Dalhousie University Libraries
APA Style Quick Guide (7th ed.)
This guide provides examples for selected research sources based on style recommendations from the Publication Manual
of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to APA style (7th ed., 2020). This replaces the 6th ed. (2010).
Contents:
Formatting Your Paper ............................................... 2
In-Text Citations and References ............................... 3
Author Variations and Title Descriptions ................... 5
1. Journal Articles ................................................... 6
2. Newspaper and Magazine Articles ..................... 6
3. Books and Open Educational Resources (OER) ... 7
4. Encyclopedias and Reference Materials............... 7
5. Reports ............................................................... 8
6. Conference Proceedings and Presentations ...... 8
7. Dissertations and Theses ..................................... 8
8. Data and Databases ............................................. 9
9. Film and Television ............................................ 9
10. Legal Acts/Statutes and Bills ............................... 9
11. Patents ................................................................ 9
12. Internet and Social Media...................................10
Write your paper using one of these fonts but use a
sans serif font for all graphics (APA, 2020, p. 44).
Serif: Georgia 11 Times New Roman 12
Sans serif: Arial 11 Calibri 11 Lucida 11
There are four basic components for all
APA references: A. (B). C. D.
The letters represent Who? When? What? Where?
A is the author, B is the date, C is the title, and
D provides source information (APA, 2020, p. 262).
The APA Style requires double-spacing between
ALL text lines, including References.
To save space and paper when printed, examples in
this guide have been formatted with single spacing.
TIP: See pages 3-4 for author variations, e.g., how to
write an in-text citation for 3 authors, a reference for
2311 authors, or what to do when no author is listed.
APA Style Guidelines and Grammar https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/
The academic community builds new knowledge, in part, by understanding what has already been written on a
subject. To put new research into the context of existing research, academics provide links to previously published works.
Sometimes, the citation links offer the context of the new work; at other times, the links give evidence of agreement,
disagreement, or novelty. In all situations, listing your sources enables readers to find the cited information. In other words,
citations are pathways between the current work and past works.
For academic writers to indicate pathways to past works, organizations and journals have created standardized
formats (often referred to as style guides) for in-text citations and reference lists (or references, or works cited, or
bibliography) (APA, 2020, p. 281). This Quick Guide supports APA Style by showing models of in-text citations and
reference lists. Read the preliminary notes to understand rules for spacing, punctuation, block quotations, and so on. For
specific content formatting (e.g., a chapter in an edited book), find the section and sub-heading modeling that material and
format your reference exactly as you see it. Additional information on this style can be found in more comprehensive style
guides (that are available at the bookstore, in the library, online at other universities, or at organization/journal websites).
Recently, in an effort to keep up with changing media and archiving practices, some organizations have established blogs.
APA Style Blog https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
2
FORMATTING YOUR PAPER
APA style requires that you use parenthetical citations to acknowledge quotations, paraphrases, summaries, and other
material from a source used in your paper. These correspond to the full bibliographic entries found in a list of references at
the end of your paper. To cite a source in the text of your assignment, indicate in parentheses the last name of the author(s),
or if there is no author, the first few words of the document title
1
, followed by the year of publication, and, if quoting, the
page number(s). The next two paragraphs show some sample in-text citations, followed by the corresponding references.
The APA Manual includes a 10-page sample student paper (2020, pp. 61-67) and provides two sample papers online.
In his classic study, Gardner (2004)
2
summarized the scepticism of current researchers and observers about
whether the messages presented in the Fourth Assessment Report were really about the end of the world as we know
it. His conclusion was that “anthropogenic global warming is occurring” (p. 22)
3
and human activities were to blame.
But four renowned researchers (Tannenbaum et al., 2005)
4
who re-analysed published data have rejected the
likelihood of human influence on recent climate change and concluded that:
The current climate change is natural. The close of the millennium was marked by a deep suspicion of
the natural world and an increasing reliance upon the pronouncements of soothsayers and visionaries,
who caused hysteria with their doom-laden forecasts of the end of humanity. (p. 184)
5
This has prompted some key influential organisations to hold non-committal positions on this issue. But in a
recent publication Cooper et al. (2009) positively identified the “human fingerprints” associated with climate changes
stating that “temperatures have risen compared to pre-1800 levels, and humans significantly influence the global
temperature” (p. 19). Al Gore echoed this in his presentation at Dalhousie University when he concluded that “we're
in for a planetary emergency unless we change the way we live now” (personal communication, May 3, 2010).
