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APA Style Help & Tools

{{page_title}}, best bet: apa's academic writer.

Academic Writer is the only authoritative and complete online environment for teaching, writing, and publishing in APA Style®, now updated to the 7th Edition. Designed to help users develop their writing and professional research skills, Academic Writer combines sophisticated learning and teaching tools, advanced writing and content management technology, and full integration of APA’s best-selling Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association® to create an unparalleled web-based suite of integrated services and tools.

Access Academic Writer anytime with this link:

library.purdueglobal.edu/academicwriter

Academic Writer Documentation & Tips

The below links lead to more information, tips, and training about the basics of using Academic Writer.

• Library Guide to Academic Writer
• Getting Started Guide (PDF)
• Creating Academic Writer Accounts (PDF)
• Accessing the Publication Manual (PDF)
• Technical Requirements

Using Academic Writer's Writing Tools

Academic Writer contains a Writing section where you can create and write a full APA-formatted paper.  You can write the entire paper in Academic Writer or just use it to setup the title page, headings, and references.  Export your work at any time to a Microsoft Word document.  Below are documents from Academic Writer about the essential features of their Writing tools.  

• Setting up the Title Page
• Adding References to Papers (PDF)
• Adding In-Text Citations (PDF)
• Adding Tables (PDF)
• Exporting Papers (PDF)

Featured Items from Academic Writer

Basics of APA Style

Learn the basics of APA Style, including how to format a manuscript, understand the form and function of common manuscript parts, organize and express your thoughts clearly and precisely, employ the mechanics of style, use graphic elements effectively, credit sources and acknowledge the contributions of others, and construct a comprehensive and reliable reference list.

Academic Writer

© 2020 American Psychological Association.

How to Avoid Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism

Learn how to avoid plagiarism and self-plagiarism, including how to identify plagiarism, understand its risks and consequences, cite sources properly, and develop sound writing practices.

Learn how to set up the title page of an APA Style paper, including the page header and running head, title, author name and affiliation, and author note.

Paper Template: ("Merenda" Sample Student Paper)

This sample response paper presents a university student's personal reaction to an article about whether medication is prescribed too often to young children to treat psychological disorders. The title page demonstrates the simple default layout for a student paper. The paper has a simple setup with only a title page, body of text, and references. No "running head"! Response papers typically do not include author notes or abstracts, though this may vary by assignment.

Visit the Writing Center

Need writing help?  Visit the Writing Center to contact a tutor, submit your paper for review and feedback, or ask APA Style-related questions, as well as access dozens of writing tutorials, videos, webinars, and other instructional resources.

• Writing Center

PG Writing Center's Top APA Links

• Common Citations in APA Format
• APA Title Page and Running Head Video
• APA (7th Edition) Demystified in 5 Minutes Video
• Formatting an APA Style (7th Edition) Reference List Video
• Writing With Integrity (APA Style 7th Ed.)

eBook on APA Style 7th Edition

Zotero: Free Reference Management Tool

Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share your research sources. This tool is especially popular for heavy researchers at the grad level and above.

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APA Tutorials

• The Basics of APA Style tutorial A self-paced tutorial for the beginner.
• Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) tutorials Short YouTube videos on the APA style.

APA Guidelines & Expectations

Download the Guidelines for APA Writing Style and Format file. 

Using APA to Cite Sources

• Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing
• Frequently Asked Questions about APA Style® From APA Style®, these FAQs will help clarify frequent areas of confusion.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab APA resources
• Sample Paper from APA website Links to a PDF on the APA Style site that exemplifies of the use of bias-free language in scientific writing. Journal Article (January 2007)
• The Writer's Handbook: APA Documentation Guide Excellent guide to APA style from the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

Setting Up Alerts & Feeds

Many of the Libraries databases enable you to create alerts or feeds, so that you can be notified when new research is published. You can set up an alert based on your search criteria (keywords, author name, etc.), or based on when a new issue of a specific journal is published. Alerts can generally be set to arrive as RSS feeds or emails. 

You can also set up Google Alerts to monitor information on the web, including Google Scholar.

Citation Management

Citation management software can help you manage your citations and easily organize and format your citations in a wide variety of citation styles. Check out the links below for more information about these useful programs. 

