Sometimes your source is missing information. The APA Manual has a great chart in this document of how to handle these situations.
Format of Individual Author Names
Invert all individual authors’ names, providing the surname first, followed by a comma and the author’s initials.
Author, A. A.
Use a comma to separate an author’s initials from additional author names, even when there are only two authors. Use an ampersand (&) before the final author’s name.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B.
Provide surnames and initials for up to and including 20 authors. When there are two to 20 authors, use an ampersand before the final author’s name.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C.
When there are 21 or more authors, include the first 19 authors’ names, insert an ellipsis (but no ampersand), and then add the final author’s name.
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.
Use one space between initials.
Author, A. A.
Write the author’s name exactly as it appears on the published work, including hyphenated surnames and two-part surnames.
Santos-García, S., & Velasco Rodríguez, M. L.
Retain the author’s preferred capitalization.
hooks, b.
van der Waal, P. N.
Format of Group Author Names
Group authors are often government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and task forces. Follow these guidelines to format the names of group authors in the reference list.
Spell out the full name of a group author in the reference list entry, followed by a period.
National Institute of Mental Health.
On a page from an organizational or government agency website, the organization or government agency itself is considered the author, unless otherwise specified. The author of a webpage or website may also be located on an “about us” or acknowledgments page.
An abbreviation for the group author can be used in the text (e.g., NIMH for National Institute of Mental Health); however, do not include an abbreviation for a group author in a reference list entry.
Correct: National Institute of Mental Health.
Incorrect: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Incorrect: NIMH.
When numerous layers of government agencies are listed as the author of a work, use the most specific agency as the author in the reference (e.g., use “National Institute of Nursing Research” rather than “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research”). The names of parent agencies not present in the group author name appear in the source element as the publisher.
National Institute of Nursing Research. (2015). A family’s perspective: Pediatric palliative care stories (NIH Publication No. 15-NR-8018). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ninr.nih.gov/sites/files/docs/NINR_508c_FamilyStories_0.pdf
APA style was developed by the American Psychological Association and is the reference and citation style for Education writing and scholarship.
When looking at online examples or using citation generators, be sure that you are interacting with the Seventh (7th) Edition of APA.
The examples on this site come from APA's Style Site. You may also find the APA Style Blog to be helpful.
There are several things to pay attention to when you are working on a paper in APA style:
One of the most common questions students have is about making a hanging indent for the Reference. Watch this video for three easy ways to make a hanging indent.
When putting together a citation or checking one that was automatically generated, pay attention to:
Whether you have all the necessary elements. Make sure you know what type of source you have!
What order the elements go in.
Which items need to be italicized.
What type of capitalization a title gets.
Books
Basic Format:
Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.
One author:
Phillips, S. (2010). The poetics of the everyday: Creative repetition in modern American verse.
Columbia University Press.
Two authors:
Zamora, L. P. & Faris, W. B. (1995). Magical realism: Theory, history, community. Duke University Press.
Book with one editor:
Eldridge, R. (Ed.). (2009). The Oxford handbook of philosophy and literature. Oxford University Press.
Book with two or more editors:
Newburger, H. , Birch, E. L., & Wachter, S. M. (Eds.). (2011). Neighborhood and life chances: How
place matters in modern America. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Articles
Scholarly Journal
Basic Format: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
Todd, N. R., Houston, J. D., & Odahl-Ruan, C. A.. (2014). Preliminary validation of the sanctification of social justice scale. Psychology Of Religion And Spirituality, 6(3), 245-256.
From an Online Database such as Academic Search Premier with DOI
Richardson, J. W. & Sauers, N. J. (2014). Social justice in India: Perspectives from school leaders in diverse contexts. Management In Education, 28(3), 106-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020614535799
Websites
Webpage on a Website
Fagan, J. (2019, March 25). Nursing clinical brain. OER Commons. Retrieved September 17, 2019, from https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/53029-nursing-clinical-brain/view
National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, July). Anxiety disorders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
Woodyatt, A. (2019, September 10). Daytime naps once or twice a week may be linked to a healthy heart, researchers say. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/10/health/nap-heart-health-wellness-intl-scli/index.html
World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
Parenthetical citations: (Fagan, 2019; National Institute of Mental Health, 2019; Woodyatt, 2019; World Health Organization, 2018)
Narrative citations: Fagan (2019), National Institute of Mental Health (2019), Woodyatt (2019), and World Health Organization (2018)