Skip to Main Content
Library Logo
Harcum College Icon
Skip to Main Content
site header image

Psychology: APA 7 Citation Style

APA References List Examples

When preparing your APA References List, follow these guidelines:

  • Alphabetize entries by the author's or editor's last name. If there is no author, use the first significant word of the title.
  • Begin each entry flush with the left margin. For entries that extend beyond one line, indent subsequent lines by one-half inch (or 5 spaces) from the left margin, known as a hanging indent.
  • Double-space both within and between entries.
  • Adhere strictly to APA citation style, paying close attention to spelling, punctuation, spacing, and indentation.
  • Do not organize the list by categories such as books, articles, and websites, and avoid numbering the entries.

Journal Article with an author and a DOI

Dodeen, H. (2008). Assessing test-taking strategies of university students: Developing a scale and estimating its

     psychometric indices. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(4), 409-419. https//doi.org/10.1080/02602930701562874

 

Journal article with 2 or more authors and no DOI 

LoSchiavo, F. M., & Shatz, M. A. (2002). Students' reasons for writing on multiple-choice examinations. Teaching of Psychology, 29(2), 138-140.  

 

Journal Article with no DOI, and a not from a database - include the URL 

Crandall, B. R. (2019). Who we are together: Emphasizing community in the work we do. Voices from the Middle, 27(2), 9-

     14. https://secure.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/VM/0272-dec2019/VM0272Dec19Who.pdf

 

Journal Article with no DOI, from a database - do not include the URL

Castro, G. M. (2002). From Workbook to Web: Building an Information Literacy Oasis. Computers in Libraries, 22(1), 30.

 

Newspaper Article - Online

Wilson, J. (2021, January 2).  Five myths about nutrition. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five- myths/five

     -myths-about-nutrition/2020/12/30/a76d691a-49e5-11eb-839a-  cf4ba7b7c48c_story.html

 

Newspaper Article - Print

Wilson, J. (2021, January 2).  Five myths about nutrition. The Washington Post, C1.

A note about DOIs and URLs

Include the DOI (digital object identifier) in a citation if it is known. If there is no DOI, include the URL. However, If the resource is from a library database like EBSCO's Academic Search Complete or SIRS Issues Researcher, and it does not have a DOI, do not include the URL. 

Book with one author

Grandin, T. (2009). Animals make us human: Creating the best life for animals. Houghton Mifflin.

Note: The first word of the Subtitle should be capitalized; thereafter, use lower case for the rest of the title.


Book with two or more authors

Blackwell, A. M. & Naber, T. (2006). Open forum 2: Academic listening and speaking.  Oxford University Press.


Book with an editor(s)

Holland, S., Lebacqz, K. & Zoloth, L. (Eds.). (2001). The Human embryonic stem cell debate: Science, ethics, and public policy.  MIT Press.


Article or Chapter in an Edited Book
 

Jensen, L & Okada, S.H. (2019). Fall Prevention. In H.L. Lohman, S. Byers-Connon & R.L. Padilla (Eds.), Occupational Therapy with

     Elders (pp. 197-204).  Elsevier. 


eBook

Trevor Yorke. (2018). How To Date Furniture : An Easy Reference Guide. Countryside Books. https://research.ebsco.com/link

8-K Form from EDGAR (Works for 10-K, 10-Q)

Nike, Inc. (2020, December 18). Form 8-K. EDGAR.  https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?CIK=320187&owner=exclude


Company Website

NIKE, Inc. (2021). NIKE Incorporated: 2020 annual report. https://s1.q4cdn.com/806093406/files/doc_financials/2020/ar/NKE-FY20-Proxy.pdf


Report from Business Source Premier

Marketline. (2020, July 31). Company Profile: Nike, Inchttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=dmhco&AN=8E563969-FC1C-

     4D3A-8EEE-F9D79F81F0C3&site=ehost-live


Yahoo! Finance

NIKE, Inc. (2021, February 9). Income Statement.  https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/NKE/financials?p=NKE

Data Set

If the author is unknown, provide the name of the organization followed by the date. In brackets, provide a brief explanation of the data and in what form it appears. Finally, provide retrieval information.

Author, A. A. and Author B. B. (year). Title of  Data Set. [Brief explanation of data and form]. Publisher. http://URL.com

Research Organization. (year). Title of Data Set [Brief explanation of data and form]. Publisher. http://URL.com


Archival Source with a Group Author

Archival sources are often primary sources with limited availabilty. Provide as much detail as possible to help the reader locate the work. If a work does not have a title, provide a brief description of the document in square brackets. 

