Please note that there are different forms of web content (blog posts, press releases, etc.) with differing formatting rules under APA - refer to the appropriate tab for the resource you are referencing.
| General guidelines |
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| Author/s |
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| Access URLs |
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| A note about retrieval dates for web sources |
For APA 7 retrieval dates are only required if a web source can be expected to change over time. Therefore most websites (and all documents) accessed online do not require a retrieval date as they are unlikely to change (without being replaced by new material with different citation information). Some web sources, however, are not static and could be expected to be updated (e.g. wikis, certain online health resources). Under this guideline, such sources would need a retrieval date to show when they were accessed. The formatting examples in this guide will detail when a retrieval date is required. |
Citing websites versus web pagesThere is often confusion when referencing websites in assignments. To talk about a website in general terms, refer to the Websites section at the bottom of the page. If you are referencing information from a web page see the information directly below. For documents from the web see the tab for Online documents. |
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General Notes: |
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| Web page authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of page: Subtitle. Title of Website. http://www... |
| Web page with a corporate author |
Corporate Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of page: Subtitle. http://www... Where the author is the same as the title of the website, do not repeat the website title |
| Web page with no date |
Follow the above patterns but replace (Year, Month Day) with (n.d.). See the example below. |
Examples:
Australian College of Midwives. (n.d.). Midwifery practice review. https://www.midwives.org.au/mpr
Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association. (n.d.). What is CPD? http://www.apna.asn.au/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=APNA/ccms.r?PageId=11140
Forward, D. (2020, January 28). How Deadpool 3 could be rated R under Disney, according to writer Rhett Reese. Screen Rant. https://screenrant.com/deadpool-3-rated-r-disney-20th-century-studios/
HealthTimes. (2015, May 27). The future of aged care nursing in Australia. https://healthtimes.com.au/hub/aged-care/2/news/nc1/the-future-of-aged-care-nursing-in-australia/495/
Palmer, L. F. (2008, July 17). Insufficient milk syndrome: A fallacy becomes a reality. Baby Reference. http://babyreference.com/insufficient-milk-syndrome-a-fallacy-becomes-a-reality/
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
Follow the general patterns: (Author Surname, Year) or (Corporate Author, Year)
Example:
Australian education providers will need to address a number of challenges to ensure standards of special education are fully supporting students with special needs and their families (University of Melbourne, 2012).
Where a corporate author's name is known by a common acronym (e.g. AIHW for Australian Institute for Health and Welfare) and you will be using this author multiple times in your text, you can use the following pattern.
For the first in-text citation, include the full name plus the acronym in square brackets, in the format: (Corporate Author [CA], Year)
Example:
"Over half of people aged 15 years and older (56%) considered their overall health to be very good or excellent, and 29% stated that their health was good" (Australian Institute for Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018, para. 3).
In subsequent in-text citations, include just the acronym: (CA, Year)
Example:
... 19% of people aged 18 years and over were current daily smokers (AIHW, 2018).
Clark and Brown (2012) suggest "that all those in powerful positions in organizations display similar traits" (para. 12).
If the source includes section headings, you can include the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to assist the reader in locating the information. For example:
James (2012) concludes "bullying is at epidemic levels in organizations which do not display strong leadership at the top" (Discussion section, para. 3).
NOTE: Use "para." when quoting from one paragraph - for example (Acciari, 2014, para. 14), and "paras." when quoting across more than one paragraph - for example (Wessel, 2015, paras. 3-4).
To cite a website as a whole or to discuss it in general terms in your assignment using APA, it is sufficient to give the site URL as part of the text, inside round brackets. There is no need for a reference list entry.
The WHO website (http://www.who.int/) is accessible in six languages and ...
No entry needed.
