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Citation Guide: Author/Editor APA Format

A guide to create citations for bibliographies and works cited in reference papers.

Author Format

Authors in APA Format

Authors are formatted the same in all material formats.

  • List only the first (and middle if available) initials of all authors
  • Use Anonymous in place of the author, only if it is used in the source.
  • Use commas to separate initials and suffixes such as Jr. and III.
    • Example: Author, A. A., Jr.
  • List all authors with the last name first
    • Example: Smith, J. D.
  • Two authors are separated with a comma and an ampersand ( & )
    • Example: Smith, J. D., & Jones, R. L.
  • Three to 20 authors are formatted with commas and an ampersand ( & )
    • Example: Smith, J. D., Jones, R. L., & Harper, S. G.
  • More than 20 authors: List up to nineteen (19) authors; then ellipses (...) and then last author.
    • Example: Smith, J. D., Jones, R. L., Harper, S. G., Harris, K., Thompson, L. C., Nelson, G. A., Brown, G., Hernandez, A. P., Young, P., Jr., Yu, C., Xu, A.-J., Gutierrez, J., Purple, R., Lady Gaga, Johnson, E. T., Lanners, E., Ames, C., Webster, G. T., Dell, R. N.,…Smythe, R.D.

Authors that are organizations, corporations, government entities, etc.

  • Do not invert or use abbreviations.
    • Examples:
      • United States Department of Commerce.
      • General Motors Corporation.
      • American Civil Liberties Union.

In-text citations:

  • Only list two authors (Brown & Smith, 2011);
  • More than two authors use the first author and et al. (Brown, et al., 2010)

Editor Format

Editors

If an entire edited book with authored chapters is cited, the editor is listed as the author with the abbreviation "(Ed.)" after his name, or "(Eds.)" if there is more than one editor. Multiple editors are formatted the same way as authors.

  • List first editor with the last name first, followed by a comme and "(Ed.)."
    • Example: Smith, J. D.  (Ed.).
  • Two editors are separated by a comma after the first author and the ampersand ( & ) and are followed with a comma and "(Eds.)."
    • Example: Smith, J. D., & Jones, R. L. (Eds.).
  • Three to 20 editors are separated with commas and the ampersand ( & ) and are followed with a comma and "(Eds.)."
    • Example: Smith, John D., Jones, R. L., & Harper, S. G. (Eds.).
  • More than 20: List up to nineteen (19) editors; then ellipses, and then last editor.
    • Example: Smith, J. D., Jones, R. L., Harper, S. G., Harris, K., Thompson, L. C., Nelson, G. A., Brown, G., Hernandez, A. P., Young, P., Jr., Yu, C., Xu, A.-J., Gutierrez, J., Purple, R., Lady Gaga, Johnson, E. T., Lanners, E., Ames, C., Webster, G. T., Dell, R. N.,…Smythe, R.D. (Eds.).