How Do You Cite Websites in APA Format?

To cite a website in a paper using APA format, gather the author’s name, the title of the article, the date of publication and the URL for that website. Add an in-text parenthetical note, and include the source information in the list of references.

  1. Gather the information about the website

    Find the required information about your website. Look near the top of the article or at the end of the text for the author’s name. Look next to the author’s name or scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the date of publication. Look at the heading to see if the website is a publication of a media outlet, such as the New York Times or the magazine Newsweek. Copy the URL from the field at the top to prepare for pasting.

  2. Enter the in-text citation in your paper

    Add a parenthetical note immediately after your quotation or paraphrase from the website. Remember that using more than two consecutive words from the source requires you to use quotation marks. Insert the “(” after the last word in the sentence just before the period (and after the closing quotation mark if appropriate). Add the author’s last name, the year of publication, and the paragraph number in the web article that contains your information (if page numbers are not available). Add the “)” and a period to end that sentence. Substitute the title of the article if the author’s name is not present, and substitute “n.d.” (no date) for the year of publication if that information is not available.

  3. Add the information to your list of references

    Format the information in this way: Last Name, First Initial. (Year, month and date of publication). Title of article. Title of online publication (in italics). Retrieved from (add URL). Put the title of the article itself in italics if the article has not been published by an online publication.

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