apa business plan

Business Plan Research: APA Style - 7th Edition

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American Psychological Association's APA Style 7th Edition is widely used by students and researchers in the social and behavioral sciences.

Citation Guide

APA Reference Examples

• APA Common Reference Examples APA's common reference examples.
• Sample APA Student and Professional papers Purdue OWL has provided both student and professional paper samples. The "track changes" features is used to make comments in the margins that explain the formatting and directions for writing an APA paper.

Research Citation Management

For more information, see the Zotero Research Guide . 

A Step-by-Step Guide for APA Style Student Papers

Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of 7th Edition APA Style

• Academic Writer Tutorial: Basics of Seventh Edition APA Style "This tutorial is designed for writers new to APA Style. Learn the basics of seventh edition APA Style, including paper elements, format, and organization; academic writing style; grammar and usage; bias-free language; mechanics of style; tables and figures; in-text citations, paraphrasing, and quotations; and reference list format and order."

APA 7th Edition Changes

Credit: Scribbr (2019)

Intro - 0:00 ​

1. citing sources - 0:25 ​, 2. inclusive & bias-free language - 2:01 ​, 3. apa paper format - 2:52 ​, 4. mechanics of style - 3:56 ​, 5. when to start using the apa 7th edition - 4:11, formatting the reference page.

Credit: Scribbr (2020)

Intro to the reference page - 00:00 ​

Font, line spacing, margins - 00:35 ​, creating references - 1:16 ​, hanging indent - 1:59 ​, annotated bibliography - 2:43, reference list.

Arrange references alphabetically by the author's last name.

Double space the entire reference list.

Begin each entry on the left margin and indent a 1/2 inch from  the second line  onwards.

• Hanging indent in Google Docs
• Hanging indent in Microsoft Word
• Hanging indent in Word Online

See  APA  Publication Manual 7th  Edition ,  pages 39-40 .

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How to Write a Business Proposal in APA Format

by Elaine Riot

Published on 26 Sep 2017

APA (American Psychological Association) style is commonly used for the preparation of manuscripts in business, nursing and the social sciences. Although mainly used to write research papers, it can be called upon as a guide for almost any document. APA style establishes standards regarding the organization of content, writing style and reference citations. Writing a business proposal in APA style makes sense because its familiar structure helps the reader to follow the flow of words and easily find the info they seek.

Gather information to organize your thoughts and formulate the main selling points of your business proposal. Think of the main components: the idea itself, its benefits, implementation, timing, projected costs and possible pitfalls.

Find references that support your premise.

Outline your plan using APA Style sections: an abstract or summary of your business proposal, an introduction, the text of the plan with headings to highlight salient points, a reference list, tables and figures.

Format the business proposal in APA style. Insert the main section headings, including Abstract or Business Proposal Summary, Introduction, and headings for the body of the proposal, ending with the References (which should start on a separate page). This way, you've created a kind of template to facilitate the writing phase. The document should be double spaced on letter-size 20-pound paper, with 1-inch margins all around.

The title page should include the name of your business proposal and your contact information, all centered about one-third of the way down the page. Each page, including the title page, should have a running header with an abbreviated title followed by the page number, flush right in the upper right corner of each page (1/2 inch from the top).

Format references and citations according to APA style. An example of an APA style citation is:

Lname, Finitial. (year). Title article. Journal (italics) volume, pages. Retrieved date, source.

"Retrieved" refers to info that was garnered online.

APA style references should be listed in alphabetical order, by author's last name. The first line of each reference is flush left, with subsequent lines indented 1/2 inch. Like the rest of the proposal, they should be double spaced, with no extra space between entries.

Write your business proposal, following the guide you've prepared. The Abstract or Business Proposal Summary should be a concise description of your proposed plan of action. The one-paragraph Introduction should include supporting background information for your main point. They should both mention benefits specific to the company you are soliciting.

Proceed to the text of your business proposal, where you will include its potential benefits, implementation plan, possible obstacles or concerns, and projected costs. Include in text references that include the author and the year, for example, "Brown (1976) concluded that employees covered by health insurance plans were 25% more productive." Another example would be "Employees covered by health insurance are 25% more productive (Brown, 1976)." Include the detailed citations in the reference list.

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Introduction

Direct quotations & paraphrasing, basic citation styles, books (print & online), journal articles (print & online), audiovisual media, other online sources, how to cite chatgpt in apa style.

• Questions? Ask a Librarian!

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association provides detailed guidelines for using APA style. The current edition (7th edition) of the APA Publication Manual , published in November of 2019 is  kept at the Reference Desk.

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association . (7th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Copies are available for use at the library circulation desk.

• The Basics of APA Style A free tutorial for those who are new to APA style
• Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University
• APA style guide from U of North Carolina
• Sample APA 7 paper (pdf via Purdue U Online Writing Lab)
• How to Cite a Webpage or Piece of Online Content in APA 7 format (from Purdue Online Writing Lab)

In-Text Citations

APA Style uses parenthetical, author-date citations. After a quote, add parentheses containing the author's name, the year of publication, and the page number of the work.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).

If you use more than one work by the same author, use the letters a, b, etc., after the year.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007a, pp. 7-8).

If more than one author has the same last name, add their first initial.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (D. Seuss, 2007, pp. 7-8).

If two or more authors wrote the work, see the chart below.

If using the author's name in your text, do not include it in the parentheses.

Example: In his scholarly study, Dr. Seuss observed that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (2007, pp. 7-8). Example: In 2007, Dr. Seuss suggested that "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (pp. 7-8).

If no author name is available, use the first few words of the reference list entry (usually the title). Use quotation marks around titles of articles or web pages and italicize titles of books, periodicals, etc.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" ( Fox in Socks , 2007).

If no pagination information is available, use paragraph numbers instead.

Example: "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" (Seuss, 2007, para. 5).

Note: When paraphrasing or mentioning another work, it is helpful to still provide pagination information if the source text is long or difficult, or if it would help the reader find the text being paraphrased.

Source: American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, D.C.: Author.

• How to cite ChatGPT "If you’ve used ChatGPT or other AI tools in your research, describe how you used the tool in your Method section or in a comparable section of your paper. For literature reviews or other types of essays or response or reaction papers, you might describe how you used the tool in your introduction. In your text, provide the prompt you used and then any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response."
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Important note about citing business resources

Business source premier - reports, referenceusa, simmons insights, sports business research network (sbrnet), thomson one, web-based data sets (census, imf, federal reserve, etc.), wharton research data services (wrds), general notes about citing business sources.

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Questions about citing business sources using APA 7th edition? Email Chelsea at [email protected] 

Business Citations - APA 7th Edition

Important note on citing business resources:.

Although the APA provides clear instructions on how to cite standard publication types, some business-specific resources include unique information that doesn't directly match APA instructions. Because of that, some of the examples and instructions on this page represent the WVU Libraries' interpretation of APA rules. The American Psychological Association maintains a Style Blog that addresses many frequently asked questions. 

For citing resources in standard article databases including: ABI/INFORM, Factiva, and Business Source Premier, please consult the Journal Articles or Magazine & News Articles  tabs.

If you have questions about citing your specific source, please contact the WVU Libraries.

MarketLine. (2018, November). Wine in North America: MarketLine  Industry Profile (Reference Code: 0205-0800) [Industry profile]. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. 

Diment, D. (2019, December). Corporate wellness services (OD4621) [U.S. specialized industry report] . IBISWorld . https://www.ibisworld.com/

Mergent. (n.d.). Hain Celestial Group [Company profile]. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://www.mergentonline.com/login.php  

Mergent. (n.d.). Hain Celestial Group: R. Dean Hollis [Executive bio]. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://www.mergentonline.com/login.php  

Dun & Bradstreet. (2019, May 27). Automotive repair & maintenance services [Industry profile]. 

NOTE:   Dun & Bradstreet reports seem to be available in multiple databases, so in such cases APA says not to include the database name or URL.

Failla, J. (2020, April). Quick service restaurants - US . Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/986928/#  

Mintel. (n.d.). Shampoo & conditioners: Retail market segmentation by values . Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://marketsizes.mintel.com/  

Company dossier

LexisNexis. (n.d.). Ford Motor Company [Company profile]. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.lexisnexis.com/

Executive biographies

The Who's Who of Company Directors. (2017, April 6). H. Jay Sarles. NexisUni. https://www.lexisnexis.com

Company information

Zoom Company Information. (2020, May). Ernst & Young Global Limited. NexisUni. https://www.lexisnexis.com

Company lists or directories

LexisNexis. (n.d.) [List of automobile companies in Germany, over $200M in sales]. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from

https://www.lexisnexis.com

NOTE: Since there is no official title, create a description in square brackets, non-italicized, to describe how you compiled this data. See section 9.22 in the Manual. The square brackets in this case indicate that somebody else searching the resource cannot use these exact words to search for it; but they could figure out what you did.

SWOT Analysis 

MarketLine. (2020, January 13). Ford Motor Company [SWOT analysis]. NexisUni. https://www.lexisnexis.com

Company profiles

PrivCo. (n.d.). PopSockets [Company profile]. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://system.privco.com/auth/login  

PrivCo. (n.d.). [List of VC-backed companies in the Boulder, CO, area with up to $500M in revenue]. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://system.privco.com/auth/login  

Infogroup. (2020, June). Jackson Hewitt Tax Svc-Walmart, Kenai, AK [Company profile]. ReferenceUSA. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://www.referenceusa.com  

NOTE:   If the title of the company profile is sufficiently unique to identify the company profile (i.e. there is only one of that company in that city & state), then the company name with city is the title.

Infogroup. (2020, June). Jackson Hewitt Tax Svc-Walmart (3101 A. St, Anchorage, AK) [Company profile]. ReferenceUSA. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://www.referenceusa.com  

NOTE:   If there are multiple locations of that business in that city/state, include the exact address in parentheses as a form of unique number identifier.

Infogroup. (n.d.). [List of companies in Walworth county, Wisconsin with 5 or more employees]. ReferenceUSA. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://www.referenceusa.com  

NOTE: Since there is no official title, create a description in square brackets, non-italicized, to describe how you compiled this data. See secti on 9.22 in the Manual. The square brackets in this case indicate that somebody else searching the resource cannot use these exact words to se arch for it; but they could figure out what you did.

MRI-Simmons. (2017). Spring 2017 NHCS adult study 12 month [Cell phones / smartphones brands owned by consumer demographics - age, gender, household income] [Data set]. https://simmonsinsights.com/  

MRI-Simmons. (2017). Spring 2017 NHCS adult study 6 month [Computer software types owned by age] [Data set]. https://simmonsinsights.com/  

NOTE: Since the title of the dataset is not very descriptive of your particular data retrieved, include a description of the variables you used so that somebody else could figure out what you did. 