6
References
7
Cooper, M., Garzon, R., Palumbo, T., Bhatt, D., Alder, H., Calin, G. A., & Croce, C. (2009). Human fingerprints:
A knowledge evolution. Journal of Global Warming, 18(4), 11-35. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0600587103
8
Gardner, S. (2004). Anthropogenic global warming: How the world is changing. Morrow.
Tannenbaum, R. V., Leung, K., Sudha, J. R., & White, M. A. (2005). A re-examination of the notion of global
warming. Journal of the Environment, 20,
9
168-196.
1
Document titles with no authors are listed using italics for books and “quotation marks” for articles (APA, 2020, pp. 264-265).
2
In-text citations need to be within the sentence (as close to the source material as possible). The author can be separated from the year and page
number; this form is called a narrative citation. (More examples of parenthetical and narrative in-text citations are in this Quick Guide, p. 4.)
3
APA requires the page number(s) for direct quotations; they are optional (but very helpful) for paraphrases or summaries (APA, 2020, pp. 264, 269).
If the document has no page numbers, use paragraph numbers, e.g., (“Timeline,” 2019, para. 2).
4
When a source has three or more authors, use the first author's last name and "et al.", e.g., (Tannenbaum et al., 2005).
5
Place direct quotations of 40 words or more in a free-standing block and omit quotation marks. Position the page number after the period.
6
Personal communications, including interviews, emails, or lectures can be cited but are not included in the list of references.
7
Start the list of references on a new page. This list must be in alphabetical order.
8
Do not change the order of the authors. The first author for this research article is Ramiro Garzon, not Cooper. So the reference is incorrect, as is the
in-text citation; the citation should be Garzon et al., not Cooper et al. (Use the hyperlink to find other inaccuracies.)
9
Not all journals have an issue number; in this case use the volume number only.
Block
Quote
Hanging
indent
½ inch
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
3
IN-TEXT CITATIONS AND REFERENCES
In-text
Citations
(APA, 2020)
(Camm & Davenport, 2020)
(Kosslyn et al., 2010)
(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)
(APA, 2020, p. 288)
(Experimental Psychology, 1938)
(“Senate passes,” 2011)
(Anonymous, 1933)
(Bandura, 1982, as cited in Feist, 1998)
Notes
1
Use the name of the book, brochure, or report in your in-text citation when it has no identifiable author or editor.
2
Use the first few words of the title for articles, chapters, or web pages that have no identifiable author or editor.
References
1 to 20 authors
1
Camm, J. D., & Davenport, T. H. (2020, July 15). Data science, quarantined.
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/data-science-quarantined/
Kosslyn, S. M., Thompson, W. L., & Ganis, G. (2010). The case for mental
imagery. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179088.001.0001
More than 20
authors
2,3,4
Sirunyan, A. M., Tumasyan, A., Adam, W., Ambrogi, F., Asilar, E., Bergauer,
T., Brandstetter, J., Brondolin, E., Dragicevic, M., Erö, J., Escalante
Del Valle, A., Flechl, M., Friedl, M., Frühwirth, R., Ghete, V. M.,
Hrubec, J., Jeitler, M., Krammer, N., Krätschmer, I., . . . Woods, N.
(2018). Measurement of differential cross sections for Z boson
production in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at
√
𝑠 = 13 TeV. The European Physical Journal C, 78(11), Article 965.
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6373-0
Organization as
author
5
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
No author for books,
brochures, and reports
Experimental Psychology. (1938). Holt.
No author for articles,
chapters, or webpages
Senate passes bill to stop shark finning in U.S. (2011, January). Sea
Technology, 52(1), 51.
An author named
Anonymous
6
Anonymous. (1933). The Spanish Republic: A survey of two years’ progress.
