4 In-Text Citations and Reference List
Any information that you take from other sources must be acknowledged within the body of your paper (in-text citations) and at the end of the paper (in the reference list). It is important that all material cited within the text appear in the reference list, and vice versa. There are a few exceptions to this, such as personal communications or classical works that have standardized sections across editions (8.4).
In-Text Citations (8.10-8.23)
Citations within the text are brief and include the author’s name and the year of publication e.g. (Spurr, 2020). Write only the year even if the reference citation include month and/or day. This provides enough information for the reader to locate the full citation in the reference list at the end of the paper.
Note: always include a page number or page range after the year when using a direct quote from a source e.g. (Spurr, 2020, A1). Although it is not required to include a page number when paraphrasing, you may include one if it might help interested readers find the information within a long work such as a book (8.23).
If the item does not have a date, use “n.d.” in place of the date. If the item has been accepted for publication but not yet published, use “in press” (8.10).
When several references have the same author(s) and year, include a lower case letter after the year e.g. (Spurr, 2020a) and (Spurr, 2020b). See the “Formatting the Reference List” section below for more information.
In-text citations have two formats: parenthetical and narrative. In parenthetical citations, the author and year (and page information, if required) are written within parentheses. In narrative citations, the author’s name is written as part of the sentence and the year is written in parenthesis.
For parenthetical citations, the author and the date appear in parenthesis separated by a comma, located either within or at the end of the sentence. If at the end of the sentence, put the period or other punctuation outside of the closing bracket.
Beginning on July 2nd, the Toronto Transit Commission will require riders to wear masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19 (Spurr, 2020).
For narrative citations, the author’s name would appear as part of the text with the date appearing right after in brackets.
As noted by Spurr (2020), the Toronto Transit Commission will require riders to wear masks to reduce the spread of COVID-19 beginning on July 2nd.
Either parenthetical or narrative citations or a combination can be used in your paper depending on your preference.
Reference List (9.43-9.49)
Four Elements of a Reference (9.4)
A reference entry usually has four parts: author, date, title and source, each answering a question:
- Author: who is responsible for this work?
- The author may be one or more people or an organization
- Abbreviate the author’s first name to initials
- Date: when was the work published?
- Title: what is this work called?
- Source: where can I find this work?
Keeping those four components in mind and answering those four questions will help you to create a reference even if there is not an example listed that matches it perfectly. This handout only includes the most common types of resources.
DOIs and URLs (9.33-9.37)
As part of the source element of an article or website citation, you may include a DOI or URL. A DOI, or digital object identifier, is an alphanumeric designation assigned by the publisher. It is unique to a particular item providing a permanent or persistent link to its location on the internet. It usually appears at the top or the bottom of the first page of an article and starts with “DOI:” or “http://doi”.
Guidelines for including DOIs and URLs in a reference citation:
- Include a DOI for all works that have a DOI, regardless of whether you used the online or print version
- If an online work has both a DOI and URL, include only the DOI as it is a persistent link
- If an online work has a URL but no DOI, include the URL in the reference as follows:
- Include a URL for an item from a website (but not from a library database)
- For items from a library database, and so are widely available, do NOT include a URL or database information – the reference should follow the same format as for a print version of the work
- For items from a database with limited circulation (such as ERIC) or original, proprietary material only found in that database, include the name of the database and the URL of the work (9.30) – if the URL requires a login and will not work at another time, provide the URL of the database login page
- Write a DOI or URL as a hyperlink, starting with “http://” or “https://”, as either an active link (underlined, in blue) or plain text
- Copy and paste the DOI or URL into your document, do not change any capitalization or punctuation and do not manually add line breaks (if your word processing program automatically adds them, it is fine)
- Do not add a period at the end of a DOI or URL as that may change the link functionality
Formatting the References List (9.43-9.49)
The reference list should start on a new page after the text of your paper and be titled References in bold, centred at the top of the page (see the sample reference list at the end of this document). All reference entries should be double-spaced and use a hanging indent. Note: the reference citations used as examples throughout this document are NOT double-spaced due to space limitations. (2.12 and 9.43)
Alphabetize the reference entries using the following criteria:
- By last name of the author; use the first author listed on the book or article, if more than one
- If the author is a government agency or corporation, alphabetize by that name
- If there is no author, alphabetize using the title of the work
- If two authors have the same last name, alphabetize by the first initial e.g. Smith, A. would appear before Smith, G.
