Biology & Health Sciences: Citation - APA

MODEL NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES
APA Publication Manual, 7^th ed.

General Rules

• How to format your References List
• How to create In-Text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Contributors other than Authors
• Tables
• Special cases

Reference List Format Examples

• Articles
  • Academic Journals
    • Print
    • Website or Database
  • Magazines
    • Print
    • Website or Database
  • Newspapers
    • Print
    • Website or Database
  • Encyclopedia Articles
    • Print
    • Website or Database
  • Book and Film Reviews
    • Website or Database
• Books
  • Print Books
    • Basic book
    • Edited book
    • Chapter or article in an anthology
  • eBooks
• Websites
  • Entire website
  • Page within a website
  • Blog post
• Images
  • Library Database
  • Website
  • Image reproduced in a printed source
• Data sets
  • Published data sets
• Videos
  • DVD
  • Streaming video
     
• Podcasts
• Interviews and Other Personal Communication
• Theses and Dissertations
• Class Handouts
• Class Digital Presentations

 

Taking Notes for your Research Paper

• How to Get Organized and Take Good Notes

 

To format your References list:

• Center the word References in bold at the top.
• Use 12 point font.
• Use 1” margins.
• Double space all entries (without an extra space between entries).
• Indent the second and all subsequent lines for each entry.
• Alphabetize entries by last name (or title, if there is no author).
• All entries, except those with a link or DOI, end with a period.
• Only include sources you have cited in the paper.
• When citing an article accessed online, use a stable URL whenever possible.  You may also use a DOI, but for items retrieved from Dalton's catalog or databases the stable URL is preferred.  The format for either a URL or DOI is: http: or https:.
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or dash in the title, and proper nouns.  Do not capitalize the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

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For in-text citations:

 

What You Are Citing	In-Text Citation
The entire work	(Smith, 2004)
A specific page	(Smith, 2004, p. 39)
If the author’s name is included in the text of the sentence where the citation takes place	Smith (2004, p. 39) claims that… Use only the date or date and page.
An online article with no page numbers	(Myers, 2000, para. 5) (Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1) Use abbreviation “para.” Followed by the paragraph number. When possible, specify a section of the article.
Citing multiple authors	See Authors below.

 

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Multiple Authors:

 

# of authors	Reference List Citation	In-Text Citation
1	Courtois, C. A. (2004).	(Courtois, 2004, p.24)
2	Kelley, P. C., & Chang, P. L. (2007).	(Kelley & Chang, 2007, p.19)
3 - 20	Hughes, J. C., Brestan, E. V., & Valle, L. A. (2004).	(Hughes et al., 2004, p.43) When a work has 3 or more authors, in-text citations consist of the first author’s name followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”), the date, and page number. The exception to this is when more than one source has the same lead author, in which case list as many authors as needed to differentiate the source.
21 or more	Miller, T.C., Brown, M.J., Wilson, G.L., Evans, B.B., Kelly, R.S., Turner, S.T., Lewis, F., Lee, L.H., Cox, G., Harris, H.L., Martin, P., Gonzalez, W.L., Hughes, W., Carter, D., Campbell, C., Baker, A.B., Fores, T., Gray, W.E., Green, G., ... Nelson, T.P. (2018). When a work has more than 20 authors, the format for the References list is: include the first 19 authors' names, then insert three ellipsis points, and add the last author's name.	(Miller et al., 2004, p.44)
Group author	American Dietetic Association. (1999).	First citation: (American Dietetic Association [ADA], 1999) Subsequent citations: (ADA, 1999)
No authors listed	None to claim their bones: Relics of an old Brooklyn graveyard. (1888, April 12). New York Times, pp. 3-4. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/	(“None,” 1888, p.3) When citing a work with an unknown author, cite the first word of the title only. Articles and chapters should be in quotation marks, books and report titles should be italicized.

 

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Contributors other than Authors:

Contributors' names appear in the author position of your citations.  Their role (in parentheses) follows their name. 
For example: Hitchcock, A. (Director).

Media Type	Include as author
Film	Director
TV Series	Executive Producer(s)
Podcast episode	Host of episode
Webinar	Instructor
Online streaming video (YouTube, etc.)	Person or group who uploaded video
Photograph	Photographer

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Tables:

• Tables must be labeled with a number and title above the table, and include the source below.  Ex:

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Special Cases:

• When citing a source without an individual author, you may use a corporate author.  When there is no author at all, begin your citation with the item's title.
• For online sources, you may use either a URL or DOI.  In both cases, they must be presented as hyperlinks (http://).
• When citing an online source that is not static (like a published article) and may change (like a webpage), include an access date and the word Retrieved.  Example: Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.cdc.gov
• When citing a source without a date, use (n.d.).
• In-text citations are placed within the sentence, before the punctuation.
• When citing more than one source in-text, place both sources within the same parentheses and separate them with a semi-colon.

