How to Cite a Database in APA Format

Reference List Citation

• 1

  Start the citation with the last name of the author, if known, followed by a comma. Add the first initial, followed by a period and the middle initial, followed by a period. If no author is known, leave off this information. For example:

  Brown, A.G.

• 2

  Add the year in parentheses and end with a period if you listed an author. If you did not list an author, do not list a year at this point. For example:

  Brown, A.G. (2009).

• 3

  Add the title of the database in sentence case but do not italicize it. Italics are reserved for titles of data sets. Add the version number in parentheses, if applicable. For example:

  Brown, A.G. (2009). Databases for everyone (Version 4.2)

  If no author is known, begin with the title of the database. For example:

  Databases for everyone (Version 4.2)

• 4

  Add the description of the medium in square brackets and end with a period. For example:

  Brown, A.G. (2009). Databases for everyone (Version 4.2) [Database].

  If you did not list an author, add the date of the database in parentheses at this point and end with a period. For example:

  Databases for everyone (Version 4.2) [Database] (2009).

• 5

  Add location of publication, followed by a colon and the name of the producer, followed by a period. For a database with an author and a physical producer, the complete example looks like this:

  Brown, A.G. (2009). Databases for everyone (Version 4.2) [Database]. New York: Datasoft Services.

  For a database without an author, the complete example looks like this:

  Databases for everyone (Version 4.2) [Database] (2009). New York: Datasoft Services.

• 6

  Add "Retrieved from" and the full URL of the location, followed by a period if this is an online database. For a database with an author and an online retrieval, the complete example looks like this:

  Brown, A.G. (2009). Databases for everyone (Version 4.2) [Database]. Retrieved from http://www.datasoftservices.com/.

  For a database without an author and an online retrieval, the complete example looks like this:

  Databases for everyone (Version 4.2) [Database] (2009). Retrieved from http://www.datasoftservices.com/.

In-Text Citation

• 7

  Write the sentence in which you first mention the database. In parentheses, include the last name of the author, if known, followed by a comma and the date. For example:

  We generated database extracts for this population (Brown, 2009).

• 8

  Write the sentence in which you first mention the database. If there is no author, include the name of the database in title case, followed by a comma, followed by the year or the version number. For example:

  We generated database extracts for this population (Databases for Everyone, 2009).

• 9

  Include only the date or the version number in parentheses if you name the database in the body of your sentence. For example:

  We generated database extracts for this population using Databases for Everyone (2009).