"Mother" LibGuide

Microsoft Word offers the ability to create citations using the options under the "References" tab. There are online guides and tutorials that show how to use this option. Here are two to get you started:

Each of these services varies, but each offers a synced online and desktop service, features that help organize large numbers of citations, and stores versions of web pages and articles for later reference. They are much more robust than the web-based services listed above.

Use the left column to navigate this APA help guide, or download the PDF guide linked below.

Some additional links from APA.org

How to format your paper following APA style rules, from APA.org

Word document examples and templates

Learn about how to create APA style citations

Google Docs has a citation function within the Tools menu. The two videos below describe how to use this tool to track and cite sources within your Google Doc. Similar to the Microsoft Word References tool, it is not a standalone citation generator, but embedded within a Google document.

General rules that apply to any APA style citation

No date: use (n.d.)

Smith, W. H. (n.d.). 

No author: start with title, then date, then the rest of the citation as usual.

Relativity. (2010). 

General author rules:

• List author in this order: Last name, first initial. middle initial.
  • For example: Stonewall, T. H.
• List authors or editors in the same order as presented in the work.
• For 2 to 20 authors, list every author's name with a comma after each, and an ampersand (&) before the last name.
  • For example: Curtis, M. T., & Andrews, K. A.
• For more than 20 authors, list the first 19 authors' names, insert an ellipsis (...) then the final author's name.
  • For example: Wiskunde, B., Arslan, M., Fischer, P., Nowak, L., Van den Berg, O., Coetzee, L., Juárez, U., Riyaziyyat, E., Wang, C., Zhang, I., Li, P., Yang, R., Kumar, B., Xu, A., Martinez, R., McIntosh, V., Ibáñez, L. M., Mäkinen, G., Virtanen, E., . . . Kovács, A.

Publisher:

• Do not include publisher location.
• Include only publisher name, as shown in the work.
• Do not abbreviate unless shown that way in the work.
• Omit publisher if same as author.

Title capitalization rules

• For book, internet article, and magazine article titles and subtitles, capitalize only the first word, and any proper nouns. These titles are not italicized and do not use quotation marks.
• For titles of academic journals, capitalize all major words.

Title italics rules

• Use italics for titles of works that stand alone (for example: books, reports, webpages).
• Use italics for journal titles (for example: The Journal of Child Development). 

Date formatting

• Provide as much date detail as provided in the source. For example: (2019). (2019, August). (2019, August 27).
• Do not abbreviate the month.

DOI rules

• Do not put a period after the DOI.
• Some books also have a DOI. Find out if your book has one by checking the Crossref website.
• Shortened DOI may be used by checking the ShortDOI website. 

Website rules

• Do not put a period after the URL.
• Shortened URL may be used as long as you check it to make sure it goes to the correct location.
• A URL within a reference may be left all on one line, or may be left to break across two lines.
• Ask your instructor whether they want links to follow APA rules or link back to where you found the source (for example in a library database).

Fonts

• The APA has a number of rules about where and when certain fonts may be used. 
• Font options for APA style papers include: 
  • Calibri (11 pt)
  • Arial (11 pt)
  • Lucia Sans Unicode (10 pt)
  • Times New Roman (12 pt)
  • Georgia (11 pt)
  • Computer Modern (10 pt)

More style and grammar guidelines are on the APA website.

Book with a single author

Author (Year). Title of the book: Subtitle of the book. Publisher.

Lampe, G. P. (2014). Douglass spoke out: Freedom's voice. American Press.

Book with two to twenty authors

• List authors or editors in the same order as presented in the work.

Author 1, Author 2, & Author 3 (Year). Title of the book: Subtitle of the book. Publisher.

Curtis, M. T., & Andrews, K. A. (2019). A changing Australia: The social, cultural and economic trends. Federation Press.

Book with more than twenty authors

• Include the first 19 authors' name, insert an ellipsis (...) but no ampersand (&), and then give the final author's name. For example: 

Jones, T.,...Botos, G. (2019).

Book with a group author (or corporate author)

• If the publisher is the same as the author, omit the publisher. 
• Include the URL if the publication is accessed online.

American Association of Cereal Chemists. (2014). Sweeteners. 

