Citation Guide

APA: Essential Rules

Author as Publisher

When the author and the publisher are the same, omit the publisher information from the reference entry to avoid repetition.

Author Names: Honorifics

Do not include honorifics (Dr., Col., Professor, etc.) when citing author names. Including these titles in the body of your document is acceptable.

Capitalization: Title Case vs. Sentence case

Title Case Sentence case
Love among the Ruins: A Memoir of Life and Love in Hamburg, 1945 Love among the ruins: A memoir of life and love in Hamburg, 1945

Capitalize everything except:

  • conjunctions (and, but, or, etc.)
  • prepositions (to, of, on, among, between, etc.)
  • articles (a, an, the)

Capitalize only:

  • the first words in titles and subtitles
  • proper nouns

 

Note: Always format the information in your citations (titles, author names, etc.) according to the requirements of the citation style you are using, regardless of how it appears in the original source.

Equations

Every equation that is not field-specific common knowledge needs to be cited. You may weave the source into the narrative:

  • The next step was to apply the X method (Ochoa, 2022), to describe ...
  • Ochoa (2022) summarizes the derivation as follows ...

Here is an example of citing properly before the equation. Note the period at the end. Equations must function grammatically as part of the text:

Boito et al. (2015) address the widely used metric, the cost per flying hours (CPFH). The formula for CPFH is

APA citing an equation

Adapted from Moreau, P. P. (2022). A cost-effectiveness analysis of C-12 variant airborne ISR capabilities in the Marine Corps [Master's thesis, Naval Postgraduate School], NPS Archive: Calhoun. https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/69689


And here is an example of how to cite an equation after it is presented:

Cost per Aircraft (PAI) was the next metric we looked at as an alternative. This metric, expressed as

APA citing an equation,

takes the total O&S costs and divides it by the total number of aircraft (Boito et al., 2015).

Adapted from Moreau, P. P. (2022). A cost-effectiveness analysis of C-12 variant airborne ISR capabilities in the Marine Corps [Master's thesis, Naval Postgraduate School], NPS Archive: Calhoun. https://calhoun.nps.edu/handle/10945/69689

Figures / Images / Graphs

A citation is required if you did not wholly create the figure—i.e., if you used someone else's image or data. A citation is not needed when all elements of the figure are your own creation.

See Figure 1 for placement of the title and the in-text citation.

  • Put a period and a space after the title.
  • If you use the figure exactly as it appears in the source, use
    “Source: ___.”
  • If you alter the original figure or use someone else's image or data to create the figure, use “Adapted from ___.”

Figures image box

Figure 1.    A Figure with a Citation in APA, Chicago Author-Date, or INFORMS Style. Source: Author (2017).

or

Figure 1.    A Figure with a Citation in APA, Chicago Author-Date, or INFORMS Style. Adapted from Author (2017).


For more details, see the Thesis Template.

How often to cite?

  • Remember: one citation at the end of a string of sentences or a paragraph cannot “cover” the entire section.
     
  • Cite a source the first time it is used in each paragraph.
     
  • Every sentence thereafter in the paragraph that uses information from this same source must contain either a signal phrase or a citation clearly indicating where the information came from.
     
    • Note: always use a citation (even if you also use a signal phrase) every time you quote material.

Identifying Authors of Official Documents

For the National Security Strategy, cite the president as the author.

For other official documents, the author is the organization immediately responsible for creating the document. In the example below, the author is the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the publisher is the Department of the Navy.

Identifying organizational authors

 

In the example above, the author is NOT an umbrella organization, signatory, or any of the following:

  • Chief of Naval Operations
  • Deputy Chief of Naval Operations
  • W. F. Moran
  • Department of Defense
  • Navy Pentagon
  • R. P. Burke
  • United States of America​

Do not include acronyms for organizations listed as authors in the List of References or footnotes:

  • YES: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.
  • NO: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO or OCNO).
  • NO: CNO or OCNO.

In-text Citation Placement & Signal Phrase

Where in the sentence does my in-text citation go?
 

  • If you name your source(s) in a given sentence, a parenthetical citation containing only the year follows immediately after the name(s) of the author(s). Example: In contrast to earlier work by Abbott and Costello (1999), Laurel and Hardy (2008) propose an altogether different model for optimizing hat density.
     
    • If you quote a source that you have named in the sentence, the parenthetical citation gets split, with the page number(s) placed in parentheses immediately after the quoted material. Example: Schartz and Metterklume (2013), however, note that the Laurel–Hardy method produces "less than suboptimal millinerial outcomes" (p. 198) in the case of heavily laden peach-basket hats.
       