Eyre and Spottiswoode.
Notes
1
For exactly 20 or fewer authors, list all authors and include an ampersand (&) before the last author’s name.
2
Include the DOI if one exists, even if you read the print version of the article.
3
List the first 19 authors, followed by an ellipsis (. . .) then end with the last author. This paper has 2,311 authors!
4
This article appears in an online journal that numbers each article but paginates each article from page 1. When there is both
an article number and a page range, only use the article number (APA, 2020, p. 294).
5
(ed.) indicates an edition, whereas (Ed.) is an editor and (Eds.) specifies editors (APA, 2020, p. 321).
6
Use this only when the author chooses to sign their writing as Anonymous. This is not the same as having no author.
When selecting your final citations and references, be sure that:
• every source that has informed your thinking is both cited and referenced (APA, 2020, p. 253).
• references in the list have at least one in-text citation (APA, 2020, p. 262).
• in-text citations flag exact locations where you relied on source materials to strengthen your written assignment.
• references describe details of the works that correspond to your citations (APA, 2020, p. 262).
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
4
In-text citations can be either parenthetical or narrative (APA, 2020, pp. 262-263, 266). The examples below show a
variety of ways you can create in-text citations for quotations and paraphrases. Note that the source cited is imaginary.
QUOTATION EXAMPLES (page numbers required)
Author(s)
Parenthetical citations
Narrative citations
1 author
“Writers need clear thinking
to produce clear writing”
(Beals, 2020, p. 5).
Writing is difficult because
“writers need clear thinking
to produce clear writing”
(Beals, 2020, p. 5).
Beals (2020) noted that “writers need clear thinking to produce clear
writing” (p. 5).
In 2020, Beals noted that “writers need clear thinking to produce clear
writing” (p. 5).
Writing is difficult because, as Beals (2020) noted, “writers need clear
thinking to produce clear writing” (p. 5).
2 authors
“Writers need clear thinking
to produce clear writing”
(Beals & Smith, 2020, p. 5).
Writing is difficult because
“writers need clear thinking
to produce clear writing”
(Beals & Smith, 2020, p. 5).
Beals and Smith (2020) noted that “writers need clear thinking to produce
clear writing” (p. 5).
Beals and Smith (2020, p. 5) noted that “writers need clear thinking to
produce clear writing”.
Writing is difficult because, as Beals and Smith (2020) noted, “writers
need clear thinking to produce clear writing” (p. 5).
3 or more
authors
“Writers need clear thinking
to produce clear writing”
(Beals et al., 2020, p. 5).
Writing is difficult because
“writers need clear thinking
to produce clear writing”
(Beals et al., 2020, p. 5).
Beals et al. (2020) noted that “writers need clear thinking to produce clear
writing” (p. 5).
Beals and colleagues (2020) noted that “writers need clear thinking to
produce clear writing” (p. 5).
In 2020, Beals et al. noted that “writers need clear thinking to produce
clear writing” (p. 5).
Writing is difficult because, as Beals and colleagues (2020, p. 5) noted,
“writers need clear thinking to produce clear writing”.
PARAPHRASING EXAMPLES (page numbers not required)
1 author
To write well, an author
needs a good understanding
of the topic (Beals, 2020).
Beals (2020) noted that to write well an author needs a good
understanding of the topic.
In 2020, Beals noted that to write well an author needs a good
understanding of the topic.
2 authors
To write well, an author
needs a good understanding
of the topic (Beals & Smith,
2020).
Beals and Smith (2020) noted that to write well an author needs a good
understanding of the topic.
In 2020, Beals and Smith noted that to write well an author needs a good
understanding of the topic.
3 or more
authors
To write well, an author
needs a good understanding
of the topic (Beals et al.,
2020).
Writing is difficult because
an author needs a good
understanding of the topic
in order to write well (Beals
et al., 2020).
Beals et al. (2020) noted that to write well an author needs a good
understanding of the topic.
Beals and colleagues (2020) noted that to write well an author needs a
good understanding of the topic.
In 2020, Beals et al. noted to write well an author needs a good
understanding of the topic.