Book with an edition number given

• Edition information is given after the title

Lerner, G. B. (2019). The Grimke sister from South Carolina (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Book with a DOI

Author (Year). Title of the book: Subtitle of the book. Publisher. DOI

Reiman, M. (2016). About Russia, its revolutions, its development and its present. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-06473-5

General rules

• The editor(s), edition, volume, and page numbers, when given, are included with the book title. 
  • For example: In P. A. Kobasa (Ed.), World book (2009 ed., Vol. 20, p. 309). 
• If more than one editor is given, list the editor names then use "Eds." 
  • For example: In D. Black & Q Brown (Eds.), The new encyclopaedia Brittanica (10th ed., Vol. 23, p. 766).

Encyclopedia article, with an author listed

Author (Year). Article title. In Editor Name (Ed.), Title of book (edition, Volume, page number). Publisher.

Wilmeth, D. B. (2009). Ventriloquism. In P. A. Kobasa (Ed.), World book (2009 ed., Vol. 20, p. 309). World Book.

Parsons, N. (2019, October 29). Botswana. In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved December 13, 2019, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Botswana

Encyclopedia article, no author listed

Article title. (Year). In Editor Name (Ed.), Title of book (edition, Volume, page number). Publisher.

Relativity. (2010). In D. Black & Q. Brown (Eds.), The new encyclopaedia Britannica (10th ed., Vol. 23, p. 766). Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Edited book or anthology

Editor name(s) (Year). Title of book: Subtitle of book. Publisher.

Smith, J. D. & Jolly, I. M. (Eds.). (2020). Maternities and modernities: Colonial and postcolonial experiences in Asia and the Pacific. Cambridge University Press.

Hock, R. R. (Ed.) (2013). Forty studies that changed psychology: Explorations into the history of psychological research (7th ed.) Pearson.

Chapter in an anthology or compilation: with author given

Chapter Author (Chapter Date or Book Date). Title of chapter. In Editor Name (Ed.), Title of the book (edition, page numbers). Publisher. DOI if given

Waxman, N. J. (2006). Recipes. In A. F. Smith (Ed.), The Oxford companion to American food and drink (pp. 494-495). Oxford University Press.

Separately-titled volume of a multi-volume work

Islamic state of Afghanistan. (2006). In G. P. Skabelund (Ed.), Culturegrams: The nations around us: Vol. 2. Africa, Asia, and Oceania (pp. 104). Brigham Young University.

Common title reference: DSM-5-TR

American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787

General rules

• Magazine title is in italics. All important words are capitalized.

• Volume number is in italics. Issue number is not.

Magazine

Author (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine Title, volume number(issue number), page numbers.

Brown, J. (2019, August 30). America's deadliest disaster. Time, 62(3), 58-59.

Online Magazine Article (from website. For online article from a library database, do not include the URL.)

Author (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine or Website Title, volume number(issue number). URL

Jones, B. (2011, May 1). Integrating technology. Instruction, 40(2). http://www.instr.org/instruction

General rules

• Use the DOI (digital object identifier) if it is available.
• Do not use URL for a journal article found in a library database.
• Do use the URL for a journal article found on an open website.
• Shortened DOI may be used by checking the ShortDOI website. 
• Do not put a period after the DOI.

Journal Article with DOI

Author(s) (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number, Page numbers. DOI

Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2020). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. https://doi.org/10/1038/546696a

Journal Paginated by Issue, and no DOI. Print.

• Use if page numbers start over at 1 for each issue

Author(s) (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Journal, Volume number,(issue number), page numbers.

Hofstadter, L. M., & Cooper, S. J., Jr. (2019). Encouraging female participation in STEM classes. Journal of Education, 184(10), 16-20.

Journal Article Online, no DOI.

• Include URL at the end. APA style no longer requires the "Retrieved from" phrase.

Matheny, S. C., & Kingery, J. E. (2012). Hepatitis A. American Family Physician, 86(11), 1027–1012. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2012/1201/p1027.html

News article with author name

Author (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper Title, page number. 

Price, H. B. (2019, May 26). Tell me: Why are S.A.T. scores so crucial? The New York Times, C1.

News article without author name

Title of article. (Year, Month Day). Newspaper Title, page number.

Kirkwood is great. (2018, January14). Gazette, 14. 

