How to Cite Films and Documentaries in APA Style

Citing short and full-length feature films is similar to citing TV shows (link). A number of referencing styles require you to include the name of the film director, producer, distributor and year of release. This also applies to the APA referencing system.

Based on the APA style guide, we recommend you use the following structure.

APA Film and Documentary citation format:

Producer Last Name, Initials. (Producer), & Director Last Name, Initials. (Director). (Year). Film title [Motion picture]. Country of origin: Studio.

Welles, O. (Producer and Director). (1941). Citizen Kane [Motion Picture]. USA: RKO Radio Pictures.


Ruddy, A. (Producer), & Coppola, F. (Director). (1972). The Godfather [Motion Picture]. USA: Paramount Pictures.


Thomas, E. (Producer), & Nolan, C. (Director). (2010). Inception [Motion Picture]. USA: Legendary Pictures.

How to Cite Books in APA Style

When citing a book or source with a single author, students are required to invert author names (last name provided first) and write the first name as an initial.

For example, the reference list entry for a source written by David Ricardo would begin with “Ricardo, D.” and one for a piece written by Karl Marx would begin with “Marx, K.”

After proving the author’s name, students are required to display the following:

Overall, a reference entry should appear as follows:

Last name, initial. (Year published). Title (Edition). City published: Publisher.

Kuhn, T. (2012). The Structure of Scientific Revolution (4th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Saunders, G. (2017) Lincoln in the Bardo (1st ed.). New York: Random House.

Wootton, G. (1970) Interest-groups (1st ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Remember: Reference lists should be ordered alphabetically on the basis of the last name of the authors of each work. Should an author appear multiple times, students are required to list entries in chronological order, from earliest to the most recent.

When citing a book or source with two or more authors, students are required to follow the same formatting as when citing a book from a single author; namely, inverting author names (last name provided first) and writing the first name as an initial, before displaying the following:

For in-text citations, when referring to a source with more than three authors, students can use the Latin term “et alia” (which means “and others” and is abbreviated to “et al.”). This abbreviation cannot be used for reference lists however, as students are required to name all the authors, even if there are a dozen of them.

A book with two or more authors will appear as follows:

Author 1 , Author 2 & Author 3 (Year published). Title (Edition). Publisher.

Arciero, G. & Bondolfi, G. (2009) Selfhood, Identity and Personality Styles (1st ed.). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Gravelle, H. & Rees, R. (1981) Microeconomics (1st ed.). London: Longman.

Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. (1967) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (1st ed.). New York: Anchor.

Citing chapters in edited books and anthologies is more complicated than citing books written by one or even multiple authors, as you are required to reference both the chapter’s authors and the anthology’s editors.

Notice however that the chapter title is not italicized to distinguish it from the book’s title:

Last name, initial. (Year). Chapter Title. In Editor Name (ed(s)) Book Title (Edition). City: Publisher.

Forester, J. (2008). Policy Analysis as Critical Listening. In Moran, M. et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lyons, T. & Jolley, D. (2018). Post-independence Africa. In Binns, T. et al. (eds) The Routledge Handbook of African Development (1st ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.

Rosenfeld, J. & Laird, J. (2016). Unions and Poverty. In Brady, D & Burton, L. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Poverty (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

How to cite Artworks in APA Style | Perlego

Keep in mind that the citation of an original work of art differs significantly from an image from a secondary source, such as a book or website.


When citing artwork, you are required to provide the artist’s name, the title of the artwork and the date of composition. You are also required to cite the gallery or museum that houses the artwork followed by the location of that institution.


Last Name, Initial. (Year). Title [Medium]. Museum, City, Country.

Da Vinci, L. (1503). Mona Lisa [Painting]. Louvre Museum, Paris, France.

Pollock, J. (1946). Eyes in the Heat [Painting]. Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy.

Michelangelo (1504). David [Sculpture] Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, Italy.

In addition to the traditional referencing list entry, it’s a good idea to include a picture of the work. You can do this in the bibliography or directly in the text.

How to cite Artworks in APA Style

How to Cite Emails and Interviews in APA Style

Any communication that cannot be retrieved by a reader – such as a private interview, email, or telephone conversation – is cited as a personal communication.

To cite a personal communication you will need the following:

Medium of communication (email, text, Skype, etc.)

Personal communication format: Harvard style

Author/Sender/Speaker Surname, Initial(s). (Year of communication) Medium of communication to Receiver of communication, Day Month of communication.

Hardy, D. (2021) Email to George Owen, 11 February.

Broadchurch, C. (2022) Text message to Clive Woods, 7 March.

How to Cite Court Cases in APA Style

Legal citations can be difficult as their format varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. You will notice that the formatting of American and French case law differs, for example.

Case law citation formats can also vary within a country. This is the case in the US, as federal and state courts have different formats and abbreviations.

When citing court cases, you should capture the most important information and present it in a clear, straightforward and uniform manner. Traditionally, when citing using the APA format, we recommend that you gather the following information:

And the APA citation structure is as follows.

Case Name [Year] Case Source (Name of the Court)

People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson [1994] BA097211 (Los Angeles County Superior Court)

Brown v. Board of Education [1954] 374 U.S. 483 (Supreme Court of the United States)

Batson v. Kentucky [1986] 476 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court of the United States)

How to Write In-Text Citations in APA Style

In text citations are references to other sources that are quoted or referenced in your work. These should be placed directly within the text to ensure that readers can acknowledge that quotes or ideas have been borrowed from others, without having to flip through to the reference list.

In-text citations are very brief to avoid disrupting the flow of the paragraph in which they appear. They provide the information needed to identify the ‘full’ reference in the reference list or bibliography at the end of your paper. The full reference gives the reader the information they need to find the original source you cited.

How to use in-text citations in APA Style

Unlike the Harvard Referencing style, in text citations in the APA format appear directly before the quote or idea that has been paraphrased. They inform the reader of the name of the author and of the year of publication.

Students may also choose to include a page number or page range where applicable, to direct readers to a specific extract. The page number is placed between brackets and located directly after the extract.

In-text citations for a single author should appear as follows:

If the author’s name is not included in the text it must be included in parentheses after the quotation or extract, as follows:

It is important to note that “p.” is used for a single page and “pp.” followed by a range of pages (pp. 83-89) is used to cite multiple pages.

In-text citations for two or three authors

In-text citations with two or three authors are very similar to single author citations. They appear in parentheses directly after a quote or paraphrased idea and notify the reader of the original authors and of the year of publication.

You should cite all of the authors followed by the year of publication:

Sanger, Nicklen & Couslon (1977) suggested… (p.54)

Chomczynski & Sacchi (1985) made the case… (p.71)

Again, if the authors’ names are not cited directly in the text, they must be included in parentheses after the quotation or extract, as follows:

(Author 1, Author 2 & Author 3, Date, Page(s))

In-text citations for four or more authors

Academic research can take years to accomplish and teams may be composed of  dozens of researchers, all having contributed directly to the end product.

Thankfully, you don’t need to cite every single contributor.

When referring to a source with multiple authors, you can use the Latin term “et alia” which means “and others” and is abbreviated to “et al.” Keep in mind that the “al” in “et al.” is always followed by a full stop:

Similar to in-text citations with from a single or fewer than three authors, if the authors’ names are not cited directly in the text, they must be included in parentheses after the quotation or extract, as follows:

The APA style book states the period is followed by a comma.

It is also important to respect the APA referencing format when referencing a piece published by a corporate author or organization.

You must replace an unspecified individual author with a corporate name, both within the text and within the reference list at the end of your piece.

This rule applies to companies, organizations, societies and government departments:

Keep in mind, if the organization is not cited directly in the text, it must be included in parentheses after the quotation or extract, as follows:

Students should do their upmost to gather a much information as is possible about their sources to acknowledge other people’s work and demonstrate the breadth and of their research. Based on the documentation they are working with, this can sometimes prove difficult. Some sources, such as website and archival documents, do not have clear timestamps. If a source doesn’t have a clear publication date, the APA citation style says that students can omit the date in the in-text citation.

Students should nevertheless attempt to provide all the information they have within the text, to contextualize their sources and to allow their readers to fully understand and even find their source material for themselves.

How to Cite Translated Books in APA Style

Translating a novel or report is a complicated endeavor and translators often leave their mark on the translated work. It is therefore important to highlight the translator’s contribution by including their name in the reference list.

To cite a translated work, it is important to include the following:

Last name, initial. (Year published).Title (Translator). City published: Publisher.

Dostoevsky, F. (1994). The Karamazov Brothers (I. Avsey, Trans). Oxford: Oxford World Classics.

Alighieri, D. (2012). The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso (R. Kirkpatrick, Trans). London: Penguin Classics.

Ludwig, E. (2005). Napoleon (E. Paul and C. Paul, Trans). London: Book Jungle

How to Cite Websites in APA Style

Referencing is becoming increasingly complex as students are leveraging new sources of information to build and strengthen their academic arguments.

A few decades ago, students would limit their research to books, academic journals and the written press. Nowadays, with the rise and democratization of the online search engines and digital media, Google, Wikipedia and online news outlets have become the first step in a student’s research process.

It is therefore natural that websites are now a significant part of referencing.

To cite websites, we recommend you use the following structure.

Last name, initial (Year, Month, Date). Page Title. Website name. URL

Hasen, R. (2020, June 29). Bring on the 28th Amendment. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/opinion/voting-rights.html

Lowrey, A. (2020, June 29). Close the Racial Gap with Baby Bonds. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/close-racial-wealth-gap-baby-bonds/613525/

Grant, J. (2020, June 28). Powell Has Become the Fed’s Dr. Feelgood. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/powell-has-become-the-feds-dr-feelgood-11593370222?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Using an Abstract with APA Citation Style

Abstract are quick summaries located between the title page and the beginning of your essay. They give readers a quick glimpse of your problem statement, arguments and conclusions.

As such, your readers are not obliged to delve into lengthy articles to find out whether or not they are relevant for their research. Creating powerful abstracts is therefore crucial to entice readers and to make sure they keep reading.

Do I need to write an abstract in APA style?

Student papers do not generally require one, unless teachers and professors specifically ask to have them included.
In case you need one, we’ve compiled a few suggestions to make sure your abstract has a powerful effect:

You should dedicate an entire page to the abstract.

It should be located directly after the title page.

The first line of the page should include the word “Abstract”. It should be centered and boldened.

Your abstract should summarize your entire paper but should remain concise and to the point. Keeping it under 10 sentences (or 250 words) is a good rule of thumb.

Favor the active voice (“The team observed the reaction”) as opposed to the passive voice (“The reaction was observed”).

How to Cite Speeches in APA Style

Students should not cite the speech in itself, but should cite the location where they found the speech. If the speech was found in a book, you should cite the book. And if the speech was found online, you should include the blog, the website, the podcast, or the video in the reference list.

How to Cite Theses or Reports in APA Style

Students should leverage unpublished theses and reports when writing their own academic papers. These can be found in student libraries and must be properly referenced to safeguard students from accusations of plagiarism.

To cite an unpublished thesis or report, it is important you include the following:

Last name, initial. (Year published).Title. [Thesis Level]. University.

Delor, P. (2015). Technology, Consumerism and Development: a study of collaborative consumerism and market relations in developing countries [MPhil Thesis]. Oxford University.

Robak, M. (2016). Practicing What We’re Taught: An Analysis of Pre-Clinical and Clinical Medical Education of Compassionate Care at Harvard Medical School [Doctor of Medicine Thesis]. Harvard University.

Kyei-Nimakoh, M. (2017). Management and referral of obstetric complications: a study in the upper east region of Ghana [PhD Thesis]. Victoria University.

