Skip to Main Content

APA (7th ed.) Citing Guide: Reports & Gray Literature

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 Reports and Gray Literature?

Reports and gray literature:

  • cover original research which may or may not be peer reviewed
  • reports can be from a government agency or organization
  • gray literature includes other textual works like press releases, code of ethics, issue briefs, etc.

When the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher in the reference list entry to avoid repetition.

Vital Signs Report

Reference list entry:

Abbotsford Community Foundation. (2019). Abbotsford's vital signs. https://www.communityfoundations.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Abbotsford-Community-Foundation.pdf 

Annual Report

Reference list entry:

Toronto Police Service. (2012). Annual statistical report. http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/2012statsreport.pdf

Government Report (with authors)

Reference list entry:

Garner, R., Tanuseputro, P., Manuel, D. G., & Sanmartin, C. (2018, May 16). Health reports: Transitions to long-term and residential care among older Canadians. Government of Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2018005/article/54966-eng.htm

Government Report (without personal authors)

Reference list entry:

Environment and Climate Change Canada. (2019). Final report of the expert panel on sustainable finance: Mobilizing finance for sustainable growth. Government of Canada. http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2019/eccc/En4-350-2-2019-eng.pdf 

Organization or Association Report

Reference list entry:

College of Nurses of Ontario. (2014). Becoming a nurse. http://www.cno.org/en/become-a-nurse/

Media or Press Release

Reference list entry:

Apple Inc. (2020, June 22). Apple announces Mac transition to Apple silicon [Press release]. https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2020/06/apple-announces-mac-transition-to-apple-silicon/ 

Note: Descriptor in square brackets can be either "Press release" or "Media release" depending on how it is described at the source.

Code of Ethics

Reference list entry:

Canadian Nurses Association. (2017). 2017 edition code of ethics for registered nurses. https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/code-of-ethics-2017-edition-secure-interactive

Dissertation or Theses

Reference list entry:

Montgomery, A. (2018). Anxiety reducing drawing activities in secondary education [Master's thesis, Moore College of Art & Design]. ERIC. 

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. (Montgomery, 2018)

e.g. (Canadian Nurses Association, 2017)

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

e.g. Montgomery (2018) wrote...

e.g. Canadian Nurses Association (2017) wrote...

More in-text citation information on this guide.