Writing is difficult because, as Beals and colleagues (2020) noted, to
write well an author needs a good understanding of the topic.
Note
There are many more ways than these examples to write your own parenthetical and narrative in-text citations.
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
5
AUTHOR VARIATIONS (APA, 2020, pp. 286-287)
Examples
Author’s Name
APA Style (invert and shorten)
Simple names
James Warton
Hui Teng
Warton, J.
Teng, H.
Middle names or initials
Rajiv Mohan Gupta
1
Karolina Andersson Sundell
1
Juan Antonio Lopez Ferez
1
Simeon C. Ntafos
Gupta, R. M.
Andersson Sundell, K.
Lopez Ferez, J. A.
Ntafos, S. C.
Hyphenated names
Abdul-Kadim Hay’awi
Jo-Ann Tilton
Jo-ann Bradley
Lori Lee-Penney
Hay’awi, A.-K.
Tilton, J.-A.
Bradley, J.
Lee-Penney, L.
Names with position prefix or suffix
Exceptions
Elder Shirley Williams
James John Jr. Bisogni
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
Pope Francis
Dr. Seuss
Williams, S.
Bisogni, J. J. Jr.
King, M. L., Jr.
Pope Francis.
Dr. Seuss.
Celebrity names (do not change)
Beyoncé
Lady Gaga
Beyoncé.
Lady Gaga.
Duplicate names
Richard Richards
Li Li
Richards, R.
Li, L.
Retain lowercase
(APA, 2020, p. 346)
Andrew Van de Ven
Theo van de Ven
e. e. cummings
Van de Ven, A.
van de Ven, T.
cummings, e. e.
Cultural knowledge required
Bin Chen (in an English journal)
Chen Bin (in a Chinese journal)
Qwul’sih’yah’maht/Robina Thomas
Chen, B.
Chen, B.
Qwul’sih’yah’maht [Thomas, R.].
Note
1
Sometimes you cannot tell if the middle name is part of the given name or part of the surname.
Search beyond the journal to find out how to cite an author’s name, e.g., university websites.
TITLE DESCRIPTIONS (useful when items are not articles, books, or reports)
Author
Date
Title
Source
Villeneuve, D. (Director).
(2010).
Incendies [Film].
micro_scope.
The APA Manual uses even more descriptions than the ones shown below.
[Audiobook].
[Audio podcast].
[Audio podcast episode].
[Code book].
[Computer software].
[Data set].
[Editorial].
[Film].
[Google map].
[Grant].
[Image].
[Infographic].
[Lab manual].
[Lecture notes].
[Map].
[Mobile app].
[Painting].
[Photograph].
[Poster presentation].
[PowerPoint slides].
[Press release].
[Review of book Title].
1
[Review of film Title].
1
[Song].
[Special section].
[Speech].
[Symposium].
[Translation].
[TV series].
[TV series episode].
[Tweet].
[Video].
[Webinar].
[Doctoral dissertation, University].
2
[Master’s thesis, University].
2
[Unpublished doctoral dissertation].
[Unpublished master’s thesis].
[Unpublished manuscript].
[Unpublished data].
Notes
1
Include actual title of book or film being reviewed, e.g., [Review of film Incendies].
2
Provide the name of the university, e.g., [Doctoral dissertation, Dalhousie University].
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
6
Use a hanging indent and double-spacing for all References (APA, 2020, p. 46).
1. JOURNAL ARTICLES (APA, 2020, pp. 317-319)
REFERENCES
Online with DOI
1
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., Hassabis, D., Martin, V. C., Spreng, R. N., & Szpunar, K. K.
(2012). The future of memory: Remembering, imagining, and the brain. Neuron, 76(4),
677-694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.001
Sirunyan, A. M., Tumasyan, A., Adam, W., Ambrogi, F., Asilar, E., Bergauer, T.,
Brandstetter, J., Brondolin, E., Dragicevic, M., Erö, J., Escalante Del Valle, A., Flechl,
M., Friedl, M., Frühwirth, R., Ghete, V. M., Hrubec, J., Jeitler, M., Krammer, N.,
Krätschmer, I., . . . Woods, N. (2018). Measurement of differential cross sections for
Z boson production in association with jets in proton-proton collisions at
√
𝑠 = 13 TeV. The European Physical Journal C, 78(11), Article 965.
