APA Style provides guidance on a large range of issues associated with academic writing. One of the most important elements is the proper attribution of sources used in research and writing. Citations and references credit the source of prior research for its contribution to one's own research effort. They also allow the reader to check that source for relevance and accuracy. This kind of attribution provides the gateway through which colleagues can explore issues critical to determining the study's validity.
The basic APA framework involves two discrete but related elements: in-text-citations and a reference list.
Consider the following paragraph (in-text citations highlighted):
A leading expert on business strategy asserted the following concerning the core problem facing all businesses: "The fundamental basis of above-average performance in the long run is sustainable competitive advantage" (Porter, 1985, p. 11). The author, Michael E. Porter, has become an icon in the business strategy literature. There is scarcely another major publication addressing this subject that does not make reference to Porter's work. For example, Kaplan and Norton (2004) developed a concept termed "strategy maps." They referenced Porter in their first chapter if only to indicate how their work compares to his. Minyu Wu (2013) discussed Porter in the second paragraph of an article connecting stakeholder concerns with competitive advantage. That a business should strive to create a sustainable competitive advantage is never in dispute.
You will note that there are three in-text citations in this paragraph. Each makes reference to a different source. Based on this paragraph, the reference list would contain the following entries listed in alphabetical order by the author's last name.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2004). Strategy maps: Converting intangible assets into tangible outcomes. Harvard Business Review Press.
Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive advantage: Creating and sustaining superior performance. The Free Press.
Wu, M. W. (2013). Towards a stakeholder perspective on competitive advantage. International Journal of Business and Management, 8(4), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v8n4p20
With respect to these three sources, the following rules explain the manner in which these in-text citations were created.
A number of other common examples often emerge when citing information contained within a course.
Reference a Text Readers Have Access To
The following example illustrates the reference format for lesson text in a course that your readers have access to (e.g., you’re citing this course in a paper for this course):
Penn State. (2020). Being a leader [Online lesson]. OLEAD 100: Introduction to leadership. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1808284/modules/items/26572133
Reference a Text Readers Do Not Have Access To
When citing text in a course that your readers do not have access to (e.g., you’re citing a course you took last semester in a course for this semester), cite the source as a personal communication and do not include it on the reference list. In the sentence, try to be clear about where the information came from because the APA Style format for citing personal communications doesn’t provide much detail:
The OLEAD 100 World Campus course emphasized the critical importance of empathy in leadership (Penn State, personal communication, June 10, 2020).
Video References
The following example illustrates the reference format for a video embedded in a course when R. Simpson is the speaker and the video was created for the course:
Simpson, R. (2020). Leadership traits [Video]. OLEAD 100: Introduction to leadership. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1808284/modules/items/26572133
The following example illustrates the reference format for a video embedded in a course from an outside source such as YouTube or Vimeo:
INSEAD. (2017, November 22). What is leadership? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/mdsH3cYbMy
The following example illustrates the format for a video in a course when the publication date is unknown, the video features more than one speaker, and the author of the video is unknown. In this case, the organization that produced the video is used in place of the author’s name. For example, all of the Perspectives in Leadership videos identify Penn State World Campus as the producer on the link to each video:
Penn State World Campus (n.d.). The challenges of leadership [Video]. https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1808284/modules/items/26572133
The University Libraries provides a more detailed APA Quick Citation Guide and Citation and Writing Guides, and the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University provides condensed formal guidelines.