Subcommittee on Mental Hygiene Personnel in School Programs. (1949, November 5–6). Meeting of Subcommittee on Mental Hygiene Personnel

     in School Programs. David Shakow Papers (M1360), Archives of the History of American Psychology, University of Akron, Akron, OH, United

     States.

Recorder of Deeds. (1887). [Deed William H. Wilson to Edward B. Fox] (Deed No. DEED030600301). Public Access System.

Montgomery County, PA, United States.


Lecture Notes/Presentation   

Smyth, T. (2019). Creative Writing with Poetry [PowerPoint slides]. Canvas at Harcum

College. https://harcum.instructure.com/?login_success=1

Note:  If the slides come from a learning management system like Canvas, provide the name of the site and its URL  (Use the login page for sites requiring login). 


Personal Communication

Personal communication are works that cannot be recovered by readers. Do not include personal communications in the list of references. Cite these sources in the text as personal communications. Include the interviewee's first initial, surname and the date of communication. A personal communication can include email, phone conversation, direct message, unrecorded lecture or online chat. 

(F. Surname, personal communication, September 15, 2024)

Maps

If a map does not have a title, provide a description of the map in square brackets and include the retrieval date. 

Kiser, E., & Potts, C. A. (1896). Atlas of Lower Merion, Montgomery Co: Including part of Delaware Co. and Overbrook Farms, Wynnefield &

     Overbrook Impr. Co., Philadelphia 1896 [Map]. A.H. Mueller & Co. 

Google. (n.d.). [Google Maps directions for driving from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to New York City, New York] [Map]. Retrieved February 16,

     2021, from https://goo.gl/maps/cQT7BnSqem3rMo146


Podcast

Vidale, T. (Host). (2022, May 23). Data Integration Program Manager - Matt Bileski [Audio podcast episode]. Working for Justice. https://working-

     for-justice.captivate.fm/


X post (formerly Twitter post)

APA Databases [@APA_Databases]. (2020, September 2). We have curated a collection of journal articles from APA PsycArticles on #COVID19.

     View: https://bit.ly/2QrWj76 for recent coverage [Image attached] [Post]. X. https://x.com/APA_Databases/status/1301175576703664128


YouTube Videos

 Stanford Graduate School of Business. (2014, December 4). Think fast, talk smart: Communication techniques [Video] . 

      YouTube. https://youtube/HAnw168huqA

Use this format if there is no other publication category that fits or there is no parent publication (e.g., blog or journal). Look for the author in the "about" section of a website. Often the date of publication is posted at the bottom of a page. Use the most recent and specific date possible. Omit the site name if the author name and site name are the same. 

Webpage on a news website

Rogers, K. (2020, February 6). Bumblebees are going extinct because of the climate crisis, but there are easy ways

     to help. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/06/us/bumble-bee-climate-change-extinction-study-scn/index.html


Webpage on a website with an individual author

Miller, C. (2019). Preschoolers and ADHD.  Child Mind Institute.  https://childmind.org/article/preschoolers-and-adhd/


Webpage with a group author

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, January 21). Strategies to Mitigate Healthcare Personnel Staffing

     Shortages. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/mitigating-staff-shortages.html


Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) - confirm with your course instructor if using ChatGPT or any AI tools is permitted.

OpenAi. (2023, March22). [ChatGPT's response to a prompt about the ethics of using generative AI in homework

     assignments]. https://sharechatgpt.com/share/8ceff295698fd9e78cebf7a92c79e231

APA In-Text Citation Examples

In-text citations can be provided in two ways: in parenthesis or named in the narrative. Parenthetical citations include the author and year in parentheses. Parenthetical citations come at the end of a sentence before the punctuation. For narrative citations, include the author's name as part of the sentence. Include the year in parenthesis after the author's name. 

Parenthetical citation example: (Breland, 2022)

Narrative citation example: Breland (2022)

To cite a specific part of a source or to use a direct quote, provide the author and year plus, the page number. 

Example: (McNab, 2022, p.10)

If you list the name of the author, the parenthetical citation need only contain the page number, because the year of publication follows the author’s name.

Example: Thomas Friedman (2020) wrote, "No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's" (p. 195).

If the author is not named, include his/her last name in the parenthetical citation with the year of publication and page number.

Example: No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's" (Friedman,  2020, p. 195).

If the article has no author listed, refer to the first portion of the title as in this example for an article called "A Critique of 'Lexus and Olive' View of Globalization.” 

Example: Friedman, in his book The Lexus and the Olive Tree, has mentioned that globalization is inevitable and irreversible, the forward march of technology makes it so. Governments can no longer control the free flow of information. The cell phone and satellite television have reached even the remotest Indonesian village" ("A Critique," 2021, p. A4).

If a work has two authors, link their names with an ampersand ( & ) or use the names in a signal phrase.