- If using multiple works by the same author(s), place in order of publication date e.g. an article by Smith, A. that was written in 2015 would appear before another article written by Smith, A. in 2019.
- If there are several works by the same first author but different subsequent authors, alphabetize in order by the surname of the second (or subsequent) author’s name
- Smith, A., & Jones, T. (2019).
- Smith, A., & Wiebe, J. (2017).
- If there are several works with exactly the same author(s) and year, then add a lowercase letter after the year: “2019a” and “2019b”, etc.
- Order by date first: references with just a year would go first, then those with a month or day would be listed next
Smith, A., & Jones, R. (2019a)
Smith, A., & Jones, R. (2019b, April 7)
Smith, A., & Jones, R. (2019c, October 15)
- If the dates are identical (e.g. all 2019 with no month or day), then alphabetize by the title of the article, disregarding the words A, An and The at the start of the title
For additional information and examples, please consult the complete text of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition, 2020 (if you don’t have a personal copy, the Library has several for loan or in-house use). The APA Style Blog, http://apastyle.apa.org/blog, also has additional content.
Examples of Print and Electronic Materials
In addition to reference citations, in-text citation examples are included below. Both parenthetical and narrative styles are provided for some examples; in others, only parenthetical examples are given to reduce the length of this document. In-text citations usually contain author and year, although this may vary depending on the type of resource used.
Mix and match examples as needed; for example if using a book with 21 authors combine the general book example with the article example showing 21 authors.
Book – general format (10.2)
Author or Editor. (Date). Title of book. Source.
The source is the book’s publisher. Print books and ebooks from a library database are cited in the same manner; for ebooks not from a library database include a DOI or URL. For ebooks, do not include the format, platform or device name (e.g. Kindle) in the reference. (10.2 and example 2)
Book – no author (8.14, 9.12, 10.2 example 35)
Title of book. (Date). Publisher Name.
In-text citation: (Title of book, year)or include the title of the book as part of the text with the year in parenthesis listed after
Book – print or ebook that has no DOI or is from a library database, one author (10.2 example 21)
Pecorari, D. (2013). Teaching to avoid plagiarism: How to promote good source use.
McGraw-Hill Education.
In-text citation: (Pecorari, 2013)
As Pecorari (2013) stated…
Book – print or ebook that has no DOI or is from a library database, two authors
(8.17, 9.8 and 10.2 examples 21 & 22)
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. (2011). Contemporary nursing : Issues, trends, &
management (5th ed.). Elsevier Mosby.
In-text citation: (Cherry & Jacob, 2011)
Cherry and Jacob (2011) found that…
Book – print or ebook that has no DOI or is from a library database, three to twenty authors
(9.8, 10.2 example 20)
The White entry, and the Cherry & Jacob example above, are also examples of items that are other than first editions. Include edition, volume number or report number information in parenthesis after the title (not in italics).
White, R., Eisler, L., & Haines, F. (2013). Crime & criminology : An introduction (2nd
Canadian ed.). Oxford University Press.
Up to twenty authors can be listed in the reference citation using the format of the White example above. Use a comma and an ampersand (&) between the last two authors’ names. (8.17 and 9.8) For items with more than twenty authors, see the example in the journal article section.
In-text citation: (White et al., 2013)
For in-text citations with three or more authors, only include the name of the first author plus ‘et al.’.
Electronic book with a DOI or a non-database URL (9.34-9.35, 10.2 example 20)
Chwieduk, D. (2014). Solar energy in buildings: Thermal balance for efficient heating
and cooling. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2012-0-07007-X
In-text: (Chwieduk, 2014)
Ebooks that are NOT from a library database and that have a URL or DOI are cited in the same general format as other print and ebooks but the DOI or URL information is included after the publisher. If including a URL instead of a DOI, that information written in the same location as the DOI example above, in the following format: https://xxxx. Note that there is no period at the end of the DOI or URL. See the section on DOIs and URLs for more information.
