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APA Style: Author

Author

APA Style

Chapt 9 p285-289

Definition of Author:  The person(s) or group responsible for a work, plus others who played a primary role in the creation of a work, such as:

 

  • editors
  • director of a film principal investigator
  • podcast host

An author can be

  • an individual
  • multiple people
  • a group or organization
  • combination of people and groups
Guidelines for the Author element
  • Give the author(s) in inverted form.  Give the entire last name and then the first and middle initials  (Miles, D.B.)
  • Provide last names and initials for first names for all authors for up to and including 20 names.
  • Do not include titles, positions, ranks with names in reference entries. such as General, Reverend, President, or PhD)
  • When there are two to 20 authors' names, use an ampersand before the final author's name Author.A.A., Author B.B., & Author C.C.
  • Use a comma to separate an author's initials from additional author names, even when there are only two authors  Author  A.A., & Author.B.B.
  • More guidelines are found in APA 7 pages 286-7

Examples

Single Author

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

Multiple Authors

Invert the names of all authors, giving last name, the first and middle initials. Give the authors’ names in the order they are listed on their paper.

  • Durfee, M., Durfee, D. T., & West, M. P. (2002). Child fatality review: An international movement. Child Abuse and Neglect, 26, 619.

For works with up to 7 authors 20 authors, list the first six authors, then insert an ellipsis (…), followed by the final author’s name.

  • Ronald, A., Butcher, L. C., Docherty, S., Davis, O. S. P, Schalkwyk, L. C., Plomin, R.... Craig, I. W. (2010). A genome-wide association study of social and non-social autistic-like traits in the general population using pooled DNA, 500 K SNP microarrays and both community and diagnosed autism replication samples. Behavior Genetics,40, 31-45.

Edited book, No Author

  • Sheehy, N., Chapman, A. J., & Conroy, W. A. (Eds.). (2002). Biographical dictionary of psychology. New York, NY: Routledge.

Edition other than the first

  • American Psychological Association. (2019). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association.

Article or Chapter in an edited book

  • Modell, J., & Elder, G. H., Jr. (2002). Children develop in history: So what’s new? In W. W. Hartup & R. A. Weinberg (Eds.), Child psychology in retrospect and prospect: In celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Institute of Child Development (pp. 165-197). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.  

Electronic Version of a Book Chapter in a Volume in a Series

  • Strong, E.K,, Jr. & Uhrbrock, R.S. (1923) Bibliography of job analysis. In L. Outhwaite (Series ed.) Personal Research Series: Vol. 1. Job analysis and the curriculum (pp140-146. doi:10.1037/10762-000 https://doi.org/10.1037/10762-000

Association as Author 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.

 

What to do if there is no author

If there is no author, provide the title, date and source in that order. 

  • Reference
    • Title. (date). Source. 
  • In-text
    • (Title, year) or Title (Year)

Determining the Author

Sometimes the author of a work is not listed in a traditional byline but can be determined from context.  For instance, the author of an annual report is usually the organization that produced it, unless otherwise specified in the report.  Thus in the reference list entry for t hat annual report, the organization would be listed as the author. 

Likewise, in the reference for a page from an organizational or government agency website, the organization or government agency itself is considered the author, unless otherwise specified.