When you use someone else's work, thoughts, or ideas in your research, you must cite the source with both in-text and reference list citations. American Psychological Association (APA) style is the citation style most commonly used for research in the social sciences. To learn how to cite in APA style, use the resources below.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab provides a comprehensive guide to formatting a paper and citing sources in APA style.
An easy-to-read visual diagram demonstrating reference list citations for journal articles, books, and edited book chapters.
A quick guide for questions about APA formatting, style, in-text citing, style mechanics, and bias-free language.
A tutorial from APA. Start from the beginning or skip to a specific section.
Publication Manual (OFFICIAL) 7th Edition of the American Psychological Association by Developed by the International Association for Social Science Information Services & Technology (IASSIST).
Provides detailed guidance on data citations with style recommendations and examples.
Converts a DOI to a citation in a chosen style format.
Most legal materials are cited using Bluebook style, which is the standard legal citation style used in all disciplines (see Bluebook style in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 2015). APA defers to Bluebook style for legal materials.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab provides a guide to APA style citations for some common legal materials (e.g., court decisions, statutes, administrative regulations, and executive orders).
The Purdue Online Writing Lab provides two versions of an APA sample paper: one in student style (i.e., written for course credit) and one in professional style (i.e., written for publication).
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