• Citation Management Basics This guide provides an overview of citation management software options, including basic functions and the differences between the various options available, including EndNote, EndNote Web, and Zotero. Also provided is contact information for Purdue librarians available to provide citation management support for Purdue faculty, students, and staff.
• EndNote Basic This guide highlights the unique features of EndNote Basic (previously EndNote Web). EndNote Basic is free and can be used with or without EndNote Desktop software.
• Zotero Zotero is a free and open, web-based citation management program. This guide provides info on getting started and carrying out key functions, for students and instructors. It also includes video tutorials.
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• Best Apps and Extensions for APA Style Citations

Apps and Extensions to Help You With APA Citations

Many colleges and universities, including Purdue Global, rely on the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual to guide writing usage and grammar style. While the best resource for APA Style is both the website and the publication manual itself, if you’re in the middle of research and need help quickly, you might need to look at research management software in the form of citation generators.

Many developers have created helpful generators to create citations and help you write in APA Style. From APA citation apps to browser extensions to websites, here are some citation manager tools.

Websites for Citations

Several websites can help generate citations in APA Style and other styles. When looking for a citation generator, test that it appropriately cites different sources and reviews all of your citations for accuracy before submitting any class assignments.

Academic Writer ®

Academic Writer is a tool that is offered by many institutions, including Purdue Global, to help students write in APA Style. It is developed by the APA and includes videos and tutorials about APA Style. You can also manage your references and format your paper by creating an account within the site.

APA Citation Wizards

This online tool offers a quick and easy way to create references for online books, online journal articles, and web pages.

Citation Machine ®

This tool allows students to create references in APA and a variety of other formats. You can either enter the information manually or search source by name or URL, which the Citation Machine then will fill in automatically.

Cite This For Me

Cite This For Me is a free citation generator that can create citations in APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, ASA, IEEE, and AMA style. The site is fairly bare-bones, providing only the generator and some general guidance on when citations are appropriate.

Formatically

This web-based citation generator offers a simple interface and quick results. It gives you results in MLA, APA, Chicago, or Harvard format.

This old-style online citation generator creates a basic citation for books in APA format. Choose APA from the menu on the left and fill out the fields to create a citation.

Mendeley is an all-inclusive research tool. It is primarily used as a document organizer and research aid, but it also generates references, citations, and bibliographies in a number of different styles.

This web-based generator is easy to use and walks you through everything you need to do to get APA citations. It also offers AMA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, MLA, and more. Be sure to use the most recent version of APA (7th edition) when you use it.

Scribbr is an easy-to-use online citation generator that uses the 7th edition of APA Style. The generator is free for students. Scribbr also offers a plagiarism checker, spell checker, and grammar proofing.

Zotero is a robust research tool available for download and includes a quick version for use online. While the program is helpful for many types of research, it also offers a feature that creates references and bibliographies for any text editor and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs.

Apps for Citations

Almost 45% of U.S. website users browse the web and work on their mobile devices, according to StatCounter . A number of mobile-first citation apps are available to help with APA citation.

Author ( Apple )

This paid app available for Apple devices provides a tailor-made writing environment. It provides a word processor that automatically saves and works well with Apple apps like Reader. As part of the tool, you can create automatic citations by copying from PDF in the companion application Reader and pasting as a full citation in Author or pasting the BibTex or DOI from an academic PDF.

Citation Generator ( Free Google Play Version , Paid Google Play Version )

This mobile app, offered in both a lite and full version, offers no-nonsense citation guidance. The free version only supports book, newspaper, software, X (formerly Twitter), and website sources, whereas the paid version includes 25 in-text citations and reference generators.

Citation Maker ( Google Play Store )

This app has an easily understandable layout that produces both MLA and APA formats and can work with a variety of resource formats. It also gives you a preview as you type and can even create citations with incomplete information. Some reviews suggest you double-check results produced by Citation Maker for capitalization errors.

Citationsy ( Apple and Google Play Store )

This app, available for both Apple and Android devices, allows you to use your device to scan barcodes of references and then generate citations. Citationsy includes search engines for books, music, podcasts, and scientific papers.

Easy Referencing – Citation ( Apple )

This app for iPads will scan a book barcode and serve up citations for a variety of styles, including APA. It also supports university-specific styles and will use the correct one required.

Google Chrome Browser Extensions

Almost 50% of U.S. online users prefer Google Chrome for their browser, according to StatCounter . One appeal of the browser from tech giant Google is that it comes with a robust selection of extensions. Several Chrome extensions can help you create APA citations.

