Tutorials

This video tutorial will demonstrate how to cite books and eBooks using the APA citation style.

In this tutorial, you will learn the basics for citing a book, how to cite if there is more than one author or if a book is not a first edition, and how to cite a chapter from an edited book. Regardless if you use a print book or an eBook, you will cite it in the same way. There is no differentiation.

Every APA reference needs four parts: author, date, title, and source. As you go through these examples, you will learn how to identify these four parts and how to place and format them into a proper APA reference.

Example 1: A Book With One Author

For the first example, you will learn how to cite this book: Betting the Farm on a Drought: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change.

The first step is to identify the author of the book. This can usually be found on the cover or title page.

To list an author, write the last name, a comma, and the first and middle initials, followed by a period.

Example:
McGraw, S.

Next, identify when this book was written. In this case, you will need to open the book and look inside, usually on the back of the title page, to find the date, 2015.

List the date after the author, in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example:
McGraw, S. (2015).

Next, identify the title. Even though there is no colon on the page, Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change is styled differently and in a smaller font. This shows that it is the subtitle, and should be separated from the title with a colon.

List the title of the book after the date, in italics. Make sure you only capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, which comes after the colon, and any proper nouns.

Example:
McGraw, S. (2015). Betting the farm on a drought: Stories from the front lines of climate change.

Next, you need to identify the source. For books, you need the publisher. The book's title page shows that the publisher is University of Texas Press.

Type the name of the publisher, and end with a period.

Example:
McGraw, S. (2015). Betting the farm on a drought: Stories from the front lines of climate change. University of Texas Press.

The last piece of information you need is the DOI, which stands for digital object identifier. You can find a book’s DOI on the back of the title page. Not every book and eBook will have a DOI available. If there is no DOI, then this element can be omitted.

If the book contains a DOI, then include it after the publisher. First, type https://doi.org/ and then the book’s DOI. Otherwise, end after the publisher. This concludes the reference.

Example:
McGraw, S. (2015). Betting the farm on a drought: Stories from the front lines of climate change. University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.7560/756618

If you refer to a work in your paper, either by directly quoting, paraphrasing, or by referring to main ideas, you will need to include an in-text parenthetical citation. There are a number of ways to do this. In this example, a signal phrase is used to introduce a direct quote. Note that the author's name is given in the text, and the publication date and page number(s) are enclosed in parentheses at the beginning and end of the sentence.

Example:
As McGraw (2015) writes, "As with the nuclear danger in the 1960s, the potential risks of global climate change are staggering" (p. 39).

Example 2: Multiple Authors; Editions

For this next book, there are two authors. You can obtain the date, the title, and the publisher from the book, using the steps illustrated in the first example. Note that this book is a eighth edition. You will need to include that information in your citation as well.

When citing multiple authors, list the first author as normal, followed by a comma, an ampersand (&), and then the second author. In this example, the first author has a middle initial, so this is included. The edition is placed right after the title but before the period.

Example:
Wald, K. D., & Calhoun-Brown, A. (2018). Religion and politics in the United States (8th ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Example 3: A Chapter in an Edited Book

In this example, the entire book is overseen by editors, but each chapter has a different author. If you are only using information from a single chapter, you will need to cite it a certain way.

First, find the general information for this book, as demonstrated in the previous examples. Then you need to locate the author, title, and page numbers of the chapter you are citing.

To cite, list the author of the chapter first, followed by the date and then the title of the chapter. Note that the title of the chapter is not in italics. Then type the word In, and list the editors of the book, with the initials first. At the end of their names, list Ed. or Eds. in parentheses, which is the abbreviation for editor or editors. Then, type a comma, the title of the book, and include the page numbers in parentheses. End with the publisher.

Example:
Landes, D. (2000). Culture makes almost all the difference. In L. E. Harrison & S. P. Huntington (Eds.), Culture matters: How values shape human progress (pp. 2–13). Basic Books.

For more examples and additional situations you may encounter when citing books, visit the Tyree Library's APA Citations research guide. This can be found by visiting the Library's website, clicking Guides and then Citation Guides.

This concludes the video tutorial on citing books and eBooks using APA style. If you still have questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library

This video tutorial will demonstrate how to cite journal articles using the APA citation style.

In this tutorial, you will learn the basics for citing journal articles with and without a DOI and how to cite open access journal articles.

Every APA reference needs four parts: author, date, title, and source. As you go through these examples, you will learn how to identify these four parts and how to place and format them into a proper APA reference.

