When citing a web document, list as many of the following elements as are available: author’s name, publication date (or “n.d.” if no date can be found), webpage/article title (usually in italics), website name, and URL.
When a web document consists of multiple web pages, provide a URL that links to the entry page of the document.
Give your retrieval date only if the content of the source is likely to change.
References from websites that have a corresponding print magazine or newspaper are formatted slightly different than other online sources. The major difference from other web sources is that you italicize the website (i.e., the magazine/newspaper) name as opposed to the title of the article.
Reference List
Author, A. A. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of page. Website name. URL (for a webpage)
Author, A. A. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of blog entry. Blog name. URL (for a blog)
In-Text Citation
(Last name, YEAR)
Basic Format - With Date
Lastname, F. M. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website name. URL
Reference List - With Date
Clifton, M. (2019, February 19). Your inbox is a mess, and it's slowing you down. Here's how to fix it. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/life/wellness/your-inbox-is-a-mess-and-it-s-slowing-you-down-here-s-how-to-fix-it-1.5037999
In-Text
(Clifton, 2019)
Basic Format - Without Date
Lastname, F. M., Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (no date). Title of webpage. Website name. URL
Reference List - Without Date
Jarry, J. L., Kossert, A., & Ip, K. (n.d.). Do women with low self-esteem use appearance to feel better? National Eating Disorder Information Centre. http://www.nedic.ca/knowthefacts/documents/Appearanceandselfesteem.pdf
In-Text
(Jarry et al., n.d.)
Basic Format
Group Author Name. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL
Reference List
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2010, October 9). Artificial sweeteners: Understanding these and other sugar substitutes. Mayo Clinic. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073/METHOD=print
In-Text
(Mayo Clinic Staff, 2010)
For a page from an organization’s website without individual authors, use the name of the organization as the author. If the author and site name are the same, omit the site name from the citation.
Basic Format - Group Author the Same as the Website Name
Group Author Name. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of webpage. URL
Reference List - Group Author the Same as the Website Name
BC Children's Hospital. (2020, August 20). Preparing children for back-to-school during the COVID-19 pandemic. http://www.bcchildrens.ca/about/news-stories/stories/preparing-children-for-back-to-school-during-the-covid19-pandemic
In-Text
(BC Children's Hospital, 2020)
Basic Format
Author, A. A. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of webpage. Website Name. URL
Reference List
Crawley, M. (2024, October 7). Canadian doctors warned to be on the lookout for scurvy. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/scurvy-canadian-medical-association-journal-food-insecurity-1.7343724
In-Text
(Crawley, 2024)
The APA treats articles on news websites (such as CBC News, BBC News, HuffPost, etc.) as webpages (Publication manual, 2020, p. 351). In contrast, articles from online newspapers (such as the New York Times) are cited as articles in a periodical (Publication manual, 2020, p.320).
Basic Format
Title of Article. (YEAR, Month Day). In Wikipedia. URL
Reference List
Gopher. (2020, September 15). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gopher&oldid=977759404
In-Text
("Gopher," 2020)
Wikipedia articles often update frequently. For this reason, the date refers to the date that the cited version of the page was published.In this case, you should provide the URL to the archived version of the page, rather than the current version of the page on the site, since the latter can change over time. Access the archived version by clicking "View History," then clicking the date/timestamp of the version you'd like to cite.
For in-text citations without an author if the title is italicized in the reference, also italicize the title in the in-text citation. However, if the title of the work is not italicized in the reference, use double quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation. (Publication manual, 2020, p.264)
One of the major changes in APA 7th Edition is that you no longer have to include "Retrieved from" in your website citations. The one exception to this rule is if when the contents of a page are designed to change over time and an archived version is unavailable (unlike Wikipedia, for instance). In these cases, include a retrieval date in the reference.
Basic Format
Author or Website Name. (no date) Title of article or webpage. Retrieved Month Day, YEAR, from URL
Reference List
FIveThirtyEight. (n.d.) 2020 election forecast. Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/
In-Text
(FiveThirtyEight, n.d.)
When there is no author for a web page, the title moves to the first position of the reference entry. (Publication manual, 2020, p. 289)
Basic Format
Title of article or webpage. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of Website. URL
Reference List
Coronavirus: Tesla donates hundreds of ventilators to New York. (2020, March 27). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52071314
In-Text
(Coronavirus: Tesla, 2020)
Use the first few words of the title if the title is too long. (Publication manual, 2020, p. 265)
For in-text citations without an author if the title is italicized in the reference, also italicize the title in the in-text citation. However, if the title of the work is not italicized in the reference, use double quotation marks around the title in the in-text citation. (Publication manual, 2020, p.264)
Blogs are formatted as periodicals rather than as websites. (Publication manual, 2020, p. 316)
Basic Format
Lastname, F. M. (YEAR, Month Day). Title of blog post. Title of Blog. URL
Reference List
Natelson, D. (2020, August 5). The energy of the Beirut explosion. Nanoscale Views. https://nanoscale.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-energy-of-beirut-explosion.html
In-Text
(Natelson, 2020)