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-018-6373-0
Posted on an
accessible website
without DOI
2
Ashe, D. D., & McCutcheon, L. E. (2001). Shyness, loneliness, and attitude toward celebrities.
Current Research in Social Psychology, 6(9), 124-132.
https://uiowa.edu/crisp/sites/uiowa.edu.crisp/files/6.9.pdf
Print
3
Sawyer, J. (1966). Measurement and prediction, clinical and statistical. Psychological Bulletin,
66(3), 178-200. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0023624
Advance online
publication
4
Rajasekar, M. (2021). Recent development in fluorescein derivatives. Journal of Molecular
Structure. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molstruc.2020.129085
Notes
1
Use the secure URL by putting https://doi.org/ in front of the DOI, in this case (10.1016/j.neuron.2012.11.001).
You can choose to shorten a long DOI at http://shortdoi.org/ (APA, 2020, p. 300).
2
If a DOI does not yet exist, look for one using the Crossref website, https://www.crossref.org/guestquery/
3
Printed articles may be assigned a DOI; if so, you should include this in your reference.
4
Articles available online ahead of printed journal dates can be used and cited (APA, 2020, pp. 258, 318).
2. NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES (APA, 2020, p. 320)
REFERENCES
Newspaper article
from newspaper’s
website
1,2
Ellis-Petersen, H. (2017, March 29). Don't think twice, oh, all right: Bob Dylan finally
agrees to collect Nobel prize. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/29/bringing-it-all-back-home-bob-
dylan-finally-agrees-to-collect-nobel-prize
News article from a
news website
1
Litterman, B. (2020, September 21). Wildfires have devastated my city. CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/21/perspectives/wildfires-climate-change-carbon-tax/
Magazine article
1,2
Deisseroth, K. (2016, October). A look inside the brain. Scientific American, 315(4), 30-37.
Book Review
1,2
Gleick, E. (2000, December 14). The burdens of genius [Review of the book The last samurai,
by H. DeWitt]. Time, 156, 171.
Article with
no author
1,2,3,4,5
Timeline: A post-colonial history of Boat Harbour. (2019, December 12). The Chronicle
Herald [Halifax, NS, Canada].
Editorial in print
6
Sovereignty in the human presence [Editorial]. (2011, February 21). The Globe and Mail, A9.
Notes
1
Give as full a date as possible. Do not shorten the names of months, e.g., (2000, March 14).
2
Do not include academic database names, such as CINAHL, Factiva, JSTOR or PsycINFO (APA, 2020, p. 297),
and do not copy URLs that are not retrievable (e.g., containing ezproxy, a session identifier, ProQuest, or Ebsco).
3
Reference articles without authors by the first words of their titles : (“Timeline,” 2019).
4
When the article includes headings, the paragraph count renumbers from 1: (“Timeline,” 2019, 1980s, para.1).
5
If doubt may exist, provide more information, e.g., The Times [London, England]; for geographic locations, use 2-
letter abbreviations for Canadian provinces and US states but spell out country names (APA, 2020, pp. 297, 314).
6
Clearly identify an editorial in your references (APA, 2020, pp. 320-321).
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
7
3. BOOKS AND OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) (APA, 2020, pp. 321-325)
REFERENCES
Electronic/ebook
1
with DOI
Avgerou, C. (2003). Information systems and global diversity. Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263424.001.0001
Electronic,
without DOI
Glosser, S. L. (2003). Chinese visions of family and state, 1915-1953. University of
California Press. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.04248.0001.001
Print/pbook
1
Avgerou, C. (2002). Information systems and global diversity. Oxford University Press.
Religious book, title
starting with “The”
2
The Qur'an (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Trans.). (2004). Oxford University Press.
The Torah: The five books of Moses. (1999). Jewish Publication Society of America.
Print, with an editor
3
Updike, J. (Ed.). (1999). The best American short stories of the century. Houghton Mifflin.