SBRnet. (n.d.). Basketball: College fan market summary . Sports Market Analytics. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/home.aspx

​ Statistics, dossiers, and reports

Daniel Research Group. (2019, September). Unit shipments of mobile personal computers (PCs) and laptops in the

United States, from 2013 to 2023 (in millions) [Chart]. Statista.  https://www.statista.com/  

NOTE: Look under the Source section fo r “Survey by” -- tha t is the author.

Statista. (2020, May). Laptops & tablets [Consumer market outlook]. https://www.statista.com/  

NOTE: Anything without a named author, should cite Statista at the corporate author.

Infographics

Armstrong, M. (2020, June 4). UK government approval on the slide [Infographic] . Statista. https://www.statista.com/  

Zekauskas, J. (2020, March 10). Albemarle Corporation: J.P. Morgan conference takeaways [Analyst report]. Thomson ONE. https://www.refinitiv.com/en

United States

U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Construction: Summary statistics for the US, states, and selected geographies (Table EC1723BASIC) [Data set]. U.S. Department of Commerce. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?tid=ECNBASIC2017.EC1723BASIC&t=Employment%3ANew%20Housing%20%28Construction%20and%20Sales%29&vintage=2017&hidePreview=false

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). QuickFacts: Madison city, Wisconsin . U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/madisoncitywisconsin/LND110210

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Census business builder: Small business edition - 3.0.1 [Map showing restaurants in the Dane County, WI area and surrounding counties].  U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://cbb.census.gov/sbe/#

Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2020, May 28). Price indexes for personal consumption expenditures by major type of product and by major function . (Table 2.3.4U) [Data set]. United States Department of Commerce. https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=19&step=3&isuri=1&nipa_table_list=2013&categories=underlying  

International

International Financial Statistics. (2020). Government finance: Japan 2013-2020 [Data set] . International Monetary Fund.

https://www.imf.org  

World Health Organization. (2020, June 2). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Situation report - 134.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200602-covid-19-sitrep-134.pdf?sfvrsn=cc95e5d5_2

Eurostat. (2020). Area under organic farming [Data set] . https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/sdg_02_40

Standard & Poor’s. (n.d.). Compustat daily updates - fundamentals annual [ Microsoft Corporation: Income statement items - January 2015 to January 2020 ] [Data set] . Capital IQ. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/  

The Center for Research in Security Prices. (n.d.). CRSP daily stock [Tesla Motors stock prices from 2007 to 2020] [Data set]. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.ed u/

• If there’s no DOI and it’s widely available from a number of academic research databases, then use no URL or database information at all -- thus, many periodical articles without DOIs will look like a print article citation.
• No database information needed if it’s something widely available from multiple sources (e.g. press releases, stock info, etc.)
• Some individual schools may wish to include the proxied-login link if that is what their professors prefer; if the work is being shared only with other people who are part of the campus community who would also have access to the content behind the login, one could make the argument that the URL would resolve for that audience. But for the examples in this document, the homepage URL has been used
• “If the URL requires a login or is session-specific (meaning it will not resolve for readers), provide the URL of the database or archive home page or login page instead of the URL for the work.” 
• “The name of the database or archive is provided in the source element (in title case without italics), the same as a publisher name, and followed by a period.”
• Read the full page on database information in references for more detail.  

The citation examples on this webpage come from: Schemm, N., Dellenbach, M., Grisham, Z., Hageman, M., Tingle, N., Trowbridge, M., & Wheatley, A. (2020). APA 7th ed. citation for business sources . https://bit.ly/APA7business  

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• Business Communication

How To Cite Sources in Business Proposal

Table of Contents

Having a great business idea is just the first step toward being a business owner. The second step, which is the most crucial, is having a business plan. The business plan outlines what your business will be, the market, your customer base, your marketing strategy, your startup and running costs, and your projected profits.

The best way to add credibility to your business plan is to support the forecasts and ideas presented with data provided by credible sources like authoritative books, industry leads, and government and trade publications.

Once you’ve backed up your work with these credible sources, give credit where credit is due. In other words, cite your sources (otherwise, it’s considered plagiarism). From web pages and websites to books, journals, or periodicals, it’s vital that you cite the sources for information used in your business proposal.

1. Choose a Citation Style

The first step, before you even begin writing or typing up your business plan , is to choose a citation style. The most common academic writing styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago.

A good way to decide which style to use is by deciding what type of field your business will fall into. MLA is mostly used in academics — ergo, if your business falls into any of the ‘humanities’ fields like geology, archeology and the like then use MLA. APA is mostly used in scientific studies, so if your business is more scientifically bent, like a pharmacy, then use APA.

2. Consistency is key

Whichever writing style you choose, stick to both the in-text and reference section citation guides given. Mixing styles is a sure sign to any investors that your work is sloppy and you have zero attention to detail.

This is not a message you want to send to your potential investor, especially before they even get a chance to grasp your idea or see it in action. Consistency in your writing is the first way to properly present your business proposal .

3. Understand Your Style Guides

In order to make your writing a little easier, here are a few examples of each style guide as they should be used. Simply follow the format in order to best cite your own sources.

APA Style Guide

• In-Text Citation : (Shelton, 2014)
• Bibliography : Shelton, H. (2014).  The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares a Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results . Amazon Publishing.

A chapter in an edited book

• In-Text Citation :(Ries, 2011)
• Bibliography : Ries, E. (2011).  The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses . Crown Publishing, USA.

An article from a print journal

• In-Text Citation : (Adhari, 2020)
• Bibliography : Adhari, Z. L. (2020). “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2.  1944-656X

An article from an electronic journal

• Bibliography : Adhari, Z. L. (2020). “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2.  1944-6578. Retrieved from https://www.abacademies.org/articles/strategic–business-model-of-digita…
• In-Text Citation :(Moore, 2020)
• Bibliography : Moore, L. (2020, September 29).  Memorabilia-Trading App Rally Raises $17 Million . The Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/articles/memorabilia-trading-app-rally-raises-17-million-11601379000?mod=markets_lead_pos6

MLA Style Guide

• In-Text Citation : (Shelton 2014, 54-64)
• Shelton, H. (2014).  The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares a Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results . Amazon Publishing.

An article in a print journal

•   In-Text Citation : (Adhari 2020, 18)
• Bibliography:  Adhari, Z. L. (2020). “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2.  1944-656X

An article in an electronic journal

• In-Text Citation : (Adhari 2020, 22)
• Bibliography:  Adhari, Z. L. (2020). “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2.  1944-6578. Accessed September 29, 2020. Retrieved from https://www.abacademies.org/articles/strategic–business-model-of-digital-printing-startup-based-on-augmented-reality-9414.html
• In-Text Citation : (Moore, 2020)
• Bibliography:  Moore, L. (2020, September 29).  Memorabilia-Trading App Rally Raises $17 Million . The Wall Street Journal. Last Modified September 29, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/memorabilia-trading-app-rally-raises-17-mil…

Another way to cite sources in MLA style is to use the note/bibliography method as shown below:

A book in print

• Note Style:  1. Hal Shelton,  The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares a Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results . (Amazon Publishing, 2014), 108-112.
• Duplicate Note:  2. Shelton,  The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares a Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results .
• Bibliography: Shelton, H.  The Secrets to Writing a Successful Business Plan: A Pro Shares a Step-By-Step Guide to Creating a Plan That Gets Results . Amazon Publishing, 2014.
• Note Style: 1. Lendy. Z. Adhari, “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2  (2020).  1944-656X
• Duplicate Note: 2. Adhari. “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality,” 21-22.
•  Bibliography: Adhari, Z. L. “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2  (2020): 11-12 .  1944-656X
• Note Style: 1. Lendy. Z. Adhari, “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2  (2020), accessed September 29, 2020,  1944-656X
•  Bibliography: Adhari, Z. L. “Strategic & Business Model of Digital Printing Startup based on Augmented Reality.”  Business Studies Journal ,  Research Article 2020 Vol 12, issue 2  (2020): 11-12. Accessed September 29 2020.  1944-656X
• Note Style: 1 Logan Moore,  Memorabilia-Trading App Rally Raises $17 Million . Last Modified September 29, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/memorabilia-trading-app-rally-raises-17-mil….
• Duplicate Note: Moore,  Memorabilia-Trading App Rally Raises $17 Million.
• Bibliography: Moore, L,  Memorabilia-Trading App Rally Raises $17 Million . Last Modified September 29, 2020. https://www.wsj.com/articles/memorabilia-trading-app-rally-raises-17-mil….

Chicago Style Guide

In-text citation.

• Author’s name in text : Jeffers develops this argument (32-33).
• Author’s name in reference : This statement is reiterated again. (Jeffers 32-33)
• Two authors’ names in reference : This is why you do it (Author1 and Author2, page number).
• Quotation found in indirect or “secondhand” source : The writer Someone states that…(qtd. in Jeffers 22)

Works cited page

• Book in print:  Jeffers, S.  Feel Fear But Do It Anyway. 1987
• eBook:  Guy, S.  Business Book.  A publisher, Year.  Website , url.
• An article in a print journal:  Last Name, First name. “Book Title.”  Journal Name,  vol no, year, page.
• An article in an electronic journal:  Last Name, First name. “Book Title.”  Journal Name,  vol no, year, page. url.
• An encyclopedia entry:  “Entry Name.”  Encyclopedia name , edited by Author name, edition, publisher name, year, page.
• A government publication:  Government branch.  Publication . Publisher, Year.
• An interview you conducted:  Last Name, First name. Personal interview. dd mm year
• Website:  LName, FName. “Title.”  Website,  (dd mm year) web url.

Use any of the above examples to properly cite your sources in your business proposal before your presentation. Good luck!

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How to Write a Business Plan: Step-by-Step Guide + Examples

Noah Parsons

24 min. read

Updated May 7, 2024

Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be complicated. 

In this step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to write a business plan that’s detailed enough to impress bankers and potential investors, while giving you the tools to start, run, and grow a successful business.

• The basics of business planning

If you’re reading this guide, then you already know why you need a business plan . 

You understand that planning helps you: 

• Raise money
• Grow strategically
• Keep your business on the right track 

As you start to write your plan, it’s useful to zoom out and remember what a business plan is .

At its core, a business plan is an overview of the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy: how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

Most business plans also include financial forecasts for the future. These set sales goals, budget for expenses, and predict profits and cash flow. 

A good business plan is much more than just a document that you write once and forget about. It’s also a guide that helps you outline and achieve your goals. 

After completing your plan, you can use it as a management tool to track your progress toward your goals. Updating and adjusting your forecasts and budgets as you go is one of the most important steps you can take to run a healthier, smarter business. 

We’ll dive into how to use your plan later in this article.

There are many different types of plans , but we’ll go over the most common type here, which includes everything you need for an investor-ready plan. However, if you’re just starting out and are looking for something simpler—I recommend starting with a one-page business plan . It’s faster and easier to create. 

