Book: Last Name, 1st Initial. (year of publication). Title of work: Capitalize subtitle. Publisher. DOI or URL if available
If it has more than one author, continue to use the Last Name, First Initial format.
Journal article: Author, 1st Initial. (year of publication). Title of article. Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. DOI or URL if available
Watson Library has a variety of books and eBooks on APA citation. The books listed below are a sampling of what we have available in the library - to find more, check our library catalog, or use the "Ask Us!" tab on the left for help.
Book: Doe, J. (2022). Citations. Penguin.
Journal article: Doe, J. (2020). A study of citations. Journal of Citation Research, 22(4), 45-67. https://doi.org/215-9825.948//12909798083
Newspapers: Doe, J. (2012, December 11). Citations are fun. Citation News, 2-9.
In-text citations are short references to external sources that are included in the body of the work. They direct readers to the full citation in the reference list.
When using direct quotes, include author name, publication date, and page number. You can put the author’s name either in the sentence itself, or in parentheses at the end of the sentence. See examples below:
Doe (2022) described the citations as “utterly delightful, and a dream to create” (p.234).
The citations, described as “utterly delightful, and a dream to create” (Doe, 2022, p.234).
When paraphrasing (presenting the information but re-wording so it is not a direct quote of the referenced text), APA allows you to use just the author’s name and the publication date. However, you should still include page numbers if it will help a reader locate the section you are paraphrasing:
According to Doe (2012) citations can be the most enjoyable part of writing a paper.
Citations can be the most enjoyable part of writing a paper (Doe, 2012, p.4).
