One format of citation that you may be asked to provide in assignments is APA style. This citation format is primarily used in the social sciences, including psychology, sociology, business, economics, and also in some of the health sciences fields like nursing. The most current edition of APA style is the 7th edition, which was published in 2019.
In any APA citation, only capitalize the first word of the item's title as well as the first word after a colon and any proper nouns. All other words should not be capitalized:
E.g. Psychopharmacology: A mental health professional's guide to commonly used medications.
If a book is accessed electronically through a library database, you cannot use the URL in the citation! It won't work because you need to authenticate to access the databases
In that case, just include the publisher's name
If an eBook has a designated DOI, then you can include it in the citation of either the full book or a chapter from the book
Citation Type |
Citation Template |
Citation Example |
|
Whole Book (Print) OR Whole Book (Electronic) without DOI from Database |
Author, A. A. (Copyright Year). Title of book. Publisher. |
Mwebe, H. (2021). Psychopharmacology: A mental health professional's guide to commonly used medications. (2nd ed). Critical Publishing. |
|
Whole Book (Electronic) with DOI |
Author, A. A. (Copyright Year). Title of book. (E. Editor, Ed. #). Publisher. DOI. |
Macdonald, P. (2022). Surveying the Anthropocene: Environment and photography now. Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781838382254. |
|
Chapter in an Edited Book (Print) OR Chapter in an Edited Book (Electronic) without DOI from Database |
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A.A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (Nth ed., pp. #-#). Publisher. |
Spice, A. (2022). Fighting invasive infrastructures: Indigenous relations against pipelines. In J. Dhillon (Ed.), Indigenous resurgence: Decolonialization and movements for environmental justice. Berghahn Books. |
|
Chapter in an Edited Book (Electronic) with DOI |
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Copyright Year). Title of the book chapter. In A.A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (Nth ed., pp. #-#). Publisher. DOI. |
Ramirez, P. E. M. (2020). Indigenous Latino heritage: Destruction, invisibility, appropriation, revival, survivance. In V. Apaydin (Ed.), Critical perspectives on cultural memory and heritage: Construction, transformation and destruction (pp. 155-168). UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13xpsfp.15. |
In any APA citation, only capitalize the first word of the article's title as well as the first word after a colon and any proper nouns. All other words should not be capitalized:
E.g. Enhancing brain functions in senior dogs: A new nutritional approach.
Journal title, however, should be fully capitalized except for articles such as the, of, and, etc.
Journal title and volume number should be italicized
DOI must be formatted as a website URL (http://www.doi.org/__________)
Citation Type |
Citation Template |
Citation Example |
|
Single Author |
Author, A. A. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, vol(issue), pp-pp. http://www.doi.org/xx.xxx.xx |
Pan, Y. (2011). Enhancing brain functions in senior dogs: A new nutritional approach. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, 26(1), 10-16. http://www.doi.org/10.1053/j.tcam.2011.01.002. |
|
Multiple Authors (less than 21) |
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, vol(issue), pp-pp. http://www.doi.org/xx.xxx.xx |
Shang, Y., Stayt, L., Sutherland, S., & Greenway, K. (2024). How clinicians make decisions for patient management plans in telehealth. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 80(9), 3516-3532. http://www.doi.org/10.1111/jan.16104. |
|
Multiple Authors (21+) |
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., repeat for authors 3-19...Author, Z.Z. (year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, vol(issue), pp-pp. http://www.doi.org/xx.xxx.xx |
Yamayoshi, S., Sakai-Tagawa, Y., Koga, M., Akasaka, O., Nakachi, I., Koh, H., Maeda, K., Adachi, E., Saito, M., Nagai, H., Ikeuchi, K., Ogura, T., Baba, R., Fujita, K., Fukui, T., Ito, F., Hattori, S., Yamamota, K., Nakamota, T. ... Kawaoka, Y. (2020). Comparison of rapid antigen tests for COVID-19. Viruses, 12(12), 1420. http://www.doi.org/10.3390/v12121420. |
In any APA citation, only capitalize the first word of the website title as well as the first word after a colon and any proper nouns. All other words should not be capitalized
Website title should be italicized
Include the date that the website was published or, if that isn't available, when it was last updated
Do not include the date the website was accessed!
Citation Type |
Citation Template |
Citation Example |
|
Website with Author |
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of website. Website Domain Name. http://xxxxx |
Reardon, S. (2024, October 2). Largest brain map ever reveals fruit fly's neurons in exquisite detail. Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03190-y. |
|
Website without Author |
Website Domain or Organization Name. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. http://xxxxx |
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, April 17). An introduction to ocean and coastal acidification. https://www.epa.gov/ocean-acidification/introduction-ocean-and-coastal-acidification. |
In any APA citation, only capitalize the first word of the item's title as well as the first word after a colon and any proper nouns. All other words should not be capitalized:
E.g. Psychopharmacology: A mental health professional's guide to commonly used medications.
Titles of works should be italicized (e.g. artwork, albums, films, or video titles)
Citation Type |
Citation Template |
Citation Example |
|
Film |
Director, B.B. (Director). (Year). Title of film [Film]. Studio. |
Miyazaki, H. (Director). (1990). Kiki's delivery service [Film]. Studio Ghibli. |
|
Online Video |
Uploader Username. (year, month day). Title of video [Video]. Platform. http://xxxxx |
Mythical Kitchen. (2024, May 21). Dollar Tree vs. Target cooking challenge [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmFxX0m1VJA. |
|
Artwork |
Artist name. (year). Title of artwork [Format]. Artwork location. Country of location. http://xxxxx |
van Gogh, V. (1889). The starry night [Painting]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY. United States. https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/ |
|
Song |
Artist name. (year). Title of song [Song]. On Album title. Record label. |
Boygenius. (2023). Cool about it [Song]. On The record. Interscope. |
Improper capitalization of article titles. Except for the first word, the first word following a colon, and proper nouns, all words in article titles should be lowercase.
Lack of italicization. The volume number of the journal should also be italicized.
Extraneous information is included (e.g. Cover Story or Publication City). Delete this information.
A DOI is not included. If no DOI is listed, use CrossRef free DOI lookup (Opens in New Window) to see if the article is assigned a DOI. If no DOI is assigned, list the publisher URL (Opens in New Window).
When in doubt, check with your course instructors about their preference for listing citations in your references page.
The Franco Library keeps the APA Manual of Style 7th edition at the library circulation desk. Students are welcome to use the manual during staffed library hours upon request. The manual is for in-library use only.
