WRIT 101: College Writing I: APA Citations: 7th Edition

If your source has two authors, include the last names of both authors. 

If you use a signal phrase, use "and" between the authors' names:

If your entire citation is in parenthesis (also called a "parenthetical citation"), use "&" between the authors' names.

For a work with 3 or more authors, include the first author's last name, followed by "et al." This is Latin for "and others."

For a source that is written by an organization with a standard abbreviation, spell out the organization the first time you cite it, including the abbreviation in parenthesis.

If you cite the source again, you can just use the abbreviation. 

If the organization does not have an abbreviation, spell out the organization name every time you cite it.

If you cannot identify a person or organization as the author of a work, use the title of the work in your in-text citation. Long titles can be shortened. All titles should be in title case, which means all major words are capitalized.

Titles of books should be italicized:

Put titles of articles, book chapters, web pages, or other short works in quotation marks:

If you cannot find any publication  date, use "n.d." 

When citing web pages, you should not use the copyright date on a website if you cannot find a publication or update date for the specific page.

Any time you use a specific part of a work, such as a direct quotation, you should include the page number or some other reference to the specific part, such as a section heading, paragraph number, or timestamp (for audio or videos). You can also include a page number/specific location if you are paraphrasing a small portion of a long document.

Page number:

If your quote spans multiple pages, use "pp."

You can use the full section heading if it's short:

Or, if the section heading is long, you can shorten it. Put the shortened heading in quotation marks:

You can also use:

• Paragraph number (count the paragraphs if they are not numbered): para. 3
• Chapter number: Chapter 7
• Slide number: Slide 5
• Timestamp: 3:45 (three minutes and forty-five seconds into the recording)

The first part of every reference should be the author(s). 

If the author is a person, list their last name, followed by their first and middle (if known) initials.

One Author 

List the last name, followed by their first, and, if known, middle initials. 

Johnsgard, P. A. 

Two to Twenty Authors

List all authors, with "&" before the last author.

Twenty or More Authors

List the first 19 authors, an elipsis (...) and the last author. 

Organization as Author

Write the full name of the organization.

No Author

Begin the reference with the title of the work. Shorter works (such as articles and web pages) are written in regular print, sentence-style capitalization. Longer works (such as books) are written in in italics with sentence-style capitalization.

The second part of any reference is the publication date, which is always written inside parentheses, followed by a period.

You should follow the date formats in the examples given on each tab, but here are some general guidelines.

In general, provide the year of publication, update, or copyright:

If a more specific date can be identified, provide it. Spell out the full names of months and seasons.

If you cannot find a date for the source, use "n.d." Do not use the copyright date of a website if that is the only date you can find for a specific page on the site.

Find the majority of the information you need to cite a book on the cover and on the backside of the title page, also called the verso. You can use the title page, but the information on the verso is more specific and accurate.

Find most of the information about a journal, magazine, or newspaper article on the database record (web page with full text and/or links to download the PDF) or on the article itself.

• The article title is in sentence-style capitalization. The periodical title (name of the journal, magazine, or newspaper) is in title-style capitalization and italicized.
• Some periodicals do not have volume or issue numbers; just leave them out. 
• If the article does not have a DOI and you found it in a library database, the last part of your reference will be the page numbers. If there are no page numbers, it may end with the volume and issue number.
• If there is no DOI and you found the article on the open internet (not a library database), put the URL (web address) for the article at the end of your reference.

Article with DOI

Article without DOI, from Library Database

Article without DOI, from Internet

Find the information you need to create a reference for a web page at the top or bottom of the page. 

• You are usually citing one specific webpage, which is part of a larger website. 
• If there is no author named, use the organization as the author. This is usually, but not always, the same as the name of the website, so you would skip over the name of the website in the reference. This is shown in the example below.
• If you cannot find a date for the web page, you should not use the website copyright date. Instead, use (n.d.).

Header

The page number goes in the top right corner of the page. 

• Microsoft Word: Go to Insert > Page numbers
• Google Docs: Go to Insert > Page numbers
• Pages: Move your mouse to the top right corner of the page to show the sections of the header, then click and select Insert Page Numbers.

Title

The title is centered and in the upper half of the page, about three or four lines from the top. 

Type the following, each on a separate, double-spaced line:

• Title (bold, extra double-spaced blank line after)
• Author Name
• Helena College University of Montana
• Course name and number (WRIT 101-O)
• Instructor name
• Due Date

The body of your paper begins on a new page after the title page and the optional abstract page.

• Put the title at the top of the first page, centered, in bold.
• Begin your paper on the next line. 
• Indent paragraphs 1/2" (usually one Tab key). 
• Use one space after each sentence. 
• No extra spaces after a paragraph.

The References begin on a new page after the end of the paper. 

• The word References is centered and bold at the top of the list. 
• References are in alphabetical order by author's last name, organization name, or, if there is no author, document title. 
• The list is double-spaced, with no extra spaces. 
• Each reference has a hanging indent, which means that the first line aligns with the left margin, but any line after is indented 1/2"
  • In Microsoft Word, click the arrow in the bottom right corner of the Paragraph settings menu, then choose Special > Hanging and set it to 1/2".
  • In Google Docs and Pages, use the ruler above the top of the document (In Pages, you may need to go to View > Show ruler). Click and drag the bottom tab to the 1/2" mark and leave the top tab at the 0" mark.  

Hanging Indent in Word:

Hanging Indent in Google Docs (similar to Pages):