The American Psychological Association (APA) citation style, named APA Style, is the most commonly used format for manuscripts in the social sciences. APA Style is used to correctly format manuscript text, in-text citations, and references and is currently in its seventh edition.
You can access the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (2020) in the Jim Dan Hill Library:
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. by "How to Cite in APA Style" by the Jim Dan Hill Library is licensed by a CC BY 4.0 license.
APA Style uses the Author-Date Citation System. The following are common examples you may use while writing in APA Style. Please refer to section 8.10 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for more information and further examples.
| Author Type | Parenthetical Citation | Narrative Citation |
|---|---|---|
| One author | (Luna, 2020) |
Luna (2020) |
| Two authors | (Salas & D'Agostino, 2020) |
Salas and D'Agostino (2020) |
| Three or more authors | (Martin et al., 2020) | Martin et al. (2020) |
|
Group author with abbreviation: First citation Subsequent citations |
(National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2020) (NIMH, 2020) |
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2020) NIMH (2020) |
| Group author without abbreviation | (Stanford University, 2020) | Stanford University (2020) |
American Psychological Association. (2020). Table 8.1: Basic In-Text Citation Styles. In Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., pp. 266). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
The following are common examples you may use while writing in APA Style. Please refer to section 8.10 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for more information and further examples.
Author, A.A. (Year). Title (# edition). Publisher. DOI or Stable URL.
Brown, L.S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-00
Author, A.A., Author, B.B., Author, C.C., & Author, D.D. (Year). Chapter title. In E.E. Editor (Ed.), Book title (# edition, page range). Publisher Name. DOI or Stable URL.
Balsam, K.F., Martell, C.R., Jones, K.P., & Safren, S.A. (2019). Affirmative cognitive behavior therapy with sexual and gender minority people. In G.Y. Iwamasa & P.A. Hays (Eds.), Culturally responsive cognitive behavior therapy: Practice and supervision (2nd ed., pp. 287-314). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000119-012
Author, A.A., & Author, B.B. (Year). Journal article title. Journal Name, volume(issue), page range. DOI or Stable URL.
McCauley, S.M., & Christiansen, M.H. (2019). Language learning as a language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological Review, 126(1), 1-51. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000126
Author, A.A. (Year, Month day). Article title. Newspaper Title. DOI or Stable URL.
Guarino, B. (2017, December 4). How will humanity react to alien life? Psychologists have some predications. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/12/04/how-will-humanity-react-to-alien-life-psychologists-have-some-predictions/
Author, A.A. (Year, Month day). Article title. Magazine Title, volume(issue), page range. DOI or Stable URL.
Bergeson, A. (2019, January 4). Really cool neutral plasmas. Science, 363(6422), 33-34. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau7988
Creator, A.A. or Channel Name. (Year, Month day). Video title. [Video]. Platform Name. URL.
University of Oxford. (2018, December 6). How do geckos walk on water? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1xGfOZJc8
Website Owner. (Year published, Month day). Webpage title. URL.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018, January 23). People at high risk of developing flu-related complications. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/high-risk.htm