Edited book – print or ebook that has no DOI or is from a library database (10.2 example 25)
Craven, R., Hirnle, C., & Henshaw, C. (Eds.). (2017). Fundamentals of nursing : Human
health and function (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
In-text: (Craven et al., 2017)
Follow the rules as for one or multiple authors but add (Ed.) or (Eds.) before the year.
Chapter in an edited book – print or ebook that has no DOI or is from a library database (10.3)
Author of chapter. (Year). Title of the chapter. In Editor (Ed.), Title of the book (chapter
page numbers). Publisher.
Clutter, P. (2016). Unique roles of the emergency nurse. In J. Solheim (Ed.),
Emergency nursing: The profession, the pathway, and the practice (pp. 41-58). Sigma Theta Tau International.
In-text: (Clutter, 2016)
Follow the usual conventions around number of authors and editors.
Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia Entries (10.3, examples 47-49)
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Stroop effect. In APA Dictionary of
Psychology. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/stroop-effect
In-text: (American Psychological Association, n.d.)
In the example above, “Stroop effect”’ is the title of the entry. The work has a group author and is from a continuously updated online reference work that does not archive older versions. As there is no date available, indicate this using n.d. in place of a date and include the date that you retrieved the information as well as a URL (9.16, 9.17).
Song, S. (2017). Multiculturalism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Spring 2017 ed.). Stanford University.
https://plato.standord.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/multiculuralism/
In-text: (Song, 2017)
In the Song example, “Multiculturalism” is the title of the entry. As the work has an individual author, it is cited in a similar format to a book chapter in an edited book with a publisher. Since this is an archived version of the work, a retrieval date is not required.
Wikipedia: Academic use. (2020, June 24). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Academic_use&oldid=964308898
In-text: (“Wikipedia: Academic use,” 2020)
Note: Wikipedia is NOT generally considered an academic source – check with your instructor to make sure that using Wikipedia is permitted. Cite the date of the archived version of the entry so that readers can see the same version that you used. To see the archived Wikipedia version, click on ‘View History’ and then the time and date of the version you used. If the wiki does not provide permanent archival links, include the URL for the entry and the retrieval date. (10.3 example 49)
Government Documents (10.4, examples 50 and 51)
Colley, R. C., Bushnik, T., & Langlois, K. (2020). Exercise and screen time during the
COVID-19 pandemic (No. 82-003-X). Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/82-003-x/2020006/article/00001-eng.pdf?st=-oRjD8_N
In-text: (Colley et al., 2020)
Canadian Council for the Arts. (2019). Artists in Canada’s provinces and territories in
2016. https://canadacouncil.ca/research/research-library/2019/11/artists-in-canadas-provinces-and-territories-in-2016
In-text: (Canadian Council for the Arts, 2019)
As determined by the Canadian Council for the Arts (2019) report…
The Colley entry is an example of an online government document with an individual author. As this is a numbered report, include that information after the title in non-italics text. The second example has a group author (9.11). Print documents would be cited using a combination of this author format and the general book formats.
If the report is authored by an association always spell out the full name for the reference entry. If the association is well known by an acronym (for example, the American Psychological Association is often shortened to ‘APA’), you may choose to use the acronym in your paper after the first in-text citation (8.21).
The first in-text citation lets the reader know about the acronym:
(American Psychological Association [APA], 2017)or
The American Psychological Association (APA, 2017) found that…
After the first in-text citation, you may just use the acronym APA.
Periodicals (Journals, Newspapers, Magazines) – General format (10.1)
Author. (Date). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume(issue if available), page
numbers. DOI or URL if using
Note that the title of the periodical as well as the volume number are in italics. There is no space between the volume and issue information.
In the reference citation, up to 20 authors are listed in full; if there are more than 20 authors, see the example of a journal article with multiple authors listed below. For the in-text citation, if there are only 1-2 authors, list both names. If there are 3 or more, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” as in the Olivia-Dumitrina example below (8.17).
