Periodicals are materials that are published on a regular basis. For example, magazines, newsletters, and journals may be published daily, weekly, monthly or on other regularly scheduled dates. Periodicals follow a general format in your APA 7 report with a few differences between them. Newspaper article citations include the year of publication as well as the day; however, journal articles use the year of publication only. Scholarly journals will
usually have a DOI assigned, but newspaper and magazine articles are usually accessed through the web page URL.
General APA Format for Periodicals
Periodicals are a good way to find current, primary sources. Since they are published frequently, the information is up-to-date. Not all articles are primary sources, however, so make sure you understand the difference before you start your research process.
General Reference Format
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. [year]. Title of the article. Title of Periodical, xx, pp-pp.
doi: xx.xxxxxxxx
If no DOI® is available, use the URL for the homepage of the magazine.
//www.example.com
Follow these examples when you need to cite periodicals in your APA research paper.
Journal – Print
Mason, R.O. [1986]. Four ethical issues of the information age. MIS Quarterly, 10[1]. 5-12.
Journal – Online
Jaeger, P.T., Sarin, L.C., Peterson, K.J. [2015]. Diversity, inclusion, and library and information science: An ongoing imperative [or why we still desperately need to have discussions about diversity and inclusion]. Library Quarterly, 85[2], 127-132. //doi: 130.065.109.155
For journal articles, include the DOI®, if available. Otherwise, include the URL.
McElroy, K., & Bridges, L. M. [2015]. Access to information is [not] a universal right in higher education: Librarian ethics and advocacy. International Review of Information Ethics. [23], 35-46. //ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/57830/McElroyKellyLibraryAccessInformationNot.pdf?sequence=4
Note: Do not add a period after an URL or DOI® as it may be considered part of the link.
Magazine – Print
Last, F. M. [Year, Month Day published]. Article title. Magazine Title, volume[issue], pp.
Weiss, D. [2018, April 9]. Late Neolithic monument. Archaeology, 135, 28-31.
Magazine – Online
Hutson, M. [2019, March 4]. How memory became weaponized. Psychology Today. //www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201903/how-memory-became-weaponized
Newspaper – Print
McDonald, T. [2019, February 21]. City officials scramble to save funding. The Communicator, A1, A6.
*use pp. for multiple pages. Use p. for one page.
Hansen, S. [2019, February 21]. Vaughn sued over open meetings violation. The Communicator, B1.
Online Source
Author, A. A. [Year, Month Day]. Title of the article. Title of Newspaper. //www.homeaddress.com/
Cosner, B. [2019, March 31]. Outages impact local phones, emergencies. The News Review. //www.news-ridgecrest.com/news/category.pl?id=0
Note: Just list the newspaper’s website home page address; not the article’s full URL.
Good Sources
Journals, magazines and newspapers are a great way to find reliable, authoritative sources for your APA format research paper. Although it may seem like a lot of work to figure out how to cite and organize your sources, just remember that the whole point is so that readers can find the information quickly.
Related Articles:
If there is no date use 'n.d.' [for 'no date'] in both the in text citation and the reference list.
In text:
In the late 1950s, white Australians became more aware of indigenous living conditions reported in the news [National Museum Australia, n.d.].
The civil rights movements started to gain momentum in Australia as "events in the late 1950s brought the sufferings of the few into the living rooms of the many" [National Museum Australia, n.d.].
In the reference list:
National Museum of Australia. [n.d.]. The fight for civil rights. //indigenousrights.net.au/civil_rights
Regarding reference list order:
If you have several works by the same author, and one of the works has no date but the other works are dated, [n.d.] is treated as the oldest work for ordering your references
If you have multiple citations from the same author which also do not have a date, you will follow the same instructions as you would if there was a date: order the citations in your reference list alphabetically by title, and place an "a", "b", etc after the date.
National Museum of Australia [n.d.-a]. Nelson the Newfoundland's dog collar. //www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/nelson-the-newfoundlands-dog-collar
National Museum of Australia. [n.d.-b]. Newcastle bakery cart. //www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/newcastle-bakery-cart
Using n.d. for open-dated sources:
In APA 7th edition, it is recommended to use n.d. for sources that are constantly changing, such as social media pages and updating services. When using n.d., for open-dated sources you will need to included a "Retrieved" date.
E.g.:
James Cook University Library [JCU Library]. [n.d.]. Library and Information Services [Facebook page]. Facebook. Retrieved June 11, 2019, from //www.facebook.com/JCULibrary