How to Cite Music or Recordings in APA Style

Writing essays on music has its own stylistic conventions. No matter what style guide is used, it is important to be consistent, straightforward and clear across a variety of media. The APA stylebook requires that you gather the following information:

We then recommend you use the following APA structure.

Last name, initial (Year). Title [Medium]. Music Label, City, Country.

Pink Floyd (1979). The Wall [CD]. Columbia Records, London, UK.

Hootie & The Blowfish (1994). Cracked Rear View [CD]. Atlantic Records, North Hollywood, USA.

Jackson, M. (1982) Thriller [CD]. Repic Records, West Hollywood, USA.

How to Cite Religious Texts in APA Style

Religious texts differ from traditional books and academic journals. They are well known throughout the world and have been published numerous times and translated in multiple languages. Such citations do not require an author and are so well known that in-text citations are superfluous.

Based on the APA style guide, we recommend you include the following:

How to Cite Podcasts in APA Style

Podcasts cover a wide range of topics, can inspire research questions and can be a great source of information for a research paper.

To cite a podcast, it is important to include the following:

The author’s name or company which posted the content

Last name, initial OR corporate author (Year). Episode Title [Podcast]. Podcast Title.

Foley, A. (2020). Mr. Eastside [Podcast]. This American Life.

Gethard, C. (2020). A Bar Star Comes Out, Again [Podcast]. Beautiful Anonymous.

Dzotsi, E. (2020). The Least You Could Do [Podcast]. Reply All.

How to Cite Newspaper Articles in APA Style

Whether you cite daily, weekly or monthly publications; and whether the newspaper you have chosen to cite features articles on business, entertainment, politics or society, it is important that you locate the following information:

Last name, initial. (Year, month date of publication). Title for article. Newspaper. URL.

Schwartz, M. (2020, July 20). Stay Safe, Justice Ginsburg. New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/opinion/ruth-bader-ginsburg-health.html

Strauss, B. (2018, August 12). Ted Cruz’s Basketball Charm Offensive. The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/ted-cruzs-basketball-charm-offensive/567104/

Billen, A. (2019, September 13). David Cameron Interview: Boris, Brexit and the Referendum. The Times. Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-cameron-interview-boris-johnson-brexit-and-the-referendum-9gkxqghv9

What is APA Citation Style?

The American Psychological Association (APA) is an organisation at the forefront of psychological research in the United States. APA Style is a well-known and commonly adopted referencing system used by students, academics, and professionals across the globe.

APA Style provides a standardised method for referencing primary and secondary material in your academic work. This makes it easier for a reader to find and retrieve your cited material, while lending credibility to your own writing.

APA Style is the go-to referencing system for most scientific courses, so you’re likely to come across it if you enter the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, geology, and botany, amongst many others.

APA Style is a parenthetical referencing system that has two main features: in-text citations and a reference list. The in-text citation should correspond with the full-length entry in the reference list.

Students must include both in-text citations and a reference list to meet APA academic standards.

In-text citations appear in the main body of your essay. With all in-text citations you must include the author’s surname, the text’s publication date, and, if citing a direct quotation, the page number(s) of the quotation.

If you are citing an idea expressed in a source, place the author’s surname and year of publication, separated by a comma, in parenthesis.

In Discourse on Method Descartes invented analytic geometry (Descartes, 1637).

If you are quoting directly from the source, include the page number(s):

“I think therefore I am” (Descartes, 1637, p. 22).

Use the abbreviation “p.” when citing a single page and “pp.” for multiple pages:

“I think therefore I am” (Descartes, 1637, pp. 99-100).

For sources with no page numbers, include the paragraph number:

“I think therefore I am” (Descartes, 1637, para. 4).

An in-text citation should correspond with a fuller entry in the…

A reference list enables readers to retrieve any of the sources cited in your work. This list should be arranged alphabetically and located at the end of the essay.

The APA Style manual offers guidance on how you should design your title page – the first page of your assignment.

To create a title page in accordance with APA Style, ensure that you have included:

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you ace your title page:

Tip #1: The title of your essay should be as concise as possible, while still capturing your main argument or topic. Remove any superfluous words. For example, “Exploring How to Reduce Poverty in Guatemala” could be rephrased to “Reducing Poverty in Guatemala”.

