Nursing: Find APA Citation Style Help
APA Citation Style
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) is the official source for citing in APA style. APA (American Psychological Association) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences, such as Psychology, Linguistics, Sociology, Economics, and Criminology, as well as in Business, Education, Kinesiology, and Nursing.
The University Library owns several print copies of the Publication Manual. Those listed as "Reference" in the library catalogue are for in-library use only. While the APA does not provide an institutional e-access model for their manual, individuals are able to purchase an electronic version via Amazon (Kindle), RedShelf, and Vital Source.
Publication Manual of the American Psychological AssociationCall Number: BF76.7 .A51 2020Publication Date: 2019 (7th ed.)
Many of the links in this guide lead to the APA Style website. This is an official website of the American Psychological Association. Along with the print Publication Manual, it is the authoritative source for information about APA style and grammar guidelines.
- APA StyleThe homepage of the official APA Style website.
- Reference Quick Guide (pdf)A template created by the APA which shows how to build references for journal articles, books, or chapters in edited books.
Need Help?
- Writing Help CentreTutors from the Writing Help Centre can help you apply APA guidelines in your own writing.
- Ask Us ChatLibrary staff from the Research Help Desk can help you find and use style guides, including APA.
- Ask Your InstructorYour instructor can help you if you have additional questions about specific citation expectations.
- Attend a workshopIntroduction to APA workshops occur throughout the year.
- Citation styles workshop recordingsView recorded workshops on citation styles, such as an introduction to APA 7th edition.
In-Text Citations
APA Style uses an Author-Date citation system. In-text citations are covered in Chapter 8 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed). The links below provide some additional information on in-text citation, taken from the official APA Style website.
General information:
In-text citations consist of the author's last name and publication year. Page numbers are required when quoting and encouraged when paraphrasing.
In-text citations are brief notations within the body of your paper which direct the reader to the corresponding complete citation information at the end of the paper in the References section.
In-text citations have two formats: parenthetical and narrative:
- parenthetical: the author name and publication date appear in parentheses.
- e.g. It was recently discovered that laughter is the best medicine (Hall & Oates, 2020).
- narrative: the author name is incorporated in the text of your paper as a part of the sentence and the year follows in parentheses.
- e.g. Hall and Oates (2020) recently discovered that laughter is the best medicine.
- Basic Principles of CitationBasic guidelines to follow when writing in-text citations.
- ParaphrasingA paraphrase restates another’s idea (or your own previously published idea) in your own words.
- QuotationsA direct quotation reproduces words verbatim from another work or from your own previously published work.
- Appropriate Level of CitationSection 8.1 of the Publication Manual gives an overview of the level of citation required in an APA paper.
- Secondary (or Indirect) SourcesSection 8.6 of the Publication Manual provides directions for citing sources that appear in another source (e.g. a book that has been cited in an article). As a general rule, APA recommends that secondary sources be avoided unless the original source is unavailable.
- Parenthetical vs NarrativeSection 8.11 of the Publication Manual explains the differences between parenthetical and narrative citations.
- Citing Multiple WorksSection 8.12 of the Publication Manual explains how to cite multiple works at the same time both parenthetically and in the narrative.
- Citing Specific Parts of a SourceSection 8.13 of the Publication Manual indicates that when citing a specific part of a work (such as a table or figure), provide an author-date citation for the work plus information about the specific part. Then put an entry to the entire work in the reference list.
- Number of Authors to Include in In-Text CitationsFor a work with one or two authors, include all names in the in-text citation. For a work with three or more authors, include only the name of the first author with "et al." in the citation, unless this would create ambiguity. Section 8.17 of the Publication Manual explains in more detail.
- How to cite ChatGPTAn APA Style Blog post on how to cite ChatGPT and other AI tools.
References
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) is the official source for citing in APA style.
The reference list at the end of the paper, labeled References, provides the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each work cited in the text. To create a reference list entry, first determine the reference group (e.g. textual works, data sets,) and category and then choose the appropriate reference type within the category (e.g. journal article) and follow that example.
The following links lead to examples of references (with corresponding in-text citations) from the official APA Style website. For reference examples not listed on these pages, refer to the Publication Manual or to the APA Style website.
In This Guide
- Textual WorksIncluding journal articles, books, etc
- Audiovisual and Online MediaIncluding social media, websites, artwork, video, music, ChatGPT, etc.
- Data SetsIncluding data sets and toolboxes.
From the APA Style Website
- Reference Quick Guide (pdf)A template created by the APA which shows how to build references for journal articles, books, or chapters in edited books.
- Archival Documents and CollectionsThis page includes: letter from a repository; letter from a private collection; collection of letters from an archive; unpublished papers, lectures from an archive or personal collection; archival/historical source for which the author and/or date is known or is reasonably certain but not stated on the document; archival source with group author; interview recorded and available in an archive; transcription of a recorded interview, no recording available; newspaper article clipping, historical, in personal collection; historical publication of limited circulation; archived photographs, no author and no title; and microfilm.
Other Reference Examples
- Legal ReferencesLegal reference examples are not listed on the APA Style website. However, Chapter 11 of the Publication Manual is dedicated to Legal References. It includes examples of case or court decisions (11.4), statutes (laws and acts) (11.5), legislative materials (11.6), administrative and executive materials (11.7), patents (11.8), constitutions and charters (11.9), and treaties and international conventions (11.10).
- Curriculum GuidesCurriculum guides are government publications. See section 10.4 > 50. Report by a government agency or other organization.
- Market Research ReportsMarket Research, industry or corporate reports can be cited like a report by government agency.