Journal article with a DOI (10.1 example 1)
Olivia-Dumitrina, N., Casanovas, M., & Capdevila, Y. (2019). Academic writing and the
internet: Cyber-plagiarism amongst university students. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 8(2), 112–125. https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.2019.7.407
In-text: (Olivia-Dumitrina et al., 2019)
As Olivia-Dumitrina et al. (2019) found…
Journal article without a DOI, with a URL and that isn’t from a library database (10.1 example 2)
Follow the general format or the Olivia-Dumitrina examples. Replace the DOI information in the Olivia-Dumitrina example with the URL, writing it as https://www…
Journal, magazine or newspaper article without a DOI, from most academic library databases or print version (10.1, example 3)
Romerhausen, N. J. (2013). Strategies to enhance student success: A discourse analysis of
academic advice in international student handbooks. Journal of International
Students, 3(2), 129-139.
In-text: (Romerhausen, 2013)
Journal article with multiple authors (10.1 example 4)
For articles with 1-20 authors, include all of the authors’ names in the reference citation as in the Olivia-Dumitrina example above. For articles with 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ name, insert an ellipsis ( . . . ) and add the final author’s name as below:
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. (2012). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, volume(issue), page. DOI or URL if applicable
For the in-text citation, if there are only 1-2 authors, list both names. If there are 3 or more, include the name of only the first author plus “et al.” as in the Olivia-Dumitrina example above (8.17).
Journal article, advance online publication or in press (10.1 examples 7, 8)
Author. (Date). Title of article. Title of Periodical. Advance online publication. DOI or
URL if using
Author. (in press). Title of article. Title of Periodical.
In-text: (Author, Date)
(Author, in press)
Article from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (10.1 example 13)
Mehrholz, J., Pohl, M., Platz, T., Kugler, J., & Elsner, B. (2018). Electromechanical and
robot-assisted arm training for improving activities of daily living, arm function
and arm muscle strength after stroke. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
https://doi.org/10.1002/1465158.CD00687.pub5
In-text: (Mehrholz et al., 2018)
Magazine article (10.1 example 15)
Smith, M. (2020, June). The exceptional province. Maclean’s, 133(5), 34-37.
In-text: (Smith, 2020)
Citations for magazine articles follow the same general formats as used for journals. If additional date information is available, then include it as part of the reference citation: (2020, June 7). If a DOI is available, include it after the page numbers. If the article is in print or from a library database and has no DOI, then use the format shown above. If the article has just a URL and is not from a library database, give the URL after the page numbers.
Newspaper article (10.1 example 16)
Spurr, B. (2020, July 2). Masks mandatory on Toronto transit starting today. Toronto
Star, A1.
In-text: (Spurr, 2020)
Citations for newspaper articles follow the same general formats as used for journals. If a DOI is available, include it after the page numbers. If the article is in print or from a library database and has no DOI, then use the format shown above.
If the article is from the newspaper’s website, page information will not be available. Include the URL for the story after the newspaper’s name (e.g. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/…)
If no author is listed, move the title of the work to the author position (9.12). Place quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation.
Title of the article. (Date). Newspaper Title, A1.
In-text: (“Title of the article,” Date)
Conference Proceedings, Sessions and Presentations (10.5)
Cite full conference proceedings following the journal article, book or book chapter formats.
Conference session general format:
Presenter, A., & Presenter, B. (Date). Title of contribution [Type of contribution].
Conference Name, Location. DOI or URL
French, P., & Dincer, C. (2019, October 5-7). Using music therapy with school-aged
children [Conference session]. National Educator’s Conference, London, Ontario.
https://www.uwo.ca/educatorsconference
Conference paper presentations or poster presentations follow the same general format as a conference session. Replace [Conference session] with [Paper presentation] or [Poster presentation].
Personal Interviews and Personal Communication (8.9)
Personal interviews and communications are considered ‘non-recoverable’ in that your reader cannot access them. As there is no source element for your reader to follow, these items are not cited in the reference list but are only cited in-text. This personal communication category includes non-published in-person interviews, emails, text messages, online chats or direct messages, phone calls, live speeches, unrecorded class lectures, memos, letters, unarchived discussion groups, etc.
Include the initial(s) and surname of the communicator and the exact date of the communication in the in-text citation:
(J. Phillips, personal communication, February 4, 2020)
J. Phillips (personal communication, February 4, 2020) noted that…
Indigenous Traditional Knowledge or Oral Traditions (8.9)
The format for citing traditional knowledge or oral traditions of Indigenous Peoples varies depending on the situation. If the information has been recorded and is recoverable by your reader follow the format for the relevant example such as recorded interview found in a newspaper article, a YouTube video, etc.
