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.
APA format: Author. (Date).Title (Month Day version) [Additional Descriptions ]. Source
Author: The author of the model.
Date: The year of the version.
Title: The name of the model. The version number is included after the title in parentheses.
Bracketed text: References for additional descriptions
Source: When the publisher and author names are identical, omit the publisher name in the source element of the reference and proceed directly to the URL.
APA reference entry:
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Feb 13 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com
APA in-text citation:
(OpenAI, 2023)
Examples:
Example 1 from APA Guideline
When prompted with “Is the left brain right brain divide real or a metaphor?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that although the two brain hemispheres are somewhat specialized, “the notation that people can be characterized as ‘left-brained’ or ‘right-brained’ is considered to be an oversimplification and a popular myth” (OpenAI, 2023).
Reference
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
Example 2 from APA Guideline
When given a follow-up prompt of “What is a more accurate representation?” the ChatGPT-generated text indicated that “different brain regions work together to support various cognitive processes” and “the functional specialization of different regions can change in response to experience and environmental factors” (OpenAI, 2023; see Appendix A for the full transcript).
Reference
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat
For more examples of how to reference electronic sources, please see:
APA Style Guidelines on the American Psychological Association website, Reference Examples.
or visit APA Formatting and Style Guide," at the OWL at Purdue website, APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition) - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University
