You found the perfect sources for your research project, but you suddenly realize you’ve used media sources that are not as easy to cite as books and journal articles. Follow this guide and the additional resources below to create APA style in-text citations and references for video recording, audio recordings, photographs and images, and more in no time.

The basic elements of citing audiovisual sources are similar to other sources, i.e., Who, When, What, Where. In addition, multimedia sources require you to note their formats in square brackets directly after the title of the work, e.g. [Film], [Photograph]. Below are some templates from the publication manual of the American Psychological Association, the official guide to APA style. A print copy of this guide is available for in-library use at the Health Sciences Library.

• In-text Citations
  • Parenthetical citations: (Last Name, Year)
  • Narrative citations: Last Name (Year)
• References Templates
  • Standalone audiovisual works
    Producer, P. P. (Executive Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Date). Title of work [Media format]. Publisher. URL
    Example:
    Forman, M. (Director). (1975). One flew over the cuckoo’s nest [Film]. United Artists.
  • Standalone audio works
    Host, H. H. (Host). (Date). Title of work [Media format]. Publisher. URL
    Example:
    Smith, K. & Levy, A. (2018-present). Nature podcast [audio podcast]. Nature Research. https://www.nature.com/nature/articles?type=nature-podcas
  • Standalone visual works
    Artist, A. A. (Date). Title of work [Media Format]. Publisher. URL
    Example:
    Wilcox, E. (1960). Medical Center after a snowfall [Photograph]. Archives and Special Collections at the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library of Columbia University. https://library-archives.cumc.columbia.edu/digitized-image/medical-center-after-snowfall-1960

*Please note that in addition to the references, permission and/or a copyright attribution may be necessary in order to reproduce visual works (APA, 2020, pp. 346-347).

Besides the official guide to APA style, there are some fantastic resources available online and through CLIO that offer more detailed tutorials on how to cite various formats of audiovisual sources, such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab.

If you need further guidance on other styles such as MLA or Chicago, Columbia University Libraries have MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Eighth Edition available in print and The Chicago Manual of Style available online.

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: the official guide to APA style (7th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.