APA 7 Style: Citing Other Sources

Citing Reports, Personal Communications, and Media

1. Personal Communication (Including Unrecorded Lectures)
2. Citing Indigenous Oral Knowledge
3. Published Doctoral Dissertation or Master’s Thesis
4. Film
5. Television Program (Single Episode from a Series)
6. Song on an album
7. Podcast
8. Podcast Episode in a series

Personal Communication (Including Unrecorded Lectures)

Personal communications include private letters, personal and telephone conversations and interviews, some electronic communications, such as e-mails or messages on electronic bulletin boards, and unrecorded lectures. Note that if you are citing information from a recorded lecture or lecture slides/notes that have been uploaded to a blackboard site, use the format for Lecture Notes Posted to Blackboard.

In-Text Citation

When citing personal communications in the text of the paper, give the initials as well as the last name of the person communicating and as exact a date as possible.

Examples:

The question of when titles are put in italics in the reference list, according to APA rules, was clarified by D. Capell (personal communication, May 1, 2018).

Guidance was offered about when titles are put in italics in the reference list, according to APA rules (D. Capell, personal communication, May 1, 2018).

References

Because personal communication does not provide data that someone else can look up or recover, it is not included in the References list. Make sure personal communication has scholarly relevance.

Published Doctoral Dissertation or Master's Thesis

In-Text Citation

(Penfold, 2002)

References

Author's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title. [Type of thesis/dissertation, Name of University). Name of Database or Archive.

Example:

Penfold, S. (2002). The social life of donuts: Commodity and community in postwar Canada [Doctoral dissertation, York University]. Library and Archives Canada. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/theses/Pages/item.aspx?idNumber=5...

Notice:

• If it is a master's thesis, write "Master's thesis" in brackets after the title. Dissertations and theses can be retrieved from databases and other sources. The source of the dissertation in this example is Library and Archives Canada. The last number is an accession or order number. It is part of the information provided by the database. The titles of dissertations and theses are put in italics.

Film

In-Text Citation

(Hark, 1997)

References

Director's last name, first initial. (Director). (Year). Title of motion picture [Film]. Studio. URL (if accessed online)

Example:

Hark, T. (Director). (1997). Double team [Film]. Columbia.

Notice:

• For films, use the name of the director as the author of the film.

Television Program (Single Episode from a Series)

In-Text Citation

(Barckret & Brogren, 2014)

References

Writer's last name, first initial. (Writer), & Director's last name, first initial (Director). (Year). Episode name (Season Number, Episode Number) [TV series episode]. In Producer's first initial and last name (Executive Producer), Series Name. Production Company. Web address (if streamed).

Example:

Barckret, R. (Writer), & Brogren, S. (Director). (2014). Smells like teen spirit (Season 14, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In L. Schuyler & S. Stohn (Executive Producers), Degrassi. Epitome Pictures. https://www.degrassi.tv

Song on an Album

In-Text Citation

(Artist's last name, year of publication)

Example:

(Lennon & McCartney, 1968)

(Cohen, 1984).

References

Writer's last name, first initial. (Copyright year). Title of song [Song recorded by B.B. Artist if different from writer]. On Title of album. Label. (Date of recording if different from song copyright date). Web Address (if accessed only by streaming)

Examples:

Lennon, J., & McCartney, P. (1968). Across the universe [Song]. On Let it be [record]. Apple Records.

Cohen, L. (1984). Hallelujah [Song recorded by J. Buckley]. On Grace. Columbia. (1994).