If the information is not recorded (and is not recoverable by your reader), provide as much detail in the in-text citation as necessary to describe the content and origin of the information. As there is no recoverable source, there is no citation in the reference list.
If you spoke with an Indigenous person directly (but they are not considered a research participant), cite the information in-text in a similar manner to personal communication. Provide the person’s full name and the nation or specific Indigenous group to which they belong, as well as their location or other relevant details, followed by the words “personal communication,” and the date of the communication. Be sure that the person agrees to have their name used in your paper and confirms the accuracy of the information.
Laurie Brant (Mohawk Nation, lives in Belleville, Ontario, personal communication, March 22, 2019) described…
If using the oral history of a research participant, follow the guidelines laid out in the Publication Manual in section 8.36.
If you are an Indigenous person and are sharing your own experiences or previously unrecorded knowledge or traditions of your people, describe yourself in the text (what nation you belong to and where you live). Do not use a personal communication citation or a reference entry as you do not need to cite personal information.
Data Sets (10.9)
Author. (Date). Title of data set (Version number) [Data set]. Publisher name. DOI or
URL
Author. (Date). Title of data set [Unpublished raw data]. Source of Unpublished Data.
DOI or URL
Johnson, T. (2018). Effects of stress on work-from-home parents [Data set]. American
Psychological Association. https://doi.org/xxx
In-text: (Author, Date)
Note: the Johnson example used above is not real and was created for demonstration purposes only.
For unpublished data sets, indicate the year(s) of collection for the date area e.g. (2015-2017). Provide a description in square brackets in the title area. If the source information for unpublished data is known, include that information at the end of the reference.
Include a version number in parenthesis after the title if applicable. If the publisher name is the same as the group author, omit that information from the publisher location.
Legal Cases and Legislation (chapter 11)
Existing legal references are usually already written following a formal legal style and would need little change when added into an APA style paper. In Canada, the legal citation style most frequently used is the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation, commonly referred as the McGill Guide or McGill style.
As the American Psychological Association (APA) is a United States based entity, examples in the Publication Manual follow the American Bluebook citation style.
For complete information on citing Canadian legal sources, see the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (the McGill Guide). The full text can be found in the Library and a short guide can be found on the Library website. A few general examples are provided below for case law and legislation.
Information for a court case includes the title or name of the case (the parties involved, also known as the style of cause), the main citation (usually a neutral citation if available) and one or more parallel citations if available. The APA Publication Manual recommends including a URL for the case if it is from an easily accessible source and would help your reader.
The following is an example of a case heard by the Supreme Court of Canada and found through the free legal website, CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute). The in-text entry includes the year of the case, following the usual name, year convention.
Title or name of the case, main citation, parallel citation if available. URL if using
R v Lacasse, 2015 SCC 64, [2015] 3 SCR 1089. http://canlii.ca/t/gml9v
In-text: (R v Lacasse, 2015)
As found in R v Lacasse (2015), it is crucial that…
Legislation includes statutes or acts, regulations, bills, etc. For statutes or acts, provide the title of the statute or act, the citation for the source, chapter, etc. Again, following APA conventions, add a URL for the legislation if found through a freely accessible website.
Canada Health Act, RSC 1985, c C-6. http://canlii.ca/t/532qv
Cannabis Control Act, 2017, SO 2017, c 26, Sch 1. http://canlii.ca/t/5448n
In-text: As outlined by the Health Protection and Promotion Act, a board of health…
As outlined by the Cannabis Control Act, 2017, no person…
A year was not included as part of the in-text citation as there will likely have been many amendments or versions since the original act was written. The CanLII URL is a direct link to the version that you used. Note that 2017 is part of the actual title for the Cannabis Control Act, 2017.
Websites (10.16)
Cite resources using the website format if they do not fit another category (e.g. journal article or government document). If you cite multiple webpages from a website, create a separate reference for each. If just mentioning a website in general without using any specific information from it, do not create a reference or in-text citation. In that case, include the name of the website in the text and provide the URL in parenthesis (8.22):
The study was created using SurveyMonkey (https://surveymonkey.com).
