How to cite a web page with APA regulations, in 4 steps

When we do a job or prepare a scientific document, we often have to use concepts, terms and definitions that have been elaborated by other people, or we find that work done by others supports research or theories own.

In order to reflect the authorship of these concepts, provide the vision of a specific author on a reality and validate the information we provide we must cite the sources from which we have extracted the information.

There are numerous formats that can be applied when making citations. One of the best known and used, especially in the world of psychology, is the APA format..

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What does quote mean?

The word cite has numerous meanings, such as notify, make a judicial notification or summon someone to go at a certain time to a certain place. However when we refer to making a citation at the bibliographic level we are referring to explicitly mentioning a source from which certain information has been extracted.

Appointments can be made both

when literally using the same words as the original author of an idea or to support with their work the arguments that have been used throughout the document that is being created. It can also sometimes be used to show the opinion of a specific author regarding a specific topic. The citations are usually made both within the text and in a section located at the end of the document, the bibliographical references.

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APA regulations

One of the best-known formats when making citations is the APA format, which was Created in 1929 by different professionals from different branches, especially from the world of psychology. This style It gets its name from the American Psychological Association, the association that produced it..

The purpose of this format is to forge a model that allows the expression of ideas and concepts in a precise and clear manner, without major complications for the reader when it comes to identify and understand both the concepts and their origin.

Since its conception, the APA format has evolved over time, introducing small modifications that have led it to its current version. It is one of the most used formats when citing and not only in the different branches of psychology but also in many other scientific disciplines.

How to cite websites in APA format

Making a citation in APA format is easyeither, since it is based on being clear about the format to be used and applying it. However, for this you have to know how to do it.

Below you can see some brief basic steps to cite correctly in APA format, specifically when using a web page as a source of information (although the differences with other types of sources are minimal).

1. Extract basic information from the original text

When we consult a text and take it as a reference or use an author or its theory, we must extract different information if we intend to cite and reference it correctly. The last name and initial of the author or authors, the year of publication, its title, if it belongs to a manual, magazine, thesis or website, and the their names, the publisher, if any, the city and, if applicable, from which page to which page the information can be found.

In a web page we will generally find only a part of this data, but sometimes you can find books and magazines published on the web that may have them.

If we do not have a name or date, can be specified by indicating Unknown or Anonymous instead of the first or s.f. (no date) if we do not have the second.

2. Note the web address and date 

In the case at hand, that of a web page, we must, in addition to the above, extract the URL or web address so that possible readers can go to it if they want to consult it, as well as the date on which we have collected the information from it. The latter is more important than it may appear, especially if we take into account that it is It is possible that the authors of a page decide to close it or delete content for some reason in concrete.

3. in-text citation

If throughout the text we want to refer to an idea of ​​a specific author or support our argument with the work done by other people, we have to make a citation.

When a citation is made throughout the text, it is enough to place the first name of the author or author and the year of publication between parentheses, separating both data with a comma. If there is more than one author, the last names of all the authors must be placed first, separated by commas (except in the case of the last and penultimate, which are separated with an "and" or "&").

If it is mentioned several times, from the first you can only use the surname of the principal and add "and cols." or “et al.” to refer to the existence of more collaborators. This aspect is done in the same way both for citations of articles and books and for web pages.

The basic structure is as follows: (Author's last name, year of publication). For example, to cite this article throughout a text, it would be enough to put: (Castillero, 2017).

It is also valid to put the author's last name in the text if we make a literal or paraphrased quote, placing the year in parentheses. Using another different example we could put: "As indicated by Einstein in his theory of relativity (1915)..."

4. Bibliographic references

Once the text is written it is necessary to make a section with the bibliographical references that have been used, at which time we will use all the information previously collected in the first two points. It is necessary to take into account that if there is more than one, they must be ordered alphabetically.

To correctly reference a web page, proceed by placing the author's last name first, followed by a comma and after it the initial of his or her name followed by a period. If there is more than one author, they are separated from each other with a comma or semicolon. In this case, not all the authors of the source itself should appear.

The year of publication is then placed in parentheses, followed by a period. Subsequently, the title of the article in question is put in italics, followed by the type of publication in brackets.

After that, it details which web page it has been collected from, the URL that will be introduced by some particle such as "Retrieved from", "Available at" or "Consulate at" and later the URL in question. After that, between square brackets, the consultation date will be available.

The basic structure would be the following: Surname, Initial name. (Year). Title in italics. [Type of publication]. Available at: URL [date].