Citation Helper: An APA and MLA Citation Guide

Film or Movie

Provide the director in the author element of the reference, followed by the notation “(Director).” In APA 7, it is not required to list the producers. Provide the production company or companies in the source element of the reference. Separate multiple production companies with a semicolon.

Cameron, J.  (Director).  (1997).  Titanic [Film].  Paramount Pictures. 

Film or Movie in Another Language

If the original title of the work is a language different from that of the paper you are writing, provide a translation of the title in square brackets after the title and before the bracketed description and period.

Alfredson, T.  (Director).  (2008).  Låt den rätte komma in[Let the right one in] [Film].  EFTI; Sveriges Television (SVT); Filmpool Nord; Sandrew Metronome; WAG; Fido Film; The Chimney Pot; Ljudligan. 

Basic Format for a TV Series

Writer, W. W.  (Writer),  & Director, D. D.  (Director).  (Date of broadcast or copyright).  Title of broadcast [Television broadcast or Television series].  In P. Producer   (Producer).  City, state of origin: Studio or distributor. 

TV Series

Crane, D. & Kauffman, M.  (Producers).  (1994-2004).  Friends  [TV show].  Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions; Warner Bros. 

Notes:

1. Provide the executive producer(s) in the author element of the reference.
2. When there is one executive producer, use the notation “(Executive Producer)."
3. When there are multiple executive producers, provide the notation once after all the producers’ names, the same as you would the notation “(Eds.)” for an edited book: “(Executive Producers).”
4. Provide the year(s) during which the series aired in the date element of the reference. If the series is still airing at the time you are writing the paper, replace the second year with “present”: (2017–present).
5. Provide the production company or companies in the source element of the reference. Separate multiple production companies with a semicolon.

Episode of a TV Show

Martin, G.R.R.  (Writer).  & Kirk, B.  (Director).  (2011, May 1).  Lord snow (Season 1, episode 3) [TV series episode].  In D. Benioff & D.B. Weiss  (Producers),  Game of thrones.  HBO; Television 360; Grok! Studios; Generator Entertainment; Bighead Littlehead. 

Notes:

1. Include the writers and directors for the episode. Include the contributor’s role in parentheses after each name.
2. If one person performed multiple roles, combine the descriptions with an ampersand.
3. Provide the season number and episode number after the title in parentheses.
4. Provide the production company or companies in the source element of the reference. Separate multiple production companies with a semicolon.

Song with an Associated Album, with Multiple Music Labels

Coldplay & BTS.  (2021).  My universe [Song].  On Music of the spheres.  Parlophone; Atlantic. 

Song without an Associated Album

BTS (featuring Megan Thee Stallion).  (2021).  Butter (Remix) [Song].  BigHit Music. 

Song or Track Recorded by an Artist Other Than the Original Artist

Smith, A.  (2015).  I put a spell on you [Song].  On Nina revisited: A tribute to Nina Simone.  Legacy. 

Classical Song or Track

Beethoven, L. van.  (2012).  Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major [Song recorded by Staatskapelle Dresden].  On Beethoven: Complete symphonies.  Brilliant Classics.  (Original work published 1804) 

Artwork in a Museum or on a Museum Website

van Gogh, V.  (1889).  The starry night [Painting].  The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States.  https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/ 

Notes:

1. Use this format to cite all types of museum artwork, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints, drawings, digital art, crafts, and installations.
2. List the artist as the author of the work.
3. Always include a description of the medium or format in square brackets after the title. The description is flexible (e.g., a general description such as “[Painting]” or a more specific description such as “[Oil painting]” or “[Oil on canvas]”).
4. For untitled artwork, include a description in square brackets in place of a title.
5. The name and location of the museum appear in the source element of the reference.
6. Provide a link to the artwork on the museum website if available.

Art Exhibition

Design for eternity: Architectural models from the ancient Americas [Exhibition].  (2015-2016).  The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, United States.  https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/design-for-eternity 

Martinez, J. L., & Douar, F.  (2018-2019).  Archaeology goes graphic [Exhibition].  The Louvre, Paris, France.  https://www.louvre.fr/en/expositions/archaeology-goes-graphic 

Notes:

1. Provide the curator(s) of the exhibition in the author element of the reference.
2. When the curator is unknown, move the title of the exhibition to the author position of the reference.
3. The year or range of years of the exhibition appears in the date element of the reference.
4. The name and location of the museum appear in the source element of the reference.
5. Provide a link to the exhibition on the museum website if available.

Informational Museum Plaque

[Plaque with background information about American Gothic].  (n.d.).  Art Institute Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States. 

Notes:

1. Provide a description of the plaque in square brackets rather than the name of the artwork or item so it is clear that you are citing the plaque itself.
2. If the plaque itself is dated, use that date. If the plaque is not dated, use “n.d.” Do not use the date of the artwork or item being described.
3. Information on a plaque is likely consolidated from other sources, making the plaque a secondary source. If possible, cite the same information from a primary source that your readers will be able to retrieve.

Books by One Author

Block, P.  (2008).  Community: The structure of belonging.   Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 

Books by Two Authors

Wheatley, M., & Frieze, D.  (2011).  Walk out walk on: A learning journey into communities daring to live the future now.   Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. 

