PHEAL 214: Public Health Epidemiology: APA Style

The American Psychology Association (APA) is designed for the social & life sciences (e.g. psychology, anthropology, medicine). 

The APA style manual proscribes 2 different sets of rules:  one for IN TEXT citations, and the other for the REFERENCE LIST (which appears only at the end of your work). The examples shown on this page are for both formats and come from the newest version of this APA style manual, the 7th edition, published in 2020.

These in-text examples use the APA author-date method of citation; the author's last name and year of publication are inserted within the text of the paper and refer to the reference list at the end of the work.

Single author

A recent study of stress levels (Brown, 2018) reveals...

In a recent study of stress levels, Brown (2018) discusses...

Two authors

Research by Williams and Jones (2020) found...

... was found to have a high correlation (Williams & Jones, 2020)...

Three or more authors

(Taylor et al., 2018)
Kisangau et al. (2019) found...

No authors

If there are no authors, consider whether a group or organization is the author. A work is treated as having no author when its author is unknown or cannot be reasonably be determined. In this case, use the first few words of the title of the work into the author position. Titles of journals, books, and reports are italicized because they are proper names.

 

... on free care (Study Finds, 2016)

... the book College Bound Seniors (2019)

... the Kidney Dialysis Report by the National Kidney and Transplant Division of Urology (2020) shows...

Anonymous authors

If, and only if, the work is signed "Anonymous," use "Anonymous" as the author.

(Anonymous, 2017)
Anonymous (2017) stated...

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The reference list is organized alphabetically typically by the author's last name, followed by additional info that describe the source to help readers locate the item. The following examples are the most commonly referenced types of sources. 

Book with one or more author

Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Books.

Book compiled by editor

Schulian, J. (2019). The great American sports page: A century of classic columns from Ring Lardner to Sally Jenkins. Library of America.

Book editions

Herndon, D. (2018). Total burn care  (5th ed.). Elsevier.

Book chapter in an edited book

Aron, L., Botella, M., & Lubart, T. (2019). Culinary arts: Talent and their development. In R. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent (pp. 345-359). American Psychological Association.

Dictionary entry

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Culture. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved September 9, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture

Facebook Post

News From Science. (2019, June 21).Are you a fan of astronomy? Enjoy reading about what scientists have discovered in our solar system--and beyond? This [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ScienceNOW/photos/a.117532185107/10156268057260108/?type=3&theater

Government report

National Cancer Institute. (2019). Taking time: Support for people with cancer (NIH Publication No. 18-2059). U.S. Department of Health and Services, National Institute of Health https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/takingtime.pdf

Images (note: site name or museum location may be used)

National Institutes of Health. (2015). No 7 diabetic foot [3D print model ID 3DPX-001560]. NIH 3D Print Exchange https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-001560

van Gogh, V. (1889). The starry night [Painting]. Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY, United States. https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79802

Journal article

Joly, J. F., Stapel, D. A., & Lindenberg, S. M. (2008). Silence and table manners: When environments activate norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(8), 1047-1056. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208318401

Barber, A. E., & Roehling, M. V. (1993). Job postings and the decision to interview: A verbal protocol analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 845-856.

Newspaper article, no author

Hess, A. (2019, January 3). Cats who take direction. The New York Times, C1.

Speech

King, M. L., Jr. (1963, August 28). I have a dream. [Speech audio recording]. American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm.

Television broadcast

Barris, K. (Writer & Director). (2017, January 11). Lemons (Season 3, Episode 12) [TV series episode]. In K. Barris, J. Groff, A. Anderson, E. B. Dobbins, L. Fishburne, & H. Sugland (Executive Producers), Black-ish Wilmore Films; Artists First; Cinema Gypsy Productions; ABC Studios.

Tweet

Gates, B. [@BillGates]. (2019, September 7). Today, it's difficult for researchers to diagnose #Alzheimers patients early enough to intervene. A reliable, easy and accurate diagnostic would [Thumbnail with link attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/1170305718425137152

Webpage on a Website

Note: URLs are no longer preceded by “Retrieved from,” unless a retrieval date is needed.

Fagan, J. (2019, March 25). Nursing clinical brain OER Commons. Retrieved September 17, 2019, from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/53029-nursing-clinical-brain/view

World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death

YouTube video

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