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APA 7 Resource Center: Web Content / Course Materials

Web Content, Social Media, and Course Materials

Web Content

Special Notes:
  • If an online news source has a print edition, follow the format under "Newspaper Articles"
  • If the author is not obvious on the page you want to cite, try looking at the About Us or acknowledgements page
  • When the corporate/organizational author and the site name are the same, do not repeat the site name as the source (publisher)
  • Include a retrieval date* only if the content is designed to change over time or reflects information that will change over time. Examples of sources that require retrieval dates include Twitter profiles, Facebook pages, and U.S. and world population clock. For more information on retrieval dates see page 222 in Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition. 
Examples
Material Type Work Cited Example
Webpage with a personal author Smith, S. (2019, January 4). Cats in the sunbeam: A study of purring. Center for Feline Studies. www.felinestudies.com
Webpage with a corporate author Center for Feline Studies. (2019, January 4). Cats in the sunbeam: A study of purring. www.catstudies.com

Webpage on a news website

LaMotte, S. (2021, April 21). Why swearing is a sign of intelligence, helps manage pain and more. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/health/swearing-benefits-wellness/index.html
Webpage on a news website with no author

Rainwater runoff floods grazing land in Iowa. (2020, May 1). RainNews. www.rainnews.com/rainwaterruoff.
Webpage on a government website World Health Organization. (2023). Ebola virus disease. https://www.who.int/health-topics/ebola#tab=tab_1
Report on a government website See the Government Publications section
Webpage with a retrieval date* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). COVID data tracker. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
Citing a Whole Website:

 If you are mentioning a website generally, indicating no particular information, the APA Publication Manual recommends providing the name of the website and the URL in parentheses within the text of your paper.  Example: One suicide prevention hotline is 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline (www.988lifeline.org).

 

SPECIAL NOTES on Referencing materials without page numbers
Many online resources do not include page numbers. If citing a source that has no page numbers, cite the paragraph instead.
For example: 
  • If paragraphs are numbered, reference the paragraph number in the in-text citation. For example, (Basu & Jones, 2007, para. 4).
  • If document includes headings but no page or paragraph numbers, cite the heading and number of paragraph. For example, (Verbunt, Pernot, & Smeets, 2008, Discussion section, para. 1). 
  • If the document has no headings, page numbers, or paragraph numbers, provide a heading or section name. For example, (Golan, Kuchler, & Krissof, 2007, Mandatory Labeling Has Targeted section para.4).

Please see page 273 of the APA Manual, 7th Edition for further information.

Course Materials

Special Notes:
  • Create a reference to an OER only when the materials are available for download directly (i.e., the materials are on the page and/or can be downloaded as PDFs or other files). If you are directed to another website, use that site instead.
  • Online courses use the instructor as the author. Include the year of the course as the date.
  • If the lecture or powerpoint slides have a title use that along with the type on content in brackets. 
  • Provide the home login link for online course.
References
Material Type Work Cited Example
D2L document Reynolds, M. (2018). Piloting a firefly [Lecture notes]. D2L@GHC. https://D2LURL.com/login
D2L Powerpoint      Reynolds, M. (2018). Piloting a firefly [PowerPoint slides]. D2L@GHC. https://D2LURL.com/login
OER  Powell, J. (2019, March 25). Feeding the birds. OER Commons. Retrieved January 7, 2020, from https://www.oercommons.org/birdful.org
LibGuide  Cobb, J. (2021). The research process for planets. Libraries in space [Libguide]. https://getlibraryhelp.highlands.edu/spaceguides

 

Social Media

Special Notes:

  • If possible, cite only original information in social media posts, for example, if a post is sharing a link to an article or another website, share the original website or link instead of the "re-shared" content.
  • Social media posts can have just text, just photographs or videos, just website links, or a combination of any of these mediums. When creating a title of the social media post, use the first 20 words of text shared, or the name of the photograph or video. 
  • After the text title has been created, use brackets to indicate the type of additional content being shared: Photograph, Video, Tweet, Online Forum Post (Reddit), etc.. 
  • Social media posts often contain nonstandard words, #hashtags, :) emojis, and links. Do not change or alter any of part of the language used. If possible, add any emojis (or describe them), and include them in the title if they are within the first 20 words of the text. 
  • Authors are listed by last name, first initial if known, and then the username or @username is included in brackets. If there is no known name or organization, the username can be used alone. 
 
Author Date Title (SOURCE) Social Media Site Name (SOURCE) URL

Twitter & Instagram: Author, A. A. [@username].

Facebook & others: 

Name of Group.

Name of Group [Username].

Username (if no group name). 

(2020, September 28).
(n.d.).

Content of the post up to the first 20 words. 

Content of the post up to the first 20 words [description of audiovisuals].

[Description of audiovisuals] (if no text is available..

Site Name.

 

https://xxx.xxxx
Retrieved December 22, 2020 from https://xxx.xxxx

 
 
Examples:
Tweet: 

Aust Aphasia Assoc [@ausaphasiaassoc]. (2019, January 8). #AphasiaResearchWednesdays There has been a growing interest in music therapy to address aphasia, however there still remains a limited amount [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/AusAphasiaAssoc/status/1082849474433540096

 

Facebook Post: 

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2019, January 7). Zora Neale Hurston refused to let black women be written out of the story.
Born in Alabama, a pivotal voice [Image attached] [Status update]. Facebook. https://bit.ly/2XBVVHu

 
Instagram Photograph:

American Nurses Association [@ananursingworld]. (2020, April 13). ANA says "NO" to any form of retaliation against nurses for raising legitimate concerns for their safety. We encourage any [Photograph]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/B-7PtMTFwqA/

 
Tiktok:

World Health Organization [@who]. (2018, May 31). Big tobacco replaces dying smokers with young smokers full of life. #SpeakOut #tobaccoexposed #covid19 [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@who/video/6832970440185515269?lang=en

*For more on Tiktok see the APA Tiktok Page

 
Reddit Post: 

medical_news_mod. (2019, August 29). Gout pushes up kidney failure risk by 200 percent for those on dialysis, study say [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/medical_news/comments/cwzb5b/gout_pushes_up_kidney_failure_risk_by_200_percent/

*For more on Reddit posts see the APA Online Forum Page

 

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