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APA 7th ed. Citation Guide: Social Media

Contains the latest changes and updates to APA Style

Missing Information?

Some sources, such as websites, may not have the full information to create a citation.  APA has guidelines for dealing with missing components of a citation, both in-text and reference entry.

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.

Streaming Video

Reference page citation: 

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

Owen, D. (Director). (2009). World's oldest mummies [Video]. Films on Demand.

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (Owen, 2009)

Quote:            (Owen, 2009)

Rules:

For In-Text citations, videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings, This information is left out of the in-text citation.

Reference page citation: 

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]. Name of Streaming Service. http://www.xxxxxxx

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

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (Nye, 2009)

Quote:            (Nye, 2009)

Rules:

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

For In-Text citations, videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings, This information is left out of the in-text citation.

Reference page citation: 

User name that posted the video. (Year video was posted, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. Name of Streaming Service. https://www.xxxxxxx

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

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (All Aces Media, 2012)

Quote:            (All Aces Media, 2012)

Rules:

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

For In-Text citations, videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings. This information is left out of the in-text citation.

Reference page citation: 

User name that posted the video. (Year video was posted, Month Day). Title of video [Video]. Name of Streaming Service. https://www.xxxxxxx

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

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (All Aces Media, 2012)

Quote:            (All Aces Media, 2012)

Rules:

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

For In-Text citations, videos typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings. This information is left out of the in-text citation.

Podcast Episode

Reference page citation: 

Director/Producer/Host's Last Name, First initial. 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 (episode number if known) [Audio podcast episode]. In Title of Podcast. Publisher. http://xxxxx if known

Rogers, S. (Host). (2012, June 18). Richard Wagamese: Children's book panel(no. 225) [Audio podcast]. In The Next Chapter. CBC. http:/www.cbc.ca/thenextchapter/episode/2012/06/18/richard-wagamese-bookworm-childrens-book-panel/

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (Rogers, 2012)

Quote:            (Rogers, 2012)

Rules:

For In-Text citations, because podcasts do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings, this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Blog Post

Reference page citation: 

Author's Last Name, First initial. Second Initial if given or Username if real name not provided. (Year blog post was published, Month Day). Title of blog post Title of Blog. http://www.xxxxx

Klymkowsky, M. (2018, September 15). Can we talk scientifically about free will? Sci-Ed. https://blogs.plos.org/scied/2018/15/can-we-talk-scientifically-about-free-will/

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (Klymkowsky, 2018)

Quote:            (Klymkowsky, 2018, para. 2)

Rules:

For the Reference page citation, if the blog author's real name is not provided, use their username instead.

For In-Text citations, if there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from.  If the blog post has no page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings so this information is left out of the in-text citation.

Twitter (Tweets)

Reference page citation: 

Author's last name, First initial. Second initial if given. [@Twitter user name].  (Year tweet was posted, Month Day). Text of post up to the first tweny words [Tweet]. Twitter. https://www.xxxxxxx

Mercer, R. [@rickmercer]. (2010, May 3). The only thing i have achieved today is ignoring my list. And that's not on the list. [Tweet]. Twitter.  http://twitter.com/RICKMERCER/status/21245212589632

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (rickmercer, 2010)

Quote:            (rickmercer, 2010)

Rules:

For the Reference page citation, 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. Include any emojis that are present.  If there is multimedia content, note it in square brackets after the post (eg. [Video]).

For In-Text citations,as tweets do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.  If there is no author last name, use the name of the account as you would with a group author.

Mobile Application Software (App)

Reference page citation: 

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]. Publisher Name or App Store. http://www.xxxxxxx

National Geographic Society. (2012). National parks by National Geographic (Version 1.2) [Mobile app]. App Store. http://www.apple.com/itunes/

In-Text:

Paraphrase:  (National Geographic Society, 2012)

Quote:            (National Geographic Society, 2012)

Rules:

For In-Text citations, as Apps typically do not have page numbers, paragraph numbers or section headings,this information is left out of the in-text citation.

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