Citing Sources

QUOTATIONS

Guideline: Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. Put the page number (preceded by "p.") in parentheses at the end of the quotation.

Example:

As Davis (1978) reported, "If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling for linguists, it was also startling news for animal behaviorists" (p. 26).

Guideline: When the author's name does not appear in the signal phrase, place the author's name, the date, and the page number in parentheses at the end of the quotation. Use commas between items in the parentheses.

Example:

"If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling for linguists, it was also startling news for animal behaviorists" (Davis, 1978, p. 26).

Guideline: When the quotation is more than 40 words in text, do not use quotation marks, but indent the quote into its own block of text.

Example:

Students having a hard time finding databases isn't a new phenomenon. At the University of Washington, they have problems too.

With the addition of so many new databases to the campus online system, many students were having difficulty locating the database they needed. At the same time, the role of Session Manager had evolved. The increased importance of the Session Manager as a selection tool made it a part of the navigation process itself. (Eliasen, McKinstry, Fraser, & Babbitt, 1997, p. 510)

Guideline: When quoting material that has a citation within it, keep the original citation. (That embedded citation does not need to be included in your reference list.)

Example:

"In the United States, the American Cancer Society (2007) estimated that about 1 million cases of NMSC and 59,940 cases of melanoma would be diagnosed in 2007, with melanoma resulting in 8,110 deaths" (Miller et al., 2009, p. 209).

Exception: When citing from an e-book, there may or may not be page numbers. If an e-book has page numbers, include them in the in-text citation. If an e-book does not have page numbers, there are a few options to describe the location of the text being quoted.

• Provide the paragraph number. Some e-books list paragraph numbers in the margins; otherwise, you can count paragraphs from the beginning of the e-book.
• Provide the heading for the section along with the paragraph number within that section. (Examples of headings could be chapter titles or sub-chapter titles, section headings, etc.)
• Provide an abbreviated heading (such as the first few words) in quotation marks if the full heading is too long to cite in full.

Example:

"'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad'" (Carroll, 2009, p. 76)

[from Carroll, L. (2009). Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28885/28885-h/28885-h.htm]

Example:

"'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad'" (Carroll, 2014, Pig and Pepper, para. 61)

[from Caroll, L. (2014). Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Retrieved from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-h/11-h.htm]

For more information, we recommend reading the APA Style Blog's post How Do You Cite an E-Book (e.g., Kindle Book)? (Lee, 2011).

PARAPHRASES & SUMMARIES

Guideline: Work by one author, no quotation marks required.

Example 1:

According to Davis(1978), when they learned of an ape's ability to use sign language, both linguists and animal behaviorists were taken by surprise.

Example 2:

When they learned of an ape's ability to use sign language, both linguists and animal behaviorists were taken by surprise (Davis, 1978).

Guideline: When paraphrasing information from a work that is not originally from the source you have, use the phrase "as cited in" at the end. Follow with the author(s) of the source you have, the publication date, and the page number. Provide the information for the source you have in your reference list.

Example:

In their e-mail correspondence, Smith and Jones expressed their surprise about an ape's ability to use sign language (as cited in Davis, 1978).

URLs

URLs (uniform resource locators) provide the location for a source on the Internet. However, URLs can often change, which causes problems for references because we're trying to send our readers to a specific location.

DOIs

That location problem is where DOIs come in. DOI stands for digital object identifier. DOIs provide static, permanent online locations for sources. They're also noticeably shorter than most URLs, which is handy!

If you can't find the DOI on either the article or the database record page, you can look it up on CrossRef.org's Free DOI Lookup form. Scroll down to the bottom and type in the first author's last name and the title of the article.

ARTICLES (JOURNAL, MAGAZINE, & NEWSPAPER)

The basic format is:

Notes & Exceptions:

• Include a DOI if it's provided—for both print and electronic articles.
  • For electronic articles, if no DOI is available, use the periodical's homepage URL instead.
  • For print articles, if no DOI is available, leave that section blank. (End with the page range.)
• If you provide the URL, state it as Retrieved from http://www.URL.com. You don't need to provide a retrieval date.
• Only provide an issue number if each issue's pagination starts at page 1.
  To find out if the pagination continues from issue to issue, check the page numbers. High page numbers indicate continuous pagination. If you're still not sure, go to the journal's homepage and look up the issues in that volume. Find the page numbers for the first article in each issue. If they're continuous, you don't need to provide the issue number. If they all start with page 1, you need to provide the issue number.
• Journal articles only need the year.
• Magazine, newspaper, and newsletter articles require the year and the exact date (month or month and day).
• The only articles that have p. in front of the page numbers are newspaper articles.

Specific Examples:

ONLINE SOURCES

The basic format is:

Note: APA citation is about the source, not the location of the source. While these are examples of some specific online sources, most online sources will actually fall under other categories: articles, eBooks, reports, etc. Be sure to look up the guidelines for those source types.

Specific Examples:

MEDIA (AUDIO/VISUAL) MATERIALS

The basic formats are:

Specific Examples:

TECHNICAL AND RESEARCH REPORTS

The basic format is:

Additional Notes:

• Format references for reports similarly to how you format references for books.
• If the report has a number (report number, contract number, etc.), include it in parentheses after the title and before the period, but not in italics. If the report doesn't have a number, leave that notation out of the reference.
• If you access a report online, provide a retrieval statement instead of a location and publisher. Include the name of the publisher in the retrieval statement, unless the publisher is the same as the author. For example:
  • Publisher separate from author: Retrieved from University of Michigan, Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement website: http://www.ciera.org/etc.
  • Publisher is the author: Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/etc.

Specific Examples:

COURSE MATERIALS

The basic format is:

The APA manual focuses on writing and style conventions for professional publications, not academic papers. However, we can use the APA's general rules to interpret how to cite course materials. It all comes down to how you retrieve the source.

Additional Notes:

• Keep in mind that the reference list is designed to provide access to retrievable sources. In many cases, the information you receive in class can't be retrieved any other way. Because of that, many course materials are cited as personal communications.
• A personal communication is cited in text only. Provide the initial(s) and last name of the person, the exact date, and the phrase "personal communication." Here are two examples:

Specific Examples:

CONFERENCE, MEETING, & SYMPOSIUM MATERIALS

The basic formats are:

Additional Notes:

• Unpublished paper or poster sessions should follow the first example above
• Unpublished symposia or meeting sessions should follow the second example above.
• Published conference proceedings in book format should follow other book references (see tab).
• Published conference proceedings that are published in a regular series follow the article format (see tab). See also the third example above.

Specific Examples:

INTERVIEWS

The basic formats are:

Additional Notes:

• Keep in mind that the reference list is designed to provide access to retrievable sources. Because of that, interviews are cited as personal communications.
• A personal communication is cited in text only. Provide the initial(s) and last name of the person, the exact date, and the phrase "personal communication."

Specific Examples:

LEGAL MATERIALS

The basic formats are:

Common Abbreviations

Cong.
H.R.
S.
Reg.
Res.
F.

U.S. Congress
House of Representatives
Senate
Regulation
Resolution
Federal Reporter

F.2d
F.3d
F. Supp.
U.S.C.
Cong. Rec.
Fed. Reg.

Federal Reporter, Second Series
Federal Reporter, Third Series
Federal Supplement
United States Code
Congressional Record
Federal Register

Specific Examples: