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APA – Citing Sources

Articles

Surname, A., Surname, B., & Surname, C. (year). Article title. Journal title, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

Further reading on how to write references for journal articles on APA Style: Journal Article References

Volume and Number

Different journals use different combinations of denoting volume and number. Some journals only have volumes, others have only numbers, while others use both volume and number. The volume is a part of the journal name and should therefore also be in italics, just as the journal name should be, whereas the issue is stated in regular, non-italic, form, within parentheses.

If volume or number is missing

Search the reference in Primo or any database to see if the information is there. If there is no volume or number, just skip that part of the reference.

Examples of references that lack certain information can be found on APA's website: Journal article with missing information.

Printed or Digital, DOI

Articles can be in both printed and digital forms. The difference is that you, in the latter case, add a link to the article. This is usually a so-called DOI (Digital Object Identifier), a unique and persistent URL that will take you to the article even if it is moved from one place to another on the journal's website.

Note! For articles without DOIs from most academic research databases, there is no need to include a URL. Only include the URL if the article is from a website. Read more about this on APA Style: When to include DOIs and URLs

Example of references for works without DOI from academic databases: 

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207–217.

If the article comes from a website, include a URL.

Example of references for works without DOI from webpages:

Green, B. (2018). A qualitative investigation of bullying of individuals with disabilities on a college campus. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 31(2), 135-147. https://www.ahead.org/professional-resources/publications/jped/archived-jped/jped-volume-31

Article with one author

Basic format:

Author, A. A. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

Reference example:

Houle, C. (2019). Social mobility and political instability. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 63(1), 85–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002717723434

In-text citation:​

  • (Houle, 2019)
  • As recent as 2019, Houle stated that . . .

How you refer to a source in running text depends on how many authors the source has. Under In-text citation, Basic Styles, you will find instructions on how to refer to your sources.

Article with two authors

Basic format:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

​Reference example:

Ebrahimzadeh, A., & Giski, Z. E. (2019). Tsallis entropy of partitions in quantum logics. International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 58(3), 672–686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10773-018-3966-1

In-text citation:

  • According to one study (Ebrahimzadeh & Giski, 2019) it seems clear that . . .
  • Ebrahimzadeh & Giski (2019) showed this in a . . .

How you refer to a source in running text depends on how many authors the source has. Under In-text citation, Basic Styles, you will find instructions on how to refer to your sources.

Article with three to twenty authors

  • Provide surnames and initials for all the authors up to and including 20 authors.
  • When there are two to 20 authors, use an ampersand (&) before the final author’s name.

Basic format:

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

​Reference example:

Norling, J. C., Sibthorp, J., Suchy, Y., Hannon, J. C., & Ruddell, E. (2010). The benefit of recreational physical activity to restore attentional fatigue: The effects of running intensity level on attention scores. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(1), 135–152. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2010.11950198

In-text citation:

For articles with three to twenty authors, the first author is followed by et al. unless it becomes unclear (that is when the citation becomes the same as another reference). In these cases, add as many names as necessary to make the citing unique. 

The first time the source is cited in the text:

  • Norling et al. (2010) discuss this phenomenon. . .
  • (Norling et al., 2010)

To avoid ambiguity:

Both Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al. (2017) and Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al. (2017) have reported on this.

How you refer to a source in running text depends on how many authors the source has. Under In-text citation, Basic Styles, you will find instructions on how to refer to your sources.

Article with 21 or more authors

Basic format:

  • When an article has 21 or more authors, you write the first 19 authors followed by ellipsis points, consisting of three spaced full stops (periods), and finally the last author:

Author, A., Author, B., Author, C., Author, D., Author, E., Author, F., Author, G., Author, H., Author, I., Author, J., Author, K., Author, L., Author, M., Author, N., Author, O., Author, P., Author, Q., Author, R., Author, S.,. . . Author, Z. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

Reference:

Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K. C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., . . . Joseph, D. (1996). The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 77(3), 437–472. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2

In-text citation:

For articles with three to twenty authors, the first author is followed by et al. unless it becomes unclear (that is when the citation becomes the same as another reference). In these cases, add as many names as necessary to make the citing unique. 

  • According to one study (Kalnay et al., 1996) the general conclusion . . . 
  • Kalnay et al. (2018) also state. . .

To avoid ambiguity: 

  • Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al. (2017) and Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al. (2017) reported on.

How you refer to a source in running text depends on how many authors the source has. Under In-text citation, Basic Styles, you will find instructions on how to refer to your sources.

Article with article number

Some journals online use article numbers instead of page numbering. This article number is found in the article or on the journal's webpage.  In the reference, provide the article number instead of the page range. 

Basic format:

Author, A. A., & Author, C. C. (year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(number), Article XXXXX. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

Reference example:

​Jerrentrup, A., Mueller, T., Glowalla, U., Herder, M., Henrichs, N., Neubauer, A., & Schaefer, J. R. (2018). Teaching medicine with the help of “Dr. House”. PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193972. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193972

In-text citation:​

or articles with three to twenty authors, the first author is followed by et al. unless it becomes unclear (that is when the citation becomes the same as another reference). In these cases, add as many names as necessary to make the citing unique. 

  • According to one study (Jerrentrup et al., 2018) it is clear that. . . 
  • Furthermore, Jerrentrup et al. (2018) mean that . . ..