Example 1: A Journal Article with a DOI

For the first example, you will learn how to cite a journal article with a DOI. Often, you will find journal articles online using the library's databases or other online resources. This article was found online using the database Academic Search Complete.

The first step is to identify the author of the article. The author of this article is Alon Confino.

To list an author, write the last name, a comma, and the first and middle initials.

Example:
Confino, A.

Next, identify when this article was published. For journal articles, you typically only need the year. In this case, this article was published in 2012. You can usually find the date at the top of the article, the cover of the journal, or, for online articles, the article's record.

List the date after the author(s), in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example:
Confino, A. (2012).

Now, identify the title of the article. The title will usually be at the very top of the article, in a larger size font.

List the title of the article after the date. Make sure you only capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, which comes after a colon, and any proper nouns. End with a period. In this title, only the words Miracles, Palestine, Israel, and Tantura are capitalized.

Example:
Confino, A. (2012). Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948.

For the last component, you need the source. For an article, this is the title of the journal, volume, issue, which is sometimes called number, and page numbers of the article. Usually this information can be found on the cover of the journal, on the table of contents, or at the top of the article. For the page numbers, you should look at the first and last pages of the article. For online articles, this information is usually found in the article's record.

Type the journal title, in italics, capitalizing all major words, a comma, the volume, also in italics, the number or issue in parentheses, a comma, and then the page numbers of the article.

Example: Confino, A. (2012). Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948. Israel Studies, 17(2), 25–61.

The last element of the source is the DOI, which stands for Digital Object Identifier. A DOI can be found in the article’s record or on the first page of the article.

Type the DOI, using the prefix https://doi.org/. There is no period after the DOI.

Example: Confino, A. (2012). Miracles and snow in Palestine and Israel: Tantura, a history of 1948. Israel Studies, 17(2), 25–61. https://doi.org/10.2979/israelstudies.17.2.25

If you refer to a work in your paper, either by directly quoting, paraphrasing, or by referring to main ideas, you will need to include an in-text parenthetical citation. There are a number of ways to do this. In this example, a signal phrase is used to introduce a direct quote. The author's name is given in the text, and the publication date and page number(s) are enclosed in parentheses at the beginning and end of the sentence.

Example:
Confino (2012) notes "For Jews during the 1948 war sentiments of post-extermination existential anxiety mixed with a sense of wonder that was connected, but not reduced, to the foundation of the state of Israel" (p. 25).

Example 2: Multiple Authors and No DOI

In this example, most of the components needed for the reference can be found in the article’s record. This article, however, has multiple authors and does not have a DOI listed in its record or in the article itself.

Format all the citation components of this journal article like the first example. For multiple authors, list the authors in the order they are listed in the article. Use a comma to separate each author and an ampersand (&) should be placed before the last author’s name. This applies for articles with up to twenty authors. Since there is no DOI listed for this article, simply omit that element. The reference will conclude after the page numbers.  

Example:
Penprase, B., Mileto, L., Bittinger, A., Hranchook, A. M., Atchley, J. A., Bergakker, S., Eimers, T., & Franson, H. (2012). The use of high-fidelity simulation in the admissions process: One nurse anesthesia program’s experience. AANA Journal, 80(1), 43–48.

If you refer to a work in your paper that has three or more authors, the in-text citation will include the first author's name only, followed by et al. which means "and all the rest."

Example:
Penprase et al. (2012) states that "Admission into nurse anesthesia programs is known to be a competitive process among a diverse pool of candidates" (p. 43).

Example 3: An Open Access Journal Article

This article was found in PLOS One which is an open access journal. Open access journal articles are articles with the full text freely available online and do not require logging in.

You will need all of the same information from the previous examples to cite an open access article. In this example, most of this information can be found at the top of the article.

In this example, the article's volume, issue, and the article number are found in the citation provided by the journal. Article numbers are used in place of page numbers in some online journals.

The format for open access journals is the same as the other examples. In this example, an article number is used in place of the page numbers. After the issue number, type Article and then the article number. If an open access journal does not provide a DOI, you may provide the URL of the article instead. Only include the URL if it directly brings you to the full text of the article without logging in.

Example:
Francis, H. M., Stevenson, R. J., Chambers, J. R., Gupta, D., Newey, B., & Lim, C. K. (2019). A brief diet intervention can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults – A randomised controlled trial. PLOS ONE, 14(1), Article e0222768. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222768

For more examples and additional situations you may encounter when citing articles, visit the Tyree Library’s APA Citations research guide. This can be found by visiting the Library’s website and clicking Guides and then Citation Guides.

