American Psychological Association (APA) style is commonly used for citing references in social sciences, business, and some life sciences. Following citation style rules protects you from unintentionally plagiarizing works of others. This guide gives information on how to cite properly and helps you maintain academic integrity by using sources in an ethical manner.
APA Citation Examples.
Here is an overview of how to cite the most common types of sources.
|
Material Type |
In-text Citation |
References |
|
A book |
(Parks, 2022) |
Parks, D. (2022). Microbiomes: Health and the environment. Mavs Open Press. |
|
Chapter in an edited book (If the chapter is from an authored book, use the book citation as above) |
(Gheshlaghi & Daliri, 2020) |
Gheshlaghi, P., & Daliri, M. (2020). The Human presence in the Persian Gulf. In C. Caouette (Ed.), The Persian Gulf: Oceanography and wildlife (pp. 1-50). Nova. |
|
An article in an electronic journal |
(Golde, 2019) |
Golde, T.E. (2019). Harnessing Immunoproteostasis to Treat Neurodegenerative Disorders. Neuron, 101(6), 1003–1015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2019.02.027 |
|
A website |
(Swaminathan, 2008) |
Swaminathan, N. (2008, April 29). Why does the brain need so much power? Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-the-brain-need-s/ |
For more complex APA style questions, please consult
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by
An official website of the American Psychology Association provides links to essential information on citations, paper format and bias-free language.
Formatting tips with extensive examples and sample papers.
The APA website provides tips on adapting the basic structure of a reference to a published work that has missing information, along with the corresponding in-text citations.
Examples and citation information for common source types.
Citation tools can help quickly generate and manage your citations. Remember to double-check citations for accuracy. Some popular tools to try