How to Cite Resources in APA 7: Citing Print Resources

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition 2020 (access to the previous edition LibGuide: 6th edition 2010 LibGuide) is the standard writing guide for psychology and other disciplines in the social sciences. It is used by authors, editors, students, and publishers. The following information is taken from the APA 7th edition. If you don't find the information and/or examples you need here, consult the print publication manual itself. Copies of the 7th edition are available in all libraries. Also, copies of the 6th edition are available in all APU libraries.

New: APA 7 now includes the Bible and other religious works (Torah, Qur'an) in the Reference List. Old: APA 6, Bible passages only needed to be cited in the text of your paper, no reference list citation was required.

Identify the version you used for your first in-text citation. You don't need to include the version in subsequent in-text citations for the Bible unless you use another version. Remember to italicize the version title and use Arabic numbers and a colon. Abbreviations for the books of the Bible are not used in APA 7.

1.  Citing a single verse, print edition:

     In-Text Parenthetical  [= P  hereafter]:  "Quote" (English Standard Version, 2001/2009,1 Samuel 10:8). 

    Reference List [=R hereafter]:  The English Standard Version Bible: Containing the Old and New Testament with Apocrypha. (2009). Oxford University Press. (Original work published 2001)

2. Citing a passage from an annotated/study Bible, print edition:

     P:  "Quote" (Coogan, 2010, 1 John 1: 1-5).

     R:  Coogan, M. D. (Ed.). (2010). The new Oxford annotated study Bible: New Revised Standard Version: with the Apocrypha (4th ed.). (2010). Oxford University Press.

3. Quoting a verse from an online version of the Bible:

   P:  "Quote" (English Standard Version, 2001/2011, Isaiah 42:1).

   R:  English Standard Version. (2011). STEP Bible. https://www.stepbible.org/?q=version=ESV|reference=Isa.42 (Original work published 2001)

     Also see the authoritative APA Style website for additional examples and details.

In the text of your paper, you must document the source from which you are quoting or paraphrasing. When paraphrasing, cite the author and date of the work, plus the page number if it would help the reader locate the original information. For quotations, cite the author, date and page number. Use "p." for single pages (Smith, 2001, p. 143) and "pp." for multiple pages (Smith, 2001, p. 143-144). 

Two Basic Methods for In-Text Citations:

1. Integrating the author’s name into the sentence:
   Walker (2014) compared reaction times and found . . .
2. Including the author’s name in a parenthetical citation:
   A recent study found that a 0.04 BAC caused a slight impairment of reaction time (Walker, 2014, p. 8).

Note: The Publication Manual recommends authors of scholarly papers use past tense or present perfect tense for important phrases occurring in the literature review and procedure entries (example:, Smith (2018) found or Smith (2018) has found).

For Works with Two Authors:

Always list both authors' surnames every time you refer to that work.
NOTE: When there are two authors the word and is used in the text; however, the & is used in the parenthetical citation.

. . . as Nightlinger and Littlewood (2019) demonstrated . . .

As has been shown (Nightlinger & Littlewood, 2019) . . .

For Works with Three or more Authors:

List only the first author's surname followed by "et al." in all citations, including the first (unless there is ambiguity among different sources).

Eley et al. (2016) found that . . .

(Eley et al., 2016)

When citing more than one work with similar groups of author names, and citing the first author plus "et al." would make the entries the same, limit ambiguity by adding more names. For example:

Smith, Jones, Liu, Huang, and Kim (2020)

Smith, Jones, Ruiz, Wan, and Stanton (2020)

They would be cited in-text as follows, to remove ambiguity:

(Smith, Jones, Liu, et al., 2020)

(Smith, Jones, Ruiz, et al., 2020)

For Works with No Author:

If the work does not have an author, cite the item by title in the sentence, or for parentheses use just the first word or two. 

A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers ("Using Citations," 2017).

For Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses:

If your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them alphabetically just like they are in the reference list, separated by a semi-colon.

(Berndt, 2015; Harlow, 1998)

For Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year:

When you have the same author for two or more works in the same year, use a lower case letter (a, b, c) after the year to order the works in the reference list and use the lower-case letters with the year for in-text. 

Research by Berndt (2002a) revealed strong correlations. However, a parallel study (Berndt, 2002b) resulted in inconclusive findings. 

For Electronic Sources

When possible, cite an electronic document the same way as other documents, by following the above author-date style. 

Kenneth (2024) explained. . . 

