Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Be careful! Just because you found something on the web, it doesn’t mean you are citing a website.
Look at the material closely – is it a journal article? A newspaper article? An encyclopedia? An eBook? Use the format that best describes the item.
Author
It can sometimes be difficult to find out who the author of a website is. Remember that an author can be a corporation or group, not only a specific person. Author information can sometimes be found under an "About" section on a website.
If there is no known author, start the citation with the title of the website instead.
Date
The best date to use for a website is the date that the content was last updated. Otherwise look for a copyright or original publication date. Unfortunately this information may not be provided or may be hard to find. Often date information is found at the bottom of a webpage.
If you do not know the complete date, put as much information as you can find. For example you may have a year but no month or day.
If there is no date provided, put the letters (n.d.) in round brackets where you'd normally put the date.
Retrieval Date
If the content of a website is likely to change over time (e.g. Wikis), you must provide the date you last visited the website.
Long URLs
If a URL is too long to fit onto one line, try to break it at a slash (/).
Degree Indications
APA style does not include indications such as M.D. in either in-text citations or the references list at the end.
Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year website was updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of website. Retrieved Month Day, Year site was last viewed (if content likely to change over time), from URL
| Reference List Example |
Mabillard, A. (2011, December 29). Shakespeare online. Retrieved June 19, 2012, from http://www.shakespeare-online.com/ Note: As this content is likely to change over time, the date the website was viewed was included in the retrieval information. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) Example: (Mabillard, 2001) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section) Example: (Mabillard, 2001, Elizabethan Fashion Faux Pas section) Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. In this example there is only one paragraph under the specific heading, so no paragraph number is needed. |
Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of website. Retrieved Month Day,Year site was last viewed (if content is likely to change over time), from URL
| Reference List Example |
World Health Organization. (2012). Data and statistics. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://apps.who.int/research/en/ Note: As this content is likely to change over time, the date the website was viewed was included in the retrieval information. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year) Example: (World Health Organization, 2012) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section) Example: (World Health Organization, 2012, Prevention section) Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. In this example there is only one paragraph under the specific heading, so no paragraph number is needed. |
Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year website was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of chapter or section: Subtitle if any. In Title of section or page. Retrieved Month Day,Year site was last viewed (if content is likely to change over time), from URL
If the content could change over time, include the Month Day, Year you viewed the site after the word "Retrieved" and before the words "from URL"
| Reference List Example |
Canadian Cancer Society. (2013). Cancer research. In Cancer information. Retrieved May 13, 2013, from http://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-101/cancer-research/?region=on Note: As this content is likely to change over time, the date the website was viewed was included in the retrieval information. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year) Example: (Canadian Cancer Society, 2013) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Corporation/Group's Name, year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section) Example: (Canadian Cancer Society, 2013, Behavioural research section, para. 2) Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. In this example there is only one paragraph under the specific heading, so no paragraph number is needed. |
Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year report was last updated/published, Month Day if given). Title of report: Subtitle if given (Pub. No. Publication Number if given). Retrieved Month Day,Year site was last viewed (if content is likely to change over time), from URL
Note: If the content could change over time, include the Month Day, Year you viewed the site after the word "Retrieved" and before the words "from URL"
Note: Try to include as much information as possible in your citation to help your reader find the document or report. For example, cite the full document's URL instead of the homepage.
| Reference List Example |
College of Nurses of Ontario. (2009). Practice standard: Ethics (Pub. No. 41034). Retrieved February 14, 2016, from http://www.cno.org/docs/prac/41034_Ethics.pdf Note: Because there is a publication number it is included in the citation after the title. If there was a chapter or section number, it would be included in the same place as the publication number as (Chapter xx) or (Section xx). This document is unlikely to change over time so no retrieval date is required. Likely a brand new document with a new URL would take its place. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year) Example: (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year, p. Page Number) Example: (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009, p. 4) |
Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee. (Year of Publication, Month Day). Title of document: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Retrieved Month Day, Year that you last viewed the website, from url
| Reference List Example |
Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services. (2010, April 27). Your preschool child's speech and language development. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/earlychildhood/ speechlanguage/brochure_preschool.aspx |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year) Example: (Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2010) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Year, Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number if more than one paragraph in section) (Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 2010, By Age Five section, para. 4) Note: When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. |
Corporation/Group/Organization's Name. (Year infographic was posted, Month Day if given). Title of infographic: Subtitle if given [Infographic]. Retrieved Month Day,Year site was last viewed (if content is likely to change over time), from URL
If the content could change over time, include the Month Day, Year you viewed the site after the word "Retrieved" and before the words "from URL"
| Reference List Example |
Statistics Canada. (2018, October 24). Obesity in Canadian adults, 2016 and 2017 [Infographic]. Retrieved November 7, 2018, from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2018033-eng.htm |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year) Example: (Statistics Canada, 2018) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Corporation/Group's Name, Year) Example: (Statistics Canada, 2018) |
Author's Last Name, First initial. Second Initial if Given. or Username if real name not provided. (Year blog post was published, Month Day). Title of blog post [Blog post]. Retrieved from URL.
| Reference List Example |
Dobbs, D. (2012, June 13). Fun in cities: Feature, not bug [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/fun-in-cities-feature-not-bug/ Note: If the blog author's real name is not provided, use their username instead. |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
(Author's Last Name, Year) Example: (Dobbs, 2012) |
| In-Text Quote |
(Author's Last Name, Year, Section Heading section if given) Example: (Dobbs, 2012) Note: This blog post has no page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings so this information is left out of the in-text citation. |
Title of entry. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved Month Day, Year that website was viewed, from URL for entry
Note: According to APA, n.d. is used instead of a date of publication as the date is difficult to determine. Include the date you viewed the website as the content is likely to change over time.
Wikipedia may not be considered an acceptable source for a college or university assignment. Be sure to evaluate the content carefully and check your assignment.
| Reference List Example |
Veterinary medicine. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterinary_medicine |
| In-Text Paraphrase |
("Title of entry," n.d.) Example: ("Veterinary Medicine," n.d.) |
| In-Text Quote |
("Title of entry," n.d., Section Name section, para. Paragraph Number) Example: ("Veterinary Medicine," n.d., Paraveterinary Workers section, para. 1) Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each word starting with a capital letter. When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from. |
If no author or creator is provided, start the citation with the title/name of the item you are citing instead. Follow the title/name of the item with the date of publication, and the continue with other citation details.
Remember: an author/creator may be an organization or corporation, for example Health Canada. If you don't have a person's name as the author, but do have the name of an organization or corporation, put that organization/corporation's name as the author.
Anonymous
If and only if an item is signed as being created by Anonymous, use "Anonymous" where you'd normally put the author's name.
In-Text
When you have no author, use a shortened version of the title where you'd normally put the author's name.
If you're citing something which is part of a bigger work, like an article from a magazine, newspaper, journal, encyclopedia, or chapter/short story from a book, put the shortened title in quotation marks in your in-text citation:
Example, paraphrase: ("A few words," 2014)
If you're citing an entire work, like a book, website, video, etc., italicize the shortened title in your in-text citation:
Example, paraphrase: (A few words, 2014)
This guide is used/adapted with the permission of Seneca College Libraries.