Bibcitation Bibliography & Citation Generator

This extension works on websites and journal articles, generating citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, and more. It can add citations to a list if you have an account with Bibcitation.com.

This extension creates Endnote, APA, MLA, and customized bibliography items from journal articles, books, and more. The program allows you to copy the citation to put it into an editable format.

Citationsy – Cite Websites and Papers

An extension version of the Citationsy mobile apps above, this tool cites articles, books, papers, podcasts, songs, websites, and more. It supports APA, Harvard, MLA, and many other reference styles.

Cite This For Me: Web Citer

This extension automatically creates citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard styles. Browse to your web page and click the button for a citation.

EasyBib Toolbar

This toolbar not only generates citations but also gives you advice on the credibility of the website you’re citing, which can help with the overall strength of a paper or other work. It will format, alphabetize, and make your bibliography ready to use.

Free APA and MLA Citation Generator

This extension quickly generates sources in MLA, APA, or Chicago. It allows you to add to a bibliography with a quick click of the toolbar icon.

MyBib: Free Citation Generator

This simple browser extension creates APA format, MLA 8 format, and Harvard referencing style citations that can be downloaded and put into Microsoft Word. The extension works with any URL, including PDFs hosted online.

This tool exports web pages and creates a built-in bibliography in MLA and APA format. It also checks a page’s credibility.

13 APA Formatting Guidelines and Style Tips

Basic apa guidelines.

1. Margins: Use 1-inch margins on all sides of the page.

2. Font: Use the same, legible font throughout the entire paper. Acceptable fonts include 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 12-point Times New Roman, and 11-point Georgia. See the font page of the APA site to see which additional fonts are allowed.

3. Line spacing: Double-space the entire paper, including the title page, block quotations, and the reference list. Do not add blank lines before or after headings or extra spacing between paragraphs.

4. Paragraph alignment and indentation: All paragraphs should align to the left margin. Leave the right margin ragged, and don’t use full justification.

5. Page numbers: Put a page number in the top right of every page header, including the title page, starting with page number 1.

6. Placement of tables and figures: There are two options:

• Place all tables and figures on separate pages after the reference list.
• Embed each table and figure within the text after its first callout.

Call out the table or figure in the text before embedding it (e.g., write “see Figure 1” or “Table 1 presents”).

Reference List Guidelines

7. Alphabetize references by the last names of the first author of each source.

8. Capitalize all major words in the title of a journal.

9. Capitalize only the first letter in article titles. If there’s a colon in the title, capitalize the first letter after the colon. Do not underline, italicize, or put the title in quotation marks.

10. Italicize the titles of books and journals.

11. Use a hanging indentation for each reference; the first line of the reference should be aligned to the left, but each additional line needs to be indented.

Final Checks

12. Check page order: Each section should start on a new page. Arrange pages in the following order:

• Title page (page 1)
• Text (starts on page 2)
• Reference list (starts on a new page after the text)

13. Check headings: Headings should reflect the content in each section.

• Start each main section with a Level 1 heading.
• Use Level 2 headings for subsections of the introduction.
• Use the same level of heading for sections of equal importance.
• Avoid having only one subsection within a section (have two or more or none).

Two resources from the APA that provide further guidance:

• Style and Grammar Guidelines
• A step-by-step guide for creating and formatting APA Style student papers

If you need additional help, check with your university writing center.

Grow Your Career With Purdue Global

Purdue Global wants you to succeed. We offer the Purdue Global Academic Success and Writing Resource Center , which includes sections on using sources and APA Style and college writing.

If your career goals require you to go back to school, consider Purdue Global. Part of the esteemed Purdue University system, we are a fully accredited, online university that's tailored for working adults. Request more information to learn more about our 175-plus online degree and certificate programs .

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APA Style (7th Edition)

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In this section

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• Free Tools for Students
• APA Citation Generator

Free APA Citation Generator

Generate citations in APA format quickly and automatically, with MyBib!

🤔 What is an APA Citation Generator?

An APA citation generator is a software tool that will automatically format academic citations in the American Psychological Association (APA) style.

It will usually request vital details about a source -- like the authors, title, and publish date -- and will output these details with the correct punctuation and layout required by the official APA style guide.

Formatted citations created by a generator can be copied into the bibliography of an academic paper as a way to give credit to the sources referenced in the main body of the paper.

👩‍🎓 Who uses an APA Citation Generator?