Tip #2: Place your title 3 to 4 lines down from the top of the page. Make sure that it is in bold font, centred, and with all major words capitalised.  

Tip #3: Ensure that all text on your title page is double spaced. 

 Running heads contain a shortened form of your assignment’s title and are found at the top left page of your paper. In APA Style, running heads are not required for student papers, unless instructors explicitly request them.  

The APA’s entire guide is accessible here. However, we’ve developed our own guide that is shorter and packed with clear examples to help you master this referencing system. You can find individual sections of the guide in the menu.

How to Cite Youtube Videos in APA Style

Aside from the cat videos, beauty vlogs and viral challenges, YouTube is a powerful source of knowledge and numerous universities, research centers, think tanks and educators have created channels and regularly produce and distribute great content.

To cite a YouTube video, it is important you collect the following:

Last name, initial. (Year, month and day).Video Title [YouTube] Available at: URL

CNN Business. (2018, January 24). These are the most confusing questions Congress asked Zuckerberg [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHckZCxdRkA

Stanford. (2020, July 24). Drone copter to take flight for first time on Mars [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtAWNeVrnck

World Economic Forum. (2019, November 3). Innovation Skills and the Future of Jobs [YouTube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgI_z3ttFWs

How to Cite TV Shows in APA Style

The key to making good citations is to give credit to the right organization. A number of referencing styles require that you to include the film director, producer, distributor and year of release. The APA style guide has opted for a simpler structure.

Based on the APA guide, we recommend you use the following structure to cite TV shows.

Director (Director). (Year). Series Title [TV Programme]. City: Broadcaster.

Taylor, A. (Director). (2011). Game of Thrones” [TV Programme]. New York City: HBO.

Lespert, J. (Director). (2015). Versailles [TV Programme]. Paris: Canal Plus.

Mancuso, G. (Director). (2010). Modern Family [TV Programme]. New York City: ABC.

How to Write a Reference List Using APA Style

What are reference lists and bibliographies?

Both are a list of the sources which contributed to the creation of an academic work. If you’re writing one, it should be arranged alphabetically by author’s surname, and should be located at the end of your work.

What is the difference between a bibliography and a reference list?

The main difference is that a reference list includes all the sources that are directly cited in the text. Whereas a bibliography should reference all sources which contributed to the work, even if not cited in the text.

This includes those consulted for background reading, but which have either directly or indirectly influenced the work.

Bibliographies are therefore theoretically broader than reference lists but both terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Students should automatically include their reference lists in their bibliographies, and should provide bibliographies to avoid accusations of plagiarism.

In either case, both reference lists and bibliographies follow the same format and include the author(s), year of publication, title, edition, city published and publisher.

It is important to keep in mind that the place of publication and publisher name is only required for printed books, reports and similar sources. Additionally, ISBNs and DOIs aren’t a formal requirement and aren’t generally included in reference lists.

How to Cite Lecture Notes in APA Style

At most universities, student are not required to cite their lectures. Most often, courses are built on external, academic sources, and students are encouraged to cite those sources directly and to cut out the middleman.

Nevertheless, if you choose to cite lecture notes, the APA Style Guide recommends you use the following structure.

Last name, initial. (Year).Course Title [Lecture Notes]. Unit Name and Code, University.

Naughton, S. (2018). Seminar 7: Transforming Organizations: strategy, structure and design [Lecture Notes]. Organisation Change Management BMO6624, Victoria University.

Paulson, P. (2016). Week 2: The Nature of Culture [Lecture Notes]. Anthropology 101, Columbia College.

Foster, T. (2004). Balance Sheets [Lecture Notes]. Financial Accounting 101, The University of Western Australia.

How to Cite Blogs in APA Style

New forms of communication have become credible sources in academic settings and modern leaders, thinkers and academic often take to their computers to share their research, conclusions and thoughts through blogs.

APA Citation Guide