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Academic Journals:

Print

Last name, Initials, Last name, Initials, & Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Article title. Journal Title, Volume #(issue #), page range.

Hughes, J. C., Brestan, E. V., & Valle, L. A. (2004). Problem-solving interactions between mothers and children. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 26(1), 1-16.

Website or Database

Last name, Initials, & Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Article title. Journal Title, Volume #(issue #), page range. URL 

Reitzes, D. C., & Mutran, E. J. (2004). The transition to retirement: Stages and factors that influence retirement adjustment. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 59(1), 63-84. http://www.baywood.com/journals/PreviewJournals.asp?Id=0091-4150

Note: For articles with an article number or eLocator, include that after the issue.  Ex:

Burn, D., Kilteni, K., Rabuffetti, M., Slater, M., & Pia, L. (2019). Body ownership increases the interference between observed and executed movements. PLOS ONE, 14(1), Article e0209899. https://doil.or/10.1371/journal.pone.0209899

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Magazines:

Print

Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Article title. Magazine Title, Volume #(issue #), page range.

Borowitz, A. (2004, November 15). Pavlov's brother. New Yorker, 80(35), 63-66.

Website or Database

Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Article title. Magazine Title, Volume #(issue #), page range. URL

Springen, K. (2005, January 17). Artful aging. Newsweek, 145(3), 25-27. http://www.newsweek.com/

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Newspapers:

Print

Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Article title. Newspaper Title, pp. page numbers.

Brown, P. L. (1999, September 5). Tiffany glass and other tales from the crypt. The New York Times, pp. 1, 5.

Website or Database

Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Article title. Newspaper Title​. URL

Foreman, J. (2003, August 12). Allston gothic. The Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/

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Encyclopedia Articles:

Print

Last name, Initials. (entry date). Entry title. In Editor's Name (Ed.), Title of encyclopedia (edition).

Smith, A. J. (2001). Child development. In B. Strickland (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of psychology (11th ed.).

Website or Library Database

Last name, Initials. (entry date). Entry title. In Editor's Name (Ed.), Title of encyclopedia (edition). Publisher. URL.

Smith, A. J. (2001). Child development. In B. Strickland (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of psychology (11th ed.). Gale Cengage. http://www.gale.cengage.com/

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Book and Film Reviews:

Website or Database

Reviewer's Last name, Initials. (Publication date). Title of review [Review of the book Book title, by Author's Initial Author's last name]. Title of Journal or Newspaper, pp. page number(s)​. URL

Grimes, W. (2006, December 13). Beyond Mandalay, the road to isolation and xenophobia [Review of the book The river of lost footsteps: Histories of Burma, by T. Myint-U]. New York Times, pp. E8, E10. http://www.nytimes.com/

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Books:

Print Books

Basic book:

Author's Last name, Initial. (Publication date). Book title. Publisher.

Jans, N. (1993). The last light breaking: Life among Alaska's Inupiat Eskimos. Alaska Northwest Books.

Edited book:

Author's Last name, Initial (Ed.). (Publication date). Book title​. Publisher.

Miller, J., & Smith, T. (Eds.). (1996). Cape Cod stories: Tales from Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard. Chronicle Books.

Book Chapter or article in an anthology:

Author's Last name, Initial. (Publication date). Chapter title. In Editor's Initials Editor's Last name (Ed.), Book title​ (pp. page range of chapter). Publisher.

Eliot, T. S. (2001). Tradition and the individual talent. In V. B. Leitch (Ed.), The Norton anthology of theory and criticism (pp. 1092-1097). W. W. Norton. (Original work published 1920).

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EBOOKS

Author's Last name, Initial. (Publication date). Book title​. Publisher. URL

Miller, L. (2008). Careers for nature lovers & other outdoor types. McGraw-Hill. http://www.ebscohost.com

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Websites:

Entire website

If you are citing a webpage that may change over time, it is recommended that you include an access date (See examples below for placement.)

If you refer to an entire Web site, you do not need to include an entry for it in your reference list, but must identify the source clearly in the text of your paper. For example:

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project homepage presents a wealth of compelling, well-researched information on the struggle to save the world's sea turtles from extinction (http://www.seaturtles.org).

