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APA Style (7th ed.)

Web Pages

 

Basic structure for a web page: 

Author, A. A. (year, month day). Title of web page (Publication No. XXX). Source or overall web site. https://www.someurl.com/full/address

 

You will need to modify the above based on any parts that you don't have, like a date or a publication number, or add parts that you need, such as a Retrieved from ... date only if the content is designed to change and is unarchived. Web sources vary widely.

If you are missing a lot of the above citation information, be careful about using the source -- sometimes this is a warning sign that this web source is not very high-quality. Look closely for other signs of credible websites. But sometimes it is still all right to use. 

Here are some tips for how to cite web pages when information is missing

 

Jump to more specific examples by using the table below: 

Web Page Blog
No Author, No Date Social Media
Corporate / Group Author Unarchived Pages


Web Page (p. 350 in Manual)

Normally, do NOT include the retrieval date. The only exception is for content that is unarchived, has no date, and is easily or frequently changed (e.g., transitory forms of social media, live-update type of web content).

 Pietrangelo comma A period parenthesis 2017 comma January 9 parenthesis period Everything you need to know about epilepsy period Healthline period  <a href= “http://www.healthline.com/health/epilepsy” </a>


No Author or No Date (p. 352 in Manual)

Remember that APA encourages researchers to use the name of a corporate author, a governmental organization, an office, a department, etc. as the author (see example directly below).

However, if no author can be found, begin the citation with the title of the Web page. 

If no date can be found, you can use n.d. for the date. You may need to include a retrieval date -- see more here.

Online course introduced for Native American small business owners period parenthesis n period d period parenthesis period Native American Chamber of Congress of Illinois period  <a href= “https://www.nacc-il.org/native-american-business-primer” </a>

Other missing information? View this page from APA, Missing reference information


Corporate or Group Author 

Corporate office, organization, or government agency as an author 

Often for governmental sources, you will have multiple "layers" of offices in the Source / Publisher position, separated by a comma. The most immediate office responsible for writing the content is the Author, and the parent offices are the Source. 

Office of Dietary Supplements period parenthesis 2020 comma April 7 parenthesis period Dietary supplements colon What you need to know parenthesis Publication No period 20-OD-8115 parenthesis period U period S period Department of Health and Human Services comma National Institutes of Health period  <a href= “https://ods.od.nih.gov/HealthInformation/DS_WhatYouNeedToKnow.aspx ” </a>

 

Author same as the Source

Leave out the Source or Publisher element if it is virtually the same as the Author. 

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction period parenthesis n period d period parenthesis period Report cards home period  <a href= “https://dpi.wi.gov/accountability/report-cards” </a>

 


Blog (p. 320 in Manual)

Blogs are treated more like periodicals than websites, which is why the blog title is italicized, the same as a journal or magazine article, rather than following the other web page citations on this page.

If you can find no author's name, use the screen name. Use the year, month, and day for the date of publication.

 Mitchell comma K period parenthesis 2020 comma May 16 parenthesis period Ida taught me period Black Perspectives period  <a href= “https://www.aaihs.org/ida-taught-me/” </a>


Social Media 

Facebook post (see more on Facebook citations here)

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope period parenthesis 2020 comma May 8 parenthesis period #HubbleFriday In the depths of the night sky lies a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 3583 comma imaged here by the square bracket Image attached square bracket square bracket status update square bracket period Facebook period  <a href= “https://www.facebook.com/NASAHubble/photos/a.160396831228265/630134904254453/?type=3&theater” </a>

 

Twitter profile (see more on Twitter citations here)

Obama comma B period square bracket @BarackObama square bracket period parenthesis n.d. parenthesis period Tweets square bracket Twitter profile square bracket period Twitter period Retrieved June 16 comma 2020 from  <a href= “https://twitter.com/BarackObama” </a>

 


Unarchived Pages, Frequently Changed, and No Archival System (see more)

Only if a source meets all three of these criteria would you use the Retrieved from date as part of your citation. 

Worldometer period parenthesis n.d. parenthesis Current world population period Retrieved June 10 comma 2020 from  <a href= “https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/” </a>

 

 

 


More questions? Check out the authoritative source: APA style blog