This concludes the video tutorial on citing journal articles using APA style. If you still have questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library

This video tutorial will demonstrate how to cite videos using the APA citation style.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to cite a film, a video in the library database Films on Demand, and an online video, such as a YouTube video.

Every APA reference needs four parts: author, date, title, and source. As you go through these examples, you will learn how to identify these four parts and how to place and format them into a proper APA reference.

Example 1: A Film

For the first example, you will learn how to cite a film. This includes citing a DVD, VHS, or Blu-Ray video, as well as films that stream through services such as Netflix or Hulu. IMDb.com is a website that may be helpful to you as you identify the following citation components.

The first step is to identify who is responsible for the films. For films, you should look for the director. You can find the director on the DVD case, in the film credits, or by on IMDB.com.

To list the director, write the last name, a comma, and the first and middle initials. After the name, type Director in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example:
Soechtig, S. (Director).

Next, identify when the film was release. DVD was published. Use the original film release date, not necessarily the DVD release date.

List the date after the director statement, in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example:
Soechtig, S. (Director). (2014).

Next, identify the title of the film.

List the title of the film after the date, in italics. Make sure you only capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle (which comes after a colon), and any proper nouns. Then, in square brackets, type [Film], and end with a period.

Example:
Soechtig, S. (Director). (2014). Fed up [Film].

Finally, you should provide the production company. You can find this from IMDb, listed under the film's Company Credits.

List the production company, separating multiple companies with a semicolon. End with a period. This completes your reference.

Example:
Soechtig, S. (Director). (2014). Fed up [Film]. Atlas Films.

 If the edition of the film you used is important, such as a special extended edition, include that in the brackets after the word Film.

Example:
Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade runner [Film; director’s cut on DVD]. The Ladd Company.

Example 2: Films on Demand

The Library’s Films on Demand database provides access to many streaming videos. To begin, you should try to identify the director, as with the first example. However, if you are unable to find this information, which may be the case with many of the Films on Demand videos, begin with the title of the video.

List the title of the video, in italics, paying close attention to capitalization. Then, in square brackets, type Film and end with a period.

Example:
Diesel engine technology [Film].

Next, identify the date of the video. In Films on Demand, use the copyright date.

List the date in parentheses, followed by a period.

Example:
Diesel engine technology [Film]. (2015).

Finally, you need the producer. This is listed in the Details area.

Type the producer and end with a period. This completes the reference.

Example:
Diesel engine technology [Film]. (2015). Shopware.

Example 3: YouTube Video

This example will show you how to cite an online video, such as a YouTube video or TED talk. All YouTube videos are associated with a user name (in this case, Grammar Girl). This is the author of the video. If a real name is connected with the user name, you should use that. This information can usually be found under the about tab on the user’s page.

List the author exactly as it appears on YouTube. If you have both, list the real name and then the user name in square brackets. Otherwise, just list the user name.

Example:
Fogarty, M. [Grammar Girl].

Next, identify the date that this video was uploaded. This can be found underneath the title of the video.

List the entire date in parentheses, starting with the year, a comma, and then the month and day. Spell out the month. End with a period.

Example:
Fogarty, M. [Grammar Girl]. (2010, October 20).

Next, identify the title of the video, as listed in YouTube.

List the title of the video after the date, in italics, paying close attention to capitalization. Then, in square brackets, type Video and end with a period. You also need the name of the website the video is found on. Type the name of the website, in this case YouTube, after the title. End with a period.

Example:
Fogarty, M. [Grammar Girl]. (2010, October 20). Where do periods go in quotations? [Video]. YouTube.

The last piece of information you need is the URL of the video. This can be found in the address bar, or you can click Share and use the URL located there.

Add the URL as the final component. Do not place a period at the end. This concludes your reference.

Example:
Fogarty, M. [Grammar Girl]. (2010, October 20). Where do periods go in quotations? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/XnfMb0o9bhw

For in-text citations with videos, use the director or user name as the author, along with the date. Instead of a page number, you may choose to provide a timestamp to aid your readers in locating the same information. If you are quoting a character, you may choose to use the character’s name to introduce the quote and include the director’s name and date at the end.

Examples:

Fogarty (2010) states that the rule for periods is “inside the U.S., inside the quotation marks” (0:30).

Officer Hanson states that “you think you know who you are. You had no idea” (Haggis, 2004).

