APA Citation Style (7th Edition)

Books

Template

A reference to an entire book should be formatted like this template:

Authors. (Year). Book title: Book subtitle (edition, volume). Publisher. DOI or Public URL

Note: For more information, see the APA Manual, section 10.2; and the APA Style website.

Examples

Authored book, specific edition, with DOI

Cohen, D. (2017). How the child’s mind develops (3rd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315201375

Authored book, print or in a library database, with no DOI

Meikle, G. (2016). Social media: Communication, sharing and visibility. Routledge.

Translated book

Bolano, R. (2012). The savage detectives (N. Wimmer, Trans.). Picador. (Original work published 1998)

Note: Include the translator in parentheses after the title. At the end of the reference, add the original publication date in parentheses.

Book with an illustrator

Robertson, D. A. (2021). On the trapline (J. Flett, Illus.). Tundra Books.

Ebook, on a website

Hamilton, H., Jay, J., & Madison, J. (1998). The federalist papers. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1404

Edited book, print or in a library database, with no DOI

Shulman, D., & Stroumsa, G. G. (Eds.). (1999). Dream cultures: Explorations in the comparative history of dreaming. Oxford University Press.

Note: For an edited book, put (Ed.) or (Eds.) after the editor names.

Religious work

King James Bible. (1989). Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10 (Original work published 1769)

Note: Start the reference with the title. If the work is a republished version, use the republished date in the reference. The original publication date may be included at the end of the reference (APA Manual, section 9.42).

Conference proceedings

Cooper, S., & Ratele, K. (Eds.). (2014). Psychology serving humanity: Proceedings of the 30th international congress of psychology. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315777184

Note: This example is for an entire set of conference proceedings, published as a book. To cite an individual paper within conference proceedings, format it as a journal article or book chapter, depending how it was published.

Book Chapters

Template

A reference to a chapter in an edited book, or an entry in an encyclopedia or dictionary, should be formatted like this template:

Authors. (Year of publication). Chapter title: Chapter subtitle. In Editor Names (Eds.), Title of Book: Subtitle of Book (pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI or public URL

Note: For more information, see the APA Manual, section 10.3; and the APA Style website.

Examples

Edited book chapter with DOI

Ward, L. M., & Harrison, K. (2005). The impact of media use on girls’ beliefs about gender roles, their bodies, and sexual relationships: A research synthesis. In E. Cole & J. Henderson (Eds.), Featuring females: Feminist analyses of media (pp. 3–23). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/11213-001

Edited book chapter, print or in a library database, no DOI

Jarvin, L. (2015). Edutainment, games, and the future of education in a digital world. In E. L. Grigorenko (Ed.), The global context for new directions for child and adolescent development (pp. 33–40). John Wiley & Sons.

Encyclopedia entry, no author, print or in a library database

Population control. (2008). In W. A. Darity, Jr. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social sciences (2nd ed., Vol. 6, pp. 377–378). Gale.

Note: Start the reference with the entry title. If the entry has both an author and a book editor, cite it like a chapter in an edited book instead.

Encyclopedia entry, individual author, on a website

Brown, D. J., & Lawton, S. B. (2013, December 16). Charter schools. In The Canadian encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/charter-schools

Wikipedia entry

List of most translated individual authors. (2020, May 10). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_most_translated_individual_authors&oldid=955977125

Materials in Canvas and Course Packs

Articles or book chapters in a course pack

If the material in the course pack comes from another source, cite the source directly (the same way you would cite it if it wasn’t in a course pack). There is no need to indicate it was reproduced in a course pack.

Original materials in a course pack

If the material in the course pack is not from an otherwise available source, follow the format for edited book chapters. Include the author of the material, the year of the course pack, the title of the material, the instructor’s name (as editor), and the title of the course pack.

Use this template:

Author. (Date). Title of material. In Instructor Name (Ed.), ENG 101: Name of the course (page numbers). University of Alberta.

Note: For more information, see the APA Manual, section 10.3, and the Classroom Course Pack Material References page on the APA Style website. To learn about citing course slides, see the "Slides or lecture notes, in Canvas" example on the Audiovisual Media page of this guide.

Dissertations and Theses

Template

A reference to a dissertation or thesis should be formatted like this template: 

Author. (Publication Year). Dissertation or Thesis title: subtitle (Publication number) [Master's thesis or Doctoral dissertation, University name]. Database name. Public URL

Note: If no publicly accessible URL is available, do not include a link. For more information about citing dissertations and theses, see the APA Manual, section 10.6.

Examples

PhD dissertation, in a library database

Figueredo, L. (2006). Children's use of the spell checker during the composing process (Publication No. NR23026) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Alberta]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Master's thesis, online

Medwayosh, A. (2024). “A mind spread out on the ground”: Urban Indigenous experiences of grief and bereavement [Master’s thesis, University of Alberta]. Education & Research Archive. https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-nnpc-n275