Learn the APA citation style directly from the authors. The APA Style website provides guidance, formatting, and examples of how to cite within the APA style.
Purdue Online Writing Lab: APA Style Guide
Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides writing resources and instructional materials for writing projects. The APA Style Guide includes an introduction to the style, citation formatting for various sources, formatting for in-text citations and reference lists, and more.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association: The Official Guide to APA Style
When using APA format, follow the author-date method for in-text citations. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.
Page numbers must included if you are pulling a direct quote and page numbers are provided. For example, you might write (Jones, 1998, p. 199) or (Jones, 1998, p. 199-201).
| A Work by One Author | (Wright, 2018) | Wright (2018) finds in his research... |
| A Work by Two Authors | (Billings & Jones, 2004) | Research by Billings and Jones (2004) supports... |
| A Work by Three or More Authors | (Miller et al., 2023) | Miller et al. (1993) suggests... |
| Unknown Author |
Use the title as identifier ("Using Citations", 2001) |
The article "Using Citations" (2001) provides evidence... |
| Organization as an Author | (American Psychological Association, 2000) | According to the American Psychological Association (2000)... |
| Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses |
List alphabetically (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983) |
Berndt (2002) and Harlow (1983) both show... |
| Citing Indirect Sources | (Johnson, 1985, as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102) | Jonson argued that... (as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102) |
| Unknown Author and Unknown Date |
Use n.d. for "no date" ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.) |
Another study shows... ("Tutoring and APA," n.d.). |