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H 320: Introduction to Human Disease

This guide provides health information sources used to complete H320 assignments

APA Citation Basics

The OWL (Online Writing Lab) website from Purdue University provides some great examples of citing in APA style and in MLA style (look at the left side menu on the page for the links to examples for various source types).

There are certain basic things you need to cite just about any source, using just about any format:

  • The AUTHOR (or creator) of the work.  This may be one person, many people, or a group or organization.
  • The TITLE OF THE WORK itself.  For example, the article title, the book title, the chapter title, etc.
  • The JOURNAL or the PUBLISHER or the ORGANIZATION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT .  For an article, you include the name of the specific magazine or journal.  For a book, the publishing house. For a website/webpage, include individual authors, if they are noted. Otherwise include the organization name.
  • The PUBLICATION DATE.

There are also certain things that must be included for specific types of works.  For example, for an article or a book chapter, you would provide page numbers.  For a website, you would provide the URL.

The moment when you are most likely to have easy access to all of this information?  When you find it in the first place.  Know then what you need to take note of to cite it effectively later.

 

Website Citation: What Information Do I Need?

The basic format for a website citation in APA style is as follows (please follow the guidance from the APA Style Blog entry about when to use Format Description).

 

Author, A. (Day Month Year). Title of website [Format description]. Retrieved from http://URL

OR

Organization(s) Responsible for the Content. (Day Month Year). Title of the website [Format description]. Retrieved from http://URL

 

Example Citation:

example of citation for website


So where do you find this information on the webpage? See the image below for one example.

 

 

 

 

Online Report Citation: What Information Do I Need?

The basic format for an online report citation in APA style depends on who is authoring the report and where it is found. Generally the format will be something like this:

Author, A. (Year). Title of report (Report No. xxxx, if available). Retrieved from http://URL

OR

Organization(s) Responsible for the Content. (Year). Title of report (Report No. xxxx, if available). Retrieved from http://URL

 

Example Citation:

example of citation for online report


So where do you find this information on the report? See the image below for one example.

report with citation elements highlighted