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APA (7th ed.) Citing Guide: Webpages & Websites

APA 7th Edition

This guide is representative of the 7th edition Publication Manual of APA and focuses on a student paper structure.

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 September 2020.

What are Webpages or Websites?

Webpages and websites:

  • news websites with no print equivalent, e.g. CNN, CBC News
  • government websites
  • organization or association website

Note: Information found on a website is not always referenced as a webpage or website. If there is a defined category like journal, magazine, news, conference proceeding, or blog, use the reference list entry format for that category not webpages and websites

See Publication Manual 10.16.

Webpage on a Website (with a retrieval date)

Reference list entry:

Statistics Canada. (n.d.). Key indicators. Retrieved July 23, 2020 from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/start

Note: If the site name is different from the author, include it after the title. In this example, they are the same so the site name is eliminated.

Open Educational Resources (OERs)

Reference list entry:

Bourgeois, D. T. (2019, May 9). Information systems for business and beyond. BCCampus OpenEd. Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://open.bccampus.ca/browse-our-collection/find-open-textbooks/?uuid=15ebfc13-0505-4209-8abb-5baac13336a6&contributor=&keyword=&subject= 

Note: Provide as specific a date as is available on the website and a retrieval date. Include the repository of the OER and only create a reference list entry when an OER is available for download. See APA Style.

Webpage on a News Website

Reference list entry:

Patel, A. (2020, May 29). Will pets have separation anxiety when we go back to work? Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/6983603/separation-anxiety-pets/

Note: Global News has no print equivalent and therefore is treated as a website.

Webpage on Website With Group Author (organization or association)

Reference list entry:

College of Nurses Ontario. (2018, October 20). New opioid dispensing requirements in effect. https://www.cno.org/en/news/2018/october-2018/new-opioid-dispensing-requirements-in-effect/

Note: In this example, the site name is the same as the author so it is not duplicated.

In-Text Citation

For all of the examples above, the in-text citation follows the same format unless noted with the example. Refer to the Publication Manual, Section 8.17 for explanation with multiple authors.

Parenthetical citation format: (last name of author(s), year)

e.g. (Statistics Canada, n.d.)

e.g. (Patel, 2020)

Narrative citation format: include the author's or authors' names in the sentence, with the date in brackets

e.g. Statistics Canada (n.d.) wrote...

e.g. Patel (2020) wrote...

More in-text citation information on this guide.