For more examples and additional situations you may encounter when citing videos, visit the Tyree Library's APA Citations research guide. This can be found by visiting the Library's website, clicking Guides and then Citation Guides.

This concludes the video tutorial on citing videos using APA style. If you still have questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library

This video tutorial will demonstrate how to cite Web resources using the APA citation style.

In this tutorial, you will learn the basics for citing a web page, a blog post, and what you should do if you are missing a date.

Every APA reference needs four parts: author, date, title, and source. As you go through these examples, you will learn how to identify these four parts and how to place and format them into a proper APA reference.

Example 1: A Webpage

For the first example, you will learn how to cite a webpage. The first step is to identify who wrote the content. In this example, the author is Ashley Strickland.

To list a specific author, write the last name, a comma, and the initials, followed by a period.

Example:
Strickland, A.

Next, identify when this webpage was published. Dates are usually found near the top or the bottom of the page. Do not use a general copyright date for an overall website.

Unless an item is a newspaper, newsletter, magazine article, or blog post, you only need to provide the year. Since this example is an online news article, you should provide the whole date. After the author, list the entire date in parentheses, starting with the year, a comma, and then the month and day. End with a period.

Example:
Strickland, A. (2019, November 19).

Next, identify the title of the page. The title will usually be above the text, in a larger size font.

List the title of the page in italics after the date. Make sure you only capitalize the first word of the title, the first word of the subtitle, which comes after a colon, and any proper nouns. End with a period.

Example:
Strickland, A. (2019, November 19). Neptune's moons perform a strange orbit dance around each other.

The last information you need is the source For webpages, this is the website title and the URL, or Web address. In this case, the website is CNN. If you are having trouble locating the name of the website, try looking at the URL, which is located in the address bar at the top of the browser.

The title of the website is listed after the title of the webpage, with a period at the end. Type the website title, a period, and then the URL. There is no period after the URL. This completes your reference.

Example:

Strickland, A. (2019, November 19). Neptune's moons perform a strange orbit dance around each other. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/19/world/neptune-moons-orbit-scn-trnd/index.html

If you refer to a work in your paper, either by directly quoting, paraphrasing, or by referring to main ideas, you will need to include an in-text parenthetical citation. There are a number of ways to do this. In this example, a signal phrase is used to introduce a direct quote. Note that the author's name is given in the text, and the publication date and location are enclosed in parentheses at the beginning and end of the sentence. Since there are no page numbers, you should describe where the information is located, either by paragraph number or section.

Example:
Strickland (2019) explains that "Naiad is in a tilted, varying orbit that resembles an oddly zigzagging pattern" (para. 2).

Example 2: No Date

Sometimes a webpage may not provide all the information you need for a citation. This example shows how to cite a webpage with no date. Start with the author. While resources are often written by specific people, sometimes an entire organization is the author. In this case, Santa Fe College is the author. Most webpages with no personal author will have an organizational author.

For organizational authors, simply list the name of the organization, capitalizing all important words. Because there is no date, use the abbreviation n.d. in place of a year. This stands for no date.

Example:
Santa Fe College. (n.d.).

Next, find the title and the source for this webpage.

Type the title of the webpage in italics and end with a period. Since the website title is the same as the author, this component can be omitted.

Example:
Santa Fe College. (n.d.). History of the college. Santa Fe College.

Finally, add the URL. Do not include a period at the end. This concludes the reference.

Example:
Santa Fe College. (n.d.). History of the college. https://www.sfcollege.edu/about/history-of-the-college/index

For in-text citations with no date, use the abbreviation n.d.

Example:
Santa Fe College (n.d.) states that "community colleges are a uniquely American creation" (para. 2).

Example 3: A Blog Post

Blog posts are cited similarly to webpages. You will need to identify the author of the post, the title of the post, the blog name, date, and URL.

Assemble your citation components in the same order as the previous examples. The only difference in the formatting is that the title of the blog is italicized, and the title of the blog post is not. You will also want to include the entire date.

Example:
Kaplan, H. (2017, October 4). Lumia: The art of light. Eye Level. https://americanart.si.edu/blog/eye-level/2017/04/56195/lumia-art-light

For more examples and additional situations you may encounter when citing web resources, visit the Tyree Library’s APA Citations research guide. This can be found by visiting the Library’s website and clicking Guides and then Citation Guides.

This concludes the video tutorial on citing web resources using APA style. If you still have questions, please contact a librarian:

352-395-5409
reference@sfcollege.edu
Building Y, NW Campus
sfcollege.edu/library