APA Style (6th ed.)
An e-book retrieved from an academic database that does not have a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is referenced as though it were the print version, as above. (A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies content and provides a persistent link to its location on the internet. DOIs can be found in database records and the reference lists of published works).
Books with a URL or a DOI can be referenced like this:
- Author/editor (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication)
- Title of book (in italics)
- (Edition) (if not the 1st edition)
- DOI or Retrieved from URL
Book Chapter
- Author of chapter/section (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication).
- ‘Title of chapter/section’.
- ‘In:’ followed by author/editor of book, (in direct order)
- Title of book (in italics) .
- (Page reference).
- Place of publication: Publisher,
Journal article (print)
- Author(s) (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication)
- Title of article
- Title of journal (in italics, first letter of each word should be capitalised, except for words such as and, of, the)
- Issue information (volume, issue, pages) (volume in italics)
- Author(s) (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication).
- Title of article.
- Title of journal (in italics, first letter of each word should be capitalised, except for words such as and, of, the)
- Issue information (date, volume, issue no., pages) (volume in italics)
- Retrieved from: URL
Journal article (database without DOI)
Journal articles retrieved from databases without a DOI can be referenced like a print journal, as above.
Journal article (with DOI)
- Author(s) (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication).
- Title of article.
- Title of journal (in italics, first letter of each word should be capitalised, except for words such as and, of, the)
- Issue information (date, volume, issue no., pages) (volume in italics)
- DOI
Journal article (more than 7 authors)
List the first six authors followed by three spaced ellipsis points (. ) and then the last author's name.
Journal article (pre-publication)
“Pre-print”, “In press” and “advanced online publication” usually refer to articles that have been accepted for publication, but may not yet have been assigned to a publication volume/issue. These articles can be cited using the year of online publication and the DOI.
- Author(s) (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication).
- Title of article.
- Title of journal (in italics, first letter of each word should be capitalised, except for words such as and, of, the)
- Issue information (date, volume, issue no., pages) (if any available)
- Advance online publication.
- DOI
arXiv is a collection facility for scientific 'e-prints'. Some of them have been published and some have not. APA recommends updating your references when you're close to finishing your assignment. If you've cited a preprint that has since been published, cite the published journal article.
In the example below, you will see that the title is in italics. This is because it hasn't yet been accepted in a journal and is, therefore, considered a stand-alone work.
Journal Article (with article numbers, not page numbers)
If the journal article has an article number instead of a page range, include the word “Article” and then the article number instead of the page range.
- Author(s) (Surname, Initials)
- (Year).
- Title of article.
- Journal Title (in italics)
- Volume, (in italics)
- Article number
Magazine Article
- Author(s) (Surname, Initials)
- (Year of publication, Month day)
- Title of article
- Title of magazine (in italics, first letter of each word should be capitalised, except for words such as and, of, the)
- Page numbers
- URL
Webpage
- Author (Surname, Initials or Organisation name)
- (Year) (Month Day, if applicable).
- Title of webpage (in italics)
- URL
If no date can be established, use n.d. to indicate no date in the citation and the reference.
Blog
- Author of message
- (Year, Month Day).
- Title of message
- [Blog post]
- URL
Twitter
- Author (surname followed by initials) and/or [screen name]
- (Year, Month day) tweet posted
- full text of tweet (If a tweet is longer than 40 words, write the first 40 words)
- [Tweet].
- Retrieved from: URL
Facebook
- Author and/or [given name]
- (Year, month day)
- Title of page or post
- [Facebook status update].
- Retrieved from: URL
- For individual authors, provide their full first name in square brackets after their initial as this is their social media identity information.
- For the title, provide the name of the page or the content or caption of the post (up to the first 40 words).
LinkedIn Profile
- Author (name associated with the account)
- (Year)
- Title of page ( Use the page title in the reference (e.g., “Home,” “About,” “Jobs”).)
- [LinkedIn page].
- Retrieved date from: URL ( Provide a retrieval date because the content is designed to change over time and is not archived)
Instagram
- Author and/or [screen name]
- Content of the post (up to the first 20 words)
- [Photograph]
- Retrieved from URL
TikTok
- Author and/or [Username]
- (Year, month day)
- Content of the post up to the first 20 words. Count a URL or other link, a hashtag, or an emoji as one word each, and include them in the reference if they fall within the first 20 words. Do not italicize emojis.
- [Video] description of the audiovisuals
- Retrieved from URL
Wikis
Wikipedia is a free online encyclopaedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world. It is not a scholarly source, so your lecturer may not be happy for you to use it as a source in your assignments. Scholarly assignments should generally rely on peer-reviewed and other scholarly work vetted by experts in the field. However, it may be a good starting point for you in your research to find citations to original source materials that you do want to use.
Wikipedia is a constantly changing site, so cite an archived version of the page, if you can (select 'view history' and then the date of the version you used). If it doesn't have a permanent link to an archived version of the page, include a URL for the entry and the retrieval date. The retrieval date is always required because the source material may change over time. 'n.d.' is an abbreviation of 'no date' and it is used as Wikipedia is constantly changing.
- Title of article
- (n.d.).
- In
- Title of wiki (in italics)
- Retrieved date, from URL