Cite your sources accurately to give credit and avoid plagiarism:

Paraphrased material: include the author’s last name and the year of publication (e.g., Smith, 2023).

Direct quotes: Use quotation marks around the quoted material. Add the page number after the year e.g.:

“Consumer spending is predicted to rise by 3% next year (Smith, 2023, p. 45).”

If the source is a webpage or other source without page numbers, replace p. for page with para. for paragraph, and count the number of paragraphs from the start of the source e.g.:

“The initiative’s focus on facilitating more affordable foreign trade has contributed to lower inflation rates. (China Daily, 2024, para. 10).

Multiple authors: for two authors, list both last names (e.g., Smith & Jones, 2023). For three or more, use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” (e.g., Smith et al., 2023).

No author: provide the title and the year (e.g. The hotel of the future, 2016)

• List authors in the format: Last name, Initial(s).
• Use an ampersand (&) before the last author’s name in a multi-author entry (e.g., Smith, J., & Jones, R.).
• For a work with 21+ authors, list the first 19 authors, followed by an ellipsis (…), and add the last author.
• In case the author is an organization, use the name of the organization as the author (e.g. Skift.).
• For a work with no author, start your reference entry with the title (e.g. Title. (Date). Source.)

Publication year – WHEN:

• Enclose the year in parentheses (), followed by a period “.” e.g., (2023).
• Include “n.d.” if no date is available.

Title of the work – WHAT:

• Italicize titles of books, reports, and websites.
• Use sentence style capitalization. This means capitalize only the first word of the title, subtitle, and proper nouns; do not italicize or place in quotation marks (e.g., Hospitality innovation strategies: An analysis of success factors and challenges).

Source details – WHERE:

• For journals, include the journal name (italicized), volume number (italicized), issue number (in parentheses), and page range e.g., Tourism Management, 70(2), 218-229.
• Include a DOI for journal articles if available, formatted as https://doi.org/…).
• For books, include the publisher’s name (omit “Inc.”, “Co.”, or “Ltd.”) and use abbreviations (e.g. “Sage Publ.” instead of “Sage Publications”).
• For online material, include the URL as a hyperlink, no underline (i.e. beginning with http://… or https://…).
• It is not necessary to include the words “Retrieved from” or “Accessed from” before a DOI or a URL as a hyperlink will direct readers directly to the online content.
• It is necessary to include the words “Retrieved on” or “Accessed on” before the URL, for a page that will be constantly updated but is not archived (e.g. Retrieved November 29, 2024, from https://www.census.gov/popclock/).

• Zotero: a free tool that allows you to “collect, organize, and analyze research and share it in a variety of ways”.
• Zoterobib: a free service that helps you quickly create a bibliography in any citation style.
• Word Citations & Bibliography: built into Microsoft Word, this tool helps create in-text citations and generates a reference list directly in your document. For more details, go to: Create a bibliography, citations, and references 
• Purdue OWL Citation Machine: a simple, web-based citation generator for APA and other styles.

The official APA style website provides multiple guides and instructional aids here:

Sample papers from the official APA Style website  

Additional instructional aids from the official APA Style website

Download and use the editable templates for student papers from the University of Wisconsin

Use the APA sample paper from the Purdue University

Use the APA format paper template for Google Docs