Citing Electronic/Online Sources in APA Format

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Videos or DVDs § Back to Top

Lastname, Firstinitial. (Producer), & Lastname, Firstinitial. (Director). (YYYY). 
     Title of film. [Motion Picture].  Country: Distributor.

Reggio, G. (Director).  (1988). Powaqqatsi.  [Motion Picture].  United States:
     Ventura Distribution.

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Television Show § Back to Top

Lastname, Firstinitial. (Producer). (YYYY, Month DD).  Title of Show.
      [Television Broadcast].  City of publication: Distributor.

Ingalls, L. (Producer). (2002, August 4). How I finally got Nellie Olsen. 
      [Television broadcast]. Walnut Grove, MN: General Store.

* For a Television series or a single episode from a series, put [Television series] or [Television series episode] instead of [Television broadcast]. In either case, put only (YYYY) for the date. The format for a single episode should include the writer and the name of the episode, like this:

Lastname, Firstinitial. (Writer), & Lastname, Firstinitial (Director). (YYYY).
      Episode Title [Television series episode]. In Firstinitial Lastname (Producer),
      Series Title. Place of publication: Distributor.

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Article from an Online Encyclopedia § Back to Top

Lastname, Firstinitial (if given). (YYYY). Article title. In Title of encyclopedia.
      Publisher. Retrieved Date, from URL

Lookatcha, G. (2002). Mirrors and how they work. In Encyclopedia Britannica .
      Retrieved February 29, 2004 from http://search.eb.com/

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Personal Webpages § Back to Top

These are sites people have made that are not sponsored by an organization or institution. They can be hosted on free servers such as Geocities or on space leased from Internet service providers. Many people are also able to post personal sites on webspace they get at work or at school.

Author. (Date of publication). Title of page. In Name of organization or      institution. Retrieved date, from URL

Snogwhiffle, N. (n.d.). Smog layer over upstate New York. In Earth Sciences & Image      Analysis, NASA-Johnson Space Center. Retrieved December 3, 2002, from
     http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ debrief/ STS092/STS092-713-32.htm

Mouse, M. (n.d.). Home page. Retrieved January 16, 2003, from      http://www.geocities.com/~mickeymouse/index.html

Duck, D. (n.d.). Ducks united. Retrieved January 22, 2003, from      http://www.disney.com/personal/duck.html

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Corporate web pages (a company, school, or other group) § Back to Top

These are sites that are usually run by companies, universities, non-profit organizations, or other groups. They often do not have individual authors. However, if there is an author listed, make sure you put his or her name in the citation.

Webpage title. (Date of Publication). Retrieved date, from Name of larger      organization Web site: URL

The Writer's Workshop. (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2007, from University of Illinois      Center for Writing Studies Web site: http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/

Law Enforcement Agency Resource Network. Retrieved January14, 2006, from Anti-
      Defamation League Web site: http://www.adl.org/learn

Citation: How horrible is it? (2006, October 15). Retrieved October 16, 2006,
     from Congressional Subcommittee on Electronic Citation Web site:
     http://citation.house.gov/citations.html

Cool, J., & Barron, R. (2006, October). Very scholarly project. Retrieved February      18, 2007, from University of Illinois Web site: http://illinois.edu/scholar.html

Kent, C. (2006). In-depth interviews with Superman. Retrieved March 1, 2006, from       The Official Superman Fan Club Web site:      http://www.supermanisawesome.com/interview.html

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Articles from online databases (like Academic Search Premier or LexisNexis) § Back to Top

These are usually articles from journals, magazines, or newspapers that can be accessed over the Web using a database such as LexisNexis, Wilson Select Plus, or Academic Search Premier. MLA requires that the citation include the place (usually a library) through which the database was accessed.

Author. (date). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume (number), page
     numbers [if available]. Retrieved date, from name of database.

Ussmak, D. (2000). A big boost for octopus migration research. Scientific American,
     283 (6), 37. Retrieved December 9, 2002, from Academic Search Premier database.

