how to cite an essay in apa

how to cite an essay in apa

A Comprehensive Guide to Citing Essays in APA Style

1. Introduction to APA Style

In summary, this citation style has only three major sections: Author, A (Year). Title of the essay. Title of Journal. Hence, as a student now learning to incorporate sources into written topics, you should get acquainted with APA format early in your academic life. This style may seem stupefying but one can write a subject often without any grammatical inconsistency. What makes it intimidating to write is the volume of effort you put into choosing the best sources which make writing look easy. Let’s take a closer look at what APA entails.

What is the APA style? APA style is the standard format for professional research papers and journals. In fields such as psychology and the social sciences, it is taught to a broad spectrum of undergraduate programs. At an undergraduate psychology level, it is the foremost research style. A modified version is also taught to other levels of students who are learning the techniques. It is the go-to format for writing in experimental psychology and has been in use since 1929. You might also find yourself unfamiliar with this format due to lack of practice at school.

Citing your sources is an extremely important component of your research project. It shows your initiative as a responsible researcher and offers readers a sneak peek into the sources you’ve used to validate your essay. The American Psychological Association’s (APA) citation style is one of the most widely used styles, and it’s our preferred style for citing essays. However, the essay can be helpful for all written assignments, including more straightforward essay formats such as those used in high school courses. The best place to start with this section is by understanding its purpose.

2. Citing Essays in Text

The only authors in both the in-text citation and reference list have the same spelling and date. If a user has more than one paper, it is important that this information is clearly outlined in the reference list. But what do you do when the authors are companies, associations, or government departments? When citing any user that has no page or any other source number or date, do not use any data. It is always best to address the issue locally, but if you need to, it’s okay to use ‘Para’ on the reference list. Use the first few words of the title and the year. Use double quotes around the title and not just capitalize the first word.

When you reference or quote a user who has written essays or any other type of paper in an essay, you are required to include the user’s name, year of publication, name of publication, page numbers, volume and issue number, writers all in your reference list. This guide will help you create every part of your reference. Here’s the structure: Last name, First Initial. (Year). Releasing user and pagination.

3. Creating a Reference List Entry for Essays

For the page ranges, you should list the range connected with one or afford a pp. with the first plus the range for the second plus. Optionally, you can add a DOI or URL at the end of the reference list entry. The APA wants short URLs, so you must include or and omit the beginning of the URL until you reach the first single dash or slash. There is no need to mention all of the publication location unless it is a part of the company’s name, and commas are not used for publisher locations. For the other determined piece of a periodical with an editor and about the same identifiable information, see the CIT and REF pages.

Citing essays or other short works in edited collections or anthologies is similar to how you would cite an entire essay. Lastname (Year) or (Lastname, Year) must appear at the beginning of citations. If the editors of the collection are also in charge of the publishing company, you do not need to include an asterisk to indicate that they are also the publishers. The publication year should follow the author and editor names. Remember to use an ampersand in parenthetical citations but “and” in your signal phrases unless you have a type of word, one of the talked-about pairs (2000-2020), a preceding combination of authors in the same year, and the phrase “et al. With another author.”

Citing Printed Essays Lastname, A. A., & Lastname, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter or essay. In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book in sentence case and italics (pp. xxx-xxx). Publisher.

4. Examples of Essay Citations in APA Style

The Jurisdictive elements or Course code may be included in place of the group name, course name or university. A few essay elements such as group name, page number, and URL may or may not be required based on essay format.

5. Jurisdictive Elements or Course Code

The general formula remains the same. The main elements of the essay citation include the names of authors or group produced, year of publication, title of the essay, the name of the primary producer, title of the book or hosting the group essay, and University name or URL. For example,

The formats for essays in print form are the same as electronic sources. In this case, replace the URL with the name of print books, newspapers, articles or any other sources. For links to articles retrieved from databases such as PubMed, the home page of recognized publishers and databases like Scopus or Google Books, include them in place of the link.

4.3 Printed Essays from Books or Other Media

Team Blue. (2021, Sep 28). Making Offerings: The Value of Your Company. In: Key strategies related to business donations. Capella University.

Smith, J. (2018). The Executive Compact, Understanding Business Fundamentals and Realizing Strategic Ambitions. In: The Executive MBA. University of Different Students.

Essay citation examples:

Author(s). (Year). Title of page or document. In: Title of university resource. University.

4.2 Essays from University Resources (LMS Source – lecture notes)

Smith, J. (2018). Role of the company in society. In Team Black (Producer), Mastering the company overview (pp. 23). University of Students.

Essay citation examples:

Author(s). (Year). Title of essay. In group name (Producer), Title of group worksheet or textbook (pp. xx-xx). Study group name.

4.1 Essays from Study Groups

The following are APA citation examples for several types of essay sources. Follow the format presented below to cite the recorded lecture and podcast sources presented in our guide.