College-level and post-graduate students are most likely to use an APA citation generator, because APA style is the most favored style at these learning levels. Before college, in middle and high school, MLA style is more likely to be used. In other parts of the world styles such as Harvard (UK and Australia) and DIN 1505 (Europe) are used more often.

🙌 Why should I use a Citation Generator?

Like almost every other citation style, APA style can be cryptic and hard to understand when formatting citations. Citations can take an unreasonable amount of time to format manually, and it is easy to accidentally include errors. By using a citation generator to do this work you will:

• Save a considerable amount of time
• Ensure that your citations are consistent and formatted correctly
• Be rewarded with a higher grade

In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

⚙️ How do I use MyBib's APA Citation Generator?

Our APA generator was built with a focus on simplicity and speed. To generate a formatted reference list or bibliography just follow these steps:

• Start by searching for the source you want to cite in the search box at the top of the page.
• MyBib will automatically locate all the required information. If any is missing you can add it yourself.
• Your citation will be generated correctly with the information provided and added to your bibliography.
• Repeat for each citation, then download the formatted list and append it to the end of your paper.

MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

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Purdue Owl: APA Formatting & Style Guide

Developed by Purdue's Online Writing Lab. Contains resources on in-text citation and the references page, as well as APA sample papers, slide presentations, and the APA classroom poster.

Author/Editor (By:)

Contributor, corporate author, related organizations, citation type.

APA 7th Edition Tutorial: Citation Generators

• Download Template & Section Headings
• Abstract Page
• Cite a YouTube Video or Website
• Reference Page
• APA Format Checklist
• Sample APA Paper
• APA Video Tutorials
• APA Step by Step Guide

Citation Generators

How do citation generators work, according to purdue owl, citation generators are programs that turn information about a source into a citation that the writer can use in a project..

Here is a list of recommended citation generators

MyBib   MyBib citation generator provides complete APA Citations, pre-formatted In-text Citations, and a Reference page. 

• BibMe  -  APA Citation Generator and Plagiarism Checker  from Chegg
• CiteFast  - APA Citation Generator 
• CiteThisForMe  - APA Citation Generator from Harvard University
• KnightCite Citation Service  -  provided by the Hekman Library of Calvin College.
• Scribber  -  APA Citation Generator
• << Previous: APA Step by Step Guide
• Last Updated: Jan 9, 2024 2:30 PM
• URL: https://monroecollege.libguides.com/apa
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• Databases |

Scribbr Citation Generator

Accurate APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard citations, verified by experts, trusted by millions

Scribbr for Chrome: Your shortcut to citations

Cite any page or article with a single click right from your browser. The extension does the hard work for you by automatically grabbing the title, author(s), publication date, and everything else needed to whip up the perfect citation.

Perfectly formatted references every time

Inaccurate citations can cost you points on your assignments, so our seasoned citation experts have invested countless hours in perfecting Scribbr’s citation generator algorithms. We’re proud to be recommended by teachers and universities worldwide.

Enjoy a citation generator without flashy ads

Staying focused is already difficult enough, so unlike other citation generators, Scribbr won’t slow you down with flashing banner ads and video pop-ups. That’s a promise!

Citation Generator features you'll love

Look up your source by its title, URL, ISBN, or DOI, and let Scribbr find and fill in all the relevant information automatically.

APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard

Generate flawless citations according to the official APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard style, or many other rules.

Export to Word

When your reference list is complete, export it to Word. We’ll apply the official formatting guidelines automatically.

Lists and folders

Create separate reference lists for each of your assignments to stay organized. You can also group related lists into folders.

Export to Bib(La)TeX

Are you using a LaTex editor like Overleaf? If so, you can easily export your references in Bib(La)TeX format with a single click.

Custom fonts

Change the typeface used for your reference list to match the rest of your document. Options include Times New Roman, Arial, and Calibri.

Industry-standard technology

Scribbr’s Citation Generator is built using the same citation software (CSL) as Mendeley and Zotero, but with an added layer for improved accuracy.

Annotations

Describe or evaluate your sources in annotations, and Scribbr will generate a perfectly formatted annotated bibliography .

Citation guides

Scribbr’s popular guides and videos will help you understand everything related to finding, evaluating, and citing sources.

Secure backup

Your work is saved automatically after every change and stored securely in your Scribbr account.

