Skip to Main Content

APA Citation Style Guide (7th Edition)

This page provides a breakdown on a specific component of a Reference list citation.  It reviews the details that can help you construct your citations to fit the needs of the source you are citing.

Title Basics

Provide Title information after the Date. 

Examples:

Article Titles

Rudd, A., & Gordon, B. S. (2010). An exploratory investigation of sportsmanship attitudes among college student basketball fans. Journal of Sport Behavior,

Publication Titles

Falvo, D. R. (2011). Effective patient education: A guide to increased adherence 

Formatting Title information:

If you are citing a smaller work that is published in a larger work, like an article in a magazine or a chapter in a book, list the article or chapter title first.  Write the title as you would a sentence, only capitalizing the first word of the sentence and subtitle, and any proper nouns.

If you are citing a smaller work that is published in a larger work, provide the publication title of the larger work after the title of the smaller work. Place a comma at the end of this title.

If you are citing a stand-alone item, simply provide the main title of the work after the Date. Italize the main title and place a period at the end of the title.

APA Manual pp. 291-293, Section 9.18 - 9.22

Advanced

No Author

If you are unable to find any Author information, simply move the Title to the first position in the citation (i.e. in front of the Date). You do this to make the Title the main identifying component of the citation. Example: Report of the effects of poverty on abused children in the United States. (2003).

Punctuation

When writing a publication title, italize it.  If the item is a magazine, academic journal, or newsletter, treat it as you would a normal title, capitalizing the first letter of every word. If the item is a book or report, treat it like a sentence, only capitalizing the first word of the title and subtitle, and any proper nouns.

Additional Notes

At times it is beneficial to include additional notes at the end of a Title to help further distinguish the item you are citing. These notes usually identify the medium or type of the item. 

Example:

Pershing, M. (2006, April 5). Use of new technology [Blog post].