Some electronic content is assigned a unique number called a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). If a DOI is provided for a journal article, you should include it after the page numbers of the article. Format all DOIs as follows:
https://doi.org/xxxxx
("xxxxx" = DOI number)
(Additional info on DOIs and URLs is linked at the bottom of this page.)
Author
If an item has no author, start the citation with the article title.
When an article has one to seven authors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When an article has eight or more authors list the first six authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .) , and then the last author's name. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.
Titles
Italicize titles of journals, magazines and newspapers. Do not italicize the titles of articles.
Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the article title. If there is a colon in the article title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon.
Dates
If an item has no date, use the short form n.d. where you would normally put the date.
Volume and Issue Numbers
Italicize volume numbers but not issue numbers
Retrieval Dates
Most articles will not need these in the citation. Only use them for online articles from places where content may change often, like a free website or a wiki.
Page Numbers
If an article doesn't appear on continuous pages, list all the page numbers the article is on, separated by commas. For example (4, 6, 12-14)
When you are citing two different sources that share the same author and year of publication, assign lowercase letters after the year of publication (a, b, c, etc.). Assign these letters according to which title comes first alphabetically. Use these letters in both in-text citations and the Reference list.
Example In-Text:
Paraphrasing content from first source by this author (Daristotle, 2015a). "Now I am quoting from the second source by the same author" (Daristotle, 2015b, p. 50).
Example Reference List entries:
Daristotle, J. (2015a). Title of first article. Journal title...
Daristotle, J. (2015b). Title of second article. Journal title...
Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. DOI
| Reference List Example |
Bailey, N. W. (2012). Evolutionary models of extended phenotypes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 27(3), 561-569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2012.05.011 |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) Example: (Bailey, 2012) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number) (Bailey, 2012, p. 562) |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number), first page number-last page number. DOI
Note: Separate the authors' names by putting an ampersand (&) between them, not "and."
| Reference List Example |
Pempek, T. A., & Yermolayeva, Y. A. (2009). College students' social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 3(2), 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010t |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(First author's last name & Second author's last name, Year) Example: (Pempek & Yermolayeva, 2009) |
| In-Text Quote |
(First author's last name & Second author's last name, Year, p. Page number quote is from) Example: (Pempek & Yermolayeva, 2009, p. 103) |
For Reference List entries, include all the same information (in the same order) as the examples above, however:
Note: In APA 7, up to 20 authors should now be included in a reference list entry. For sources with more than 20 authors, after the 19th listed author, any additional authors' names are replaced with an ellipsis (…) followed by the final listed author's name. Do not place an ampersand before the final author's name.
| Reference List Example |
Nilsson, J., Johansson, E., Carlsson, M., Florin, J., Leksell, J., Lepp, M., & Gardulf, A. (2016). Disaster nursing: Self-reported competence of nursing students and registered nurses, with focus on their readiness to manage violence, serious events and disasters. Nurse Education In Practice, 17, 102-108. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(First author's last name et al., Year) Example: (Nilsson et al., 2016) |
| In-Text Quote |
(First author's last name et al., Year, p. Page number quote is from) Example: (Nilsson et al., 2016, p. 103) |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if given), first page number-last page number if given. URL
Note: the words "Retrieved from" are no longer required before the URL.
| Reference List Example |
Flachs, A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area. Electronic Green Journal, 1(30). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4 |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) (Flachs, 2010) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (Flachs, 2010, Conclusion section, para. 3) Note: In this example there were no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, in this case you can cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. If there are no page or paragraph numbers and no marked section, leave this information out. |
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of article: Subtitle if any. Name of Journal, Volume Number(Issue Number if given), first page number-last page number if given. URL
Note: the words "Retrieved from" are no longer required before the URL.
| Reference List Example |
Flachs, A., & Dillon, P.A. (2010). Food for thought: The social impact of community gardens in the Greater Cleveland Area. Electronic Green Journal, 1(30). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6bh7j4z4 |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(First author's last name & Second author's last name, Year) Example: (Flachs & Dillon, 2010) |
| In-Text Quote |
(First author's last name et al., Year, p. Page number quote is from) Example: (Flachs & Dillon, 2010, p. 103) |
More detailed information on Journals, DOIs, URLs, or when to include library database information in your reference can be found on the following authoritative webpages:
