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APA (7th Edition) Referencing Guide

Guide to APA citation style using the 7th Edition of the APA Style Manual.

Single programs vs episodes

Information needed for a single item
(e.g. film, dvd, one off television program, whole television series)		 Information needed for an episode in a series
  • The Director, Writer and/or Producer of the item 
  • The year(s) the film or show was produced
  • The title of the film or show
  • The format of the film or show (e.g. Film, TV series)
  • The name of the production studio(s)
  • The Director, Writer and/or Producer of the  episode
  • The year the episode was produced
  • The title of the episode, season and episode number
  • The format of the film or show (e.g. TV series episode)
  • The Executive Producers of the series
  • The title of the series
  • The name of the production studio(s)

Notes:

  • The year used is the year the film or episode was produced, not the date it was screened.
  • The format of how the film or document is watched (e.g. DVD, television or streaming) does not need to be included unless the specific format includes special features that are being cited. Include the format information after the format description. e.g. [Film; special extended DVD]
  • If more than one studio or production company is listed separate each with a semicolon.

In Text citations:

  • For in-text citations of direct quotes, you use a time stamp in the format of minutes:seconds instead of a page number.
    e.g. The presenter stated "the mice disappeared within minutes" (Frogmouth, 2014, 0:45).

Who is the author?

Media type Include as the author
Film Director
TV series Executive Producer(s)
TV series episode Writer(s) and Director of episode

Notes:

  • If the director is unknown use the name of someone in a similar role with a description of the role. e.g. (Presenter), (Host) or (Producer).

Films and movies

Format

Director, B. B. (Director). (year). Title of film [Film]. Studio(s).
Examples

Luhrmann, B. (Director). (1996). Romeo + Juliet [Film]. Bazmark Productions.

Moore, M. (Director). (2002). Bowling for Columbine [Documentary film]. United Artists; Alliance Atlantis; Salter Street Films; Dog Eat Dog Films.

TV programs or series

Format

Producer A. A. (Executive Producer). (Year). Title [TV series]. Studio.

Producer A. A. (Executive Producer). (Year). Title [TV documentary]. Studio.
Examples

Deb Cox, D., Eagger, F., Gist, C., & Sklan, C. (Executive Producers). (2012-2015). Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries [TV series]. Every Cloud Productions.

Ware, J. & Young, S. (Executive producers). (2013). Richard III: The king in the car park [TV documentary]. Darlow Smithson Productions.

TV series episodes

Treat an episode in a TV series like a chapter of a book, with the writer and director in the author position and the executive producer in the editors's position.

Format

Writer, A. A. (Writer), & Director, B. B. (Director). (Year). Title of episode (season and episode numbers) [Television series episode]. In C. C. Producer (Executive producer), Television series name. Studio.

Presenter, A. A. (Presenter), & Director, B. B. (Director). (Year). Title of episode (season and episode numbers) [Television series episode]. In C. C. Producer (Executive producer), Television series name. Studio.
Examples

Minear T. (Writer), & Whedon, J. (Writer & Director). (2002). The train job (Season 1, Episode 2) [Television series episode]. In J. Whedon & T. Minear (Executive producers), Firefly. Mutant Enemy Productions; 20th Century Fox Television.

Attenborough, D. (Presenter), & Alexander, S. (Director). (2008). The cold blooded truth (Season 1, Episode 1) [Television series episode]. In S. Ford (Executive producer), Life in cold blood. BBC Natural History Unit; Animal Planet.

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Creative Commons Licence
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International License. Content from this Guide should be attributed to James Cook University Library. This does not apply to images, third party material (seek permission from the original owner) or any logos or insignia belonging to JCU or other bodies, which remain All Rights Reserved.

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