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Citation Guide

APA Citation Style 

APA citation style is developed by the American Psychological Associate and is in its 7th edition. This page gives you a brief overview of in-text and reference page basics along with some more detailed resources and tutorials. 

In-Text Citations
You will include these within the body of your paper as you write. For every in-text citation you include, you should have a correlating reference on your references sheet at the end of your paper or presentation.

The big three to include:

1) Author Last Name
•Two authors? (Jones & Talbot, 2009)
•More than two? (Jones, et al., 2009)
•No author? Use the article title.

2) Year of publication

3)  Page # (if applicable)

How you cite in-text also depends on whether you introduce the author (narrative citation) or not (parenthetical citation). Notice how when you introduce the author, the date of publication follows immediately after with the page number at the end of the sentence, whereas when you omit the author, you must include the complete in-text citation at the end of the sentence. 

See the two examples below for the differences: 

In-Text Citation Examples

References 

Your full references will be listed on a separate page at the end of your paper. 

Your references page should: 

  • Be titled "References" (not works cited or bibliography) 
  • Be in alphabetical order by the first letter or number in the reference (usually by Author Last Name) 
  • Have a "hanging inReference page exampledent". To achieve an indent, type "Hanging Indent" into the help box on Word or Google Docs and it will show you how. 

Reference Formatting

Basic Format:

Author LastName, Initial. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number (issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyy

Example:

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(3), 5–13.

Basic Format: 

Author LastName, FirstInitial. (Year, Month). Article Title. Newpaper Title, page, section.

Example: 

Schultz, S. (2005, December). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today, 1A, 2A.

Basic Format:

Author LastName, First Initial. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site name. URL

Examples: 

American Cancer Society. (2015, April 17). Cancer prevalance in the upper Midwest. https://acs.org/cancer-prevalance-in-the-upper-midwest. 

Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist. The Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist.

Basic Format:

Author LastName, FirstInitial. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital first letter only for subtitle too. Publisher Name.

Example: 

Rausch, R. (2008). Understanding your cat: A guide to our feline friends. McGill-Queens University Press.

Need more? Or have a particular source that's giving you trouble? 

Try the detailed APA Guide provided by Purdue OWL!

Or email your librarian at library.gotoltc.edu! We're happy to help!

Sample APA Paper

More APA Resources

Lakeshore Technical College does not discriminate against protected classes, including but not limited to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or gender--including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability or age in employment, admissions, or its programs or activities. To handle inquiries regarding Lakeshore’s nondiscrimination policies, contact the Manager of Access, Equity, and Inclusion for students 920.693.1120, nicole.yang@gotoltc.edu or the Executive Director of Human Resources for staff/others 920.693.1139, marissa.holst@gotoltc.edu. Lakeshore, 1290 North Avenue, Cleveland, WI 53015. TTY 711 gotoltc.edu/equal-opportunity-statement. For more information visit https://gotoltc.edu/equal-opportunity-statement.