How to Cite Electronic Sources in APA Format

Learning how to cite electronic sources using the APA format is an extremely important tool to have for any student or anyone that works in research. The American Psychological Association designed the APA format to provide a standardized way for people to cite sources used in research-based documents. Designed mostly for use in the social sciences, the APA format gives instructions on how to properly format a research paper, endnotes and footnotes, in-text citations and electronic sources.

Instructions

1. Locate the following information from your electronic source: author name, publication date, title, source (magazine, encyclopedia, journal), page numbers, date that the information was accessed and the web page's URL.

2. Organize the information so that it is in the following order and format: "Author. (Date). Title. Source. Date retrieved. Web address."

   For example, if you were citing a Psychology text, the APA format would be as follows: "Smith, J. (2002). Psychology and the Modern Child. Psychology Today. Retrieved July 21, 2009. http://www.psychologytoday.com."

3. Check your work and be sure that the information is in the correct order and that all of the names and titles mentioned are spelled correctly. Failure to cite the right sources can lead to accusations of plagiarism and can also severely diminish the quality of your research findings.

References

• Indiana.edu: Citing Electronic Sources
• Purdue.edu: APA Information