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Citation Guides for Engineers

American Psychological Association (APA)

APA Style is used in some areas of engineering—especially in interdisciplinary fields like environmental engineering, engineering education, and human factors.

Required Elements for a Full APA Citation

Each reference entry typically includes the following four core elements:

Element Description Example
Author(s) Last name, followed by initials. Use up to 20 authors. Kumar, A., & Chen, L.
Date Year in parentheses. Use full date if needed (e.g., websites). (2023) or (2023, April 15)
Title Article/chapter: sentence case (not italicized). Book/journal: italicized. Introduction to materials science
Source Publisher (books) or journal title and DOI/URL (articles). Journal of Mechanical Design, https://doi.org/…

APA In-Text Citation Basics

NOTE: APA uses the author–date format for in-text citations.

Type Format Example
Narrative Wang and Patel (2021) developed a method…
Parenthetical (Wang & Patel, 2021)
Quote (with page) (Wang & Patel, 2021, p. 147)

Common Examples

In-text:
(Callister & Rethwisch, 2020)

Reference:
Callister, W. D., Jr., & Rethwisch, D. G. (2020). Materials science and engineering: An introduction (10th ed.). Wiley.

In-text:
(Nguyen & O’Connor, 2023)

Reference:
Nguyen, T., & O’Connor, D. (2023). Optimization of 3D-printed gears for load endurance. In Proceedings of the ASME 2023 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences (pp. 108–115). ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2023-71045

In-text:
(Zhou & Ibrahim, 2022)

Reference:
Zhou, H., & Ibrahim, M. (2022). Advanced vibration analysis of composite beams. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 523, 117755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsv.2021.117755

In-text:
(Wang, 2019)

Reference:
Wang, J. (2019). Method for reducing turbine blade fatigue (U.S. Patent No. 10,123,456). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

More details on citing patents on the Patent Information library guide.

In-text:
(National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2021)

Reference:
National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2021). Engineering resilience assessment report (NIST IR 8374). U.S. Department of Commerce. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2021/NIST.IR.8374.pdf

Tips and Resources

Tips for Engineering Students & Researchers Using APA

  • Use DOIs when available, especially for journal articles and conference papers.
  • Prefer peer-reviewed articles over general websites for technical credibility.
  • Avoid Wikipedia or unverifiable sources in professional writing.
  • When citing software or datasets, include version and retrieval information.
  • For group authors, such as government agencies or research labs, spell out the full name.

Reading and Reference Materials