How to Cite Online Resources in APA Style

Basic Resources

• 1

  Follow the same guidelines for citing online articles as you do when citing traditional sources, such as scholarly journal articles.

• 2

  Include, if available, a volume and issue number for the online resource you are citing.

• 3

  Include a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), if provided, for articles cited from an online scholarly journal. The DOI number is located on the first page of the article.

• 4

  Follow the examples below, which are provided by Purdue University's Online Writing Lab.

  Article from online periodical: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/URL/

  Article from online-only academic journal: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. doi:0000000/000000000000

  If no DOI is available, replace that with the web address.

  If a scholarly article you are citing is available in print form (or came from a newspaper), use the following format:

  Garcia, E. M. (2010). Writing with authority [Electronic version]. The Annals of Authoritative Writing, 21(2), 17-23.

Other Online Resources

• 5

  Cite dissertations or theses found in an online database as follows: Jones, S. (1998). Essays on writing well. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 22239011)

• 6

  Follow this example when citing lecture notes retrieved online: Johnson, K. T. (2006). How to use APA style [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://theinternetaddress.com

• 7

  Cite emails in your text as you would any other personal communication: (T. Davis, personal communication, July 18, 2010).

• 8

  Use the following format to cite message board posts. If an author name is not available, use a screen name: Black Cat. (2001, June 21). How to clean oil spills [Msg 25]. Message posted to http://groups.savetheearth.org/advice