Research Guides: MCC Library Launch: APA Citations

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy (or, if no DOI assigned, article URL)

Website with Author

Lastname, F. M. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site Name. URL

Website with No Author

Title of page. (Year, Month Date). Site Name. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from URL

Organizational/Group Website

Group name. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site Name. URL

General Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name.

Edited Book with Author

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (E. Editor, Ed.). Publisher.

Edited Book with No Author

Editor, E. E. (Ed.) (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.

Translated Work

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (T. Translator, Trans.) Publisher. (Original work published YEAR)

For APA in-text citations, include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference. Page numbers, if available, should be preceded by "p."

No known author

In cases where the author’s name is not available, use a shortened title in parentheses.

The future outlook for nursing jobs in the United States is promising due to a lack of qualified candidates (Registered Nursing Job Outlook, 2021).

Short quotations

According to O’Connor & Weatherall (2019), “partisans on all sides attacked their opponents through vicious pamphlets” (p. 152).

Long quotations

For long quotations (40 words or more), indent as a new paragraph instead, do not use quotation marks. Parenthetical citation should occur after the final punctuation.

O’Connor & Weatherall (2019) state the following:

In the decades before and after the American Revolution, for instance, partisans on all sides attacked their opponents through vicious pamphlets that were often filled with highly questionable accusations and downright lies. (p. 152)

Summary or Paraphrase

For paraphrasing and summary, you are only required to reference the author and year of publication. While page number is not required, it is recommended.

According to O’Connor & Weatherall (2019), spreading false information about political opponents occurred in the time surrounding the American Revolution.

Spreading untrue and potentially damning information about political opponents has a long history in the United States (O’Connor & Weatherall, 2019, p. 152).

Interview you conducted (in-person, email, phone)

Purple books are more popular than green books (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

General APA Paper Formatting

Your essay should be typed and double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11"), with 1" margins on all sides.
Include a page header at the top of every page. Insert page numbers flush right.
- For a student paper, this only includes the page number.
- For a professional paper, this includes your paper title (also known as the “running head”) and the page number.
  - The running head is a shortened version of your paper's title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation. The running head is not required for student papers unless the instructor or institution requests it. Then "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left using all capital letters.
A variety of fonts are permitted in APA Style papers. Font options include the following:
- sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, or 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode
- serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, or normal (10-point) Computer Modern (the default font for LaTeX)

Check out the APA Style website for more formatting help.

APA Sample Student Paper (Owl Purdue)

Sample Papers from the APA