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APA Guide

This guide contains information to help you cite your sources in APA format.

Formatting the Author (APA)
Authors Rule Examples
No Author If no author given, move the title in front of the date; alphabetize entry by title. Keep same formatting (italics/capitalization) on title as you would normally depending on type of source.

Article title. (2020).

Book title. (2020).
1 Author Last Name, 1st initial. 2nd initial. Smith, J. L.
2 Authors Last Name, 1st initial. 2nd initial., & Last Name, 1st initial. 2nd initial. Smith, J. L., & Fields, M. L.
2 to 20 Authors

 Last Name, 1st initial. 2nd initial., Last name, 1st initial. 2nd initial., & Last Name, 1st initial. 2nd initial.

Note: If you have 20 or less authors, you list all the author's names (this could get very long for some journal articles!)

 Smith, J. L., Jones, B. L., & Cox, X. Q.
21 or More Authors List the first 19 author's names (as above), then put a three-dot ellipsis (...) and add the final author's name. Note: you do not use an 'and' sign (&) in this case, just the ellipsis. See Example
Editor or Other Role

If the role of the person or group was something other than creating the work's main content, follow the name with a descriptive label (examples - editor, director, translator, etc.).

Follow the same rules as authors for multiple people. You can include different descriptive labels after each name if the people held different roles on the project (example - director, writer, actor).

Smith, O. P. (Ed.).

Perry, T. (Director).

Smith, O. P. , & James, K. W. (Eds.).
Group Author (organization, association, company, etc.)  Write the name of the group (organization, association, company, etc.) in full. Do not abbreviate.

American Cancer Society.

Microsoft.

Formatting the Title (APA)
Source Rule: Italics or "quotation marks" Example
Entire Book Italicize self-contained works; use sentence case (only capitalize the first word of title and subtitle, along with any proper nouns). Living with disease: An Alzheimer's journey.
Chapter, essay, or entry from a larger book Contained in a larger work (the book), so no quotation marks and no italics; use sentence case (only capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle, along with any proper nouns). Defining forensic psychiatry: A definition.
Article title from Journal, Magazine, or Newspaper Contained in a larger work (the book), so no quotation marks and no italics; use sentence case (only capitalize the first word of the title and subtitle, along with any proper nouns). A nurse's journey in Cambodia.
Title of the entire Journal, Magazine, or Newspaper Italicize self-contained works; use Title case (capitalize the all major words of title and subtitle, along with any proper nouns). Psychology of Nursing Practice,
Website Article or Page APA 7th edition considers articles or individual pages from websites to be self-contained works, so italicize and use sentence case (only capitalize the first word of title and subtitle, along with any proper nouns). See our section on citing a website article for more details about the format of the overall website name. Ethics of practice: A reality check.