      • But compare what happens when the quotation comes first: The "less than suboptimal millinerial outcomes" reported by Schartz and Metterklume (2013, p. 198), however, continue to impede the development of sufficiently dense peach-basket hats.
         
  • If you do not name your source(s) in a given sentence, a single parenthetical citation goes at the end of the sentence or clause it covers (Goffman, 1974), inside the punctuation, like this (Melville, 1851).
     
    • If the sentence ends with a quotation, "close the quote, then place the citation between the quotation marks and the punctuation, like this” (Woolf, 1931, p. 14).
       
  • Do not insert spaces between a parenthetical citation and the punctuation that follows it.

 

In the paragraph below, the  parenthetical in-text citations are highlighted in yellow, and the signal phrases are in blue. Note that the second sentence is common knowledge, whereas the final sentence is clearly the opinion of the author.

In a 2009 Journal of Restaurant Marketing article, restaurateur Shawna Jackson contends that a restaurant’s color scheme influences how hungry its patrons are. Consider popular fast-food restaurants, which often use red and yellow in their advertising and décor. According to a study by Roberta Chen and David Lopez (2016), restaurant customers feel energized in red and yellow environments, which encourages them to order more food. The same study indicates that patrons feel relaxed in blue and purple environments, which encourages them to “spend more time considering the menu options and eat at a slower pace” (p. 29). Although blue décor can give your restaurant a more casual, laid-back feel (Chen & Lopez, 2016), Jackson believes it encourages patrons to linger at their tables without ordering additional food or beverages. Accordingly, it is difficult to identify a popular chain restaurant that decorates with calmer hues.

List of References vs. Bibliography

What is the difference between them?

  • A List of References includes all works cited in a text
  • A Bibliography lists all works cited and consulted

The NPS Thesis Processing Office prefers a List of References for the following: 

  • Thesis
  • Capstone project report
  • MBA report
  • Dissertation

For papers, check with your professors for their preference.

Missing Info

If any information is missing from a source (a journal with no volume number, for example), simply omit that information. For sources consulted in hardcopy, omit the URL and any additional verbiage that introduces it. Anything retrieved online, however, MUST have a link. The only exception is journals retrieved from a subscription database such as ProQuest. 

Multiple Authors, et al.

# of Authors Signal-phrase format Parenthetical format Reference List

One

Walker (2007) reported that ...

(Walker, 2007)

Walker, V. (2007). [then the remaining reference information]
Two

Walker and Allen (2004)

(Walker & Allen, 2004)

Walker, V., & Allen, R. L. (2004).
More than two First author + et al.* First author + et al.* List all authors up to the first six, then follow the example below, ensuring the last author appears after the ellipsis.
Bradley et al. (2006) (Bradley et al., 2006) Bradley, K. S., Ramirez, H., Soo, T.,  Walsh J., Smith, W., Jones, F. ... Potatohead, M. (2006).

* When this form creates ambiguity (because two sources have the same first author and same year but different remaining authors), write out as many authors as needed to distinguish the sources, followed by "et al.":

  • Curie, Becquerel, et al. (1903)
  • Curie, Lippmann, et al. (1903)

By contrast, for multiple works from the same year by a certain group of authors, see the "Same Authors, Multiple Works" table.

Adapted from American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). and  American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).

Multiple Works by the Same Author / Multiple Sources in One Citation

Examples given are for books; follow the appropriate style for the source type you are citing.

Source

Generic Example Actual Example

Multiple Works by Same Author
(same year, different sources)

  • List sources in alphabetical order by title in the List of References (ignoring initial "a," "an," or "the") and append a lowercase letter to the year or to "n.d." (n.d.a, n.d.b)
Source 1

R: Author, A. A. (Year + a). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher.

T: (Author, year + a)

R: Hawthorne, M. (2006a). The cannibal’s dilemma: An unnatural history of four siblings. Penguin.

T: (Hawthorne, 2006a)

Source 2

R: Author, A. A. (Year + b). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher.

T: (Author, year + b)

R: Hawthorne, M. (2006b). Having people for dinner: A guide for the home cook. Penguin.

T: (Hawthorne, 2006b)
Combined

T: (Author year + a, year + b)

T: (Hawthorne 2006a, 2006b)

Multiple Works by Same Author
(different year, different sources)

  • List sources in chronological order.
Source 1

R: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher.

T: (Author, year)

R: Hawthorne, M. (2006). Having people for dinner: A guide for the home cook. Penguin.

T: (Hawthorne, 2006)

Source 2

R: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in sentence case and italics. Publisher.

T: (Author, year)

R: Hawthorne, M. (2008). Regrets. Penguin.

