Citing electronic sources using APA referencing

Electronic sources include websites, emails, films, television programs, social media, podcasts and radio broadcasts, online journals and eBooks.

How do I cite electronic resources using APA style?

Referencing electronic resources can be confusing—it's difficult to know which information to include or where to find it. Electronic citations require many of the same elements, in the same order, as fixed-media sources.

As a general rule, provide as much information as possible concerning authorship, location and availability. Also, determine the type of content so the format can be identified.

For the reference list, provide the following pieces of information:

author or authoring body name(s)
date (published or last updated)
title
format description (where necessary, identify that you accessed the source in an electronic format, between square brackets [ ])
as much electronic retrieval information as needed to locate the source, for example, a webpage URL (Retrieved from http ://xxxxxxxxx), or a DOI (Digital Object Identifier).

Electronic publishing is now a standard form of accessing information, but many sources are published in both paper and electronic formats. You should cite according to the format you accessed. Unlike fixed-media sources, online materials can easily be changed, or disappear altogether, so full and accurate citation information is essential.

An entire website

To refer to an entire website:

For a passing reference to a website in text, the URL is sufficient; no reference list entry is needed:

These United Nations policies are outlined on The International Narcotics Control board website (http://www.incb.org)

Webpage on a website with a group author

In-text citations

Cite the name of the author/authoring body and the date created or last revised:

(International Narcotics Control Board, 1999)

References

Include information in the following order:

author (name of group)
date (created or last updated), between parentheses
title of document
webpage URL (If possible, ensure that the URL is included without a line-break).

International Narcotics Control Board. (2019). Psychotropic Substances. International Narcotics Control Board https://www.incb.org/incb/en/psychotropics/index.html

Webpage with an individual author

In-text citations

References

Include information in the following order:

author (the person responsible for the page)
date (created or last updated), between parentheses
title of document
website name
webpage URL (If possible, ensure that the URL is included without a line-break).

Hay, R. (2014, June 23). Diego Costa, Spain and problems of identity in world football. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/diego-costa-spain-and-problems-of-identity-…

A website with no author

In-text citations

If the author's name is unknown, cite the website/page title and date. If the title is long, cite the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title) and the year. Use double quotation marks around the title or abbreviated title:

("Land for sale on moon", 2007)

References

Land for sale on moon. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.moonlandregistry.com

A website with no date

In-text citations

If there is no date on the page, use the abbreviation n.d. (no date):

References

ArtsNSW. (n.d.). New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards. Retrieved from http://www.arts.nsw.gov.au/awards/LiteraryAwards/litawards.htm

Blogs

To refer to an entire blog:

As with a website, mentioning it in text, along with the URL is sufficient; no reference list entry is needed:

Aspects of the postgraduate experience are discussed at The Thesis Whisperer blog (https://thesiswhisperer.com) .

A Blog Post:

Use the screen name of the author as written.

In-text citations

PZ Myers (2014) points out that .

References

Include information in the following order:

author name
date (year, month day)
post name
format, between square brackets
retrieved from URL of post

PZ Myers. (2014, August 25). Crusaders against GMOs [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/08/25/crusaders-against-gmos/

A Blog Comment:

proximity1 . (2014, August 26). Re: Crusaders against GMOs [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2014/08/25/crusaders-against-gmos/

Entry in an online reference work (wikis, dictionaries)

In-text citations

Davison (2003, para. 1) defines Australian national identity as "is the most recent and popular of the concepts by which Australians have defined their selfhood as a people."

Davison (2003) suggests that national identity has become deeply embedded in Australian public discourse.

References

Davison, G. (2003). National Identity. In G. Davison, J. Hirst, & S. Macintyre (Eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian History. Retrieved from http://www.oxfordreference.com/

Entry in an online reference work, no author or editor:

Put the name of the entry in place of the author name.

When listing a frequently updated source, note that the retrieval date is needed in this case because, as true for any wiki entry, the source material may change over time.