• Introduction
• Finding sources

Evaluating sources

• Integrating sources

Citing sources

Tools and resources, a quick guide to working with sources.

Working with sources is an important skill that you’ll need throughout your academic career.

It includes knowing how to find relevant sources, assessing their authority and credibility, and understanding how to integrate sources into your work with proper referencing.

This quick guide will help you get started!

Finding relevant sources

Sources commonly used in academic writing include academic journals, scholarly books, websites, newspapers, and encyclopedias. There are three main places to look for such sources:

• Research databases: Databases can be general or subject-specific. To get started, check out this list of databases by academic discipline . Another good starting point is Google Scholar .
• Your institution’s library: Use your library’s database to narrow down your search using keywords to find relevant articles, books, and newspapers matching your topic.
• Other online resources: Consult popular online sources like websites, blogs, or Wikipedia to find background information. Be sure to carefully evaluate the credibility of those online sources.

When using academic databases or search engines, you can use Boolean operators to refine your results.

Generate APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard citations in seconds

Get started

In academic writing, your sources should be credible, up to date, and relevant to your research topic. Useful approaches to evaluating sources include the CRAAP test and lateral reading.

CRAAP is an abbreviation that reminds you of a set of questions to ask yourself when evaluating information.

• Currency: Does the source reflect recent research?
• Relevance: Is the source related to your research topic?
• Authority: Is it a respected publication? Is the author an expert in their field?
• Accuracy: Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence?
• Purpose: What is the author’s intention?

Lateral reading

Lateral reading means comparing your source to other sources. This allows you to:

• Verify evidence
• Contextualize information
• Find potential weaknesses

If a source is using methods or drawing conclusions that are incompatible with other research in its field, it may not be reliable.

Integrating sources into your work

Once you have found information that you want to include in your paper, signal phrases can help you to introduce it. Here are a few examples:

Following the signal phrase, you can choose to quote, paraphrase or summarize the source.

• Quoting : This means including the exact words of another source in your paper. The quoted text must be enclosed in quotation marks or (for longer quotes) presented as a block quote . Quote a source when the meaning is difficult to convey in different words or when you want to analyze the language itself.
• Paraphrasing : This means putting another person’s ideas into your own words. It allows you to integrate sources more smoothly into your text, maintaining a consistent voice. It also shows that you have understood the meaning of the source.
• Summarizing : This means giving an overview of the essential points of a source. Summaries should be much shorter than the original text. You should describe the key points in your own words and not quote from the original text.

Whenever you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source, you must include a citation crediting the original author.

Citing your sources is important because it:

• Allows you to avoid plagiarism
• Establishes the credentials of your sources
• Backs up your arguments with evidence
• Allows your reader to verify the legitimacy of your conclusions

The most common citation styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago style. Each citation style has specific rules for formatting citations.

Generate APA, MLA, Chicago,  and Harvard citations in seconds

Scribbr offers tons of tools and resources to make working with sources easier and faster. Take a look at our top picks:

• Citation Generator: Automatically generate accurate references and in-text citations using Scribbr’s APA Citation Generator, MLA Citation Generator , Harvard Referencing Generator , and Chicago Citation Generator .
• Plagiarism Checker : Detect plagiarism in your paper using the most accurate Turnitin-powered plagiarism software available to students.
• AI Proofreader: Upload and improve unlimited documents and earn higher grades on your assignments. Try it for free!
• Paraphrasing tool: Avoid accidental plagiarism and make your text sound better.
• Grammar checker : Eliminate pesky spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Summarizer: Read more in less time. Distill lengthy and complex texts down to their key points.
• AI detector: Find out if your text was written with ChatGPT or any other AI writing tool. ChatGPT 2 & ChatGPT 3 supported.
• Proofreading services : Have a human editor improve your writing.
• Citation checker: Check your work for citation errors and missing citations.
• Knowledge Base : Explore hundreds of articles, bite-sized videos, time-saving templates, and handy checklists that guide you through the process of research, writing, and citation.

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• CUNY Graduate Center's Mina Rees Library

Cite Your Sources

Citation generators.

• Citing Sources
• Chicago & Turabian Style
• Additional Style Guides & Resources
• Citing Social Media & Other Digital Sources This link opens in a new window
• Mendeley & EndNote
• Citation Managers Compared
• Avoiding Plagiarism

Citation generators are programs that can help you craft citations quickly and easily.  They are not as robust as full citation managers like Zotero and RefWorks, but can help make quick work of shorter bibliography needs.  Choose a citation style and enter the bibliographic details of the works consulted (author, title, publication date, etc.) to automatically create citations. 