General format:
Author, A. (Date). Title of the work. Website Name. https://xxxx
In-text: (Author, Year)
Howard, J. (2020, July 13). Covid-19 immunity from antibodies may last only months,
UK study suggests. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/health/covid-immunity-antibody-response-uk-study-wellness/index.html
In-text: (Howard, 2020)
If the author is a group author (no individual name) and the author and site name are the same, as in the World Health Organization example below, write the name in the author spot and do not repeat it later in the citation.
World Health Organization. (2019, October 23). Adolescent mental health.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health
If no date is available, write n.d. in the date location.
Include a retrieval date if citing a webpage that is designed to change and is not archived (such as a dictionary entry, a Facebook page, etc.) or reflects information that changes over time such as a Google Map. Include the date that you retrieved the information to let your reader know that the page may have changed by the time they look at it (9.16 and 10.16 example 114). Add the retrieval information to the URL:
Retrieved June 6, 2020, from https://xxxxx
Visual Works – Clip art or images, infographics, photographs, maps (10.14)
Author or Creator. (Year). Title [Resource type]. Source. URL if applicable
In-text citation: (Author or Creator, year)
List the resource type in square brackets after the title of the work e.g. clip art, stock image, infographic, map, photograph, etc.
Use the example above to cite the image (picture, map, infographic, etc.) only. If reproducing (copying) the image, you may also need copyright permission. No citation, permission or copyright attribution is necessary for clip art from programs like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint (10.14 example 98 and 12.15).
For resources that do not have a title, like a photograph or dynamic map (e.g. Google Maps), describe the item in square brackets in place of a title. In that case, the title and resource type sections would be combined e.g. [Photograph of butterfly on rose].
Audiovisual Works – Film, Television, Webinar, YouTube (10.12)
For film, video or TV, write the director’s name in the name/author field. If there is no director, use the producer or writer. If using an online source, include the URL at the end of the reference citation.
Film or video (10.12 example 84):
Name of Director or Producer (Position Title). (Year). Title of work [Format]. Production
Company.
Forman, M. (Director). (1975). One flew over the cuckoo’s nest [Film]. United Artists.
In-text: (Forman, 1975)
Entire TV series or episode (similar to citing a book chapter – 10.12 example 86 and 87):
Name of Director or Producer (Position Title). (Date range of the series). Title of the TV
series [TV series]. Production Company.
Name of Director or Producer (Position Title). (Date of episode). Title of the episode
(Season #, Episode #) [TV series episode]. In A. Producer (Executive Producer),
Title of TV series. Production Company.
In-text: (Name of Director or Producer, Year)
YouTube video or other streaming video (10.12 example 90):
Author, A. (Year, Month Date). Title of the video [Video]. YouTube. URL
In-text: (Author, Year)
The person or group that uploaded the video is credited as the author even if they did not create the video.
Songs and Podcasts (10.13 examples 92 and 93)
Artist. (Year). Song title [Song]. On Album title. Producer.
If the song has no associated album, leave that part of the citation out. Include a URL if that location is the only way to access the song.
Vedantam, S. (Host). (2015-present). Hidden brain [Audio podcast]. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden_brain
In-text: (Vedantam, 2015-present)
List the podcast host as the author; specify the type of podcast (audio or video) in square brackets. If the URL is unknown, just omit that section.
Social Media – Twitter, Facebook (10.15)
Social media posts may be text only, text with a photo or video or just audiovisuals. For audiovisuals, include the description of the media type after the title or in place of the title if there is no title given.
Do not change any non-standard spelling or capitalization used in the original content. Keep any hashtags, links and emojis. If unable to recreate an emoji, list the name in square brackets e.g. [face with tears of joy emoji]. For the title, use the content of a post up to the first 20 words. If there is no date, indicate this using (n.d.) as in two of the examples below.
Twitter general format – use the same format for Instagram and TikTok:
Author, A. A. [@username]. (2019, October 14). Content of the post up to the first 20
words [Tweet]. Site Name. URL
Name of Group [@username]. (n.d.). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Image
attached] [Tweet]. Site Name. URL
APA Education [@APAEducation]. (2018, June 29). College students are forming
mental-health clubs – and they’re making a difference @washingtonpost
[Thumbnail with link attached] [Tweet]. Twitter.
https//twitter.com/adaeducation/status/1012810490530140161
In-text: (Author, year)
Facebook post or page:
Author. (Date). Content of the post up to the first 20 words [Status update]. Facebook.