It’s also the perfect place to start if you’re just figuring out your idea, or need a simple strategic plan to use inside your business.

Dig deeper : How to write a one-page business plan

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• What to include in your business plan

Executive summary

The executive summary is an overview of your business and your plans. It comes first in your plan and is ideally just one to two pages. Most people write it last because it’s a summary of the complete business plan.

Ideally, the executive summary can act as a stand-alone document that covers the highlights of your detailed plan. 

In fact, it’s common for investors to ask only for the executive summary when evaluating your business. If they like what they see in the executive summary, they’ll often follow up with a request for a complete plan, a pitch presentation , or more in-depth financial forecasts .

Your executive summary should include:

• A summary of the problem you are solving
• A description of your product or service
• An overview of your target market
• A brief description of your team
• A summary of your financials
• Your funding requirements (if you are raising money)

Dig Deeper: How to write an effective executive summary

Products and services description

This is where you describe exactly what you’re selling, and how it solves a problem for your target market. The best way to organize this part of your plan is to start by describing the problem that exists for your customers. After that, you can describe how you plan to solve that problem with your product or service. 

This is usually called a problem and solution statement .

To truly showcase the value of your products and services, you need to craft a compelling narrative around your offerings. How will your product or service transform your customers’ lives or jobs? A strong narrative will draw in your readers.

This is also the part of the business plan to discuss any competitive advantages you may have, like specific intellectual property or patents that protect your product. If you have any initial sales, contracts, or other evidence that your product or service is likely to sell, include that information as well. It will show that your idea has traction , which can help convince readers that your plan has a high chance of success.

Market analysis

Your target market is a description of the type of people that you plan to sell to. You might even have multiple target markets, depending on your business. 

A market analysis is the part of your plan where you bring together all of the information you know about your target market. Basically, it’s a thorough description of who your customers are and why they need what you’re selling. You’ll also include information about the growth of your market and your industry .

Try to be as specific as possible when you describe your market. 

Include information such as age, income level, and location—these are what’s called “demographics.” If you can, also describe your market’s interests and habits as they relate to your business—these are “psychographics.” 

Related: Target market examples

Essentially, you want to include any knowledge you have about your customers that is relevant to how your product or service is right for them. With a solid target market, it will be easier to create a sales and marketing plan that will reach your customers. That’s because you know who they are, what they like to do, and the best ways to reach them.

Next, provide any additional information you have about your market. 

What is the size of your market ? Is the market growing or shrinking? Ideally, you’ll want to demonstrate that your market is growing over time, and also explain how your business is positioned to take advantage of any expected changes in your industry.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write a market analysis

Competitive analysis

Part of defining your business opportunity is determining what your competitive advantage is. To do this effectively, you need to know as much about your competitors as your target customers. 

Every business has some form of competition. If you don’t think you have competitors, then explore what alternatives there are in the market for your product or service. 

For example: In the early years of cars, their main competition was horses. For social media, the early competition was reading books, watching TV, and talking on the phone.

A good competitive analysis fully lays out the competitive landscape and then explains how your business is different. Maybe your products are better made, or cheaper, or your customer service is superior. Maybe your competitive advantage is your location – a wide variety of factors can ultimately give you an advantage.

Dig Deeper: How to write a competitive analysis for your business plan

Marketing and sales plan

The marketing and sales plan covers how you will position your product or service in the market, the marketing channels and messaging you will use, and your sales tactics. 

The best place to start with a marketing plan is with a positioning statement . 

This explains how your business fits into the overall market, and how you will explain the advantages of your product or service to customers. You’ll use the information from your competitive analysis to help you with your positioning. 

For example: You might position your company as the premium, most expensive but the highest quality option in the market. Or your positioning might focus on being locally owned and that shoppers support the local economy by buying your products.

Once you understand your positioning, you’ll bring this together with the information about your target market to create your marketing strategy . 

This is how you plan to communicate your message to potential customers. Depending on who your customers are and how they purchase products like yours, you might use many different strategies, from social media advertising to creating a podcast. Your marketing plan is all about how your customers discover who you are and why they should consider your products and services. 

While your marketing plan is about reaching your customers—your sales plan will describe the actual sales process once a customer has decided that they’re interested in what you have to offer. 

If your business requires salespeople and a long sales process, describe that in this section. If your customers can “self-serve” and just make purchases quickly on your website, describe that process. 

A good sales plan picks up where your marketing plan leaves off. The marketing plan brings customers in the door and the sales plan is how you close the deal.

Together, these specific plans paint a picture of how you will connect with your target audience, and how you will turn them into paying customers.

Dig deeper: What to include in your sales and marketing plan

Business operations

The operations section describes the necessary requirements for your business to run smoothly. It’s where you talk about how your business works and what day-to-day operations look like. 

Depending on how your business is structured, your operations plan may include elements of the business like:

• Supply chain management
• Manufacturing processes
• Equipment and technology
• Distribution

Some businesses distribute their products and reach their customers through large retailers like Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, and grocery store chains. 

These businesses should review how this part of their business works. The plan should discuss the logistics and costs of getting products onto store shelves and any potential hurdles the business may have to overcome.

If your business is much simpler than this, that’s OK. This section of your business plan can be either extremely short or more detailed, depending on the type of business you are building.

For businesses selling services, such as physical therapy or online software, you can use this section to describe the technology you’ll leverage, what goes into your service, and who you will partner with to deliver your services.

Dig Deeper: Learn how to write the operations chapter of your plan

Key milestones and metrics

Although it’s not required to complete your business plan, mapping out key business milestones and the metrics can be incredibly useful for measuring your success.

Good milestones clearly lay out the parameters of the task and set expectations for their execution. You’ll want to include:

• A description of each task
• The proposed due date
• Who is responsible for each task

If you have a budget, you can include projected costs to hit each milestone. You don’t need extensive project planning in this section—just list key milestones you want to hit and when you plan to hit them. This is your overall business roadmap. 

Possible milestones might be:

• Website launch date
• Store or office opening date
• First significant sales
• Break even date
• Business licenses and approvals

You should also discuss the key numbers you will track to determine your success. Some common metrics worth tracking include:

• Conversion rates
• Customer acquisition costs
• Profit per customer
• Repeat purchases

It’s perfectly fine to start with just a few metrics and grow the number you are tracking over time. You also may find that some metrics simply aren’t relevant to your business and can narrow down what you’re tracking.

Dig Deeper: How to use milestones in your business plan

Organization and management team

Investors don’t just look for great ideas—they want to find great teams. Use this chapter to describe your current team and who you need to hire . You should also provide a quick overview of your location and history if you’re already up and running.

Briefly highlight the relevant experiences of each key team member in the company. It’s important to make the case for why yours is the right team to turn an idea into a reality. 

Do they have the right industry experience and background? Have members of the team had entrepreneurial successes before? 

If you still need to hire key team members, that’s OK. Just note those gaps in this section.

Your company overview should also include a summary of your company’s current business structure . The most common business structures include:

• Sole proprietor
• Partnership

Be sure to provide an overview of how the business is owned as well. Does each business partner own an equal portion of the business? How is ownership divided? 

Potential lenders and investors will want to know the structure of the business before they will consider a loan or investment.

Dig Deeper: How to write about your company structure and team

Financial plan

Last, but certainly not least, is your financial plan chapter. 

Entrepreneurs often find this section the most daunting. But, business financials for most startups are less complicated than you think, and a business degree is certainly not required to build a solid financial forecast. 

A typical financial forecast in a business plan includes the following:

• Sales forecast : An estimate of the sales expected over a given period. You’ll break down your forecast into the key revenue streams that you expect to have.
• Expense budget : Your planned spending such as personnel costs , marketing expenses, and taxes.
• Profit & Loss : Brings together your sales and expenses and helps you calculate planned profits.
• Cash Flow : Shows how cash moves into and out of your business. It can predict how much cash you’ll have on hand at any given point in the future.
• Balance Sheet : A list of the assets, liabilities, and equity in your company. In short, it provides an overview of the financial health of your business. 

A strong business plan will include a description of assumptions about the future, and potential risks that could impact the financial plan. Including those will be especially important if you’re writing a business plan to pursue a loan or other investment.

Dig Deeper: How to create financial forecasts and budgets

This is the place for additional data, charts, or other information that supports your plan.

Including an appendix can significantly enhance the credibility of your plan by showing readers that you’ve thoroughly considered the details of your business idea, and are backing your ideas up with solid data.

Just remember that the information in the appendix is meant to be supplementary. Your business plan should stand on its own, even if the reader skips this section.

Dig Deeper : What to include in your business plan appendix

Optional: Business plan cover page

Adding a business plan cover page can make your plan, and by extension your business, seem more professional in the eyes of potential investors, lenders, and partners. It serves as the introduction to your document and provides necessary contact information for stakeholders to reference.

Your cover page should be simple and include:

• Company logo
• Business name
• Value proposition (optional)
• Business plan title
• Completion and/or update date
• Address and contact information
• Confidentiality statement

Just remember, the cover page is optional. If you decide to include it, keep it very simple and only spend a short amount of time putting it together.

Dig Deeper: How to create a business plan cover page

How to use AI to help write your business plan

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT can speed up the business plan writing process and help you think through concepts like market segmentation and competition. These tools are especially useful for taking ideas that you provide and converting them into polished text for your business plan.

The best way to use AI for your business plan is to leverage it as a collaborator , not a replacement for human creative thinking and ingenuity. 

AI can come up with lots of ideas and act as a brainstorming partner. It’s up to you to filter through those ideas and figure out which ones are realistic enough to resonate with your customers. 

There are pros and cons of using AI to help with your business plan . So, spend some time understanding how it can be most helpful before just outsourcing the job to AI.

Learn more: 10 AI prompts you need to write a business plan

• Writing tips and strategies

To help streamline the business plan writing process, here are a few tips and key questions to answer to make sure you get the most out of your plan and avoid common mistakes .  

Determine why you are writing a business plan

Knowing why you are writing a business plan will determine your approach to your planning project. 

For example: If you are writing a business plan for yourself, or just to use inside your own business , you can probably skip the section about your team and organizational structure. 

If you’re raising money, you’ll want to spend more time explaining why you’re looking to raise the funds and exactly how you will use them.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan , think about why you are writing and what you’re trying to get out of the process before you begin.

Keep things concise

Probably the most important tip is to keep your business plan short and simple. There are no prizes for long business plans . The longer your plan is, the less likely people are to read it. 

So focus on trimming things down to the essentials your readers need to know. Skip the extended, wordy descriptions and instead focus on creating a plan that is easy to read —using bullets and short sentences whenever possible.

Have someone review your business plan

Writing a business plan in a vacuum is never a good idea. Sometimes it’s helpful to zoom out and check if your plan makes sense to someone else. You also want to make sure that it’s easy to read and understand.

Don’t wait until your plan is “done” to get a second look. Start sharing your plan early, and find out from readers what questions your plan leaves unanswered. This early review cycle will help you spot shortcomings in your plan and address them quickly, rather than finding out about them right before you present your plan to a lender or investor.

If you need a more detailed review, you may want to explore hiring a professional plan writer to thoroughly examine it.

Use a free business plan template and business plan examples to get started

Knowing what information to include in a business plan is sometimes not quite enough. If you’re struggling to get started or need additional guidance, it may be worth using a business plan template. 

There are plenty of great options available (we’ve rounded up our 8 favorites to streamline your search).

But, if you’re looking for a free downloadable business plan template , you can get one right now; download the template used by more than 1 million businesses. 

Or, if you just want to see what a completed business plan looks like, check out our library of over 550 free business plan examples . 

We even have a growing list of industry business planning guides with tips for what to focus on depending on your business type.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

It’s easy to make mistakes when you’re writing your business plan. Some entrepreneurs get sucked into the writing and research process, and don’t focus enough on actually getting their business started. 

Here are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them:

Not talking to your customers : This is one of the most common mistakes. It’s easy to assume that your product or service is something that people want. Before you invest too much in your business and too much in the planning process, make sure you talk to your prospective customers and have a good understanding of their needs.

• Overly optimistic sales and profit forecasts: By nature, entrepreneurs are optimistic about the future. But it’s good to temper that optimism a little when you’re planning, and make sure your forecasts are grounded in reality. 
• Spending too much time planning: Yes, planning is crucial. But you also need to get out and talk to customers, build prototypes of your product and figure out if there’s a market for your idea. Make sure to balance planning with building.
• Not revising the plan: Planning is useful, but nothing ever goes exactly as planned. As you learn more about what’s working and what’s not—revise your plan, your budgets, and your revenue forecast. Doing so will provide a more realistic picture of where your business is going, and what your financial needs will be moving forward.
• Not using the plan to manage your business: A good business plan is a management tool. Don’t just write it and put it on the shelf to collect dust – use it to track your progress and help you reach your goals.
• Presenting your business plan

The planning process forces you to think through every aspect of your business and answer questions that you may not have thought of. That’s the real benefit of writing a business plan – the knowledge you gain about your business that you may not have been able to discover otherwise.

With all of this knowledge, you’re well prepared to convert your business plan into a pitch presentation to present your ideas. 

A pitch presentation is a summary of your plan, just hitting the highlights and key points. It’s the best way to present your business plan to investors and team members.

Dig Deeper: Learn what key slides should be included in your pitch deck

Use your business plan to manage your business

One of the biggest benefits of planning is that it gives you a tool to manage your business better. With a revenue forecast, expense budget, and projected cash flow, you know your targets and where you are headed.

And yet, nothing ever goes exactly as planned – it’s the nature of business.

That’s where using your plan as a management tool comes in. The key to leveraging it for your business is to review it periodically and compare your forecasts and projections to your actual results.

Start by setting up a regular time to review the plan – a monthly review is a good starting point. During this review, answer questions like:

• Did you meet your sales goals?
• Is spending following your budget?
• Has anything gone differently than what you expected?

Now that you see whether you’re meeting your goals or are off track, you can make adjustments and set new targets. 

Maybe you’re exceeding your sales goals and should set new, more aggressive goals. In that case, maybe you should also explore more spending or hiring more employees. 

Or maybe expenses are rising faster than you projected. If that’s the case, you would need to look at where you can cut costs.

A plan, and a method for comparing your plan to your actual results , is the tool you need to steer your business toward success.

Learn More: How to run a regular plan review

Free business plan templates and examples

Kickstart your business plan writing with one of our free business plan templates or recommended tools.

Free business plan template

Download a free SBA-approved business plan template built for small businesses and startups.

Download Template

One-page plan template

Download a free one-page plan template to write a useful business plan in as little as 30-minutes.

Sample business plan library

Explore over 500 real-world business plan examples from a wide variety of industries.

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How to write a business plan FAQ

What is a business plan?

A document that describes your business , the products and services you sell, and the customers that you sell to. It explains your business strategy, how you’re going to build and grow your business, what your marketing strategy is, and who your competitors are.

What are the benefits of a business plan?

A business plan helps you understand where you want to go with your business and what it will take to get there. It reduces your overall risk, helps you uncover your business’s potential, attracts investors, and identifies areas for growth.

Having a business plan ultimately makes you more confident as a business owner and more likely to succeed for a longer period of time.

What are the 7 steps of a business plan?

The seven steps to writing a business plan include:

• Write a brief executive summary
• Describe your products and services.
• Conduct market research and compile data into a cohesive market analysis.
• Describe your marketing and sales strategy.
• Outline your organizational structure and management team.
• Develop financial projections for sales, revenue, and cash flow.
• Add any additional documents to your appendix.

What are the 5 most common business plan mistakes?

There are plenty of mistakes that can be made when writing a business plan. However, these are the 5 most common that you should do your best to avoid:

• 1. Not taking the planning process seriously.
• Having unrealistic financial projections or incomplete financial information.
• Inconsistent information or simple mistakes.
• Failing to establish a sound business model.
• Not having a defined purpose for your business plan.

What questions should be answered in a business plan?

Writing a business plan is all about asking yourself questions about your business and being able to answer them through the planning process. You’ll likely be asking dozens and dozens of questions for each section of your plan.

However, these are the key questions you should ask and answer with your business plan:

• How will your business make money?
• Is there a need for your product or service?
• Who are your customers?
• How are you different from the competition?
• How will you reach your customers?
• How will you measure success?

How long should a business plan be?

The length of your business plan fully depends on what you intend to do with it. From the SBA and traditional lender point of view, a business plan needs to be whatever length necessary to fully explain your business. This means that you prove the viability of your business, show that you understand the market, and have a detailed strategy in place.

If you intend to use your business plan for internal management purposes, you don’t necessarily need a full 25-50 page business plan. Instead, you can start with a one-page plan to get all of the necessary information in place.

What are the different types of business plans?

While all business plans cover similar categories, the style and function fully depend on how you intend to use your plan. Here are a few common business plan types worth considering.

Traditional business plan: The tried-and-true traditional business plan is a formal document meant to be used when applying for funding or pitching to investors. This type of business plan follows the outline above and can be anywhere from 10-50 pages depending on the amount of detail included, the complexity of your business, and what you include in your appendix.

Business model canvas: The business model canvas is a one-page template designed to demystify the business planning process. It removes the need for a traditional, copy-heavy business plan, in favor of a single-page outline that can help you and outside parties better explore your business idea.

One-page business plan: This format is a simplified version of the traditional plan that focuses on the core aspects of your business. You’ll typically stick with bullet points and single sentences. It’s most useful for those exploring ideas, needing to validate their business model, or who need an internal plan to help them run and manage their business.

Lean Plan: The Lean Plan is less of a specific document type and more of a methodology. It takes the simplicity and styling of the one-page business plan and turns it into a process for you to continuously plan, test, review, refine, and take action based on performance. It’s faster, keeps your plan concise, and ensures that your plan is always up-to-date.

What’s the difference between a business plan and a strategic plan?

A business plan covers the “who” and “what” of your business. It explains what your business is doing right now and how it functions. The strategic plan explores long-term goals and explains “how” the business will get there. It encourages you to look more intently toward the future and how you will achieve your vision.

However, when approached correctly, your business plan can actually function as a strategic plan as well. If kept lean, you can define your business, outline strategic steps, and track ongoing operations all with a single plan.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

Table of Contents

• Use AI to help write your plan
• Common planning mistakes
• Manage with your business plan
• Templates and examples

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University libraries, research guides, apa style guide for business: introduction, introduction.

• Citing articles
• Citing from Select Databases
• Citing Facebook, Twitter, Ebooks
• Citing Datasets
• Sources for Citing

This guide provides suggestions for citing some of the material used in business research using the APA publication manual, 7th ed., 2020. The general APA format for citing using this edition is:

Book: 

Author, A. A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Date). Title of book. Publisher name.

Include the DOI if there is one:

Author, A. A. (Date). Title of book . Publisher name. https://doi.org/xxxx

Periodical:

Author, A. A., Author, B.B., & Author, C.C. (Date). Title of article . Title of Periodica l, xx (i), pp-pp. https://doi.org/xxxx

(D OI is a digital object identifier that most articles from scholarly journals, and often books, have assigned to them)

Date can be: (Year)

                     (Year, Month)

                     (Year, Month day)

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of chapter. In A. Editor, B. Editor, & C. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xxx-xxx). Publisher Name.

NOTE:  If there are no dates use the following notation in its place:  (n.d.)

In-text citations:

Parenthetical citation: (Last name of author, year)

Narrative citation: Last name of author (year)

Business & Economics Librarian / Associate Professor

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Entrepreneurship - The Business Plan: Write & Cite

• Find Company Information
• Marketing Research Data
• Find Statistics & Data
• Write & Cite

Quick Links - Citation Guides & Handouts

Citation Guides

• APA Citation Guide from HPU Libraries
• APA Style Quick Citation Guide (PDF)
• MLA Citation Guide from HPU Libraries
• MLA Quick Citation Guide and Sample Paper

Handouts (PDF)

Citation Managers

Citation managers can help you keep track of the articles, books, and other resources that you find, as well as help you cite them in the appropriate style in the text of your paper and in your references or works cited list. For more help with citation managers, ask a librarian! 

• EndNote & EndNote Web Members of the HPU community have access to EndNote, a robust citation tool that is available in desktop and cloud-based forms and contains over 5000 citation styles. EndNote also comes with a plugin for Word that allows you to insert citations from your EndNote library as you write. Follow the instructions on this guide to set up your EndNote account.
• Zotero Zotero is a free citation manager that is designed to work within the Firefox browser. Citations are also stored in the cloud, and you can create group libraries that are shared with other Zotero users. You can also download an optional Word plugin to insert citations from your Zotero library as you write.

Ask a Librarian!

Academic Integrity

Citation may seem like a bunch of rules designed to make writing your paper even more difficult. However, the purpose of citation is primarily to show how your work fits into the larger conversation taking place on your particular topic and to help facilitate the exchange of ideas between scholars (that means you, too!). Citation also ensures that the original authors or originators of an idea receive proper credit for their work.

What does this mean for you? 

According to the  High Point University Honor Code :  "Every student is honor-bound to refrain from plagiarism."

But what does it mean to plagiarize something? 

Plagiarism  involves quoting or paraphrasing without proper acknowledgment. You plagiarize if you submit, without appropriate documentation or quotation marks:

• part or all of written or spoken statements derived from sources, such as books, the Internet, magazines, pamphlets, speeches, or oral statements;
• part or all of written or spoken statements derived from files maintained by individuals, groups or campus organizations;
• the sequence of ideas, arrangement of material, or pattern of thought of someone else, even though you express such processes in your own words.

(High Point University Student Government Association, The University Honor)

Summary: You plagiarize when you take credit for someone else's work, either on purpose or by accident.  

You can also plagiarize yourself. Called "self-plagiarism," this occurs if you reuse work from one course in another course without your instructors' permission. This is considered academic dishonesty. 

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Where can I find an example of a business plan in APA format?

Students should follow the APA guidelines  to write their business plan:

• Set 1” margins: On all four sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
• Times New Roman 12pt
• Calibri 11pt
• Lucida Sans Unicode 10pt
• Georgia 11pt
• Computer Modern 10pt
• Line-spacing: Double-space

To find information on how to write a business plan:

• Write your business plan
• What to put in your business plan

Thank you for using ASK US.  For further assistance, please contact your Baker librarians .

• Business Topics
• Last Updated May 19, 2022
• Answered By Baker Librarians

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Entrepreneurship & Small Business Resources

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• SWOT Analysis

APA Publication Manual

Copies are available at each campus library  or visit  APA Style

APA Publication Manual: Notes, Sample Papers, Guides

Sample Papers

Professional Paper - pp. 50 - 60

Student Paper - pp. 61 -67

Check with your instructor to determine which paper format (professional or student) is require. 

APA Style and Grammar Guidelines

Paper Format (Font, Headings, Line Spacing, Margins, Title Page Setup…)

In-Text Citations Basics of Citation, Paraphrasing, Plagiarism, Quotations, Secondary Sources…)

Mechanics of Style   (Capitalization, Italics and Quotation Marks, Punctuation…)

Bias-Free Language (Age, Disability, Gender, Reducing Bias, Identity, Orientation…)

References   (Basic Reference List, Elements of Reference List Entries, Reference Examples…)

Grammar (Active and Passive Voice, First Person Pronouns, Verb Tense…)

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APA Style (7th ed.)

• Cite: Why? When?
• Book, eBook, Dissertation
• Article or Report

Business Sources

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

In-Text Citation

• Format Your Paper

Prefer a video tutorial?

Click below to watch: .

Basic structure for most business databases: 

Author, a. a., & author, b. b. (year).  title of page in italics (number if available) [descriptive text if needed]. database name. https://www.databasehomepage.com.

Many business sources contain tables, charts, data sets, and other non-standard types of information. General guidelines:

• If no author , use a corporate author (e.g. company, association, or group responsible for the content).
• If no publication date , use the abbreviation (n.d.) -- both in your References and your in-text citation -- for "no date."
• Retrieval dates are only needed in two circumstances: if the content is unarchived AND is designed to change (e.g. financial data updated quarterly or yearly).
• If the information is from a free website (such as a .gov website, i.e. not a subscription database) and the URL appears stable, include that.
• If it is from a subscription database , it is probably not a stable URL, so (usually) include the database name and the homepage of the database itself. The exception is if the content is easily accessible from multiple sources -- e.g., press releases, stock quotes, and the like -- which needs no database retrieval information at all. 

Because the APA style manual does not provide examples for every single type of resource,  these examples have been adapted for common business resources .  If you are unsure of how to cite a source,  ask your business librarian . 

Jump to more specific examples by using the table below: 

Ad Age / Ad Age Datacenter

In-text Citation

Parenthetical Citation : McDonald's and Burger King in Brazil were among the first companies to use AI in an advertising campaign (Rittenhouse, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to Rittenhouse (2023), McDonald's and Burger King in Brazil were among the first companies to use AI in an advertising campaign.

Datacenter content

Parenthetical Citation : In 2022, Amazon spent 20.6 billion dollars on advertising and promotion (Ad Age Datacenter, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to Ad Age Datacenter (2023), Amazon spent 20.6 billion dollars on advertising and promotion. 

Return to table of contents

Business Source Complete - SWOT Analysis

Marketline is the author of most of the SWOTs in our subscription. For SWOTs that may come from other databases, most often you are looking for a corporate/organization author.

Parenthetical Citation : Cisco's declining cash reserves in the last couple of years may be an indication of the company's inability to acquire sufficient capital (MarketLine, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to a MarketLine (2023) report, Cisco's declining cash reserves may be an indicator of the company's inability to acquire sufficient capital.

Census Data

Data tables.

Parenthetical Citation : In the United States the number of real estate firms increased by over 12,000 between 2020 and 2021 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021).

Narrative Citation : According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2021), the number of real estate firms in the United States increased by over 12,000 between 2020 and 2021.

Census Business Builder

Parenthetical Citation : There are 301 establishments in Milwaukee county which exclusively sell alcohol (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : According to the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.), there are 301 establishments in Milwaukee county which exclusively sell alcohol.

Quick Facts tables

Parenthetical Citation : The median gross rent in Whitewater, WI is only 1% more than in Stevens Point, WI (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : According to the U.S. Census Bureau (n.d.) the median gross rent in Whitewater, WI is only 1% more than the median gross rent in Stevens Point, WI.

Global Road Warrior

Report with author.

Some Global Road Warrior report pages have a Writer listed at the bottom of the page. If none listed, use Global Road Warrior as an Author, and no need to repeat it in the Source position.

Parenthetical Citation : The varying tropical climate of the Democratic Republic of Congo dictates the type of attire worn by business travelers to the country (Myers, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : Myers (n.d.) explains that the varying tropical climate of the Democratic Republic of Congo dictates the type of attire worn by business travelers to the country.

However, some subsections may be reprints from other sources -- e.g.,  the Human Rights Reports section is reprinted from the U.S. Department of State report:

Reprinted from elsewhere

Parenthetical Citation : Unlike the United States, the government of Australia prohibits sympathy strikes by unions (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor & World Trade Press, 2022).

Narrative Citation : According to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and the World Trade Press (2022), the government of Australia prohibits sympathy strikes by unions. 

Hoovers Company Profiles

Parenthetical Citation : FUBU is a privately owned corporation which specializes in producing hip-hop influenced sportswear (D&B Hoovers, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to D&B Hoovers (2023), FUBU is a privately owned corporation which specializes in producing hip-hop influenced sportswear. 

Report with author

Parenthetical Citation : Millennials are more willing to spend on premium care for their pets since they view them as a part of their family (Brocker, 2023)

Narrative Citation : Brocker (2023) states that Millennials are more willing to spend on premium care for their pets since they view them as a part of their family. 

Parenthetical Citation : Increase in federal funding for medicare and medicaid has lowered industry risk for dentists in the United States (IBISWorld, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to IBISWorld (2023) an increase in federal funding for medicare and medicaid has lowered industry risk for dentists in the United States.

ISO Standards

Parenthetical Citation : Leadership and employee involvement are important to the management of occupational health and safety risks (International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2023).

Narrative Citation : The International Organization for Standardization (ISO, 2023) stresses the importance of leadership and employee involvement in the management of occupational health and safety risks.

OSHA Standards

Parenthetical Citation : The minimum required distance between two containers holding flammable liquids such as petroleum is three feet (Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], 1970).

Narrative Citation : According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA, 2023) the minimum required distance between two containers holding flammable liquids such as petroleum is three feet.

Note: If the abbreviation of a group author is well-know, or will appear in the paper at least times, include the abbreviation in square brackets in the parenthetical citation, and with the date element in the narrative citation.

Reference Solutions (formerly Reference USA)

Company profile.

Include retrieval dates since profiles are regularly updated. Look in the Business Demographics section of a company profile for the Last Updated On: date.

If the company's name is sufficiently unique to identify that company (i.e., there is only one of that company in that city/state), then that is all you need for the Title. If there are multiple companies with that name and that location, then include the exact address in parentheses as a unique identifier, as below.

Parenthetical Citation : The two main competitors of the Sage and Oats Trading Post are located in neighboring Idaho (Data Axel, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to Data Axel (2023), the two main competitors of the Sage and Oats Trading Post are located in neighboring Idaho. 

List of companies or people

For creating a list of companies or people with certain criteria, the Excel or PDF format list has no real title. So create a description, in [square brackets], of what criteria you applied to get your list, so that someone else could retrieve the same (or similar) data. Include retrieval date because the list would probably be different at a later date. 

Parenthetical Citation : 22 businesses located in the Janesville metro area are owned by veterans (Data Axel, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : According to Data Axel (n.d.) 22 businesses located in the Janesville metro area are owned by veterans. 

Sage Data (formerly Data Planet)

Parenthetical Citation : Approximately 10,00 flights were cancelled in one day in the United States on March 29th, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 lock-down measures (Bureau of Transportation Statistics [BTS], 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS, 2023) approximately 10,000 flights were cancelled in one day in the United States on March 29th, 2020 as a result of COVID-19 lock-down measures.

SEC filings 

All SEC filings are publicly available on the web. So, no matter where you accessed it from, there's really no need to include database information, though you can include a freely-accessible web link to make it easier for your reader to retrieve it if you wish. 

Parenthetical Citation : The risk of credit losses from corporate debt securities held by East West Bank are likely to be low since their credit profiles are strong with expectations of on-time contractual payments (East West Bancorp, Inc., 2021)

Narrative Citation : East West Bancorp, Inc. (2021) state in their annual report that risk of credit losses on their corporate debt securities are likely to be low since their credit profiles are strong with expectations of on-time contractual payments. 

Simmons Insights

The Title is the dataset used, which also provides you with a Date. However, that doesn't tell your reader what exact data you were using. So create a description after the title, in [square brackets], of what criteria you applied to get your list, so that someone else could retrieve the same (or similar) data. 

Cross tab data

Parenthetical Citation : There are approximately 7 million customers in the United States who use hand and body creams, lotions or oils (MRI-Simmons, 2021).

Narrative Citation : According to MRI-Simmons (2021) there are approximately 7 million customers in the United States who use hand and body creams, lotions, or oils. 

Quick report profile

Parenthetical Citation : 52% of college students in the United States accessed Instagram through a mobile device in 2021 (MRI-Simmons, 2021).

Narrative Citation : According to MRI-Simmons (2021) 52% of college students in the United States accessed Instagram through a mobile devise in 2021.

SRDS Media Solutions

For the profiles of any type of Publication, Radio, TV/Cable, Out-of-home, or Hispanic media with a profile in SRDS, include retrieval date as these are updated regularly.

Parenthetical Citation : The Beloit Daily News boasts a circulation of over 10,000 subscribers (SRDS Media Solutions, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : According to SRDS Media Solutions (n.d.) the Beloit Daily News boasts a circulation of over 10,000 subscribers. 

DMA & MSA Maps

Parenthetical Citation : Media outlets in Sheboygan WI may charge higher advertising rates since they fall under Milwaukee's designated market area (DMA) (SRDS Media Solutions, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : According to SRDS Media Solutions (n.d.) media outlets in Sheboygan, WI may charge higher advertising rates since they fall under Milwaukee's designated market area (DMA).

Look in the “Source” box to the right of Statista's charts for most of the citation information. Sometimes there are multiple sources for one chart; if so, treat it just like you would a normal multiple-author situation on an article . For date, check the Release Info or Source Link boxes (see right); but if not listed, use (n.d.) for No Date.

Parenthetical Citation : 48% of global cybersecurity professionals think that deep learning for detecting malware in encrypted traffic may be the most promising emerging machine learning trend in 2023 (Nguyen, 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to Nguyen (2023), 48% of global cybersecurity professional thin that deep learning for detecting malware in encrypted traffic may be the most promising emerging machine learning trend in 2023.

No named author

Parenthetical Citation : Crude oil prices hit an all time high at over $109 per barrel in 2012 (Statista, 2024).

Narrative Citation : According to Statista (2024), crude oil prices hit an all time high at over $109 per barrel in 2012.

Value Line 

If there is no PDF, then it is unarchived, so use (n.d.) and include a retrieval date. 

Parenthetical Citation : Johnson Controls’ international growth in 2023 has helped to offset its weak performance in North America (Value Line, 2024).

Narrative Citation : According to Value Line (2024) Johnson Controls’ international grown in 2023 has helped to offset its weak performance in North America.

Website:  Data Set

Named author.

Parenthetical Citation : The Nicoya region in Costa Rica is prone to frequent earthquakes (Dixon & Protti, 2007-2023).

Narrative Citation : The data gathered by Dixon & Protti (2007-2023) shows that the Nicoya region in Costa Rica is prone to frequent earthquakes.

Corporate author

Parenthetical Citation : There were no reported bank failures reported in 2021 and 2022 (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC], 2023).

Narrative Citation : According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC, 2023) there were reported bank failures in 2021 and 2022. 

Wharton Research Data Services -- Compustat, CRSP, etc. 

With datasets acquired through WRDS such as Compustat or CRSP, the author can mention that the data was collected from these sources in the methodology section or at the end of the paper. 

For example:

“4.1 Data and methods

We retrieve the sample of banks from COMPUSTAT's bank file. Following Akhigbe and Martin (2006), we include in the sample all commercial banks (SIC code 602X) and savings institutions (SIC code 603X). To be included in the sample the bank must have continuous returns on CRSP in the 365 day period prior to the analyst's recommendation. For each sample bank, we obtain all of their analyst recommendations that are reported on the Thomson Financial's Institutional Brokers Estimate (I/B/E/S) U.S. Detail File in the time period 1994–2012" (Premti et al, 2017).

Premti, A., Garcia-Feijoo, L., & Madura, J. (2017). Information content of analyst recommendations in the banking industry. International Review of Financial Analysis 49 , 35-47.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.irfa.2016.11.005  

Winmo  

Parenthetical Citation : Equalpride’s media spending in 2022 was down by 77% since the previous year (Winmo, n.d.).

Narrative Citation : According to Winmo (n.d.), Equalpride’s media spending in 2022 was down by 77% since the previous year.

More questions? Check out the authoritative source: APA style blog

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APA & Writing

• Use APA Style

APA Style for Business Resources

• Avoid Plagiarism
• APA Paper Templates
• Get Help with Writing Assignments
• Writing an Annotated Bibliography

Business resources that are commonly used in assignments at CityU can be challenging to cite. APA is not designed for business resources, but there are rules that we can apply to make such citations consistent with APA style. Refer to the following table to see examples from each of our specialized business databases.  

Note:  All academic articles covering business topics can be cited in APA style according to the Use APA Style LibGuide.

• How to Use APA Style

Please note: The in-text citation examples below are parenthetical. You can also use narrative in-text citations when writing, which is encouraged. You can read more about parenthetical vs. narrative in-text citations here:

• APA Style Blog: Narrative versus Parenthetical In-Text Citations

* Note: If you have multiple stats or reports from the same year by the same author, you can differentiate by adding a letter after the year (a, b, c, d, etc.). This is true for any citation which shares an author and a date. You can read more about this here:

• APA Style Blog: Citing Works With the Same Author and Date

Static vs. Non-Static Reports

"retrieved" date rules.

As noted above, citing business resources in APA can be tricky. In general, we want our readers to be able to locate the information we cite. However, many business databases and reports change over time and are not archived.  

Items that are archived are “static,” meaning that they are cataloged and remain accessible in their current form. Items that are regularly updated and not archived are “non-static,” meaning that they change over time (and older versions cannot be accessed).  

For items that are static, no retrieved date is needed. 

Example:  Starbucks. (2020, November 16).  Form 10-K .  https://www.sec.gov/edgar/search/#/q=starbucks   

For items that are non-static, a retrieved date is required. The URL you will use in this instance is a generic homepage URL. 

Example:  O’Connor, C. (2019, August). Family clothing stores in the US (Industry Report 44814).  IBISWorld . Retrieved January 27, 2020, from  https://www.ibisworld.com/  

Please note:  In APA 7, you should never use a CityU-specific database URL unless it is specifically requested by your instructor. This is why in the examples above, you see homepage URLs listed for items that can be found in the library collection.

For more information about URL rules in APA style, please visit: 

• APA Style Blog: DOIs and URLs This page addresses when to include digital object identifiers (DOIs) and uniform resource locators (URLs) in APA Style references.
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Citing Online Business Resources using APA Style (7th Edition)

• Using APA Style
• Note About These Examples

Annual Report / Form 10-K

Article with a doi, article without a doi, from an academic database or print version, article without a doi but with a non-database ("free") url, books, ebooks and book chapters, claritas 360, d&b hoovers, demographicsnow, dictionary, encyclopedia, or handbook entry, dissertations and theses, emarketer (now called insider intelligence), euromonitor passport, europa world yearbook online, fasb codification, focus groups (research participants), forrester research, gale business insights - market share reporter, swot report, & company profile, google maps, government report *, ihs connect, insider intelligence (formerly emarketer), marketline report retrieved from business source complete, mergent archives, mergent intellect, mergent online, mintel reports, mri-simmons, nexis uni - company dossiers & create company lists, personal communications, plunkett research online, powerpoint slides or lecture notes, press release, reports & whitepapers *, richard k. miller & associates (rkma), s&p capital iq netadvantage, social media, sports market analytics (sbrnet), statistical abstract of the united states (proquest), u. s. census, video & streaming film, world development indicators (wdi).

• APA In-text Citation Examples
• APA Figure Examples
• If you retrieved an annual report or 10-K from the company's website, cite it as you would cite a website. For an example, go to the website examples box  and look at the Facebook example.
• If you retrieved an annual report or 10-K from a database, cite it as information retrieved from that database. For examples, go to the applicable database box below (e.g. D&B Hoovers, FactSet, Mergent, etc.)

Holland, C. P. (1995). Cooperative supply chain management: The impact of interorganizational information systems. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 4 (2), 117-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/0963-8687(95)80020-Q

• See more Journal Article References examples on the APA Style website

If the article does not have a DOI and is from an academic research database , end the reference after the page range. In this case the reference is the same as for a print article. 

Journal Article

Arruda-Filho, E., Cabusas, J., & Dholakia, N. (2010). Social behavior and brand devotion among iPhone innovators.  International Journal of Information Management,   30 (6), 475-480.

Magazine Article

Twenge, J. M. (2017, September). Has the smartphone destroyed a generation? Atlantic , 320 (2), 58–65.

• See more Magazine Article References examples on the APA Style website

Newspaper Article

Burkitt, L. (2010, December 16). McDonald's joins the line looking to expand in China.  Wall Street Journal [Eastern edition], B8.  

• See more Newspaper Article References examples on the APA Style website

If the article does not have a DOI but does have a URL that will resolve for readers (e.g., it is from an online journal, magazine or newspaper that is not part of a database), include the URL of the article at the end of the reference.

Huerta, D., Perez-Liston, D., & Jackson, D. (2011). The impact of TARP bailouts on stock market volatility and investor fear.  Banking and Finance Review, 3 (1), 45-54. http://www.bankingandfinancereview.com/bfr/index.php/bfr/article/view/183

Stoddart, T. (2020, July 1). Content marketing: A modern guide. Copyblogger . https://copyblogger.com/content-marketing/

• see more Blog Post and Blog Comment examples on the APA Style website

Use the same format for both print books and ebooks.

• Provide the author, year of publication, title, and publisher of the book. Include any edition information in parentheses after the title, without italics.
• If the book includes a DOI or URL include it in the reference after the publisher name. 
• If the book is an ebook from an academic research database and does not have a DOI, end the book reference after the publisher name. Do not include database information in the reference. The reference in this case is the same as for a print book..
• If the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher from the source element.

Lewis, R., & Dart, M. (2010).  The new rules of retail: Competing in the world's toughest marketplace . Palgrave Macmillan.

American Psychological Association. (2020).  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Edited Book

Jameson, J. (Ed.). (2020).  International perspectives on leadership in higher education: Critical thinking for global challenges . Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315122410  

Nakayama, T. K., & Halualani, R. T. (Eds.). (2011).  The handbook of critical intercultural communication . Wiley.

Book Chapter

Smith, A. C. T. (2017). Sport marketing. In R. Hoye & M. M. Parent (Eds.),  The SAGE handbook of sport management  (pp. 138-159). Sage.

• see more Book References examples on the APA Style website
• see more Chapter in an Edited Book/Ebook References examples on the APA Style website
• see How to Cite ChatGPT in the APA Style Blog

Note about retrieval dates:   Include a retrieval date in the reference if the work is unarchived and designed to change over time.

Claritas. (2017). Pop facts demographics report: Middlesex County  [Data]. Retrieved September January 29, 2019, from https://claritas360.claritas.com/

Claritas. (2019). Market potential report: Alcohol in analysis area Boston, et al MA-NH Nielsen Designated Market Area (DMA) [Data]. Retrieved January 29, 2019, from https://claritas360.claritas.com/

Claritas. (2020). Profile worksheet: Quick service restaurants used past 30 days Five Guys (A)  [Data]. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://claritas360.claritas.com/

Harris, K. M., & Udry, J. R. (2018, August 6). National longitudinal study of adolescent to adult health (Add Health), 1994-2008 (Public Use) [Data Set]. ICPSR. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR21600.v21

Pew Research Center. (2020). Congress on social media, 2015-2020 [Data set]. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/dataset/congress-on-social-media-2015-2020/

• see more Data Set References examples on the APA Style website

Company Information

Dun & Bradstreet. (n.d.). Merck & Co. Inc.  [Company profile]. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from http://logon.onesource.com/

Dun & Bradstreet. (2019, November 12).  CRUSH Report for Merck & Co. Inc. D&B Hoovers. http://logon.onesource.com/

Merck & Co. Inc. (2020, February 26). Form 10-K . D&B Hoovers. http://logon.onesource.com/

SWOT, Industry and Analyst Reports

This database contains reports authored by a variety of sources (e.g. MarketLine, GlobalData). Cite the original source of the data in the author element.