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This information is for general documents found online, that are not covered elsewhere in this guide. N.B. For the following document types, refer to their specialist pages: |
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General Notes: |
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| Online document authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of document: Subtitle [Description]. Title of Source Website. http://www... |
| Online document with a corporate author |
Corporate Author. (Year). Title of document: Subtitle [Description]. http://www... Where the author is the same as the title of the website, do not repeat the website title |
| Online document with no date |
Follow the above patterns but replace (Year) with (n.d.). See the example below. |
Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation. (2015). Promoting breastfeeding [Policy brief]. http://anmf.org.au/documents/policies/P_Promoting_Breastfeeding.pdf
Bedford Medical Center. (2011). Transforming emergency care for seniors [Brochure]. http://www.uhhospitals.org/~/media/UH/documents/services/bedford-senior-er-services-brochure.pdf
Department of Health and Ageing. (2010). Patients benefit from nurse practitioner’s access to Medicare [Pamphlet]. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/ Content/A4DC43812EBEC15CCA257BF000209CA4/$File/Nursprac.pdf
Hand Hygiene Australia. (n.d.). Hand hygiene [Fact sheet]. http://www.hha.org.au/UserFiles/ file/Hand%20Hygiene%20Fact%20Sheet%284%29.pdf
International Council of Nurses. (2012). The ICN code of ethics for nurses. http://www.icn.ch/images/stories/documents/about/icncode_english.pdf
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. (2018). Code of conduct for nurses. http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Statements/Professional-standards.aspx
The final two examples don't require the additional description information in square brackets as it is obvious from their titles.
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
Follow the general patterns: (Author Surname, Year) or (Corporate Author, Year)
Example:
Australian education providers will need to address a number of challenges to ensure standards of special education are fully supporting students with special needs and their families (University of Melbourne, 2012).
Where a corporate author's name is known by a common acronym (e.g. AIHW for Australian Institute for Health and Welfare) and you will be using this author multiple times in your text, you can use the following pattern.
For the first in-text citation, include the full name plus the acronym in square brackets, in the format: (Corporate Author [CA], Year)
Example:
"Over half of people aged 15 years and older (56%) considered their overall health to be very good or excellent, and 29% stated that their health was good" (Australian Institute for Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018, p. 3).
In subsequent in-text citations, include just the acronym: (CA, Year)
Example:
... 19% of people aged 18 years and over were current daily smokers (AIHW, 2018).
Direct Quotations
“These films absorb, through a collage of images, traces of the Italian inheritance of neo-realist cinema” (Acciari, 2014, p. 14).
NOTE: Use "p" when quoting from one page - for example (Acciari, 2014, p. 14), and "pp" when quoting from more than one page - for example (Wessel, 2015, pp. 53-54).
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General Notes: |
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| Press release authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of press release [Description]. Title of Source Website. http://www... |
| Press release with a corporate author |
Corporate Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of press release [Description]. http://www... Where the author is the same as the title of the website, do not repeat the website title |
Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation. (2015, June 11). Nurses and midwives excluded from expert health groups [Press release]. http://anf.org.au.tmp.anchor.net.au/media-releases/entry/media_150611
Tehan, D. (2020, January 24). Funding innovative research that creates jobs [Press release]. Ministers for the Department of Education Media Centre. https://ministers.education.gov.au/tehan/funding-innovative-research-creates-jobs
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
Follow the general patterns: (Author Surname, Year) or (Corporate Author, Year)
Example:
Australian education providers will need to address a number of challenges to ensure standards of special education are fully supporting students with special needs and their families (University of Melbourne, 2012)
Clark (2012) suggests "that all those in powerful positions in organizations display similar traits" (para. 12).
If the source includes section headings, you can include the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to assist the reader in locating the information. For example:
James (2012) concludes "bullying is at epidemic levels in organizations which do not display strong leadership at the top" (Discussion section, para. 3).
NOTE: Use "para." when quoting from one paragraph - for example (Acciari, 2014, para. 14), and "paras." when quoting across more than one paragraph - for example (Wessel, 2015, paras. 3-4).
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General Notes: |
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| Blog post authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of post. Title of Blog Site. http://www... Where the author is using a screen name, use that in place of the standard naming. |
| Blog post with a corporate author |
Corporate Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of post. http://www... Where the author is the same as the title of the website, do not repeat the website title |
Annoyed Librarian. (2008, July 21). User generated idiocy. http://annoyedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2008/07/user-generated-idiocy.html
Smith, R. (2019, April 5). 11 things really annoying people do in libraries. Rachel’s List. https://www.rachelslist.com.au/blog/11-things-really-annoying-people-do-in-libraries/
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
Follow the general patterns: (Author Surname, Year) or (Corporate Author, Year)
Example:
Australian education providers will need to address a number of challenges to ensure standards of special education are fully supporting students with special needs and their families (University of Melbourne, 2012).
Clark and Brown (2012) suggest "that all those in powerful positions in organizations display similar traits" (para. 12).