URL
Author. (Date). Home [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved June 20, 2019, from URL
If the page is undated, use n.d. in the date location. A “Retrieved” date is included when the content is not archived and is subject to change.
Blog post (10.1, example 17)
Author. (Date of post). Title of post. Blog Title. URL of blog post
In-text: (Author, year of post)
Lecture Notes or PowerPoint Slides (10.14 example 102)
Check with your instructor for permission to use notes or slides. If permitted to use, follow the general formats below.
Professor. (Date). [Lecture notes on XXX]. Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario
Tech University. URL if available
Messier, J. (2019, November 6). [Lecture notes on anatomy]. School of Health Science &
Community Services, Durham College.
Professor. (Date). Title of session. [PowerPoint slides]. Name of learning management
system. URL if available
In-text: (Professor, year)
If the PowerPoint slides are from a learning management system like Canvas or DC Connect, and your reader will have access to the resource, include the name of the site and the URL of the login page.
Works Discussed in a Secondary Source (or quoting a quote) (8.6)
In academic research, an author often refers to another author’s work. For example, you are reading an article by Greenberg et al. (2018) which refers to an earlier study by Abbott (2001). If you are able to find and read Abbott’s work yourself, then you would cite Abbott in your reference list. If not, then your in-text citation would mention the primary source (Abbott) “as cited in” the secondary source that you actually read (Greenberg et al.). Only Greenberg et al. would appear in your reference list in that case. If the year of the primary source is unknown, omit it from the citation.
(Abbott, 2001, as cited in Greenberg et al., 2018)
Miller’s letter (as cited in Diwali, 2016)…
For the examples above, entries for Greenberg et al. and Diwali would be included in the reference list.
Sample Reference List
‘References’ at top of reference list is in bold and centered as shown below (2.12 and 9.43). All entries are double-spaced and use a hanging indent for second and subsequent lines.
References
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Stroop effect. In APA Dictionary of
Psychology. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://dictionary.apa.org/stroop-effect
Canadian Council for the Arts. (2019). Artists in Canada’s provinces and territories in
2016. https://canadacouncil.ca/research/research-library/2019/11/artists-in-canadas-provinces-and-territories-in-2016
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. (2011). Contemporary nursing : Issues, trends, & management
(5th ed.). Elsevier Mosby.
Chwieduk, D. (2014). Solar energy in buildings: Thermal balance for efficient heating and
cooling. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2012-0-07007-X
Clutter, P. (2016). Unique roles of the emergency nurse. In J. Solheim (Ed.) Emergency nursing:
The profession, the pathway, and the practice (pp. 41-58). Sigma Theta Tau
International.
Craven, R., Hirnle, C., & Henshaw, C. (Eds.). (2017). Fundamentals of nursing : Human
health and function (8th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Howard, J. (2020, July 13). Covid-19 immunity from antibodies may last only months, UK study
suggests. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/health/covid-immunity-antibody-response-uk-study-wellness/index.html
Olivia-Dumitrina, N., Casanovas, M., & Capdevila, Y. (2019). Academic writing and the
internet: Cyber-plagiarism amongst university students. Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 8(2), 112–125. https://doi.org/10.7821/naer.2019.7.407
Pecorari, D. (2013). Teaching to avoid plagiarism: How to promote good source use. McGraw-
Hill Education.
Romerhausen, N. J. (2013). Strategies to enhance student success: A discourse analysis of
academic advice in international student handbooks. Journal of International Students,
3(2), 129-139.
Smith, M. (2020, June). The exceptional province. Maclean’s, 133(5), 34-37.
Song, S. (2017). Multiculturalism. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy (Spring 2017 ed.). Stanford University.
https://plato.standord.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/multiculuralism/
Spurr, B. (2020, July 2). Masks mandatory on Toronto transit starting today. Toronto Star, A1.
White, R., Eisler, L., & Haines, F. (2013). Crime & criminology : an introduction (2nd
Canadian ed.). Oxford University Press.
World Health Organization. (2019, October 23). Adolescent mental health.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health