Examples: The network form is on the rise in a big way, and because of this, societies are entering a new epoch. (Arquilla & Ronfelt, 2024).

Arquilla and Ronfelt (2024) report that “the network form is on the rise in a big way, and because of this, societies are entering a new epoch.

A work with three or more authors, can now be shortened to the first author and et al.

Examples:

"Globalization is an inevitable process. The world is becoming more homogenous, and distinctions between national markets are not only fading but, for some products, will disappear altogether"(Czinkota et al. 2015, p. 3).

According to Czinkota et al. (2015), "Globalization is an inevitable process. The world is becoming more homogenous, and distinctions between national markets are not only fading but, for some products, will disappear altogether" (p. 3).

Differentiate between works by the same author published in the same year with the lowercase letters a, b, c, etc., corresponding to the order of the items in the References list.

Example: In his groundbreaking book, Friedman (2024b) challenged all our assumptions about not only the past, but the future as well.

If your bibliography includes two authors with the same last name, Milton Friedman and Thomas Friedman, for example, include the author's first initial in the parenthetical citation or the signal phrase.

Examples: No two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's" (T. Friedman, 2024, p. 195).

T. Friedman (2024) asserts that "no two countries that both had McDonald's had fought a war against each other since each got its McDonald's" (p. 195).

If no page numbers are available for a document, APA requires the use of section headings or numbered paragraphs if available to help your reader find the section. If page numbers, section headings, or numbered paragraphs are not available, omit that portion of the citation.

Remember to look for a PDF of the article which will contain page numbers. Also, when paraphrasing unpaginated material, if you include the author's name in the signal phrase there will be no ending citation which can be confusing for your reader. Be sure to clarify where the material ends. In these examples, Brand is the author of the website.

Examples: Friedman realized early that to write intelligently about world economics he needed to make himself an expert in six tightly integrated domains that are usually reported separately: "financial markets, politics, culture, national security, technology, and the environment" (Brand, 2024, Introduction section).

"Friedman realized early that to write intelligently about world economics he needed to make himself an expert in six tightly integrated domains that are usually reported separately: financial markets, politics, culture, national security, technology, and the environment" (Brand, 2024, para. 7).

List both works in the parenthetical citation exactly as they would be listed individually, but separate them with a semicolon. List the sources in the same order they will appear in the Works Cited list (alphabetical by first entry).

Example: Pundits agree that globalization will impact the future of all businesses as national borders are breached, trade barriers are broken down, and both eventually disappear (Friedman, 2020, p. 42; Ronkainen et. al., 2024, p. 1).

If you use an indirect quotation (information found in a source that was quoting another source, also known as a secondary source) use the following method of in-text citation with the phrase as cited in to denote the fact that you are using a secondary source. This statement, from Glenn Prickett, is quoted on page 30 of Friedman's book. Only Friedman is listed in the References list, not Prickett.

Example: An environmental group's president, Glenn Prickett, made the following observation about arriving by plane in a remote Amazon village: "Touching down on the grass landing strip we were met by the entire village in traditional dress -- and undress -- and painted faces, with a smattering of American baseball caps bearing random logos" (as cited in Friedman, 2024, p. 30).

Interviews, email, telephone calls, etc., are not included in a References list, and all relevant information (name of individual, personal communication, and the date) is contained within the in-text citation.

Example: "Thomas Friedman's new book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, describes the convergence of technology and events by listing ten items that have reshaped the world" (D. Biniaz, personal communication, November 15, 2024).

The emphasis on publication dates in APA citations is not accidental. Disciplines that use this style tend to put great emphasis on the currency of research. It is recommended that student researchers not use sources that do not have dates of publication. However, if you are forced to do so, use the abbreviation n.d. (no date). Often these sources are web sites and do not have page numbers either.

Examples: "That no alternative is apparent to Friedman and his intellectual sources should not be taken to mean that there are none worthy of discussion" (Rupert, n.d.).

Rupert (n.d.) wrote, "that no alternative is apparent to Friedman and his intellectual sources should not be taken to mean that there are none worthy of discussion."

If the author of the work is an organization, a government agency, or a corporation, list the name of the author in either the signal tag or the parenthetical citation. Since the name of the author cannot be shortened like a title can be, if the name is lengthy (United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example), place the name in the signal phrase instead of the parenthetical citation.

Examples: According to United States Army (2024), "globalization, the Lexus, is the central organizing principle of the post-Cold War world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding on to what has traditionally mattered to them - the olive tree" (p. 4).

"Globalization, the Lexus, is the central organizing principle of the post–Cold War world, even though many individuals and nations resist by holding on to what has traditionally mattered to them—the olive tree" (United States Army, 2024, p. 4).

APA Publication Manual

Footer Example