Print, when citing a
chapter
Rubenstein, J. P. (1967). The effect of television violence on small children. In B. F. Kane
(Ed.), Television and juvenile psychological development (pp. 112-134). American
Psychological Society.
Print, when citing a
work from an
anthology
Jung, C. G. (1990). On the nature and functioning of the psyche. In V. S. de Laszlo & R. F.
C. Hull (Eds.), The basic writings of C. G. Jung (pp. 15-35). Princeton University
Press. (Original work published 1947)
Print, a translation
Freud, S. (1970). An outline of psycho-analysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). Norton. (Original work
published 1940)
No publication date
4
Smith, J. (n.d.). Morality in masquerade. Churchill.
OER,
with an author
Freedman, B. (2018). Environmental Science. Dalhousie Libraries Digital Editions.
https://digitaleditions.library.dal.ca/environmentalscience/
OER,
with an editor
5
Stevens, L. (Ed.). (2020). Introduction to psychology & neuroscience. Dalhousie Libraries
Digital Editions. Retrieved March 31, 2021, from
https://digitaleditions.library.dal.ca/intropsychneuro/
Notes
1
The same title may exist in both formats (electronic/ebook and print/pbook); you should cite the one used.
2
Titles beginning with The but no author are alphabetized by the second word, e.g., Q and T (APA, 2020, p. 325).
3
Use (Eds.) instead of (Ed.) when there is more than one editor (APA, 2020, pp. 287, 321).
4
Use (n.d.) in place of a year when the work has no listed date of publication (APA, 2020, p. 291).
5
Provide a retrieval date for online content that can change over time.
4. ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND REFERENCE MATERIALS (APA, 2020, p. 328)
In-text citation
1
(“Acer saccharum,” 2004)
REFERENCES
Electronic, with
DOI
2
Levi, D. M. (2010). Amblyopia. In D. A. Dartt et al. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the eye
(pp. 63-66). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374203-2.00243-8
Electronic, without
DOI
2
Tolan, J. (2011). Petrus Alfonsi. In P. Bearman, et al. (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.).
http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-6120
Print, signed
entry
2,3
Mackintosh, N. J. (2010). Animal learning. In D. H. Hoiberg (Ed.), Encyclopaedia Britannica:
Vol. 22 (15th ed., pp. 854-869). Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Print, unsigned
entry
1,2
Acer saccharum [sugar maple]. (2004). In G. Sternberg (Ed.), Native trees for North
American landscapes (pp. 56-59). Timber Press.
Notes
1
Genus and species names are italicized, unless within an already italicized title (where reverse italicization is used)
(APA, 2020, pp. 170-171).
2
Find the editors’ names in the first volume of the series. If the author of the entry is identified only by initials,
then look for a list of author names in the encyclopedia index. If neither a name nor initials appear in the entry,
then cite the entry according to its title.
3
Provide volume and page information when provided.
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
8
5. REPORTS (APA, 2020, pp. 329-331)
REFERENCES
Industry report
from a database
1
MarketLine. (2018, February 14). Australia: Food and grocery retail. MarketLine Advantage
database.
Company report
from a database
Mergent, Inc. (2017, December 31). Facebook Inc (NMS: FB): Company profile. Mergent
Online database.
Report from a
company website
Microsoft Corp. (2019). Annual report. https://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar19/
Notes
1
APA uses Title: Subtitle even when the database places a hyphen between the Title - Subtitle.
6. CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS AND PRESENTATIONS (APA, 2020, pp. 332-333)
REFERENCES
Electronic,
presentation
1,2,3
Wiggins, C. & Bauer, A. (2019, November 4-6). Data science at The New York Times
[Conference presentation]. PyData NYC 2019, New York, NY, United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n07q-rZTLTw
Electronic,
proceedings
1,3
Kao, J. T., Wu, J. Y., Bergen, L., & Goodman, N. D. (2014). Nonliteral understanding of
number words. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 111(33),
12002-12007. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1407479111
Print,
proceedings
2,4
Etoroma, E. E. (1997). Black community building in Hamilton: Problems and prospects. In
J. Cohnstaedt & Y. Frenette (Eds.), Canadian cultures and globalization: Selected
proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Association for Canadian Studies
(pp. 107-118). Association for Canadian Studies.
