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APA Style Help & Tools

{{page_title}}, best bet: apa's academic writer.

Academic Writer is the only authoritative and complete online environment for teaching, writing, and publishing in APA Style®, now updated to the 7th Edition. Designed to help users develop their writing and professional research skills, Academic Writer combines sophisticated learning and teaching tools, advanced writing and content management technology, and full integration of APA’s best-selling Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association® to create an unparalleled web-based suite of integrated services and tools.

Access Academic Writer anytime with this link:

library.purdueglobal.edu/academicwriter

Academic Writer Documentation & Tips

The below links lead to more information, tips, and training about the basics of using Academic Writer.

• Library Guide to Academic Writer
• Getting Started Guide (PDF)
• Creating Academic Writer Accounts (PDF)
• Accessing the Publication Manual (PDF)
• Technical Requirements

Using Academic Writer's Writing Tools

Academic Writer contains a Writing section where you can create and write a full APA-formatted paper.  You can write the entire paper in Academic Writer or just use it to setup the title page, headings, and references.  Export your work at any time to a Microsoft Word document.  Below are documents from Academic Writer about the essential features of their Writing tools.  

• Setting up the Title Page
• Adding References to Papers (PDF)
• Adding In-Text Citations (PDF)
• Adding Tables (PDF)
• Exporting Papers (PDF)

Featured Items from Academic Writer

Basics of APA Style

Learn the basics of APA Style, including how to format a manuscript, understand the form and function of common manuscript parts, organize and express your thoughts clearly and precisely, employ the mechanics of style, use graphic elements effectively, credit sources and acknowledge the contributions of others, and construct a comprehensive and reliable reference list.

Academic Writer

© 2020 American Psychological Association.

How to Avoid Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism

Learn how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism, including how to identify plagiarism, understand its risks and consequences, cite sources properly, and develop sound writing practices.

Learn how to set up the title page of an APA Style paper, including the page header and running head, title, author name and affiliation, and author note.

Paper Template: ("Merenda" Sample Student Paper)

This sample response paper presents a university student's personal reaction to an article about whether medication is prescribed too often to young children to treat psychological disorders. The title page demonstrates the simple default layout for a student paper. The paper has a simple setup with only a title page, body of text, and references. No "running head"! Response papers typically do not include author notes or abstracts, though this may vary by assignment.

Visit the Writing Center

Need writing help?  Visit the Writing Center to contact a tutor, submit your paper for review and feedback, or ask APA Style-related questions, as well as access dozens of writing tutorials, videos, webinars, and other instructional resources.

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PG Writing Center's Top APA Links

• Common Citations in APA Format
• APA Title Page and Running Head Video
• APA (7th Edition) Demystified in 5 Minutes Video
• Formatting an APA Style (7th Edition) Reference List Video
• Writing With Integrity (APA Style 7th Ed.)

eBook on APA Style 7th Edition

Zotero: Free Reference Management Tool

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. This tool is especially popular for heavy researchers at the grad level and above.

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• In-Text Citation

The APA or American Psychological Association style of citation is mainly used for the social sciences. The style is currently in its 7th edition.

Purdue OWL: APA  Formatting and Style Guide

This resource, updated to reflect the APA Handbook (7th ed.), offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the references page. Check here for help citing more resources or make an appointment with an Oxford librarian!

Icons are from the Noun Project and under Creative Commons licence (CCBY): books by sandra , article by Arfan Khan Kamol , website by Julynn B , link by Nathan Diesel, Video by Aybige, Audio by Manasa, Image by Mohammad Iqbal, hashtag by Gregor Cresnar.

Some example citations are below, from the Purdue OWL APA Guide . Follow the link for more examples!

How To Cite...

Stoneman, R. (2008). Alexander the Great: A life in legend . Yale University Press.

Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. New York University Press.

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication . American Psychological Association.

Artman, J., Sundquist, J., & Dechow, D. R. (2016). The craft of librarian instruction: Using acting techniques to create your teaching presence. Association of College and Research Libraries.

Armstrong, D. (2019). Malory and character. In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.), A new companion to Malory  (pp. 144-163). D. S. Brewer.

When citing a scholarly article from a database if you can not find a DOI, a permalink or a nondatabase URL then you do not need to provide a link in APA 9th edition, unless requested by your professor.   

Mc Aninch, D. (2019, July 15). Seeing France’s wild mountains through a clouded, classic windshield. New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/travel/cevennes-france-drive.html

Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies.  The Country Today , 1A, 2A.