Science fiction. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 14, 2009, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction

Generative AI tools

Format for an APA citation for AI in the following order:

Name of Company/creator of generative AI Tool
Year
Name of generative AI tool
Month Date version
Large language model
URL

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (June 16 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

In-text citation example:

A common example of a programming language is C++ (OpenAI, 2023).
According to OpenAI (2023), when prompted with “Does the human brain have computational power than the most powerful computer?”, it appears there are …

Facebook

General mentions with a URL:

As with a website, if you are discussing Facebook or a Facebook page in general, give the site URL in the text inside parentheses, the first time it is mentioned. No reference list entry is needed.

Many alpaca breeding enthusiasts connect through social media like facebook (https://www.facebook.com)

To refer to specific information:

If you paraphrase or quote specific, retrievable information from social media, provide an in-text citation (with the author and date) and a reference list entry (with the author, date, title, and source URL).

In-text citations

Include the author name and date of posting:

(The Learning Centre UNSW 2015)

References

Include information in the following order:

author name and initial, or group name.
date. Provide the year, month, and day for items that have a specific date associated with them (status updates, photos, and videos. Otherwise, provide only the year.
title. Provide the name of the page or the content or caption of the post)
format [Facebook post]. Describe the content form e.g. Facebook status update, photograph, timeline, or video file after the title in square brackets.
source URL. Provide a retrieval URL that leads as directly and reliably to the cited content as possible. Click a post’s date stamp to access its archived URL.
retrieval date. Add if the content may change e.g. whole feeds or pages. Do not provide a retrieval date if the post has a specific date associated with it already e.g. status updates, photos, and videos.

The Learning Centre UNSW. (2015, October 8). November is AcWriMo (Academic Writing Month) at UNSW! [Facebook status update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/TLC.UNSW/posts/10152980930467126

Twitter

General mentions with a URL:

As with a website, if you are discussing twitter or a twitter account in general, give the site URL in the text, inside parentheses, the first time it is mentioned. No reference list entry is needed.

President Obama's twitter account is run by numerous staff (https://twitter.com/BarackObama)

To refer to specific information:

In-text citations

Include the author name and date of posting:

References

Include information in the following order:

author name and initial, or group name, followed by social media identity information (provide the author’s screen name in square brackets. If only the screen name is known, provide it without brackets.
date. (Provide the year, month, and day for items that have a specific date associated with them. Otherwise, provide only the year.
title. Provide the name of the page or the content or caption of the post.
format. Describe the content form (e.g. tweet, photograph, video file) after the title in square brackets.
source url. Provide a retrieval URL that leads as directly and reliably to the cited content as possible. Click a post’s date stamp to access its archived URL.
retrieval date. Add if the content may change e.g. whole feeds or pages. Do not provide a retrieval date if the post has a specific date associated with it already e.g., tweets, photos, and videos.

Obama, B. [BarackObama]. (2016, June 9). Watch President Obama Slow Jam the News on @FallonTonight at 11:35 p.m. ET. #POTUSonFallon [tweet]. Retreived from https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/741068131347660801.

Email or electronic mailing list

To cite an email:

E-mails from individuals should be cited as personal communications. Cite them in text only. Provide author initials and surname, and the date. Personal communications are not included in the reference list.

(J. Smith, personal communication, April 18, 2001)

To cite electronic mail lists:

In-text citations

Include the author name and date of posting:

References

If the author's full name is available, list the last name first followed by initials. If only a screen name is available, use that.

Include information in the following order:

author name and initial.
exact date of posting (year, month, day).
title (subject line of message, do not italicise)
format (description, between square brackets).
retrieved from URL

Dushant, Y. (2006, June 12). Re: Films depicting rapid socio/economic changes in Asia [Electronic mailing list message]. http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Film&month=0606&week=b&msg=ikL7dQ0uDMUNlBYVep5ySg&user=&pw=

LatinoEuropa. (2016, June 6). The minute of silence [Online forum post]. Retrieved from http://historum.com/general-history/113744-minute-silence.html