Clarivate Analytics. (2020, April 5).  Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp: Cortellis company and pipeline overview report.  D&B Hoovers. http://logon.onesource.com/

GlobalData. (2020, May 22). Merck & Co. Inc . [SWOT report]. D&B Hoovers. http://logon.onesource.com/

MarketLine. (2020, May).  Pharmaceuticals in South Africa [Industry profile]. D&B Hoovers. http://logon.onesource.com/

Build Company List

Dun & Bradstreet. (n.d.). [List of public, parent companies in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry (primary) in the United States]. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from http://logon.onesource.com/

Company Profile

Date Axle. (n.d.). New Balance Athletics, Brighton, MA [Headquarter] [Company profile]. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.referenceusa.com

Company List

Data Axle. (n.d.). [List of companies in Providence, RI with 100-999 employees]. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.referenceusa.com

Data and Custom Searches

DemographicsNow. (n.d.). [Geography: Massachusetts; People & companies: Business list search for primary NAICS only - 312120 breweries] [Data]. Retrieved August 6, 2020, from https://link.gale.com/apps/DNOW

Easy Analytic Software (EASI), Alteryx, & Experian. (n.d.).  Complete demographic summary report: Geography 01803 (zip) Burlington, MA  [Data]. DemographicsNow. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://link.gale.com/apps/DNOW

Easy Analytic Software (EASI), Alteryx, & Experian. (n.d.).  Household comparison report: Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA  [Data]. DemographicsNow. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from https://link.gale.com/apps/DNOW

Mosaic Profile

Experian. (2022). Type G25: Urban edge. Mosaic USA . Retrieved August 19, 2023, from https://link.gale.com/apps/DNOW

Entry with a group author

Central Intelligence Agency. (2021, March 15). Austria. In The world factbook. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/austria/

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Gerrymander. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary . Retrieved June 27, 2019, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gerrymander

Entry with individual author in an edited book

Fitzgerald, J. A., & Tengler, D. L. (2019). Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. In B. Naris (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of mental health (4th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 1156-1160) .  Gale. 

Stiff, C. (2019). Social media and cyberactivism. In A. Attrill-Smith, C. Fullwood, M. Keep, & D. J. Kuss (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of cyberpsychology (pp. 370-393). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198812746.013.21

Entry without an author

Guyana. (n.d.). In Europa world online . Routledge. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from http://www.europaworld.com

• see more Dictionary Entry examples (print and online) on the APA Style website

Dissertation/thesis retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database

Vasiliou, V. (2020).  Increasing gender diversity on corporate boards: Voices of male and female directors in the United States (Publication No. 27963279)   [Doctoral dissertation, Bentley University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Dissertation/thesis published online in an archive or repository

Hoar, S. R. (2019).  Presidential power and partisan polarization [Master’s thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. DSpace@MIT. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124272

Unpublished dissertation/thesis

Smith, C.L. (1990). Job search strategies: Their effects on job search success [Unpublished master's thesis]. Cornell University.

• see more Published Dissertations and Theses examples on the APA Style website
• see more Unpublished Dissertation of Theses examples on the APA Style website

See entry for Insider Intelligence.

Euromonitor International. (n.d.). Market sizes for hot drinks - coffee - Germany, 2016-2019  [Data]. Passport. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://www.euromonitor.com/

Euromonitor International. (2020, February). Footwear in Japan . Passport. https://www.euromonitor.com/

Euromonitor International. (2020, April 23). Snacks for children: Targeting a new generation of parents . Passport. https://www.euromonitor.com/

Apple, Inc. (2019, October 31). Form 10-K . FactSet. https://www.factset.com/​

FactSet Research Systems. (n.d.). Apple Inc. acquires Mobeewave Inc. (July 31, 2020) [Deal snapshot]. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.factset.com/

​FactSet Research Systems. (n.d.).  Apple Inc. [Company profile]. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.factset.com/

FactSet Research Systems. (n.d.). Apple, Inc. [Broker outlook]. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.factset.com/

Note about retrieval dates: Include a retrieval date in the reference if the work is unarchived and designed to change over time.

Citing the Codification

FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board). (n.d.). Accounting standards codification (ASC) . Retrieved January 16, 2013, from https://asc.fasb.org/

Citing a section of the Codification

FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board). (n.d.). ASC 605-50-45-1 . Retrieved January 16, 2013, from https://asc.fasb.org/

Citing an Accounting Standards Update, Exposure Document or Other Source from the Codification

FASB (Financial Accounting Standards Board). (2012, October 24). Accounting standards update (ASU) No. 2012-07 . Retrieved January 16, 2013, from https://asc.fasb.org/

(FASB, ASC 605-50-45-1)

(FASB, ASU 2012-07)

Quotations from participants in an original research study you conducted (including focus groups) do not need citations or reference list entries . One reason that citations and references are excluded is that they could compromise participants’ confidentiality, which is an ethical violation.

When quoting a research participant, state in the text that the quotation is from a participant and follow the basic APA guidelines for formatting quotations of under or over 40 words.

• see Quotations From Research Participants examples on the APA Style website
• see more about Works Included in a Reference List on the APA Style website

Kodali, S., & Cyr, M. (2020, July 16).  The state of the US shopper — COVID-19 . Forrester Research. https://go.forrester.com/

Gale Group. (n.d.) Uber Technologies, Inc. [Company profile]. Gale Business Insights. Retrieved January 16, 2023, from https://bi.gale.com/essentials

Market Share Reporter entry

Top frozen plain potatoes/french fries/hashbrowns brands, 2021. (2023). In V. L. Burton III (Ed.),  Market share reporter (33rd ed.) . Gale.

SWOT Report

GlobalData. (2022, September). Abbott Laboratories  [SWOT report]. Gale Business Insights. https://bi.gale.com/essentials

Cearley, D., Jones, N., Smith, D., Burke, B., Chandrasekaran, A., & Lu, C. (2019, October 21).  Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2020  (ID: G00432920). Gartner. https://www.gartner.com

Google. (n.d.). [Google Maps restaurants on Moody Street, Waltham, MA]. Retrieved July 17, 2020, from https://goo.gl/maps/hFy4KwLX8EHdhjru6

The specific agency responsible for the report appears as the author. The names of any parent agencies not present in the group author name appear in the source element as the publisher.

National Institute of Mental Health. (2022).  Autism spectrum disorder  (NIH Publication 22-MH-8084). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/sites/default/files/documents/health/publications/autism-spectrum-disorder/22-MH-8084-Autism-Spectrum-Disorder.pdf

• see more Government Agency Report examples on the APA Style website

* Note: See the Reports & White Papers box  below for examples of reports not published by government agencies and white papers.

Fernandez, C. (2019, November).  Medical & recreational marijuana stores (US Specialized Industry Report OD4142). IBISWorld. https://www.ibisworld.com/

Hyland, S. (2020, May). Hotels & motels in the US (US Industry NAICS Report 72111). IBISWorld. https://www.ibisworld.com/

IBISWorld. (2020, May).  Number of college students (US Business Environment Profiles Report F601). https://www.ibisworld.com/

Note: We recommended including the retrieval date for country risk data/reports and economic data tables.

IHS Markit. (2020, May 25). Detailed quarterly forecast tables: New Zealand [Data]. Retrieved June 15, 2010, from https://connect.ihsmarkit.com/

IHS Markit. (2020, July 28). Economic: Vietnam  [Economics profile]. Retrieved August 6, 2020, from https://connect.ihsmarkit.com/

IHS Markit. (2020, August 4). Country/territory report: Denmark [Economics and country risk report]. Retrieved August 6, 2020, from https://connect.ihsmarkit.com/

IHS Markit. (2020, August 6). WTO leadership race . https://connect.ihsmarkit.com.

eMarketer. (2022, July). B2B digital ad spending, US, 2020-2024  [Chart]. Insider Intelligence. https://www.emarketer.com/

Enberg , J. (2022, August 23). Influencer marketing 2022 . Insider Intelligence. https://www.emarketer.com/ 

MarketLine. (2020, January 30). General Mills Inc. [Company profile]. Business Source Complete.

MarketLine. (2019, April). Bakery & cereals in the United States [Industry profile]. Business Source Complete. 

MarketLine. (2022, July 22). Ford Motor Company SWOT analysis . [SWOT analysis]. Business Source Complete.

Annual Reports

Target. (2000, January 29). Form 10-K . Mergent Archives. https://www.mergentarchives.com/

Commodity Yearbook

Commodity Research Bureau. (2018).  The CRB Commodity Yearbook 2018 . 

First Research Industry Profile

Dun & Bradstreet First Research. (2020, April 27). Drug stores [Industry profile]. Mergent Archives. https://www.mergentarchives.com/

D&B Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios

Dun & Bradstreet. (2018). SIC 5812 Eating places [Industry ratios]. In  Industry norms and key business ratios .

Mergent Manual

Mergent. (2018). Dell Technologies. In Mergent OTC Unlisted Manual .  

Company information

Deutsche Bank. (2020, March 3).  Form 20-F . Mergent Intellect. https://www.mergentintellect.com/

Mergent. (n.d.) Tesla, Inc.: Company description . Mergent Intellect. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from https://www.mergentintellect.com/

Custom Search

Mergent. (n.d.). [Advanced company search: Geography U.S. - top 10 metropolitan areas; number of employees 1,000+; annual growth 5%+; industry classifications manufacturing, wholesale trade, information, finance, insurance, scientific/technical services, and management] [Data]. Mergent Intellect. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://www.mergentintellect.com/

Demographic Information

Claritas. (2020).  Pop-facts: Demographic trend report - Middlesex county  [Data]. Mergent Intellect. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://www.mergentintellect.com/

First Research Industry Profiles

Dun & Bradstreet First Research. (2020, April 27). Drug stores [Industry profile]. Mergent Intellect. https://www.mergentintellect.com/

KBR (Key Business Ratios):

Dun & Bradstreet. (n.d.). SIC 7997 Membership sports and recreation clubs: Industry quartile data [Industry Ratios]. Mergent Intellect. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.mergentintellect.com/

Dun & Bradsteet. (n.d.). Southwest Airlines [Company Ratios]. Mergent Intellect. Retrieved July 15, 2020, from https://www.mergentintellect.com/

Company and Industry Information

Mergent. (n.d.). Apple, Inc.: Ownership [Company profile]. Mergent Online. Retrieved July 19, 2020, from https://mergentonline.com/

Mergent. (2020, March). Technology: North America [Industry profile]. Mergent Online. https://mergentonline.com/

Mergent. (2020, August 6). Apple, Inc.: Mergent fundamental report . Mergent Online. Retrieved August 7, 2020, https://mergentonline.com/

Country Reports

Dun & Bradstreet. (2020, March). Country insight report: Ghana . Mergent Online. https://mergentonline.com/

Mergent. (2019) . Country profile: Ghana . Mergent Online. https://mergentonline.com/

Government Filings

Apple Inc. (2020, July 31). Form 10-Q . Mergent Online. https://mergentonline.com/

Investext & Broker Research Reports

J. P. Morgan. (2020, August 3).  Payments: Interesting chess move by Apple buying Mobeewave to turn iPhones into POS devices . Mergent Online. https://mergentonline.com/

MarketLine. (2020, June). Apple, Inc.: MarketLine strategy, SWOT and corporate finance report . Mergent Online.  https://mergentonline.com/

Zacks. (2020, July 28).  Apple, Inc.: Zacks company report . Mergent Online. https://mergentonline.com/

Owen, J. (2023). Pet food - US - 2023 . Mintel. https://www.mintel.com/

Dubina, L. (2023, June 16). Marketing to LGBTQ+ communities in today's divisive climate . Mintel. https://www.mintel.com/

Crosstabs Note: Because it would be very difficult to provide a title that describes all of the variables included in a custom crosstab analysis, simply list the name of the study used as the title.