Books by Three or More Authors

Dean, A., Johnson, J., & Luhmann, S.  (2019).  Feminist praxis revisited: Critical reflections on university-community engagement.   (1st ed.).  Wilfred Laurier University Press. 

Boggs, C.  (2021).  Fugitive Politics: The struggle for ecological sanity.   Taylor and Francis.  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003197461 

Note:

1. When citing an ebook that you have found in a research database (e.g. ProQuest Ebook Central, EBSCOhost Ebook Collection) and there is no DOI, simply follow the same format as for print books

An edited book is made up of chapters written by different authors. If you are citing only a single chapter from an edited work, follow the citation format for a book chapter.

Editor, E.E. (Ed.).  (Year of Publication).  Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle.   (edition if numbered).  Publisher.  DOI if available 

Kepner, S.F. (Ed.).  (1996).  The lioness in bloom: Modern Thai fiction about women.   University of California Press. 

Edited Book with a DOI

Domina, T., Gibbs, B. G., Nunn, L., & Penner, A. (Eds.).  (2019).  Education and society: An introduction to key issues in the sociology of education.   University of California Press.  https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvpb3wn0. 

Note:

1. The DOI (digital object identifier) is a unique string of characters identifying a digital work. It should be presented as a URL in the form https://doi.org/xxxx

The examples below show how to format a citation for a chapter in an edited book, compilation, or anthology (i.e. a book with chapters written by different authors).

For a chapter in an authored book, create a reference for the entire book and provide the chapter number with the in-text citation only.

Author, B. B.  (Year of Publication).  Title of chapter.  In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.),  Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle   (pp. pages of chapter).  Publisher.  DOI if available 

Chapter in an Edited Book

Palmquist, S. R.  (2015).  Kant’s Lectures on Philosophical Theology–Training-Ground for the Moral Pedagogy of Religion?  In R. R. Clewis (Ed.),  Reading Kant’s lectures   (pp. 365-390).  De Gruyter.  https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110345339-031 

Armstrong, D.  (2019).  Malory and character.  In M. G. Leitch & C. J. Rushton (Eds.),  A new companion to Malory   (pp. 144-163).  D. S. Brewer. 

Notes:

1. When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references.
2. List any edition number in the same set of parentheses as the page numbers, separated by a comma: (2nd ed., pp. 66-72).

Author, A.A.  (Year of Publication).  Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle.   (T. Translator, Trans.).  Publisher.  (Original work published year)  DOI if available 

Plato  (1989).  Symposium   (A. Nehamas & P. Woodruff, Trans.).  Hackett Publishing Company.  (Original work published ca. 385-378 BCE) 

Note:

1. When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates: Plato (385-378/1989)

Magazines will follow the basic form for periodicals, but the date may include the month and day (the date of publication)

Jackson, M.  (2022, February 28).  When I Did Time, I Was—Technically, Legally, Constitutionally—a Slave.  Esquire.  https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a39252495/prison-slavery-13th-ammendment-essay/ 

Newspaper articles will follow the basic form for periodicals, but the date will include the month and day (the date of publication), and the page number may include the section letter

Newspaper Article from an Online Newspaper

If the newspaper article is from an online newspaper that has a URL that will resolve for readers, include the URL of the article at the end of the reference. If volume, issue, and/or page numbers for the article are missing, omit these elements from the reference.

Newspaper Article from a Print Version

If you used a print version of the newspaper article, provide the page or pages of the article after the newspaper title. Do not include the abbreviations “p.” or “pp.” before the page(s).

Newspaper Article from an Academic Research Database

If the newspaper article is from an academic research database, provide the title of the newspaper and any volume, issue, and/or page numbers that are available for the article. Do not include database information in the reference. If the article does not have volume, issue, or page numbers available, the reference in this case ends with the title of the newspaper.

Article from a News Website

Use this format for articles from news websites. Common examples are BBC News, BET News, Bloomberg, CNN, HuffPost, MSNBC, Reuters, Salon, and Vox. These sites do not have associated daily or weekly newspapers.

Webpage on a News Website

Refer to above "newspaper" section.

Webpage on a Government Agency Website

Notes:

1. For a page on a government website without individual authors, use the specific agency responsible for the webpage as the author.
2. The names of parent agencies not present in the author element appear in the source element (in the example, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health).
3. Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage.
4. Italicize the title of the webpage.
5. End the reference with the URL.

Webpage on an Organization's Website

Notes:

1. For a page from an organization’s website without individual authors, use the name of the organization as the author.
2. Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage.
3. Italicize the title of the webpage.
4. Because the author of the webpage and the site name are the same, omit the site name from the source element to avoid repetition./span>
5. End the reference with the URL.

Webpage with an Individual Author

Notes:

1. When individual author(s) are credited on the webpage, list them as the author in the reference.
2. Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage.
3. Italicize the title of the webpage.
4. Provide the site name in the source element of the reference.
5. End the reference with the URL.

Webpage with a Retrieval Date

When contents of a page are designed to change over time but are not archived, include a retrieval date in the reference.