Citations provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each source you use. When you use someone else's words or ideas in your papers, you should create an In-text citation within your paper and a References List citation at the end of the paper. Each In-text citation should lead to a References List citation, and each References List citation should come from an In-text citation.
Use the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) (print format) and/or the Concise APA Handbook: 7th Edition (ebook format) to correctly cite your sources and format your research papers.
Help from the American Psychological Association
Use the American Psychological Association's APA Style website for help with formatting your citations and your paper:
Student Papers
References List
References List - Examples:
- Textual Works: periodicals, books and reference works, reports, dissertations and theses, conference presentations, etc.
- Online Media: websites and webpages, social media, etc.
- Audiovisual Media: films, TV, podcasts, course lectures or slides, etc.
- Datasets
- Assessments, tests, and measures (refers to APA 6th ed., but the rules are the same as for 7th ed.)
- SPSS Software: cite this like you would a book. Example:
- References List: IBM Corp (2021). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (29th version). Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
- In-Text: (IBM Corp., 2021)