Subject Guides: CMJ 103: Public Speaking & Information Literacy Guide: Citing your Sources

Citing sources

At the link above, you can access the most recent APA guidelines for both in-text citations and reference lists.
Below, you'll find examples of citations in APA style. First you'll see the elements that are required of each type of citation, followed by examples of what they look like for actual works. If you're not sure how to cite something, look at the guidelines above, ask your instructor, and/or ask a librarian.

Journal article
Template:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number), pages. https://doi.org/xx.xxx/yyyyy

Example:
Albanesi, S., & Olivetti, C. (2016). Gender roles and medical progress. Journal of Political Economy, 124(3), 650-695.

Note: there may not be an issue number or a doi assigned to an article you find, but double check on the pdf version. If not found leave them out.

Book chapter in an edited book
Template:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (edition number, pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI

Example:
Meacham, D., & Studley, M. (2017). Could a robot care? It's all in the movement. In Lin, P., Abney, K., & Jenkins, R. (Eds.), Robot ethics 2.0: From autonomous cars to artificial intelligence (pp. 97-112). Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190652951.003.0007

Note: only include an edition number and a DOI if the book chapter has one. Otherwise, leave that out.

Entire book
Template:
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. DOI

Example:
Rettberg, J. W. (2014). Seeing ourselves through technology: How we use selfies, blogs and wearable devices to see and shape ourselves. Springer. DOI: 10.1057/9781137476661

Note: only include a DOI if the book has one.

News Article

Template:

Author, A.A. (Year, Month date). Article title. News Source Title. page number if available. URL if freely available.

Example:

Stobbe, M. (2020, January 8). Cancer death rate in U.S. sees largest one-year drop ever. Chicago Tribune. https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-cancer-death-rate-drops-20200108-sxhd7lzh7fgddlxnnkuqoruf3i-story.html

Website
Template:
Author, A. A. & Author B. B. (Date of publication). Title of page [Format description when necessary]. Title of source. https://www.someaddress.com/full/url

Example:
Rakich, N. (2019). How views on gun control have changed in the last 30 years. FiveThirtyEight. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-views-on-gun-control-have-changed-in-the-last-30-years

Note: If the page's author is not listed, start with the title instead. If the date of publication is not listed, use the abbreviation (n.d.).

Example:
Maine Homelessness Statistics. (n.d.). United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. https://www.usich.gov/homelessness-statistics/me

Images

Template:
Artist Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year). Title of the artwork [Format]. Title of the website. https://www.someimageaddress.com/full/url

Examples:
Tomasi, J. C. (2015). Italian navy rescues asylum seekers traveling by boat off the coast of Africa on the Mediterranean, June 7, 2014 [Photograph]. This photographer Is trying to locate the migrants shown in this iconic image. https://time.com/4063972/refugee-crisis-massimo-sestini

Shoutis, W. (2016). Understanding carbon stored in wood [Infographic]. The wonders of wood buildings. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/06/3/wonders-wood-buildings

Social Media
Template:
Author, A. A. [Screen name]. (Year, Month Date). Up to first 20 words of message as title [Type of social media]. Social media name. https://www.somesocialmediaaddress.com/url

Examples:
Gates, B. [@BillGates]. (2013, February 26). #Polio is 99% eradicated. Join me & @FCBarcelona as we work to finish the job and #EndPolio. VIDEO: http://b-gat.es/X75Lvy [Tweet]. X. https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/306195345845665792

Neil Gaiman. (2012, February 29). Please celebrate Leap Year Day in the traditional manner by taking a writer out for dinner. It’s been four years since many authors had a good dinner. We are waiting. Many of us have our forks or chopsticks at the [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/neilgaiman/posts/10150574185041016

Videos

Template:
Author. (year, month day). Title of video [Video]. Name of site. https://www.somevideoaddress.com/full/url

Examples:
Harvard University. (2019, August 28). Soft robotic gripper for jellyfish [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guRoWTYfxMs

Lin, P. (2015, December). The ethical dilemma of self driving cars [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/patrick_lin_the_ethical_dilemma_of_self_driving_cars

Citing sources in library databases

You will often find options for citing your sources in library databases.

NOTE: Remember that automatically generated citations are a great place to begin, but usually contain some errors. Compare citations you find in databases to those in the APA guidelines link at the top of this page.