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EDUC: Education Research Resources

APA Help

APAStyle.org is the most reliable place online to get information about how to cite in this style, including help with in-text citations and your reference list, including lots of example citations for various types of sources.

You can also consult the APA Style Manual (in print) from the SCU Library.

Citing Articles

APAStyle has guidance for citing journal articles on their website.

To cite a journal article, you'll need the following information:

  • Author's name(s)  Last name first followed by first initial(s)
  • Year of publication  In parentheses
  • Title of article  First word, proper nouns, and word after a colon are capitalized
  • Title of publication  All words in italics
  • Volume number  In italics
  • Issue number  In parentheses, no italics
  • Page numbers  Without p. or the word "page" in front
  • DOI, when available  Ask a librarian if you need help finding this

Here's an example:

Larson, D. G., & Chastain, R. L. (1990). Self-concealment: Conceptualization, measurement, and health implications. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(4), 439455. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1990.9.4.439

Citing Other Sources

Here are links to examples of other frequently-cited items:

Books and book chapters:

Webpages and websites:

Reports:

Shortcuts

Database Citation Generators

Many library databases will generate citations for you. While the still need proofreading, they can save you some steps in building your bibliography.

Screenshot of the "Cite" button in an EBSCO database, which appears as a quotation mark in the upper right-hand corner above the article title.

Screenshot of a generated citation in an EBSCO database. Selecting the APA 7 style option generates a citation.


Online Citation Generators

Most online citation generators are not recommended, as they require more revision to get accurate citations. Always double-check citations from these sources!

One recommended citation generator is ZoteroBib. A tool from the open citation manager Zotero, ZoteroBib is noncommercial (no ads), free, and helps you build individual citations or bibliographies for your paper or project.