Reports are used as research sources in many disciplines. They can be published by institutions, governments, and other research bodies. APA report citation is used when citing reports in APA formatted research papers per the guidelines of the APA manual.1
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APA Report Citation – In a Nutshell
- APA report citation acknowledges and indicates the reports used in a research project.
- Reports can be published by individuals, organizations, or institutions. They offer a detailed analysis of a specific problem conducted within a given time frame.
- Researchers can cite different types of reports in their work, including reports by multiple authors and organization-owned publications.
- Reports can be accessed in physical publications where the appropriate citation details must be included in -the text. Some reports may be found online, and their URLs should be included on the reference page.
- Reports offer updated information, typically released periodically to address a prevailing issue.
Definition: APA report citation
APA report citation involves referencing a report used as a source in the arguments proposed in a research paper. Citing a report in APA style usually includes the author’s name, the report’s title (in italics), the publishing organization, and the URL if it was accessed on an online platform. APA report citation is formatted as follows:
| APA format |
| Last name of author, initials. (Year of publication). Title of the report; subtitle (Report number). Name of Publisher, URL. |
| APA reference entry |
| Brown, G. H. (2014). Cloud architecture for the future: An analysis (Report No: FR -TD 678.3). Wyoming State Department of Information Technology. |
| APA in-text citation |
| (Brown, 2014, p.43)2 |
Some reports may have several contributing authors. In APA report citation, you can cite up to 20 authors for reports with multiple authors.
Example:
Clinton, P., Cowell, P., Mohammed, Y., Jefferson, L., Smith, Z., Abergnale, A., Harrisson, L., Twalib, M. (2016). Evaluating smart logistics systems for global supply chain needs (Report No. PT-RD 456.2). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.3
For reports with more than 21 authors, APA report citation stipulates that you should list the first 19 followed by an ellipsis and the last author’s name.
Example:
Leonard, B., Jakes, J., Bain, R., Roger, C., Wade, C., Liev, M., Shaffield, E., Dominic, A., Cooper, S., Holmes, E., Watson, L., Walter, S., Ricardo, M., Schrieb, M., Eduardo, G., Bennett, G., Harvey, A., Stark, M., Fitzgerald, S., Don, R., . . . Lee, F. (2018). . . .
Format your APA report citation for 2 or 3 authors:
| 2 authors | (Kly & Rowe, 2015) |
| 3 authors | (Johnson et al., 2014) |
Some reports may be published by organizations, and there may be no listed authors. APA report citation for such sources is formatted as follows:
| APA reference entry |
| UN Commission on War Crimes and The Development of Democracy in Developing Nations. (2014). Report of proposed intermediary bodies on conflict resolution. UN. |
| APA in-text citation |
| (UN Commission on War Crimes, 2014) |
Some reports may be published by organizations, and there may be no listed authors. APA report citation for such sources is formatted as follows:
| APA reference entry |
| UN Commission on War Crimes and The Development of Democracy in Developing Nations. (2014). Report of proposed intermediary bodies on conflict resolution. UN. |
| APA in-text citation |
| (UN Commission on War Crimes, 2014) |
However, this format of APA report citation may lead to double incidence as the author and the publisher bear the same name. In this case, omit the second mention of the organization’s name.
Example:
APA reference entry Nestle Limited. (2016). 2016 annual report.
APA in-text citation (Nestle Limited, 2016)
APA report citation: Report number
The report number is an essential component of APA report citation. It guides readers to the original report to verify or conduct in-depth research based on your research project. Reports often use numbers as identifiers in the database which hosts them.4
FAQs
Mention the name of the organization that published the report. Also, include the URL of the file location in the reference section.
Use the prefix et al. to denote more than one author. You can mention the name of one author, followed by et al.
You can mention up to 20 authors in the reference entry. Extra names should be represented by an ellipsis and closed with the final author’s name.
You can check government or institutional websites. They usually have a public database where you can access reports on different research topics.
Sources
1 Purdue University. “Reference List: Other Print Sources.” Accessed February 2, 2023. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/reference_list_other_print_sources.html.
2. Cite this for me. “Cite a report in APA style.” Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.citethisforme.com/citation-generator/apa/how-to-cite-report.
3 Walden University. “How do I cite a report in APA?” Accessed February 2, 2023. https://academicanswers.waldenu.edu/faq/73164.
4 The University of Queensland. “APA 6th referencing style.”
October 26, 2022. https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/apa6/report.