Citation Style Guide : APA

Here are other book citation formats you may come across. Please note that this is not a complete list of every possibility, but it should cover the most common formats.

Chapter from edited book:
Chapter Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (copyright year). Title of chapter. In Editor First Initial and Last Name (Ed), Book title (page numbers). Publisher's Name. DOI (if available) or URL of online book 

Example:
Bergen, T. (2008). From Bigfoot stole my husband. In F. de Caro (Ed), The Folklore Muse: Poetry, Fiction, and Other Reflections by Folklorists (84-90). University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt4cgmxc.31

One volume in multivolume set:
Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (copyright year). Book title (Vol. #). Publisher's Name. DOI (if available) or URL of online book 

Example:
Levinson, D., Ponzetti, J. J., & Jorgensen, P. E. (Eds). (1999). Encyclopedia of human emotions (Vol. 2). Macmillan Reference USA.

Edition other than first edition:
Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (copyright year). Book title (# ed.). Publisher's Name. DOI (if available) or URL of online book 

Example:
Clements, J. (2023). Anime: A history (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury.

Dissertation or thesis:
Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (copyright year).  Dissertation/thesis title (publication number if available). [Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree]. Database, archive name, or URL (database preferred if available). 

Example:
Soares, R. M. (2024).  Dung beetle communities and impact on dung degradation and horn fly population under different management practices. [Master's thesis, Oklahoma State University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Thesis. 

Use this citation format for scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals.

Article citations should contain the author name(s), publication date, article title, journal time, volume number (if available), issue number (if available), and page numbers. Note that scholarly journals only use the year in the date field whereas magazines and newspapers include the month and day if available. 

If a work has a DOI, APA requires that to be added at the end of the citation. If an online article does not have an DOI, you may use the URL. 

Format:

Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), inclusive pages. DOI (preferred) or URL of online article

Examples:

 Eldem, U., & Nayir, B. Ö. (2022). Ethics and technology: An analysis of Rick and Morty. Open Philosophy, 5(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1515/opphil-2020-0155

Online article:

 Anisfield, N. (1995). Godzilla/Gojiro: Evolution of the nuclear metaphor. Journal of Popular Culture, 29(3), 53-63. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-3840.1995.00053.x

  Article with no issue number, no page numbers:

Spencer, R. (2021). Dinosaurs: A new, hip way to breathe. eLife, 10. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.70947

Articles with more than 20 authors:

1-19 Author Names, . . . Last Author Name. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, vol(issue), inclusive pages. DOI (preferred) or URL of online article

Examples:

Abrams, E. M., Akombi, B., Alam, S., Alcalde-Rabanal, J. E., Allebeck, P., Amini-Rarani, M., Atnafu, D. D., Ausloos, M., Ayanore, M. A., Azari, S., Azene, Z. N., Babaee, E., Bante, A. B., Bisanzio, D., Bohluli, M., Breitborde, N. J. K., Briant, P. S., Castelpietra, G., Cunningham, M., . . . Murray, C. (2022). Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019. Lancet, 396(10258), 1204-1222. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9

Magazine articles:

Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (Year, Month Day [if available]). Article title. Magazine Name, vol(issue), inclusive pages. URL of online article

Example:

Hiatt, B. (2023, July). The brain behind Barbie. Rolling Stone, (1377/1378), 92-95. 

Newspaper articles:

Author Last Name(s), First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine Name, inclusive pages (if available, mostly used for physical newspapers). URL of online article

Example:

Holden, S. (1994, September 15). The Lizzie Borden story with a rock attitude: Here. New York Times, C15. 

Book reviews:

Reviewer Last Name(s), First Initial. (Year). Article title (if available) [Review of the book Book Title, by Author's Name]. Journal Name, vol(issue), inclusive pages. DOI (preferred) or URL of online article

Example:

Stables, K. (2008). [Review of the book Ghibliotheque, by M. Leader & J. Cunningham]. Sight and Sound, 31(8), 102. https://ezproxy.library.astate.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/magazines/ghibliotheque/docview/2580083268/se-2

Use this format for websites. For online books and articles, use their format--even if you access the resource through the web. 

Format:

Author Last Name(s), First Initial (or, if no author is available, the name of the organization responsible for the site). (Date of publication - if no date, then use n.d.). Title (or, if no title is available, the name of the organization responsible for the site). Website name (leave off if same as author). URL

Examples:

Mello-Klein, C. (2025, October 22.). Twenty-five years later, SpongeBob is still living his best life under the sea. Northeastern Global News. https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/10/22/spongebob-25th-anniversary-tv-culture/

Mavity, R. S. (n.d.). Be real: What I've learned so far from My Little Pony. Beebe Healthcare. https://www.beebehealthcare.org/health-hub/womens-health-blog/be-real-what-ive-learned-so-far-my-little-pony

BBC News. (2014, July 4). Headbanging can cause brain injury, say German doctors. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-28144928

In addition to creating a works cited or reference list at the end of your paper, you must also give credit within the text of your paper. This is done through an in-text citation in parentheses ( ) at the end of the sentence. This is also called a parenthetical citation. 

Direct Quotes

When quoting directly from an author or source, you need the author's last name, year of publication, and page number. If you use the author's name in the sentence, then you don't have to repeat it in the parenthetical citation. Use "p." to reference a single page and "pp." for multiple pages. 

Examples:

According to Karjalainen (2018), "Finnish Metal is surprisingly consistent" (p. 2). 

In Sounds of Origin in Heavy Metal Music, he stated, "Finnish Metal is surprisingly consistent" (Karjalainen, 2018, p. 2).

Paraphrasing/Summarizing

When paraphrasing or sharing an author's ideas in your own your own words, you need the author's last name and year of publication. If you use the author's name in the sentence, then you don't have to repeat it in the parenthetical citation.

Examples:

According to Glasby and Bodoano (2020), even though horror is subjective, there are patterns to what frightens us. 

Even though horror is subjective, there are patterns to what frightens us (Glasby & Bonoano, 2020). 

Note: While not required, APA guidelines do encourage including page numbers even when paraphrasing, like so:

Even though horror is subjective, there are patterns to what frightens us (Glasby & Bonoano, 2020, p. 8). 

Multiple authors:

If your citation has three or fewer authors, list them all in the in-text citation. However if there are more than three authors, use the first author's last name followed by "et al.".

Examples:

The animated TV-show Rick and Morty "depicts several important and relevant themes about the impact of technology in contemporary societies" (Eldem and Nayir, 2022, p.1). 

According to Abrams et al. (2020), the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides the most up-to-date assessment of the descriptive epidemiology of diseases and injuries. 

No authors:

If your resource does not have an author or editor, use the title in quotation marks (" ") in the in-text citation. If the title is long, use the first few words instead of the full title. 

Example:

While headbanging has been linked to health complications, it is generally considered harmless ("Headbanging can cause brain injury," 2014). 

A hanging indent is when the first line of text is flushed with the margin while the other lines within the text are indented in.

Here's how to create hanging indents in Microsoft Word:
 

Step 1: Select the text you want to be hanging indents

Step 2:

From the "Page Layout" tab, click on the Paragraph Settings icon.

Step 3: In the middle of this box will be your indentation options. Under "Special" select "Hanging" then hit the "OK" button.

Success! You have have hanging indents!