Subbie, I. (2001). Researchers trace evolving Pacific air chemistry. Bulletin of the
      American Meteorological Society, 82 (5), 1030-1. Retrieved December 3, 2002,
      from Wilson Select Plus database.

Jabbers, K. (2007, September 20). The virtual laboratory high school: Without the lab, is      it a school? The International Herald Tribune, p. B10. Retrieved September 28,      2007, from LexisNexis database

Haubold, H. J. (2003, August). Education curricula in space science and technology: the
      approach of the UN-affiliated regional centres. Space Policy, 19, 221-224.      Retrieved September 13, 2003 from EBSCOhost database.

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Articles from online magazines, journals, and newspapers§ Back to Top

These are journals, magazines, and newspapers that are published directly on the web. Articles obtained directly from the web site of a magazine, journal, or newspaper are cited differently than articles you find in article databases like EBSCO and Lexis-Nexis (which include articles from many different publications).

Lastname, Firstinitial. (YYYY).  Title of article. [Electronic version].  Magazine
      Title, Volume, pp-pp. Retrieved Date from URL

Eyre, J. (2005). How to handle an insane mistress. Governess Journal, 2, 120-127.      Retrieved January 1, 2006, from      http://www.all_eyre_all_the_time.com/mistresstips/insanity.htm

Lennox, M. (2006). The social ramifications of gowing up with only an uncle. Children’s      Literature Characters Study Themselves, 9, 15-18. Retrieved September 14,      2007, from http://study.org/children_lit/2000/lennox.html

Harry, D. (2007). Movies I love. Movie Characters Speak. Retrieved September 13,      2007, from http://ejournal.com/2003/movie/harry_movies.html

Grossman, L. (2007, September 8). The quest for cool. Time. Retrieved September 10,      2007, from http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030908/xopener.html

Weintraub, E. (2006, August 22). Adding history to island’s Heritage Trail. Vineyard      Gazette. Retrieved September 10, 2006, from      http://wwwmvgazette.com/features/index/php?story_20030829_isabel_powell

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Letters to the editor from online newspapers § Back to Top

If the name of the letter-writer is given, include it. If not, don't. These are letters written to newspapers by ordinary folks (and sometimes by famous ones) who want to make their opinion heard.

Lastname, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial. (Date of publication). Title of Letter if      available [Letter to the editor]. Periodical Title. Retrieved Date, from URL

Brotherly rule [Letter to the editor]. (2006, May 16). Intergalactic Times. Retrieved
      September 16, 2007, from http://www.intertimes.com/news/let_11_25.html

[Letter to the editor]. (2006, July 14). Stars Gazette. Retrieved October 3, 2007, from
      http://www.stars.com/letter.html

Wiggins, E. (2006, April 14). [Letter to the editor]. Intergalactic Times. Retrieved      September 15, 2007, from http://www.intertimes.com/news/Letters.htm

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Reviews § Back to Top

These can be reviews of books, movies, theater shows, and the like.

Lastname, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial. (Date of Review). Title of Review if possible.      [Review of the ItemType Item Title]. Review Publication's Title. Retrieved      Date, from URL

Brown, C. (2006, April 3). Thank goodness Lucy wasn't here [Review of the play
     Football]. Cartoon Characters Critique. Retrieved September 15,
     2007, from http://www.cartoon.com/review/football/html

Pitt, D. (2006, August). [Review of the book Skin deep: tattoos, the
     disappearing West, very bad men, and my deep love for them all.].
     Booklist. Retrieved September 2, 2006, from http://www.ala.org/
     Content/NavigationMenu/Products_and_Publications/Griffin,_Karol_.html

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Online books § Back to Top

These are books that either 1) have been published in print and now are on the web, or 2) have only been published on the web. You can also use this format for a part of a book like the introduction or a specific chapter.