T: (Hawthorne, 2008)
Combined

T: (Author, year 1, year 2)

T: (Hawthorne, 2006, 2008)

Multiple Sources in One Citation
(different authors, different years)

  • Place references in alphabetical order and separate them with a semicolon. Ensure all sources appear in the list of references.
Combined

T: (Author 1, year; Author 2, year; etc.)

(Hawthorne, n.d.b; Norton, 1998; Stulberg, 2014)

(Nekeip & Nywdlog, 2005; Qaga, 2007; Romato et al., 1995).

Authors with the Same Surname

  • If the authors of different sources share the same surname, include the authors' initials in the in-text citations (even if the year of publication differs). Initials help avoid confusion within the text and help users locate the correct entry in the reference list.
T: (A. A. Author, year; B. B. Author, year) (M. Curie, 1903; P. Curie, 1903)

 

Page Numbers and Other Locators

In-text Citations

  • Include page numbers in in-text citations when citing quoted material.
  • Example: (Haynes, 2009, p. 70)
  • If a source does not have page numbers, include as much information as needed for the reader to locate the material. Such information might include the following:
Locator Options Example
heading or section name (okay to abbreviate a long heading or section name) Methods section
paragraph or section number para. 2
paras. 4–5
heading or section in combination with a paragraph number Chapter 3, para. 1
table, figure, or slide number Table 1.4
Figure 3
Slide 5
video or podcast time stamp 2:12
appendix number or letter Appendix C
  • Do not use Kindle location numbers with in-text citations. Provide the page numbers, or use one of the options above.
  • In citations especially of shorter electronic works presented as a single, searchable document, such locators may be unnecessary.

See: Direct Quotation of Material Without Page Numbers


List of References/Bibliography

  • For portions of larger documents, such as journal articles and book chapters, include the page range.

    Example: Cordesman, A. H., Mausner, A., & Kasten, D. (2009). Introduction. In J. Smith (Ed.), Winning in Afghanistan: Creating Effective Afghan Security Forces (pp. 1–12). Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Print vs. Online Sources

When citing a source retrieved online, use the "online" format even when you or someone else printed out the material. For example, if you print out a thesis or your advisor provides you with a printed thesis, it is still categorized as an online document.

Only cite as a print source when the material has been produced by a publisher in hard copy. For example, if you obtain a print journal or book from the library stacks, it is categorized as a printed source.

Retrieval Dates and URL Formatting

  • Only include date retrieved if the source material has no date.
  • Never include a period at the end of the URL.
  • Do not insert a hard or soft return within the URL string; doing so breaks the link.
  • A URL does not belong in an in text-citation. Ever.

Secondary / Indirect Sources

An indirect source is a source that cites some other work that you discuss in your text.

Whenever possible, consult primary sources and your sources’ sources yourself. Upon investigation of the primary source, you may find you disagree with the indirect source author’s analysis or methods.


How to Incorporate Indirect Sources

The following passage incorporates a properly credited indirect source. The indirect source information is highlighted in yellow; the primary source information is highlighted in blue.

Walker (2008) describes Miguel Roig's 1999 experiment, which correlates inadequate paraphrasing in student writing with poor reading comprehension. Citing Roig’s data, Walker explains that "students do in fact possess skills necessary for paraphrasing but … may be impeded from applying those skills when dealing with rigorous text" (p. 387).

Note: Include only the indirect source (the source you consulted) in your reference list. 


For more information

See the TPO's "Citing Your Sources’ Sources" handout.

Tables

A citation is required if you did not wholly create the table—i.e., if you used someone else's data. A citation is not needed when all elements of the table are your own creation.

See Table 1 for placement of the title and the in-text citation.

  • Put a period and a space after the title.
  • If you use the table exactly as it appears in the source, use
    “Source: ___.”
  • If you alter the original table or if you use someone else's data to create the table, use “Adapted from ___.”

 

Table 1.    A Table with a Citation in APA, Chicago Author-Date, or INFORMS Style. Source: Author (2017).

or

Table 1.     A Table with a Citation in APA, Chicago Author-Date, or INFORMS Style. Adapted from Author (2017).

table


For more details, see the Thesis Template.

Translations and Works Not in English

For works with a translator, follow the format for edited sources but substitute "translated" for "edited" in the list of references. 

R: Manqué, M. Old and rejected poems. (1989). Translated by Hickinson, P. Narrow Fellow Press.


For works in languages other than English, format the title in sentence case, then give the translation, also in sentence case, in square brackets immediately following:

R: Manqué, M. (1992). "L'esthétique de l'échec" [The aesthetics of failure]. In Sweeney H. (Ed.), Éviter les clichés et des autres clichés [Avoiding clichés and other clichés], edited by Sweeney, H. 3–44. Stew & Offspring.

 

 

Additional Resources