Online news article, no author

Title of article. (Year, Month Day). Newspaper Title. URL

Let the library help you through the end of the semester. (2019, November 22). Kirkwood Community College Communique. https://www.eaglevoice.com/let-the-library-help-youthrough-the-end-of-the-semester

General rules

• When locating the date of the webpage, only use a date that clearly refers to the specific page or article you used. For example, "last updated". Do not use dates from headers or footers. So:
  • Okay to use: "last updated"
  • Not okay to use: "copyright", "last reviewed"
  • If no date is given, use: (n.d.).
• Retrieval date is used only when a source is regularly updated but not archived.
• Shortened URL may be used as long as you check it to make sure it goes to the correct location.
• A URL within a reference may be left all on one line, or may be left to break across two lines.

Webpage with an author and a date

Author (Year, Month Day). Page or article title. Website Title. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL

Anderson, G. L. (2018, September). Safe medications. Arthritis Online. Retrieved December 12, 2019, from http://www.arthritisonline.com/safe-to-use

• In the next example, the page is not likely to be updated, so no "Retrieved" date is given.

Phillips, L. V. (2018, February 5). Mental illness: A common bond. National Alliance on Mental Health. https://www.nami.org/

Webpage with a group author

• Group or corporate author name is given first, just as with an individual author.
• If author name and site name are the same, omit the website title.
• "Retrieved" date is given because this page is likely to be updated, and previous versions not archived.

American Heart Association. (n.d.). Common high blood pressure myths. Retrieved September15, 2019, from https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/the-facts-about-high-blood-pressure/common-high-blood-pressure-myths

Webpage with no author

• In this example, there is no author and no date.
• This page is not likely to be updated, so "Retrieved" date is not given.

Page or article title. (Year, Month Day). Website Title. URL

Home for the holidays. (n.d.). http://www.homeholidays.com/1234.html

Examples

• In the next example, individual author names are given, so the usual rules about authors and dates apply.
• Title capitalization and italics are given as when citing a webpage.
• Extra information like the report number is given after the title, but is not in italics.

Berchick, E. R., Barnett, J. C. & Upton, R. D. (2019). Health insurance coverage in the United States: 2018 (Report No. P60-267). U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/p60-267.html

• In the next example, the author is given in the publication as a sub-department under a major government department. Follow the wording that is given in the resource when deciding who is the author and what is the title of the website.

National Cancer Institute. (2015). What is cancer? U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer

General rules

• The author of audio-visual materials is mainly determined by the type of source. Follow the person's name with a description of their role, if needed for clarity:
  • For a film, use (Director)
  • For a TV series, use (Executive Producer)
  • For a TV episode, use (Writer) and (Director) of episode
  • For a podcast, use (Host) or (Executive Producer)
  • For online streaming video, use Person or Group who uploaded the video
• After the title of the work, describe the format and put in square brackets. For example:
  • Wizard of Oz [Film]

TV series episode

Writer name (Writer), & Director name (Director). (Date aired). Title of episode (Season and Episode numbers) [TV series episode]. In Executive producer name (Executive Producer), Series title. Distributor or Production company of series. 

Bradley, E. F. (Writer), & Brown, D. B. (Director). (2010, May 21). Desperate women (Season 15, Episode 11) [TV series episode]. In S. Smith (Executive Producer), 60 minutes. CBS.

Film or video

• Use for formally distributed films on DVD, streaming, or other format.
• Use for films viewed on Library databases like Kanopy or Films on Demand. Streaming service name and URL and not included in reference.

Director name (Director). (Date of release). Title of film [Film]. Distributor or Production company. 

Mock, F. L. (Director). (1995). Maya Lin: A strong clear vision [Film]. Paramount Pictures.

Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring [Film; four-disc special extended ed. on DVD]. WingNut films; The Saul Zaentz Company.

Harris, A., Seidl, A., & Erickson, L. (Directors). (2009). The Hollywood librarian: A look at librarians through film [Video]. Overstock Productions. 

YouTube and other informal online videos

• Use for informal online videos with little production information included.
• For videos on online streaming services such as Netflix or Kanopy, use the the "Film or Video" section above.

Name of person or group who posted video. (Date posted). Title of video [Video]. Name of website. URL

Kirkwood Libraries. (2018, September17). Welcome to the library [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ6fTT-U8HA

Uthoff, S. (2019, December 13). Drive to the Laura Ingalls Wilder cabin. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erMCBu1ZgLs

General rules

• The artist or photographer's name is listed first.
• The medium is given in brackets after the title.
  • For example: American gothic [Painting].
  • Shore, south of Timber Cove [Photograph].
• If no title is given, describe the work in brackets.