To avoid ambiguity: 

  • This have Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al. (2017) and Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al. (2017) reported on.

How you refer to a source in running text depends on how many authors the source has. Under In-text citation, Basic Styles, you will find instructions on how to refer to your sources.

Article with no volume, issue or page numbers

Basic format:

Author, A., & Author, B. (year). Article title. Journal Title. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx

​Reference examples:

Advance online publication:

Dardas, L. A., Woodward, A., Scott, J., Xu, H., & Sawair, F. A. (2018). Measuring the social impact of nursing research: An insight into altmetrics. Journal of Advanced Nursing. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13921​

Manuscript in preparation:

O'Shea, M. (2018). Understanding proactive behavior in the workplace as a function of gender [Manuscript in preparation]. Department of Management, University of Kansas.
Enter the author/author's affiliation in a distinct way.

Unpublished manuscript:

Yoo, J., Miyamoto, Y., Rigotti, A., & Ryff, C. (2016). Linking positive effect to blood lipids: A cultural perspective [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Manuscript submitted for publication:

Lippincott, T., & Poindexter, E. K. (2019). Emotion recognition as a function of facial cues: Implications for practice [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department of Psychology, University of Washington. 

In press:

Pachur, T., & Scheibehenne, B. (in press). Unpacking buyer-seller differences in valuation from experience: A cognitive modeling approach. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

In-text citation:

For articles with three to twenty authors, the first author is followed by et al. unless it becomes unclear (that is when the citation becomes the same as another reference). In these cases, add as many names as necessary to make the citing unique. 

  • According to one study (Kalnay et al., 1996) the general conclusion . . . 
  • Jerrentrup et al. (2018) also states . . .

To avoid ambiguity:

  • Kapoor, Bloom, Montez, et al. (2017) and Kapoor, Bloom, Zucker, et al. (2017) reported on.

How you refer to a source in running text depends on how many authors the source has. Under In-text citation, Basic Styles, you will find instructions on how to refer to your sources.

Read more:

Some articles you find online might miss some information, such as volume, issue number, and page numbers. They have not yet acquired this information but are still published online before they are formally included in an issue. However, they have often been assigned a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) which is a unique and persistent URL that will take you to the article even if it is moved from one place to another on the journal's website. In the APA manual, this kind of article is called "Advance online publication", but different publishers use other labels for the same thing, such as Latest Articles, EarlyCite, Early View, OnlineFirst, In Press etc. 

Basically, you create a reference to this kind of article in the same way as for ordinary published articles, except that you leave out the information about volume, issue, and page numbers. Instead, you use the phrase "Advance online publication" before the DOI link. You write the year that the article was published online on the journal's website. 

Other articles might be manuscripts that have been sent to a journal, but are in different stages before publication, in which case you can use the phrase "Manuscript in preparation". Or they might have been published online as "Advance online publication". If the manuscript is ready, but not published or sent to a journal, use the phrase "Unpublished manuscript". If it has been sent to a journal, but not yet accepted, use the phrase "Manuscript submitted for publication". If the manuscript has been accepted, but not yet published online as "Advance online publication", use the phrase "in press" instead of the year.  

N.B.! You should always check if the article has been assigned volume, issue, and page numbers as close to publishing your own paper as possible. 

Newspaper article in printed form

Basic format:

Author, A. (year, month day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper, pages (use "p." for a single page and "pp." for multiple pages).

​Reference examples:

Article with author

Schwartz, J. (1993, September 30). Obesity affects economic, social status. The Washington Post, pp. A1, A4.

Commentary: If an article appears on discontinuous pages, give all page numbers, and separate the numbers with a comma (e.g. pp. B1, B3, B5-B7). If the newspaper consists of different sections, like A, B, C, etc., state those before the page numbers as well.

 

Article without author

Gör en insats för klimatet - ät ett vildsvin. (2019,  March 12). Jönköpings-Posten, p. 2.​​
Put the article title in the place of the author.

In-text citation:

  • Schwartz (1993) states that . . .

It is sufficient to enter the year in the citation in the in-text citations and exclude the date.

  • In an article ("Gör en insats", 2019) this is judged as being a . . .

When using articles without authors, the article title works as a substitute. In the citation, the title is within quotation marks ("). It is sufficient to use the beginning of the article title. 

Read more about how to write references to newspaper articles on APA style: Newspaper Article References

Online news article

Basic format:

Author, A. (year, month day). Title of article. Name of the newspaper. https://xxxx

​Reference examples:

Article with author specified:

Fountain, H. (2019, April 25). A respite from record losses, but tropical forests are still in trouble. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/climate/tropical-forest-deforestation.html

Article with no author specified:

A whistleblower in Xinjiang has been detained: Is China behind the arrest? (2019, March 11). Washington Post. ​https://www.washingtonpost.com
Commentary: Put the article title in the place of the author in the reference.
Also note that if the article title ends with punctuation marks, like a question mark or an exclamation mark, do not insert a full stop (period) after the punctuation mark.

In-text citation:

  • Fountain (2019) states that . . .

For articles with no author specified, the title of the article is used as the main entry, instead of an author name. Write the title within quotation marks. It is enough to write the beginning of the title if it is long:

  • In an editorial ("A whistleblower on Xinjiang", 2019) this is seen as . . .


Read more about this on APA Style Blog: When and How to Include Page Numbers in APA Style Citations