Specific page within a website

• When citing an online source that is not static (like a published article) and may change (like a webpage), include an access date and the word Retrieved.  Example: Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.cdc.gov
• When there is no individual author on a webpage, use the corporate author.  If the corporate author is the same as the name of the website, there is no need to repeat it.

With identified author:

Author's Last name, Initial. (Publication or last modified date). Title of webpage. Retrieved (Date only when there is no publication date), from URL

Nafees, Q., Yilong, Y., Andras, N., Zhiming, L., & Janos, S. (2014, November 19). Anonymously analyzing clinical data sets. http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.05916

(With no publication date):

Nafees, Q., Yilong, Y., Andras, N., Zhiming, L., & Janos, S. Anonymously analyzing clinical data sets. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.05916

Corporate author:

Name of corporate author. (Publication or last modified date). Title of webpage. URL

Sea Turtle Restoration Project. (2006). Threats to sea turtles. http://www.seaturtleinc.org/rehabilitation/threats-to-sea-turtles/

Blog post

Author's Last name, Initial. (Post date). Title of post. Title of Webpage. URL

Rabstenek, S.B. (2018, November 2). Kickoff kit: Tools to help teams work better together. The New York Times. https://open.nytimes.com/kickoff-kit-tools-to-help-teams-work-better-together-3ca6a06b4fc2

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Images:

Use this format for artwork, and online images, and photographs.
NOTE: Images should have a descriptive caption, followed by an in-text citation.

Library Database

Creator's Last name, Initial. (Date or work). Title [Type of image]. Retrieved from Database Name database.

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Retrieved from Oxford Art Online database.

Website

Creator's Last name, Initial. (Date or work). Title [Type of image]. Retireved date, from URL

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Retrieved April 10, 2018, from http://www.uwm.edu/~wash/rousseau.jpg

Image reproduced in a printed source

Creator's Last name, Initial. (Date or work). Title [Type of image]. Book title. By Author's Initial Last name. Publisher, page number. 

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris. By C. Fresches et al. National Gallery of Art. 232.

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Data sets:

For published datasets:

Author(s). (Date). Title [Data set]. URL.

Pew Research Center. (2018). American trends panel Wave 26 [Data set]. https://www,pewsocialtrends.org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-26/

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Videos:

DVD

Director's Last name, Initial. (Director). (Release date). Film title [format]. Production Company.

Hitchcock, A. (Director). (1954). Dial M for murder [Motion picture]. Warner Brothers Pictures.

Streaming video

Director or Creator's Last name, Initial. (Release date). Film title [format]. Source. URL

Heffernan, M. (2015, May). Margaret Heffernan: Why it's time to forget the pecking order at work [video file]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_heffernan_why_it_s_time_to_forget_the_pecking_order_at_work

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Podcasts:

List the host of the podcast as the author, or executive producers.

Host's Last name, Initial. (Host). (Date). Title (Episode number, if known) [Type of podcast]. In Title of podcast series. Producer/source. URL

Glass, I. (Host). (2011, August 12). Amusement park (No. 443) [Audio podcast episode]. In This American life. WBEZ Chicago. https://thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/443/amusement-park

Interviews and other personal communication:

APA does not require that you cite personal communications (interviews you've conducted, e-mail messages, etc.) in your reference list. Instead, give an in-text citation only using the following model.

Joe Smith (personal communication, November 18, 2006) informed me that the server had crashed several hours ago.

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Theses and Dissertations

Author's Last name, Initials. (Date). Title of thesis or dissertation [Doctoral dissertation or master's thesis, degree granting institution]. Database or repository. URL

Hutcheson, V.H. (2012). Dealing with dual differences: Social coping strategies of gifted and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer adolescents [Master's thesis, The College of William & Mary]. William & Mary Digital Archive. https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/bitstream/handle/10288/16594/HutchesonVirginia2012.pdf

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Class Handouts:

Instructor's last name, Initial(s). (Year handout was given to you). Title of handout: Subtitle, if any. [Class handout]. City, State: School.

Fineberg, T. (2019). Source evaluation worksheet. [Class handout]. New York, NY: The Dalton School.

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Class Digital Presentations:

Instructor's last name, Initial(s). (Year created or presented). Title of presentation: Subtitle, if any. [PowerPoint slides]. URL

Fineberg, T. (2019). Science research: Fall 2019. [PowerPoint slides].  https://dalton.myschoolapp.com/ftpimages/98/download/download_2992689.pdf

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--Revised Summer, 2020

You can organize your resources and format citations with NoodleTools. Remember to always check the format with the Citation Guide for accuracy!  

You may easily access your Dalton NoodleTools account from your Dalton GDrive.