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APA Citation Guide (7th Edition): Social Media

Tips

Author

On sites where items are posted under user names but not necessarily proper names, enter the user name where you would normally put the author's name. Author in this case will be the main creator(s) for the item you are citing.

Creator information may often be found under a section called "About" for some types of social media, however this is not always standard.

Date

Most items will provide a date they were posted. The standard format for the date is Year, Month Day.

If only part of the date is provided, post what you have such as the year and skip the rest of the date.

If no date is provided, use the initials n.d. where you would normally put the date.

Formatting

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Blog Post

Author's Last Name, First intial. Second Initial if Given. or Username if real name not provided. (Year blog post was published, Month Day). Title of blog post [Web log post]. Retrieved from URL.

Example

Dobbs, D. (2012, June 13). Fun in cities: Feature, not bug [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/fun-in-cities-feature-not-bug/

Note: If the blog author's real name is not provided, use their username instead.

In-Text Paraphrase

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Dobbs, 2012)

In-Text Quote

(Author's Last Name, Year, Section Heading section if given)

Example: (Dobbs, 2012)

Note: This blog post has no page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings so this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Mobile Application Software (App)

Name of Company that created the application or Creator's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given (Year current version of the application was released). Name of application (Version version number if given) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from URL application was downloaded from.

Example

National Geographic Society (2012). National parks by National Geographic (Version 1.2) [Mobile application software]. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/itunes/

In-Text Paraphrase

(Name of Company or Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (National Geographic Society, 2012)

In-Text Quote

(Name of Company or Author's Last Name, Year)

Example: (National Geographic Society, 2012)

Note: Because apps typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Podcasts

Director/Producer/Host's Last Name, First intial. Second Initial if Given. (Role in the production e.g. Host, Director, Producer) (Year podcast was released, Month Day if given). Title of podcast episode: Subtitle if given [Audio podcast]. Title of Podcast. Retrieved from URL.

Example

Rogers, S. (Host). (2012, June 18). Richard Wagamese: Children's book panel [Audio podcast]. The Next Chapter. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter/episode/2012/06/18/richard-wagamese-bookworm-childrens-book-panel/

In-Text Paraphrase

(Director/Producer/Host's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Rogers, 2012)

In-Text Quote

(Director/Producer/Host's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Rogers, 2012)

Note: Because podcasts do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Streaming Video From a Website (YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, etc.) - Poster's Name Known

Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. of person who posted the video if known. [User name that posted the video] . (Year video was posted, Month Day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL

Note: According to APA, for citing purposes the person who posted the video is credited as the author.

Example

Nye, B. [TheRealBillNye]. (2009, April 8). Bill Nye the science guy on energy [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/0ASLLiuejAo

In-Text Paraphrase

(Creator's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Nye, 2009)

In-Text Quote

(Creator's Last Name, Year)

Example: (Nye, 2009)

Note: Because videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Streaming Video From a Website (YouTube, Vimeo, Hulu, etc.) -Poster's Name Not Known

User name that posted the video. (Year video was posted, Month Day). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL

Note: According to APA, for citing purposes the person who posted the video is credited as the author.

Example

All Aces Media. (2012, January 19). Often awesome the series [Video file]. Retrieved from http://vimeo.com/35311255

In-Text Paraphrase

(User name, Year)

Example: (All Aces Media, 2012)

In-Text Quote

(User name, Year)

Example: (All Aces Media, 2012)

Note: Because videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Streaming Video From a Library Database (Films on Demand, Senema, NBC Learn, etc.)

Name of Company/Organization that Provided Content or Creator's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. if known. (Year video was created, Month Day if known). Title of video [Video file]. Retrieved from Database Name database.

Example

Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2009). World's oldest mummies [Video file]. Retrieved from Films on Demand database.

In-Text Paraphrase

(Name of Company/Organization, Year)

Example: (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2009)

Note: Films on Demand is a large collection of educational streaming videos.

In-Text Quote

(Name of Company/Organization, Year)

Note: Because videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Twitter (Tweets)

Twitter user name. (Year tweet was posted, Month Day). Text of post [Twitter post]. Retrieved fromTwitter Account's URL

Example

rickmercer. (2010, May 3). The only thing i have achieved today is ignoring my list. And that's not on the list [Twitter post]. Retrieved from http://twitter.com/RICKMERCER

Note: Write out the actual text of the post in the citation and keep spelling and grammar the same as in the original, even if there are errors.

In-Text Paraphrase

(Twitter user name, Year)

Example: (rickmercer, 2010)

In-Text Quote

(Twitter user name, Year)

Example: (rickmercer, 2010)

Note: Because tweets do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.