APA Help (7th Edition)

• When retrieving an online article from a website rather than a database, list the URL. This rule applies to online reference works as well.  With the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, it is no longer necessary to include "Retrieved from" prior to a URL, and hyperlinks can remain active (APA, 2020, p. 299). See page 290 of the APA Manual for explanation of when a retrieval date should be included.

• Articles cited from an academic database that do not have a DOI should be cited as a print resource, with the entry ending after the page range.

• Articles in the databases Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and UpToDate have specific reference entry requirements.  See section 10.1, examples 13 and 14 for further explanations on citing articles from these databases (APA, 2020, p. 319).

• StatPearls articles can be found through multiple locations; therefore, APA recommends citing the StatPearls website whenever possible, as databases like PubMed, the National Center for Biotechnology Information, and academic databases are not cited in the reference entry because they do not provide proprietary content. List only the authors shown on the StatPearls website in the reference entry. More information on citing StatPeals is available on the APA Style Blog.

• When citing a StatPearls reference from PubMed or the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), include the Bookshelf ID in parentheses following the title of the work. StatPearls references retrieved from PubMed or NCBI, will follow the format of entries from the ERIC database.

• URLs in a reference entry should link directly to the cited work, and it is acceptable to use the word processor default settings for hyperlinks (underlined blue text) or plain text, which is not underlined   (APA, 2020, p. 298-299).
• Always include the issue number (in parentheses) following the italicized volume number for periodicals with issue numbers, and include the page range of the article following a comma. For example, an article on pages 33-40 of issue 10 in volume 14 would be entered into a reference entry as 14(10), 33-40.
• See section 10.1 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) for more examples of Periodical reference list entries.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• For sources with 2-20 authors, use an ampersand (&) before the final name [Author, A.A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C.] (APA, 2020, p. 286)
• For sources with 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors and then an ellipsis (...), without an ampersand.  Add the last author's name after the ellipsis [sample above] (APA, 2020, p. 286)
• Publisher location information is no longer required (APA, 2020, p.295).
• See section 10.1 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) for more examples of Periodical reference list entries.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• If the author and publisher are the same person or organization, leave the publisher out of the source portion of the reference entry.  See the "Corporate authors" example.
• Edited books are considered books where each chapter is written by a different contributor, and reference citations are listed according to the chapter author.
• Only the Publisher's Name is needed for the citation, not the city or location of the publisher.
• eBooks cited from an academic database that do not have a DOI should be cited as a print resource, with the entry ending after the Publisher.
• For online references that are continuously updated and older versions are not archived, use "n.d." as the publication year and include a retrieval date.  See the "Dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus entry with a group author" example.
• When citing from an ebook or a chapter in an ebook, the format, platform, or device is not included in the reference entry (APA, 2020, pp.321, 326).
• See sections 10.2 and 10.3 for more examples of Book and Reference Work entries.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• When citing PowerPoint slides or lecture notes from a learning management system (Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Canvas, etc.) provide the name of the site and login URL.
• See Section 8.8 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) for more information on citing from a classroom or intranet source.
• Provide the span of years during which the podcast aired in the date element of the reference.
• List the host(s) of the podcast episode as the author. Alternatively, provide the executive producers, if known. In either case, include their role in parentheses.
• Provide the specific date on which the podcast episode first aired.
• Provide the episode number after the episode title in parentheses. If the podcast does not number episodes, omit the episode number from the reference. Do not italicize the episode title or the episode number.
• Specify the type of podcast episode in square brackets, for example: [Audio podcast episode], [Video podcast episode].
• Write the word “In” and then the title of the podcast in italics.
• In general, end the reference with the URL of the episode. If the URL of the podcast episode is unknown (e.g., if accessed via an app), omit the URL from the reference.
• See Sections10.12-10.14 for more information and examples of reference entries from audiovisual media

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). 

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• Use the webpages and websites category if and only if the entry does not fit better into another category (APA, 2020, pp. 282, 350).
• When the author and site name is the same, do not include the site name in the source portion of the entry.
• Provide a retrieval date when citing a work that is likely to change over time.
• When citing multiple works by the same author with the same publication date, add a lowercase letter following the year to both the in-text and reference citation. Year-only publications go before more specific dates. When the publication date is identical, alphabetize the references by the title. See section 9.47 for more information on ordering works with the same author and date
• See section 10.16 for more information and examples of reference entries from webpages and websites.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• Use the most specific agency as the authors in the reference.  Overarching agencies are listed in the source element as the publisher.  Do not repeat the authoring agency in the source element of the reference (APA, 2020, p. 288).

• See Sections 9.11 and 10.4 for more information and examples of reference entries for government reports and other forms of grey literature.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

• The above reference example is adapted from the template for referencing software. See Section 10.10 for more information and examples of reference entries for software, mobile apps, apparatuses, and equipment.

• APA notes in a September 9, 2025 blog post many include many AI Models offer the option to share specific chats which include a unique URL and a title for the chat. More information is available at https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/cite-generative-ai-references

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Please refer to the Academic Honor Code section (p. 14) of the WCU Student Handbook for appropriate uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University.