Unpublished,
poster
3
Kirk, J. T., & Mulder, F. W. (2004, May 22). Science fiction on television: A study [Poster
presentation]. Meeting of the Science Fiction Association, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Notes
1
Conference sessions and presentations should list both the location and full date range of the conference.
2
Numbers indicating a sequence should not be superscripted (9th rather than 9
th
).
3
For all cities, name the country; add 2-letter abbreviations for cities in provinces or states (APA, 2020, p. 297).
4
Proceedings published in book format are cited like a book chapter.
7. DISSERTATIONS AND THESES (APA, 2020, pp. 333-334)
REFERENCES
Electronic, from a
database
1
Clark, J. (2017). Black lives matter as “social movement”: Theorizing the materiality of
movement of the social (Publication No. 10601812) [Master’s thesis, Colorado
State University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.
Electronic, from an
institutional
repository
2
Doelle, M. (2014). From hot air to action? Climate change, compliance and the future of
international environmental law. [Doctoral dissertation, Dalhousie University].
http://hdl.handle.net/10222/54723
Print, obtained from
a university
3
Carlson, W. R. (1977). Dialectic and rhetoric in Pierre Bayle. [Unpublished doctoral
dissertation]. Yale University.
Notes
1
UMI Dissertation Publishing generates unique numbers for each doctoral dissertation and master's thesis.
2
The Handle System provides unique URLs (making it similar to the DOI System).
3
Dissertations and theses not indexed in a database are “unpublished” (APA, 2020, p. 334).
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
9
8. DATA AND DATABASES (APA, 2020, pp. 337-338)
In-text citation
1
(NM_006538.4, 2019)
REFERENCES
Electronic,
data
Statistics Canada. (2019). Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY) [Data set].
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200723/dq200723a-cansim-eng.htm
Electronic,
record in a
database
1
NM_006538.4. (2019, January 27). Homo sapiens BCL2 like 11 (BCL2L11), transcript variant 6,
mRNA (Nucleotide) [Database]. National Library of Medicine, National Center for
Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/NM_006538.4
Electronic,
systematic
review
2
Noone, C., McSharry, J., Smalle, M., Burns, A., Dwan, K., Devane, D., & Morrissey, E. C. (2020).
Video calls for reducing social isolation and loneliness in older people: A rapid review.
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD013632
Notes
1
Sequence data from NCBI databases use accession numbers (include version number if listed) in place of authors.
2
The name of this database is italicized, but the name of the article is not italicized (APA, 2020, p. 319).
9. FILM AND TELEVISION (APA, 2020, pp. 341-343)
REFERENCES
Film
Wallace, H. B. (Producer), & Curtiz, M. (Director). (1942). Casablanca [Film].
Warner Brothers.
Television series
episode or webisode
Olien, D. (Writer & Director). (2020, July 10). Iceland (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series
episode]. In D. Olien (Producer), Down to earth with Zac Efron. Netflix.
10. LEGAL ACTS/STATUTES AND BILLS (APA, 2020, pp. 355-368)
1
In-text citation
2
(Cannabis Act, 2018)
REFERENCES
Electronic,
Act
2
Assisted Human Reproduction Act (S.C. 2004, c. 2). https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-13.4
Cannabis Act. (S.C. 2018, c. 16). https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-24.5
Electronic,
Bill
3
Bill C-14, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts
(medical assistance in dying). 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (2016).
https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-14/royal-assent
Notes
1
APA Chapter 11 provides American and United Nations examples, but The Bluebook includes Canadian examples in an
appendix. More examples are in the Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (referred to as the McGill Guide).
2
Names of Acts are not italicized.
3
For Bills, the order to use for these three basic components is: Title. Source. (Date).
11. PATENTS (APA, 2020, p. 366)
REFERENCES
Electronic or
Print
1
Lemelson, J. H. (1981). Adhesive bandage (U.S. Patent No. 4,285,338). U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=4285338
Note
1
Including the URL of a patent is optional but useful; it contains the patent number without embedded commas.
