Apa what if there is no author

Citing Sources with Missing Information

In general, resources are cited using the author, year of publication, title, source, and additional information depending on the resource type. If you cannot find something like a link, DOI number, volume number, etc. you may omit that information.

See below for examples for how to cite sources missing pieces of information.

If you are unsure how to format a citation, contact a librarian.

No Author

If a source does not have an author or editor, use the title as the first part of the citation. 

For both the reference list and in-text citations, use italics for book titles.

The titles of articles, chapters, and web pages should be in regular font for the reference list but have quotation marks in the in-text citations. Longer titles can be shortened to just a few key words for an in-text citation.

Reference Page Format:

Title. (Year of publication). Format the remainder according to resource type.

Reference Page Example:

In-text Citation Examples:

... ("FAQ," 2022).

... ("FAQ," 2022, para. 3).

No Date

Use (n.d.) in place of the year if the source does not have a listed date of publication or last review.

Reference Page Format:

Author, A. A. (n.d.). Format the remainder according to resource type.

Reference Page Example:

Weaver, R. (n.d.). Richard Weaver's enlarged hymn book. Morgan and Chase.

In-text Citation Examples:

According to Weaver (n.d.) ...

...(Weaver, n.d.).

...(Weaver, n.d., p. 98).

No Title

For sources without a title, describe the source in brackets. This will not impact your in-text citations.

Reference Page Format:

Author, A. A. (Year). [Description of source]. Format the remainder according to resource type.

Reference Page Example:

Smith, F. (2018). [Corpus of Amazon reviews for qualitative coding project]. Unpublished raw data.

In-text Citation Examples:

According to Smith (2018) ...

...(Smith, 2018)

No Page Numbers

A source lacking page numbers will only impact your in-text citations. 

• If the source is short, count paragraphs from the top of the document and include the paragraph number in the in-text citation.
• If the source is long and has section headings, you can include the section heading in lieu of the paragraph number.

Paragraph Number In-text Citation Example:

... (Mayo Clinic, 2022, para. 6).

Section Heading In-text Citation Example:

...(Mayo Clinic, 2022, Complications section).

Helpful Tips

• When citing sources that you find on the Internet you only need to include a retrieval date if the information you viewed is likely to change over time.  If you reference an article from a news source (e.g., CNN, NBC, Washington Post) or a site that may experience continuous updates, you would then need to include a retrieval date.
• New in 7th edition: You must include the site name in your citation, unless the site name is the same as the corporate author. For example, a citation of a CDC report would not include the site name.

General Format

In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 

(Title of specific document, Year)

NOTE: If the title of a document is long, use a shortened version for the

in-text citations.

In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Title of specific document, Year, page or paragraph number [if available])

References:

Title of specific document.(Last update or copyright date; if not known, put n.d.).

            Title of website. URL of specific document

Example

       In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): 

(Neurology, n.d.)

       In-Text Citation (Quotation):

(Neurology, n.d.)

 References:

Neurology. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved August 8, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org

/wiki/Neurology