If the source includes section headings, you can include the heading and the number of the paragraph following it to assist the reader in locating the information. For example:
James (2012) concludes "bullying is at epidemic levels in organizations which do not display strong leadership at the top" (Discussion section, para. 3).
NOTE: Use "para." when quoting from one paragraph - for example (Acciari, 2014, para. 14), and "paras." when quoting across more than one paragraph - for example (Wessel, 2015, paras. 3-4).
To cite a blog as a whole or to discuss it in general terms in your assignment, it is sufficient to give the blog URL in text, inside round brackets. There is no need for a reference list entry.
The Unpretentious Librarian blog (http://unpretentiouslibrarian.blogspot.com.au/) posts a number of entries that the professional librarian may find interesting.
No entry needed.
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General Notes: |
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| Posts authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial [@username]. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description]. Hosting Site. https://... |
| Posts with a corporate author |
Corporate Author [@username]. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description]. Hosting Site. https://... |
| Tweets including an image, a video, or a retweeted comment | Add an additional description of any attached media in another set of square brackets before the standard description of [Tweet]. See the UON Library and Reynolds entries below for examples. |
HBO [@hbo]. (2020, February 1). Explaining to coworkers why I need a vacation after I get back from vacation [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7_W6yxnCqw/
Reynolds, R. [@VancityReynolds]. (2020, January 29). Well, we’re here now. And we have to make the most of our time before that window never closes [Retweet attached] [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/VancityReynolds/status/1222161630814883841
Rihanna [@badgalriri]. (2020, January 21). Limited edition #Rihannazine 🖤 @i_d i-dstore.co [Photographs]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7kHFSGnNG7/
UON Library [@uonlib]. (2020, February 6). Stay connected stay informed https://t.co/tvgSu0L59K?amp=1 [Image attached] [Tweet]. X. https://x.com/uonlib/status/1225208827039166472
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
Follow the general patterns: (Author Surname, Year) or (Corporate Author, Year)
Do not include the @username in the in-text citation.
Example:
... including pithy retorts to fan-generated posts (for an example, see Reynolds, 2020).
Where possible, you could make reference to the fact that the source was social media, e.g.:
Clark (2019) stated in the social media post that "it was the worst day of [his] life".
This format can be used for other social media services, such as Tumbler, LinkedIn, etc.
For Twitter and Instagram, see the previous tab on this page.
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General Notes: |
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| Posts authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description]. Hosting Site. https://... |
| Posts with a corporate author |
Corporate Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Description]. Hosting Site. https://... |
| Posts including additional media | Add an additional description of any attached media in another set of square brackets before the standard description. See the Reynolds entry below for an example. |
Reynolds, R. (2019, August 26). Happy birthday Blake [Images attached] [Status Update]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/VancityReynolds/photos/pcb. 1735196549957793/1735196203291161/
United Nations. (2020, February 6). Benefits of reducing your food waste [Video]. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/unitednations/videos/515406312440039/
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
Follow the general patterns: (Author Surname, Year) or (Corporate Author, Year)
Example:
... including pithy posts about his wife (for an example, see Reynolds, 2019).
Where possible, you could make reference to the fact that the source was social media, e.g:
Clark (2019) stated in the social media post that "it was the worst day of [his] life".
| NOTE: APA 7 treats news sites differently to online newspapers. When in doubt, look to see if the news site started as a newspaper. If it did, reference as an online newspaper. For general news sites (such as ABC News, CNN, etc.), reference using the patterns below - note that the italics are the opposite to an online newspaper. |
| Article authored by a person |
Author Surname, Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of news item. Title of News Site. http://www... |
| Article with a corporate author |
Corporate Author. (Year, Month Day). Title of news item. http://www... |
Reference list examples:
ABC News. (2003, September 22). $250m funding boost for malaria vaccine. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-09-22/250m-funding-boost-for-malaria-vaccine/1482220
Weule, G. (2020, February 6). Gwion paintings in the Kimberley were created around 12,000 years ago, wasp nests suggest. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-02-06/gwion-rock-art-in-kimberley-dated-using-wasp-nests/11924584
Every time you paraphrase, or use an idea from another source you must include an in-text citation to that source.
For these articles, follow the author formatting for the type/number of authors involved - for example, for 1 author, see the tab for that number.
Direct Quotations
Where the article is online and has no pagination, count the paragraphs and use that instead of pages, e.g. (Seber, 2019, para. 3).
This video will show you the basics of how to create in-text and reference list citations for web pages using APA7th style.