Artwork (including paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, etc.) seen in a museum or on a museum website

Name of artist (Date of work). Title of work [Medium]. Name and location of museum, including city and country. URL if found online

Wood, G. (1930). American gothic [Painting]. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/6565

Photograph

• Trace back any online photograph to its original posting. Google Images should never be used as the source or URL.

Name of photographer (Date printed or posted). Title of photograph [Photograph]. Source or site of photograph. URL

McCurry, S. (1985). Afghan girl [Photograph]. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/10/afghan-girl-sharbat-gula-arrested/#/02-afghan-girl-arrested.jpg

• If the original source of a photograph is a social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, etc.), include the URL but do not include the name of the website or app as the source.

Uthoff, S. [@trundlebedtales] (2019, November 16). Kirkwood starts with a K [Photograph]. https://www.instagram.com/p/B4404NuHpbR

General rules

• If the work does not have a title, give a general description of the work and put in brackets along with the format. 
  • For example [PowerPoint slides on anatomy of the human heart].
• Give the URL for the login page of Talon.

PowerPoint Slides

Author or Creator of slides if known. (Date). Title if given [PowerPoint slides]. Talon. URL

Uthoff, S. & Miller, S. (2019). Information literacy for students [PowerPoint slides]. Talon. https://talon.kirkwood.edu

Lecture Notes or Handouts

Springfield, D. (2019, October 10). [Lecture notes on child abuse]. Talon. https://talon.kirkwood.edu

General rules for Guidelines and Standards

• Use for citing professional guidelines published by a nonprofit or professional organization
• For the number, match the label to what the guideline is called (for example: Guideline or Standard).

Examples

Name of Organization that Made the Standard. (Date). Title of the standard (Standard No.). URL

College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta. (2016). Guidelines for hand hygiene. https://www.nurses.ab.ca/docs/default-source/document-library/guidelines/guidelines-for-hand-hygiene.pdf?sfvrsn=95416361_14

Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario. (2017, September). Preventing falls and reducing injury from falls (4th ed.). https://rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/bpg/FALL_PREVENTION_WEB_1207-17.pdf

In-text citation for guidelines:

(Name of Organization that Made the Standard, Year)

(College and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta, 2016)

Hospital Policy, found on organization's website:

Name of Organization or Author. (Date). Title. URL

University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. (2018). Infection control procedures. https://www.uihc.org/xxxx

Hospital Policy, from unpublished internal document:

• If the document if limited to the hospital's intranet, cite as a personal communication. Use in-text citation only, no reference citation. 
• If the name or organization is included in your sentence, include only "personal communication" and date in the parentheses.

(University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, personal communication, October 22, 2019)

According to internal documentation from the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (personal communication, October22, 2019)...

General rules

• Use for emails, text messages, online chats or direct messages, personal interviews, telephone conversations, live speeches, unrecorded classroom lectures, memos and the like.
• Personal communications do not have a public record, so they are not included on your references page, but use only an in-text citation.
• Include the initials and last name or the communicator.
• If the name is included in your sentence, include only "personal communication" and date in the parentheses.
• Provide as exact a date as possible.

In speaking with T. K. Lutes (personal communication, April 18, 2019)...

(V. G. Nguyen, personal communication, September 28, 2019)

What is an in-text citation and how is it different from the Reference List citation?

APA style uses a two-part system, where each source used will have an in-text citation and a reference list citation. The in-text citation appears within the narrative of your work and is a shortened version of the reference list citation, which appears after the end of the narrative. The in-text and reference list citation will both include the author's name and the date published. See APA website for a detailed discussion of in-text citations. 

When should I use an in-text citation in my writing?

Use an in-text citation when you summarize, paraphrase, or directly quote a source. If it isn't your original idea, cite it. In-text citations are generally placed at the end of a sentence.

What information is included in the in-text citation?

In-text citations include the author's last name(s) and the year of publication. It also includes the page number if citing a direct quotation. If the author's name and the year are included in the sentence this is called a "narrative citation" and no in-text citation in parentheses is needed.

In what order do I put the quotation mark, parentheses and period?

In-text citations are generally placed at the end of a sentence. The period at the end of the sentence comes after the closing parenthesis. If there is a direct quotation, the quotation mark goes before the parentheses. For example:

• (Smith, 1972).
• "...in treatment" (Smith, 1972, p. 81).

However, if the in-text citation follows a block quote, the period goes at the end of the sentence instead, before the parentheses of the in-text citation.

