How to Reference Electronic Sources in APA Style
This document is a guide to citing the most common electronic sources using APA style, based on information available at APA Style Guidelines on the American Psychological Association website, and the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Many other examples and types of electronic sources are addressed in both. The numbers in parentheses refer to the page numbers in the print manual that apply to the rule described.
Note. It is not necessary to use "Retrieved from" before the DOI or URL, as these should link to the source. Do not end a URL with a period.
A retrieval date is not used unless the contents of a page are meant to be updated over time.
Website Sources (p. 299)
Webpage or document on a website (p. 350-352)
The general format is:
Example:
Kearl, M.C. (1996). Sociological tour of cyberspace. http://faculty.trinity.edu/mkearl/
Webpage or document on a website with no author identified
The general format is:
Webpage or document on a website with no date
The general format is: Author, A. (n.d.). Title of page. URL
Journal Article (10.1)
Online journal article with a DOI (digital object identifier) (p. 317, #1, 4. & 5)
The general format is:
Author, A., Author,B., Author, C. (2000). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume(issue),
pp-pp. http://doi.org xx.xxxxxxxxx
Example:
Bradshaw, C. J., Brook, B. W., & McMahon, O. R. (2007, June). Dangers of
sensationalizing conservation biology. Conservation Biology, 21(3), 570-571.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00698.x
Online periodical article, not from a library database, without a DOI (p. 317, #2,)
The general format is:
Author, A.A., Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume (issue), pp-pp. URL
Example:
Clay, R. (2008, June). Science vs. ideology: Psychologists fight back about the misuse
of research. Monitor on Psychology, 39(6). http://www.apa.org/monitor/
Journal article found in a library subscription database (p 317, #3)
End with the page range as with a print article. It is not necessary to name the database unless it is the only place the document can be found, such as a dissertation:
Author, A.A., Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume (issue), pp-pp.
Example:
Doe, J. (2009, August). Time to act on climate change. Australian Nursing Journal, 17(2), 7-8.
Note. Check with your instructor, if in doubt. He may want the database name or persistent link to the article for ease of access.
In Text Citations
Citing in-text (.p. 261, #8.10 & 8.11)
Use the author-date method. Any of these examples is acceptable:
Smith (2000) found that early onset Alzheimer's was linked to three genes.
Early onset Alzheimer's is linked to three genes (Smith, 2000)
In 2000, Smith found that early onset Alzheimer's was linked to three genes.
Direct quotation (p. 291, 8.26, 8.27 & 8.28)
Follow the above format, including the page number as well. If the electronic source does not provide page numbers, use the paragraph number. If neither paragraph number nor page numbers are provided, cite the heading and the number of the paragraph following it, using the abbreviation para.(6.05).
Examples:
(Smith, 2000, p.45)
(Beutler, 2000, Conclusion section, para. 1)
For a lengthy quotation of 40 words or more, omit quotation marks and display in a free standing block of text, indented about 1/2 inch from left margin, and double spaced. At the end of the quotation, insert source information in parentheses (author, year, p.) after the final punctuation.
For more examples of how to reference electronic sources, please see:
APA Style Guidelines on the American Psychological Association website, Reference Examples.
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