Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by APA Citation Style is maintained by the American Psychological Society and is used by a wide range of social science disciplines like psychology, anthropology, and economics. For additional citation examples, visit the APA Reference Examples page or download the APA Reference Guide.
Organize your APA References in alphabetical order by the author's last name. For multiple references by the same author, order them chronologically by the year. References should have a hanging indent (the first line is not indented, and all additional lines are indented .5 inches).
In-text citations are included in the (Author, Year) format. If there are two authors, include both authors' names with an "&" between. If there are three or more authors, include only the first author's name followed by "et al." If the author's name is referenced in the text, you only need to include the year in the parentheses. If direct quotation is being used from a source, include a page number in the citation. Some in-text citation examples:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book (7th ed.). Publisher. DOI or URL
Examples:
Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.
Svendsen, S., & Løber, L. (2020). The big picture/Academic writing: The one-hour guide (3rd digital ed.). Hans Reitzel Forlag. https://thebigpicture-academicwriting.digi.hansreitzel.dk/
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of the book (2nd ed., pp. #–#). Publisher. DOI or URL
Examples:
Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. F. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345–359). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000120-016
Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115–129). Routledge.
Thestrup, K. (2010). To transform, to communicate, to play—The experimenting community in action. In E. Hygum & P. M. Pedersen (Eds.), Early childhood education: Values and practices in Denmark. Hans Reitzels Forlag. https://earlychildhoodeducation.digi.hansreitzel.dk/?id=192
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Name of the Periodical, volume(issue), #–#. https://doi.org/xxxx
Examples:
Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185
Ouellette, J. (2019, November 15). Physicists capture first footage of quantum knots unraveling in superfluid. Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/study-you-can-tie-a-quantum-knot-in-a-superfluid-but-it-will-soon-untie-itself/
Schulman, M. (2019, September 9). Superfans: A love story. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/16/superfans-a-love-story
Only include references to specific webpages. When referring to a website as a whole rather than one of its specific websites, include the URL in parentheses as an in-text citation. When there is no specific author attributed to a webpage or its author is a government agency, use the website or agency as the author and do not include the website again in the reference.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of webpage. Title of Website. URL
Examples:
Schaeffer, K. (2021, October 1). What we know about online learning and the homework gap amid the pandemic. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/10/01/what-we-know-about-online-learning-and-the-homework-gap-amid-the-pandemic/
Toner, K. (2020, September 24). When Covid-19 hit, he turned his newspaper route into a lifeline for senior citizens. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/04/us/coronavirus-newspaper-deliveryman-groceries-senior-citizens-cnnheroes-trnd/index.html
World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death