How do I cite something that the source quoted? That is, a second-hand or secondary source?

Generally it is good practice to track down the original source, if possible, and quote it directly. If this isn't an option, use the phrase "as cited in". For example:

• Brown (as cited in Jones, 2010) wrote that...

One author

(Luna, 2020)

According to Luna... (2020).

Two authors

(Salas & D'Agostino, 2020)

According to Salas and D'Agostino... (2020).

Three or more authors

• Use the last name of the first author, then the phrase "et al." to indicate that there are more authors found in the reference list citation.

(Martin et al., 2020)

According to Martin et al.,... (2020).

Group author

• The first time you include an in-text citation for a group author, write out the whole name. If the group's name is very long, also include an abbreviation in brackets right after. When you cite it after that, you may just use the abbreviation instead of writing out the whole name.

(Stanford University, 2020)

(National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], 2020)

According to the National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH]... (2020).

(NIMH, 2020)

No author

• If the source has no author given in your reference list citation, use a shortened form of the title.

("Super," 2017, para. 5)

No date

• A source with no date is handled in the same way as in the reference list citation, with "n.d." 

(Trask, n.d.)

Personal communications

• Sources that are from personal communications or other unpublished communication not available to your audience do not need a reference list citation, but do still need an in-text citation.
• Give the first initial and last name of the person you communicated with.

"I was stationed at Pearl Harbor" (J. Rivera, personal communication, March 24, 2019).

Direct quotations

• When including a direct quotation include the author and year as usual. After the year, include a page number (p. 82), a paragraph number (para. 5), or a timestamp for audio or video recording (4:30)

Bede and Xing found that "the most commonly prescribed treatment is often ineffective" (2015, p. 10).

"The crowd laughed loudly and long" (Johnson, 2015, para.23)

General rules

• The references list should be on a separate sheet of paper. To format, go to the end of your paper and click after the end of the last sentence. In Microsoft Word, select "Insert" then "Page Break". This ensures the references list always remains on a separate page for printing.
• Type the word References at the top, then center it (using the center symbol in the Microsoft Word Paragraph menu ribbon) and bold it.
• Use the same font size and style as the rest of your paper.
• Put references in alphabetical order, alphabetized by the first word of each citation. This is usually the author's last name, but may be the first word of a title (excluding A, An, The) where no author is given. 
• The entire reference list is double-spaced, with no extra space between citations. You will likely have to adjust the spacing from the default to achieve this. Find detailed instructions in the linked document below, Formatting Reference list in MS Word & Google Docs for APA.
• Each reference list citation should be formatted with a hanging indent. This is a paragraph setting in Microsoft Word that is like a reverse paragraph indent. Find detailed instructions for creating this format in the linked document below, Formatting Reference list in MS Word & Google Docs for APA.

Citing generative AI tools is not mentioned in the official APA Publication Manual, but the publishers of the Manual have written a thorough guide on their website. See their post below for even more details.

General guidance:

• Before using a generative AI tool to help with your work, check your course policy on the use of AI.
• Do not cite the AI tool as an author, but as a tool used to edit, translate, summarize, or other.
• Do not trust the AI tool to provide citations, as these tools often create false citations (called "hallucinations") to make it appear scholarly.

Recommendations:

• If you use a generative AI tool as part of your research process, describe how you used it in the text of your paper. For an APA style research paper, the methods section is an appropriate place to put this. For other types of papers, the introduction might be a better place. 
• Where you reference the AI-generated content, include the wording of the prompt you used, and quote or paraphrase any relevant generated text you used.
• Because generative AI responses can’t be exactly replicated, you might copy and paste the full text of the AI-generated content into an appendix of your paper.
• APA considers the author of the generated text to be the creator or publisher of the AI software. Keep this in mind as you create your citations. 
• Once again: always check any sources cited by a generative AI tool. They are often invented.

Constructing a Citation

• Author: The creator or publisher of the generative AI software you used.
• Date: This is the year of the version of the AI software you used.
• Title: The name of the AI software you used.
• Additional information: Put the words [Large language model] in brackets after the title, to indicate the type of source.
• URL: Include the URL that links as directly as possible to the software you used.

Example, putting all the above elements together:

OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (4o mini version) [Large language model]. https://chatgpt.com/

Parenthetical or in text citations:

The normal rules apply. In this example our in text citation would be:

(OpenAI, 2024)