American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide, 6th ed.
This guide is meant to provide basic examples of the APA citation style. As this guide does not include
every example possible, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association (6th edition) for a more extensive understanding of APA citation. If you have any questions,
or you do not see the information you need, contact the Library (library@usa.edu).
Reference Examples
Book—Single Author
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of Publication). Title. City, State of Publication:
Publisher.
Example:
Jones, A. A. (1993). The lumbar spine, the cervical spine and the knee: Testing and rehabilitation. Ocala,
FL: MedX Corporation.
Book—Multiple Authors
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial., & Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of
Publication). Title. City, State of Publication: Publisher.
Example:
Furst, G. F., Gerber, L. H., & Smith, C. C. (1985). Rehabilitation through learning. Bethesda, MD: U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
Book—Editor(s) as Author(s)
Format:
Editor Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Ed.). (Year of Publication). Title. City, State of Publication:
Publisher.
Example:
Williams, P. L., Bannister, L. H., Warwick, R., Dyson, M., & Gray, H. (Eds.). (1989). Gray’s anatomy. New
York, NY: Churchill Livingstone, Inc.
Chapter or Article within a Book
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In Editor(s) First
Initial. Middle Initial. Last Name (Ed[s]), Title of Book (chapter page numbers). City, State of
Publication: Publisher.
Example:
Wilder, R. L. (1993). Rheumatoid arthritis. In H. R. Schumacher (Ed.), Primer on the rheumatic diseases
(pp. 86-89). Atlanta, GA: Arthritis Foundation.
Book—Edition other than the First
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of publication). Title (edition). City, State of
Publication: Publisher.
Example:
Snell, R. S. (2012). Clinical anatomy by regions (9th ed.). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Article from a Print Journal—One Author
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical,
Volume(issue number if applicable*), page(s).
Example:
Gajdosik, C. G. (1991). Issues of parent compliance: What the clinician and researcher should know.
Physical & Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics, 11, 73-87.
Article from a Print Journal—Two or More Authors
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial., & Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of
Publication). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume(issue number if applicable*), page(s).
Example:
Maluf, K. S., Sahrmann, S. A., & Van Dillen, L. R. (2000). Use of a classification system to guide
nonsurgical management of a patient with chronic low back pain. Physical Therapy, 80, 10971111.
Article from an Online Journal—DOI (digital object identifier) available
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal,
Volume(Issue number if applicable*), Page Number(s). doi:#
Example:
Dabholkar, A., Gala, M., & Yardi, S. (2014). Correlation of foot posture, foot function with balance and
gait in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Indian Journal of Physiotherapy and Occupational
Therapy, 8(2), 23-28. doi:10.5958/j.0973-5674.8.2.053
Article from an Online Journal—no DOI available
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal,
Volume(Issue number if applicable*), Page number(s). Retrieved from Journal homepage URL
Example:
Rosen, C. S., Henson, B. R., Finney, J. W., & Moos, R. H. (2000). Consistency of self-administered and
interview-based Addiction Severity Index composite scores. Addiction, 95, 419-424. Retrieved
from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291360-0443
Article—Epub ahead of Print (Follow either with- or without DOI model above)
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of article. Title of Journal.
Advance online publication. doi:#
Example:
Pratt, M., Norris, J., Lobelo, F., Roux, L., & Wang, G. (2012). The cost of physical inactivity: Moving into
the 21st century. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Advance online publication. doi:
10.1136/bjsports-2012-091810
*Note on Issue Numbers: For journal articles, issue numbers are only given if the journal is
paginated by issue. If the journal is paginated by volume, then give only the volume number.
Web Page
Format:
Author Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from
http://Web Address
Example:
American Physical Therapy Association. (2007). Professionalism. Retrieved from
http://apta.org/Professionalism/
Video Recording
Format:
Producer Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Producer). (Year of publication). Title [DVD]. Available
from http://xxxx
Example:
Peterson, T. (Producer). (2011). Hope restored: Functional neurology serves humanity [DVD]. Available
from http://www.myhoperestored.com/
Course PowerPoint Slides and Course Notes:
Format: Author Last Name. First Initial. Middle Initial. (Date). Title of document [PowerPoint slides OR
Lecture notes]. Retrieved from http://URL
Example: Smith, A. (2015). Citation 101 [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://xxxxx
In-Text Citations
Work with One Author
If the author’s name appears as part of the sentence:
Put the publication year in parenthesis after the author’s last name.
Example:
Pratt (2012) found that physical inactivity…
If the author’s name does not appears as part of the sentence:
Place the author’s last name and year of publication separated by a comma in parentheses at the end of
the sentence.
Example: The survey showed that students preferred eBooks to print books (Smith, 2015).
Work with Multiple Authors
Works with two authors
Example if the authors’ names appear as part of the sentence:
Smith and Jones (2010) found that physical activity…
Example if the authors’ names do not appear as part of the sentence:
At least thirty minutes of physical activity per day helps…(Smith and Jones, 2010).
Works with three to five authors:
For the first citation, include all authors’ last names followed by the year of publication. In subsequent
citations, only include the last name of the first author followed by et al. and the year of
publication.
Example first in-text citation:
Physical therapy interventions for Parkinson’s Disease include…(Davis, Jones, and Thompson, 2013).
Example subsequent in-text citations:
Parkinson’s Disease is….(Davis et al., 2013).
Works with six or more authors:
Use only the last name of the first author followed by et al. and the publication year separated by a
comma.
Example:
Walking thirty minutes or more per day improves…(Thompson et al., 2000).
For more examples of how to cite sources with multiple authors, see the “Multiple Authors” chart by
Rasmussen College: http://guides.rasmussen.edu/apa/intext
Direct Quotations
When citing a direct quote you will need to include the page number or if page numbers are unavailable,
use the paragraph number. If neither page numbers nor paragraph numbers are available and the work
includes headings, use the heading and the number of the paragraph following it. Please see pgs. 171172 of the APA manual for further clarification and examples of these rules.
Example 1 (Author’s name not used in the text):
It has been demonstrated that “many intracellular cascades have been reported to affect autophagy”
(Subauste, 2009, para. 6).
Example 2 (Author’s name is used in the text):
Smith (2015) found that “55% of distance education students rented eBooks for two or more of their
courses” (p. 25) while on campus students…
For further APA citation examples, see also:
APA Style and the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) APA Formatting and Style Guide