How to Cite a Program in APA

Researchers in many academic disciplines sometimes find it necessary to write specialized computer programs to aid them in analyzing data specific to their field of study. If you write a research paper in one of these fields, you may need to use such a program to analyze your data and present your results. When you use non-standard software or programming languages, the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) requires that you cite the program in your reference list.

Instructions

    • 1

      Begin the citation with the name of the rights holder---this may be a person or an organization. For a person, include the last name and first initial; for example, "Felsenstein, J." For an organization, list the full name; for example, "U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."

    • 2

      Enclose the program's year of release in parentheses. For example, "(2009)."

    • 3

      Give the title of the program followed by the version number in parentheses for any version other than the first. Place the type of reference in square brackets. For example, "PHYLIP (Version 3.69) [Computer software]."

    • 4

      Include the information necessary to retrieve a copy of the software. Give the producer's location and name for software distributed in hard copy form, or the Web URL for a downloaded program, omitting the period after the URL in the citation. For example, "Englewood, NJ: Biostat." or "Retrieved from http://evolution.genetics.washington.edu/phylip.html".

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