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APA (6th ed.) Citing Guide

APA examples are not exhaustive & focus on referencing & citations. Assistance from your professor and/or Writing Centre is suggested. The library is not responsible for errors, omissions, or interpretation.

APA 6th Edition

This guide is representative of the 6th edition Publication Manual of APA.

APA examples are not exhaustive and focus on referencing and citations. Assistance from your professor and/or Writing Centre is suggested for clarification.

Users are responsible for interpretation of APA style guidelines and to seek further assistance when necessary.

Effective October 1, 2019.

 

Georgian will be adopting the 7th edition Publication Manual of APA in September 2020. (posted February 24, 2020)

Articles: Where do I find...

Each article entry in MultiSearch contains all the info needed to make an APA citation such as article title, author, journal, year, volume/issue number, page numbers.

The above parts go together in the following way to create an APA reference page entry:

Subapriya, K. K. (2009). The importance of non-verbal cues. ICFAI Journal of Soft Skills, 3(2), 37-42.

DOI is the short form for "Digital Object Identifier", a unique number (eg: 10.1037.a0034500) given to SOME resources, designed to help find a particular items quickly. DOIs are sometimes used in citations.

In library databases, look for the DOI in your results list:

If a DOI is available, you do not need to use "Retrieved from..." in your citation, just use the DOI.

Article on a regular webpage:

For a regular webpage, you can usually copy & paste the URL from your browser for the "Retrieved from" URL.

Library Databases:

APA guidelines state that if a DOI is not available, you must use the URL of the homepage where the article is available by a search - to avoid adding a URL that won't work for your reader.

Caution: When searching in Library databases, do not copy & paste a link from the browser URL / address bar. - These links are temporary and may not work if you come back to them later!

  • Check the detailed record (click on the title of the article) in your database results

Look at the detailed record to see if there is a URL mentioned. Click to check - if you can access, use this URL.
MultiSearch, August 2016

  • If there is no URL in the detailed record, you may want to Google the name of the journal and find it's homepage
  • Alternatively, ask your professor if they would accept the Library database name (eg. Retrieved from Canadian Reference Centre) in your reference list.

Books: Where do I find...

Each book entry in MultiSearch contains all the info needed to make an APA citation including book title, author, date, publisher, place of publication.

The above parts go together in the following way to create an APA reference page entry:

Subapriya, K. K. (2009). The importance of non-verbal cues. ICFAI Journal of Soft Skills, 3(2), 37-42.

A marked up photo pointing where to find the Publication Date in a book.Publication Date is usually found anywhere from the middle of the page to the bottom of the verso. If publication date is unavailable, then use Copyright year. These two concepts are not the same even though the years usually match. 

 

 

A marked up photo pointing where to find the publisher name in a book.Publisher name may be found near the top of the verso or at the bottom of the main title page.

Place of publication can usually be found at the bottom of the main title page (or the top of the verso/other side).A marked up photo pointing where to find the place of publication in a book.

DOI is the short form for "Digital Object Identifier", a unique number (eg: 10.1037.a0034500) given to SOME resources, designed to help find a particular items quickly. DOIs are sometimes used in citations.

In the library databases, look for the DOI in the information about the article:

If a DOI is available, you do not need to use "Retrieved from..." in your citation, just use the DOI.

If the resource does not have a DOI, APA guidelines ask you to find the base URL of the database to provide as the "Retrieved from" URL. Try searching Google for the database name - in this case "EBSCO eBook collection".

You may also want to ask your professor if they'd prefer to know what Library database you used. You could substitute "EBSCO eBook collection" for the URL if your professor prefers.

Websites: Where do I find...

You may need to look around at a website a bit to discover all of the pieces of information needed to properly cite a page. Here is a sample website with citation details identified.

This screenshot illustrates some of the typical places you can look for parts of a website citation

The parts of the citation identified above go together to form the following reference page entry:

Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit. (2014). Cost of healthy eating. Retrieved from http://www.simcoemuskokahealth.org/Topics/HealthyEating/FoodSecurity/CostofHealthyEating.aspx .