Lastname, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial. (Date of Publication). Title. Retrieved date,      from URL

Bird, B., Grouch, O., & Monster, H. (n.d.). The street. Retrieved August 27,
     2007, from http://www.street.com/boot/street.htm

Lane, L. (2006). My Superman experience. Retrieved October 14, 2006, from
     http://www.lois.lane.com/novel/super.html

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E-mail messages § Back to Top

APA doesn't encourage you to rely on e-mails as documents (since they're so impermanent and others can't read them), but it's a common thing to need to cite nowadays. This is a semi-unofficial format.

Lastname, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial. (E-mail Address). (Date of E-mail). Subject      line of E-mail. Email to FirstInitial. Lastname. (Recipient’s E-mail Address).

Hamm, M. (soccer_chick@soccer.com). (2007, September 2). Petition to increase      women's soccer television coverage on ESPN. E-mail to J. Schmo.      (schmo@schmoco.com).

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Listserv and newsgroup messages § Back to Top

Listservs are e-mail distribution services that send messages to groups of people who have a job or hobby in common. They are often moderated, meaning that there's someone in charge who decides if a particular message posted by one member is or is not suitable for sending to all other members. Newsgroups are somewhat similar, though not as common now as they were a few years ago. Usually you must sign up to be on a listserv or newsgroup. Listservs and newsgroups share the same citation format.

Author. (year, month day). Subject [Message Identifier, if available]. Message
      posted to news://name of the group

Fortinbras, D. (2006, December 4). Nuclear power since Chernobyl [Msg 1].
     Message posted to news://sci.physics.nuclear

Dog, P. (2006, May 20). Re: New information about bones. Message posted to
     DoggieDoings electronic mailing list, archived at http://web.doggie.com/
     post.html

Duck, D. (2006, May 19). Re: Why ducks like water. Message posted to Ducknews
     electronic mailing list, archived at http://web.ducknews.com/post.html

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Online bulletin board postings § Back to Top

As with real-time communications like instant messages, MLA does not have an official format for bulletin board postings. We've made one up.

Lastname, FirstInitial. MiddleInitial. (Date of post). Subject line. Message posted      to URL of bulletin board.

Caldecott, R. (2006, December 14). I am a picture book award! Message posted to
     http://www.gslis.edu/bb/kiddie/html/lit.html

Newberry, J. (2006, November 3). I've got an award named after me! Message
     posted to http://lis.uiuc.edu/bb/ya_lit/html/lit.html

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Disclaimer: This handout is only meant as a guide. If we tried to cover all citations you might make, we’d have a book—which is exactly what the American Psychological Association (APA) publishes every couple of years. You should check the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5^th edition, if you have a question that this guide doesn’t answer. See the library for a copy (call number 029 Am4p2001 in the reference section).

Formatting your citations: In making your list of works cited, begin each entry flush with the left margin; if the entry runs more than a line long, the next lines should be indented five spaces, or one default TAB setting if you are using a word processor. On many word processors you can also accomplish this by paragraph formatting for a "hanging indent." (Whichever you choose, be consistent throughout.) Use double spacing for your entire list, both between and within entries.
   If you will be publishing your own bibliography on a web page, it may be difficult to indent properly. To deal with this, it's common to use bullets in front of each citation instead of indenting. We have used bullets on this page to show you what this format should look like.

Special considerations when citing electronic materials: Electronic materials now come in a huge variety of formats. Videos and CD-ROMs are cited much as you would cite a book, but citations for online materials must include the following basic minimal information:

Title. (Date of Internet publication or date of access). URL

In many cases you'll have an author and the citation will look like this.

Author. (Date of Internet publication or update). Title. Retrieved date, from URL

When you can find it, it's best to have more than this minimal information. The following formats tell you what to include (if possible) for commonly cited electronic and online resources.

Remember to take your reader as close as possible to the actual document you viewed, and make sure the URL works! If you look up articles in an online database like EBSCO, each article you find will be displayed with a URL, but it will extremely long and will generally not get anyone else back to that article -- it is dynamically (and temporarily) generated by the database in response to your search. Do not use these URLs to cite sources! Instead, use the name of the database as shown in the examples below.

If you need to break a URL to fit it on a line, make the break after a slash or before a period.