For Works Without Page Numbers

If an electronic source does not have page numbers, try to include information that can help the reader find the passage such as the heading or section name, or a paragraph number (para. 1), or combination of these. 

According to Jones (2001), . . . (Mind Over Matter section, para. 5).

These examples are for printed books and periodicals only. Please consult the "Citing Electronic Sources" tab if you are attempting to cite an eBook, a web site, an online document from the Internet, or an article obtained through an online database.

Start the Reference List on a new page. Type the word References (Reference, if there is only one) in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered at the top of the page. Double-space all reference entries. Entries that are more than one line long should have a hanging indent. To indent, place your cursor on the second line far left. Press Enter once. Press Tab once. 

The entire title is in all lower case with three exceptions: 1) The first letter of the title is in upper case, 2) Any letter after a colon (:) is in upper case, and 3) Any acronyms and proper nouns are in upper case. Book entries no longer included the publisher location. 

Citing a Book with one Author or Editor:

Format:

Author/Editor's last name, Author/Editor’s initial(s). (Publication year). Title [in italics]. Publisher.

Examples:

Benner, D. G. (Ed.). (2013). Psychotherapy in Christian perspective. Baker Book House.

Reno, R. R. (2020). Redemptive change: Atonement and the Christian cure of the soul. Trinity Press International.

Citing a Book with Multiple Authors or Editors:

Format:

Author 1's last name, Author 1’s initial(s)., Author 2's last name, Author 2's initial(s)., & Author 3's last name, Author 3's initial(s). (Publication year). Title [in italics]. Publisher.

Examples:

Wicks, R. J., Parsons, R. D., & Capps, D. (Eds.). (2004). Clinical handbook of pastoral counseling. Paulist Press.

Harris, M., & Moran, G. (1998). Reshaping religious education: Conversations on contemporary practice. Westminster John Knox Press.

Citing a Book with No Author or Editor:

Format:

Title (Edition - if there is one). (Publication year). Publisher.

Example:

Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.). (2008). Merriam-Webster.

Citing a Book with a Group Author (Government Agency) as Publisher:

Format:

Group author (or government agency). (Publication year). Title (edition or report number, if there is one). Place of publication: Publisher.

(When the author and publisher are identical, use the word Author as the name of the publisher.)

Example:

U. S. Census Bureau. (2001). Statistical abstract of the United States: 2003 (123rd ed.). Author.

Citing an Article or Chapter in an Edited Book: 

Format:

Chapter author's last name, Chapter author's initial(s). (Publication year). Chapter title. In Editor's initials, Editor's last name (Ed.), Title of edited book (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher.

Example:

Thomas, G. (2007). An epistemology of special education. In L. Florian (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of special education (pp. 246-258). SAGE.

Citing an Entry from a Multivolume Encyclopedia:

Format:

Entry author's last name, Entry author's initial(s). (Publication year). Entry title. In Editor's initials, Editor's last name (Ed.), Title of encyclopedia (Edition, volume number, pages). Publisher.

Example:

Thomas, R. M. (1994). Religious education. In T. Husen & N. Postlethwaite (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of education (2nd ed., Vol. 9, pp. 4995-5008). Elsevier Science.

NOTE: If an encyclopedia entry has no author, place the title of the entry in the author position.

Citing a Print Journal Article, One Author:

Format:

Author’s last name, Author’s initial(s). (year of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number for journals paginated by issue), pages.

Example:

Moreland, J. P. (2001). Intelligent design psychology and evolutionary psychology: A comparison of rival paradigms. Journal of Psychology & Theology, 29(4), 361-377.

Citing a Print Journal Article, Two Authors:

Format:

Author 1's last name, Author 1’s initial(s)., & Author 2's last name, Author 2's initial(s). (Publication year). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number(issue number for journals paginated by issue), pages.

Example:

Beck, R., & McDonald, A. (2004). Attachment to God: The attachment to God inventory, tests of working model correspondence, and an exploration of faith group differences. Journal of Psychology & Theology, 32(2), 92-103.

Citing a Print Magazine or Newspaper Article:

Format

Author’s last name, Initial(s). (Publication year, Month, day). [Give the date shown on the publication—month for monthly publications or month and day for weekly/daily publications.] Title of article. Title of magazine, volume number(issue number), pages [for newspaper articles, precede the page number with p. for articles on one page, or pp. for articles that cover multiple pages].

Example:

Jeschke, M. (2005, August). Fixing church discipline. Christianity Today, 49(8), 30-32.

Clements, M. (2009, September 30). Get your Kaleo fastpass. The Clause, 46(2), pp. 1, 4.