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

From an Online Database

Baniya, S., & Weech, S. (2019). Data and experience design: Negotiating community-oriented digital research with service-learning.  Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement ,   6 (1), 11 – 16. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284316979

Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book  The self-knower: A hero under control , by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert].  Contemporary Psychology , 38 (5), 466–467.

Irwin, D. (2019, July 9). Wot I think: Gato Roboto. [Review of the video game Gato Roboto , published by Devolver Digital, 2019]. Rock Paper Shotgun .  https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/07/09/gato-roboto-review/

In APA style, individual webpages and documents hosted online are cited similarly to print content. Note, however, that the URL is typically included at the end of the entry. In APA style, you only need to include the date of access if the page's content will probably change over time (i.e. a wiki page).

Oxford College Library. (n.d.). Mission and Vision - Oxford College Library . https://oxford.library.emory.edu/about/about-oxford-college-library/mission-and-vision

Price, D. (2018, March 23). Laziness does not exist . Medium. https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-exist-3af27e312d01

Axelrod, A. (2019, August 11). A century later: The Treaty of Versailles and its rejection of racial equality. Code Switch, NPR . https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/08/11/742293305/a-century-later-the-treaty-of-versailles-and-its-rejection-of-racial-equality

Digital Resources

Citing personal photos, digital files, or other electronic resources can be confusing. The important thing to remember is that everything you use for academic or professional work, even if you made it yourself , does need to be cited - every time!

Some URL Notes from Purdue OWL :

• Many scholarly journal articles found in databases include a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is available, cite the DOI number instead of the URL.
• Online newspapers and magazines sometimes include a permalink , which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.

If you have a question or need to cite something not listed here, schedule a consultation with a librarian!

Visit the Purdue OWL Pages on citing Audiovisual Media and Electronic Sources in APA for more examples!

Lushi, K. [Korab Lushi]. (2016, July 3). Albatross culture 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AMrJRQDPjk&t=148s

Tedx Talks. (2011, Nov. 15). TEDxHampshireCollege - Jay Smooth - How I learned to stop worrying and love discussing race [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbdxeFcQtaU

Zuckerman, J. (2015, July 22). To heal [Song]. https:// soundcloud.com/jeremy-zuckerman/to-heal

Dacus, L. (2018). Night shift [Song]. On Historian [Album]. Matador Records.

Personal Interview

A personal interview is one that you have conducted yourself - the "author" is the interviewee. Note that APA style does not require a reference to a personal interview.

Crowl, P. (2019, July 12). Personal interview.

Prime, K. (Host). (2019, March 29). For whom the cowbell tolls [Audio podcast episode]. In Radiolab . WNYC Studios. https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/whom-cowbell-tolls

Remember to get the permission of all the people in the photo (or their guardians, if minors) before you use it in your work!

Garofalo, C. (2019, April 12). [CSCE contributor gift table] [Photograph]. https://www.christophervisuals.com/OxfordCollege/CSCE/i-wP8vMbB/A

Online Photo or Image

The title of the item for the reference comes from its caption, so if the image has no official caption, you will describe the item inside square brackets. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

Williams, M. O. (2016, March 10). An Ouled Nail woman in Algeria wears a tattoo that is customary for dancers, 1949 [Photograph]. https:// natgeofound.tumblr.com/post/140802561912/an-ouled-nail-woman-in-algeria-wears-a-tattoo-that

Cash, I. (2011, April 5). Infographic of infographics . [Infographic]. https:// imgur.com/DNxvj

Only include the first 20 words of the post/caption when citing a social media post in APA style. If the post includes images, videos, or links to other sources, indicate that information in brackets after the content description. Also attempt to replicate emojis if possible; if not, describe the emoji (i.e. [Face with Tears of Joy emoji])

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2020, January 10). Like frosting on a cake, snow coats and clings to the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/USInterior/photos/a.155163054537384/2586475451406120/?type=3&theater

National Geographic [@NatGeo]. (2020, January 12). Scientists knew African grays are clever, but now they’ve been documented assisting other members of their species—even strangers [Tweet; thumbnail link to article]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/1216346352063537154

BBC [@bbc]. (2020, January 12). Skywatchers have been treated to the first full moon of 2020-known as a “wolf moon”-at the same time as a [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7OkWqbBwcf/

Figure 1.  Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses

Note. From   Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses  [Painting], by Paul  Cézanne, 1890,   The Metropolitan Museum of  Art,  metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882 . Public Domain.

*Figures cited in-text must be both captioned and cited in the bibliography.

In-text citation:

(see fig. X)

(see fig. 3)

Figure Title and Note:

In APA, for images in papers you have the figure number, title and then a note, which serves as the caption. In the note if using copyrighted materials use From when reprinting an image and  Adapted from   if you have adapted an image. For description you place in Brackets this is often the format/medium of artwork, such as painting, photograph, sculpture, etc. 