Dalhousie University Libraries. (2022, November). APA Style Quick Guide, 7th ed.
10
Think about whether using internet sources is appropriate. See Dal Libraries’ 6 Criteria for Websites (Evaluating and Checklist).
12. INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA MATERIALS (APA, 2020, pp. 348-351)
REFERENCES
Personal homepage
1
Atwood, M. (2020). Home. http://margaretatwood.ca/
Online community
(including blogs)
1
Lee, C. (2020, March 13) New reference examples on the APA Style website. APA Style.
https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/reference-examples
Blog post
1
Stafford, T. (2018, February 25). A graph that is made by perceiving it. Mind Hacks.
https://mindhacks.com/2018/02/25/
Online comment to
a post or article
1,2
van der Hiel, A. (2018, February 25). Re: A graph that is made by perceiving it [Comment].
https://mindhacks.com/2018/02/25/a-graph-that-is-made-by-perceiving-it/#comments
Tweet
1,2
Nye, B. [@BillNye]. (2019, July 29). Spoiler alert: It’s not carbonation, it’s nitrogenation!
[Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/BillNye/status/1155918324779192320
Instagram image
3,4,5
Symphony Nova Scotia [@symphonyns]. (2020, July 6). Learn more about the ins and outs of
a symphony orchestra with our Symphony 101 video series [Photograph]. Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTvmSxBCQ3/?igshid=104isa2ukenf9
Instagram video
3,4,5,6
Pier 21 [@pier21_quai21]. (2020, July 1). Mawita’nej (Let us Gather/Rassemblons-nous). Our
special #CanadaDay music video brought so many of us together, even while [Video].
Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CCHcUD3gB07/?igshid=14d2rj0ciik2
Website of an
organization or
government body
1,7
World Health Organization. (2021, August 19). West Africa COVID-19 deaths surge amid
Ebola and other outbreaks. https://www.afro.who.int/news/west-africa-covid-19-
deaths-surge-amid-ebola-and-other-outbreaks
Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry. (2018). Biodiversity data and information.
https://novascotia.ca/natr/wildlife/biodiversity/
Podcast
1
Vedantam S. (Host). (2015-present). Hidden brain [Audio podcast]. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain
Podcast episode
1
Vedantam S. (Host). (2020, May 29). The time machine: How nostalgia prepares us for the
future [Audio podcast episode]. In Hidden brain. NPR.
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/29/865143353/the-time-machine-how-nostalgia-prepares-
us-for-the-future
Online video from
YouTube
8
TED. (2007, January 6). Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
TED Talk video
8
Robinson, K. (2006, February). Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? [Video]. TED
Conferences. http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity
PowerPoint
presentation
Geist, M. (2017, November 8). The challenges of open [PowerPoint slides]. SlideShare.
https://www.slideshare.net/FWD50/dr-michael-geist-fwd50-2017-breakout-the-
challenges-of-open
Online map
9,10
Google. (n.d.). [Google Maps directions for driving from Halifax, NS, Canada, to Truro, NS,
Canada]. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://goo.gl/maps/wvBFV67Bax6Zp1qL7
Notes
1
Use the most detailed date provided, which could be the (year), (year, month), or (year, month day); hyperlinks
for DOIs and URLs are allowed (APA, 2020, p. 299).
2
Include user screen names in addition to the author’s real name if known.
3
In addition to the reference, you need to consider copyright permissions (APA, 2020, pp. 346, 384-390).
4
Include up to the first 20 words of the posted content as the title (APA, 2020, p. 348).
5
Reference images and videos from TikTok and Twitter the same way as for Instagram.
6
Reverse italicization is used for other language words contained in an italicized title (APA, 2020, pp. 170-171).
7
Use author name(s) if listed, or the non-abbreviated organization name or government body (APA, 2020, p. 268).
8
Both references point to the same talk but it is accessible on two different platforms (APA, 2020, pp. 343-344).
9
When using dynamic web applications and the date is not defined, use n.d. (APA, 2020, p. 291).
10
Retrieval dates are only included if the information may change at a different time (APA, 2020, pp. 290, 347).