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Business Citation Guide: APA Formatting Tips

This guide provides examples for citing business resources in APA, MLA, and Chicago citation styles.

APA Formatting Tips

Sample APA Papers (including References List)

Reviewing sample APA papers can help you better understand how your paper should be formatted. Examples to review:

Formatting Tips for your Paper

Check out these quick tips for formatting your APA Style paper

  • Margins: Add 1 inch margins on all sides.
  • Header: Starting with your title page, add page numbers at the top right corner of the page. 
  • Line Spacing: Double-space your text.
  • Paragraph Alignment & Indentation: Indent the first line of each paragraph by 0.5 inch. Align your paragraphs to the left margin.
  • Recommended Fonts: Unless specified by your instructor, APA recommends the following fonts:
    • 11-point Calibri
    • 11-point Arial
    • 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode
    • 12-point Times New Roman
    • 11-point Georgia
    • 10-point Computer Modern

The above information has been adapted from Seneca Libraries' APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition). Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.

What is a References List?

It is a new page at the end of your assignment and it provides readers (i.e. your professor) with the complete bibliographic information for the sources you used. 

Formatting Tips

  • It should be a new page, at the very end of your assignment.
  • It should be double spaced.
  • The title is References. It should be centred on the page and not bolded or underlined.
  • It should be organized alphabetically by author's last name. If you are using a work with no author, use the source's title.
  • It should have a hanging indent. This means all lines, except for the first line in a paragraph, are indented .5 inches or 2.5 cm.

Example References List

Access a View-Only version of the sample References List.

Missing Information Reference List Citation In-Text Citation
No Author

Start your citation with the title, followed by date and source information. Don't use "Anonymous" unless this is what's indicate on your source. 

Example - Articles and other sources that are part of a larger work:

Get on board for train safety. (2012, June 17). Toronto Star, A14.

Example - Book and other standalone works:

Introduction to food science. (2018). ABC Press.

(Title, Year)

Example - Newspaper Article:

("Get on Board," 2012)

Example - Book:

Introduction to Food Science, 2018)
No Date

Example:

Mergent. (n.d.). Barrick Gold [Company report]. Retrieved August 29, 2021, from Mergent Online.

(Author, n.d.)

Example:

(Mergent, n.d.)
No Page Numbers

For In-Text Citation:
If you're quoting from a source without page numbers, include the location where you found the information. This includes the name of section/heading (if available) and paragraph number where you found the information. Count the paragraph from the beginning of the document or section (if available).

Although not required, APA encourages including the page number when paraphrasing if it will help the reader locate the information in a long text and distinguish between the information that is coming from you and the source.

(Author, Year, Section and/or paragraph number)

Example:

(Diabetes Canada, n.d., "Move More" section, para. 2)

(World Health Organization, 2020, para. 10)
No Title

In square brackets, describe the work that you are citing.

Example:

Vividata. (2021, May 3). [Table showing social media app usage in last month by respondents in age category, 18-24]. Vividata SCC - Spring 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2021, from Dapresy.

Author, Year)

Example:

(Vividata, 2018)
Unknown Source

If you don't have a source, consider searching for a work which supports the information you are including in your assignment.

You may also cite the information as personal communication if your source is a personal interview or email.

Example:

(M. R. Smith, personal communication, January 25, 2015)

The above information has been adapted from Seneca Libraries' APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition). Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence.