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APA Citation Style

This guide provides basic instruction about the APA Citation Style.

Title

In APA format, the title refers to the title of the work being cited. Titles fall into two categories:

  • works that stand alone (books, dissertations, reports, videos, etc.)
  • works that are part of a greater whole (periodical articles, edited book chapters, TV episodes, etc.) where the title is located in the two categories

Here are some general guidelines for formatting titles in APA format references (for more detailed guidelines, see APA Manual Ch. 9):

  • when a work stands alone, the title of that work appears in the title element
  • for works that stand alone, italicize the title and use sentence case
  • when a work is part of a greater whole, the title of the article or book chapter appears in the title element, and the title of the greater whole appears in the source element
  • for works that are part of a greater whole, do not italicize the title, instead, capitalize it according to sentence case and italicize the journal title and capitalize every major term.
  • enclose in paratheses after the title any additional information such as edition, report number, or volume number, but do not italicize it
  • if a numbered volume has its own title, the volume number and title are included as part of the main title, rather than in parentheses

From APA Publication Manual, 7th, ed., Ch. 9.18 Definition of Title & 9.19 Format of the Title Element

Examples

Book:

Garton, A. (2005). Exploring cognitive development: The child as problem solver. Blackwell.

Journal article:

Tenhunen, J. J. (2009). In death, truth lies: Why do patients with sepsis die? Anesthesia and Analgesia, 108, 1731-1733.

Article in a newspaper:

Altman, L. K. (2009, August 5). New strain of H.I.V. is discovered. The New York Times, p. A6.