It is important to note that you must enter data accurately and carefully check the automatically generated citations for errors.  As noted in the Purdue OWL's guide to Using Citation Generators Responsibly (linked below), " relying entirely on citation generators rather than on one’s judgment as a writer can lead to errors."

• Using Citation Generators Responsibly - Purdue OWL A helpful guide from the Purdue Online Writing Lab describing how citation generator apps work and showing what’s happening when a writer uses one. It also offers a few “best practices” for using citation generators.
• ZoteroBib ZoteroBib helps you build a bibliography instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software. It’s brought to you by the team behind Zotero.
• BibMe Create MLA, APA, or Chicago style citations with ISBN, author, title. Format web sites, journals, videos, newspapers, and “other.” Save bibliography online then paste into a research paper.
• Citation Machine Formats citations in APA, MLA, Turabian or Chicago writing style.
• EasyBib EasyBib includes guides to MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard styles. Create a free account to use the MLA citation generator. Purchase a subscription to generate citations in other styles.
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• Next: Avoiding Plagiarism >>
• Last Updated: Mar 26, 2024 10:32 AM
• URL: https://libguides.gc.cuny.edu/citation

• Plagiarism and grammar
• Citation guides

Cite a Website

Don't let plagiarism errors spoil your paper, citing a website in apa.

Once you’ve identified a credible website to use, create a citation and begin building your reference list. Citation Machine citing tools can help you create references for online news articles, government websites, blogs, and many other website! Keeping track of sources as you research and write can help you stay organized and ethical. If you end up not using a source, you can easily delete it from your bibliography. Ready to create a citation? Enter the website’s URL into the search box above. You’ll get a list of results, so you can identify and choose the correct source you want to cite. It’s that easy to begin!

If you’re wondering how to cite a website in APA, use the structure below.

Author Last Name, First initial. (Year, Month Date Published). Title of web page . Name of Website. URL

Example of an APA format website:

Austerlitz, S. (2015, March 3). How long can a spinoff like ‘Better Call Saul’ last? FiveThirtyEight. http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-long-can-a-spinoff-like-better-call-saul-last/

Keep in mind that not all information found on a website follows the structure above. Only use the Website format above if your online source does not fit another source category. For example, if you’re looking at a video on YouTube, refer to the ‘YouTube Video’ section. If you’re citing a newspaper article found online, refer to ‘Newspapers Found Online’ section. Again, an APA website citation is strictly for web pages that do not fit better with one of the other categories on this page.

Social media:

When adding the text of a post, keep the original capitalization, spelling, hashtags, emojis (if possible), and links within the text.

Facebook posts:

Structure: Facebook user’s Last name, F. M. (Year, Monday Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of Facebook post [Source type if attached] [Post type]. Facebook. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached]

Post type examples: [Status update], [Video], [Image], [Infographic]

Gomez, S. (2020, February 4). Guys, I’ve been working on this special project for two years and can officially say Rare Beauty is launching in [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/Selena/videos/1340031502835436/

Life at Chegg. (2020, February 7) It breaks our heart that 50% of college students right here in Silicon Valley are hungry. That’s why Chegg has [Images attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/LifeAtChegg/posts/1076718522691591

Twitter posts:

Structure: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [Twitter Handle]. (Year, Month Day of Post). Up to the first 20 words of tweet [source type if attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. URL

Source type examples: [Video attached], [Image attached], [Poll attached]

Example: Edelman, J. [Edelman11]. (2018, April 26). Nine years ago today my life changed forever. New England took a chance on a long shot and I’ve worked [Video attached] [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/Edelman11/status/989652345922473985

Instagram posts:

APA citation format: Account holder’s Last name, F. M. [@Instagram handle]. (Year, Month Day). Up to the first 20 words of caption [Photograph(s) and/or Video(s)]. Instagram. URL

Example: Portman, N. [@natalieportman]. (2019, January 5). Many of my best experiences last year were getting to listen to and learn from so many incredible people through [Videos]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRD-FBB8HI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

If this guide hasn’t helped solve all of your referencing questions, or if you’re still feeling the need to type “how to cite a website APA” into Google, then check out our APA citation generator on CitationMachine.com, which can build your references for you!

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