Fig. X. Title of work or Description of the work 

Note.  From  Title  [description in brackets], by artist full name, c reation year; Institution, URL. Licensing information/public domain information/fair use notation. 

Figure 3.  Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses

Note.  From   Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses  [Painting], by Paul  Cézanne, 1890,  The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882) . Public Domain.

Figure. 5.  Atlanta Streetcar, 

Note.  From Atlanta Streetcar [Photograph], by Lauren Holley, 2014, Flickr (flickr.com/photos/atlantadowntown/16106577510/). CC BY 2.0.

Bibliography:

Author Last Name, First Initial. (year of publication).  title  [description in brackets]. Source. URL.  Cézanne, P. (1890).  Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses [Painting]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art ,  New York, NY, United States.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.

Image has no known title?

If the work has no title provide a concise but informative description of the work and put it in the brackets. 

Mackintosh, C. R. (1897-1900). [Chair of stained oak]. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England,

Image has no known author?

Omit the author's name, start with the title and move the date after the title:

Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses . 1890 .  The Metropolitan Museum of Art ,  New York, NY, United States. metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.

No creation date?

Use (n.d.) in place of the date, this means "no data"

Cézanne, P. (n.d).  Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses [Painting]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art ,  New York, NY, United States.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435882.

Are you using a video screenshot?

Fig. X. Still from title of work 

Note . From  title  [description in brackets], by director/ creator, c reation year; Institution, URL. Licensing information/public domain information/fair use notation. 

Figure 4. Still  Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Note. From  Lord of the rings: fellowship of the ring [Still from Film], by Peter Jackson, 2001, Wingnut Films; The Saul Zaentz Company. Copyright 2001 by The Saul Zaentz Company. 

  YouTube & Streaming Video:

  Creator name. (Year, Month day).  Title [description]. Platform, URL.

  Modern Librarian Memoirs. (2017, November 2) What is Information Literacy?  [Video]. YouTube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbe6xBibOL4.

APA uses parenthetical citations for in-text citation. Include the author's last name and the date of the work. Typically you put this at the end of the sentence just before the period.  

In APA, only include the page number if you are directly quoting a source. (If quoting more than one page, use pp. instead of p.).

To cite more than one source, put a semicolon between the two sources' citations.

For more information on APA, see the Purdue OWL page about in-text citation .

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American Psychological Society (APA) Style

APA Style is a way to format scholarly papers, including college term papers as well as research-based manuscripts submitted for journal publication. APA Style covers everything about writing a paper, from the title page to the references list at the end.

• APA Style Introduction Purdue OWL resources that will help you use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style.

ZoteroBib for one-off citations

• ZoteroBib ZoteroBib (or Zbib) is a free web service that helps you quickly create a bibliography in any citation style, including APA.

Some useful videos

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The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

• APA Style General Formatting and Style Guide 7th ed
• Purdue OWL Purdue OWL is an online writing reference that provides detailed information on APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago 17th styles of citation as well as general citation and research assistance.
• Purdue Owl | APA Guide | Examples

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MBA 731 - Training & Development (Miller) : Citation & Research Organization

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APA Citation Guides @ Assumption

This guide, created by Assumption librarians, features examples of full and in-text citations with multiple authors and different source types. It also contains examples of a reference page and APA paper formatting. 

• APA Citations by d'Alzon Library Last Updated Feb 14, 2023 207 views this year

APA Guide @ Purdue OWL

• APA Guide The Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)'s APA guide provides full and in-text citation examples organized by source type and paper formatting examples.

Style Guide from APA

• APA Style Guide Use the Grammar & Style tab for paper organization, data formatting, grammar, and citation help. You can also use the search feature to explore topics.

Organizing Your Research

Effectively organizing your research facilitates clearer thinking and writing. A citation manager is an essential research tool because is software that enables you to collect, arrange, and cite your sources. Zotero is a free, open source citation manager that you can download directly to your computer, work on mulitple research projects simultaneously, and upload PDFs or images into your library. It's easy to use and you can export your citations to Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

• Download Zotero Use this link to download Zotero to you computer and note that the free version can only hold 300 MB of data. Don't forget to also install the browser connector! This connector or plug-in allows you to add websites into your Zotero library.
• Documentation for Zotero Here is documentation for setting up and troubleshooting Zotero. The Forums tab also has additional workflows and help from other Zotero users.

• ZoteroBib Use the web-based ZoteroBib to get automatically generated citations in any style by entering a URL, DOI, PMID, Title, or ISBN.
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