Catalyst platform:

MRI-Simmons. (2021). 2021 Fall MRI-Simmons USA [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Catalyst. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

MRI-Simmons. (2021).  2021 Fall MRI-Simmons Connect [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Catalyst. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

Insights platform:

MRI-Simmons. (2020). Fall 2020 NHCS adult study 12 month [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Insights. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

MRI-Simmons. (2019). Fall 2019 Simmons Connect Plus [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Insights. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

Quick Reports

MRI-Simmons. (2021). Demographic profile quick report: Theme parks - visited in last 12 months- Walt Disney World (Florida) - Magic Kingdom  (2021 Fall MRI-Simmons USA) [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Catalyst. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

MRI-Simmons. (2021). Social media activity profile quick report: Sparkling water/seltzer - type/total users drank in last 6 Months - flavored (2021 Fall MRI-Simmons Connect) [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Catalyst. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

MRI-Simmons. (2020).  Demographic profile quick report: Fast food restaurants visit most often Dunkin' Donuts (Fall 2020 NHCS adult study 12 month) [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Insights. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

MRI-Simmons. (2019). Social media profile quick report: National Football League (NFL) very interested (Fall 2019 Simmons Connect Plus study) [Data set]. MRI-Simmons Insights. https://www.mrisimmons.com/

Note: If the article is from a news website  that does not have an associated daily or weekly newspaper  (e.g. MSNBC, CNET), use the format for a webpage on a news website instead.

Newspaper article retrieved from the newspaper's website:

Bradsher, K. (2023, July 20). Why heat waves are deepening China’s addiction to coal. The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/business/china-coal-climate-change.html

Newspaper article from print version or from print edition retrieved via a library database (e.g. ProQuest US Newsstream database):

Bradsher, K. (2023, July 21). Heat waves deepen China's dependence on coal.  The New York Times , B1.

Stein, J., & Bhattarai, A. (2023, July 28). Recession fears ease as GDP growth beats forecast. The Washington Post , A1, A13. 

Newspaper article that is retrieved via a library database that is missing page numbers:

Weisman, R. (2023, Jul 13). No more outsourcing? Making drugs locally is a key focus of the life sciences industry. The Boston Globe .

• see more Newspaper Article examples on the APA website

LexisNexis company dossiers pull together information from different sources, some published by LexisNexis (e.g. Corporate Affiliations ) and some from outside publishers (e.g. Gale, Morningstar, MarketLine).  Cite the publisher of the information you used .  Articles retrieved from LexisNexis Academic are cited according the guidelines for Article Without a DOI, from an Academic Database or Print Version  as shown in above on this page.

Company Dossiers/Company Info search

Comparably. (July 31, 2020). The TJX Companies, Inc . Nexis Uni. https://www.lexisnexis.com/

LexisNexis. (2019, November 18). Amazon [Company profile]. Corporate Affiliations . https://www.lexisnexis.com/

Weiss Ratings. (2020, June 23). VMware Inc.  Weiss Stock Research Reports . Nexis Uni. https://www.lexisnexis.com/

Create a Company list

LexisNexis. (n.d). [List of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Massachusetts]. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://www.lexisnexis.com/

Part of the purpose of a reference is to lead your reader back to the source you used, but in some cases a source may not be retrievable . (e.g. private letters and email, personal conversations, phone calls, interviews and unrecorded webinars). These sources are treated as  personal communications . 

Because they do not provide recoverable data, personal communications are not included in the reference list. Cite personal communications in-text only. The in-text citation should include the initials and last name of the person and the date of the communication.

Examples of in-text citations for a personal communication:

J. Smith (personal communication, January 5, 2020) described how his company connected with customers through storytelling.

One of the key ways that a brand can connect with customers is through storytelling (J. Smith, personal communication, January 5, 2020).

• see more Personal Communications examples on the APA Style website

Plunkett, J. W., Plunkett, M. B., Steinberg, J. S., Faulk, J., & Snider, I. J. (n.d.). GrubHub Inc . [Company profile]. Plunkett Research Online. Retrieved August 7, 2020, from http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com

Note: we recommend including a retrieval date for the industry information because it is not archived.

Plunkett, J. W., Plunkett, M. B., & Snider, I. J. (2020, March 18). The sharing & gig economy's effect on employment, work life and careers.  Sharing Economy Industry . Plunkett Research Online. Retrieved August 7, 2020, from http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com

Raz, G. (Host). (2016-present). How I built this with Guy Raz  [Audio podcast]. NPR. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this

Favreau, J., Lovett, J., & Vietor, T. (Hosts). (2020, June 1). Justice for George Floyd [Audio podcast episode]. In  Pod Save America . Crooked Media. https://crooked.com/podcast/justice-for-george-floyd/

• See more Podcast References examples on the APA Style website
• Citing a transcript of a podcast? See Transcript of an Audiovisual Work References examples on the APA Style website

PowerPoint slides available online

Ogilvy Consulting. (2020, January 26). What's next: Social media trends 2020 [Slides]. Slideshare. https://www.slideshare.net/socialogilvy/whats-next-social-media-trends-2020

PowerPoint Slides and documents posted on your Brightspace course site 

If the slides come from a classroom website, learning management system (e.g., Brightspace) or company intranet that your reader can access, provide the name of the site and its URL (use the login page URL for sites requiring login). If the audience for which are you writing does not have access to the documents, cite them as a  personal communication .

AAA Exterminators. (2023, August 27). Company presentation [PowerPoint slides]. GB320 Brightspace course site. https://brightspace.bentley.edu/

Abdul, M. (2023). Customer value proposition [Lecture notes]. HI308 Brightspace course site. https://brightspace.bentley.edu/

• see more PowerPoint Slides and Lecture Notes References examples on the APA Style website

Chipotle Mexican Grill. (2021, March 4).  Chipotle announces executive compensation metrics tied to sustainability goals [Press release]. https://newsroom.chipotle.com/2021-03-04-CHIPOTLE-ANNOUNCES-EXECUTIVE-COMPENSATION-METRICS-TIED-TO-SUSTAINABILITY-GOALS 

• see more Press Release References examples on the APA Style website

PrivCo. (n.d.). Epic Games Inc. [Company profile]. Retrieved August 7, 2020, from https://system.privco.com/

Report with Group Author

Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board. (2018, April 11).  Helping skilled workers return to work following a career break: Tapping under-utilized talent to grow the economy . https://www.ced.org/reports/helping-skilled-workers-return-to-work-following-a-career-break

Report with Individual Author

Foster, Trish. (2019, Fall). The workplace journey: Caregiving, career breaks, and reentry . Gloria Cordes Larson Center for Women and Business, Bentley University.  https://bentleydownloads.s3.amazonaws.com/cwb/CWB_Workplace_Reentry_Research_Report_Fall_2019.pdf

White Paper with Group Author

IBM. (2018, May). The path to data veracity: How to build a trusted analytics foundation [White paper]. https://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/sites/default/files/whitepapers_reports_file/the-path-to-data-veracity-hybrid-cloud-white-paper-72016072usen.pdf

White Paper with Individual Authors

Lava, S., & Marden, M. (2020, July). The business value of improved performance and efficiency with Google Cloud Platform [White paper]. IDC. https://cloud.google.com/resources/idc-business-value-whitepaper  

• see more Report with Individual Authors References examples on the APA Style website
• see more White Paper References examples on the APA Style website

* Note: See the Government Reports box above for example of reports by government agencies. 

Miller, R. K., & Washington, K. (2020). Sports marketing 2020-2021 . Richard K. Miller & Associates.

Standard & Poor's. (n.d.). Tenet Healthcare [Company profile]. S&P Capital IQ NetAdvantage. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.capitaliq.com/

Standard & Poor's. (n.d.). Tenet Healthcare [Company ratios]. S&P Capital IQ NetAdvantage. Retrieved August 10, 2020, from https://www.capitaliq.com/

Tenet Healthcare. (2019, December 31). Form 10-K . S&P Capital IQ NetAdvantage. https://www.capitaliq.com/

Industry Survey

Meyer, P., & Ko, W. (2020, June). Health care facilities. CFRA Industry Surveys . S&P Capital IQ NetAdvantage. https://www.capitaliq.com/

Stock Report

CFRA. (2020, August 6). Tenet Healthcare [Stock report]. S&P Capital IQ NetAdvantage. https://www.capitaliq.com/

• see Facebook References examples on the APA Style website
• see Instagram References Examples on the APA Style website
• see LinkedIn References examples on the APA Style website
• see Online Forum (e.g., Reddit) References examples on the APA Style website
• see TikTok References Examples on the APA Style website
• see Twitter References examples on the APA Style website

National Sporting Goods Association. (n.d.). Soccer balls: Market size, total consumer purchases  [Data]. Sports Market Analytics. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/

SBRNet. (n.d.). Soccer: MLS fan market summary  [Data]. Sports Market Analytics. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/

SFIA. (2021).  Soccer: Participation by total age group (% of part.), 2018  [Data]. Sports Market Analytics. https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/

SFIA. (2021). Basketball: Total participation, 2020  [Data]. Sports Market Analytics. https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/

Sport and Fitness Industry Association. (2021). SFIA sports, fitness, and leisure activities topline participation report 2021 . https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/

SRDS Media/Publication reports

SRDS. (n.d.). Advertising Age [Publication profile]. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://next.srds.com

SRDS. (2018). Boston, MA/Manchester, NH   DMA [DMA profile]. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://next.srds.com

SQAD. (2020).  Boston, MA/Manchester, NH DMA  [SQAD report - TV households]. SRDS. Retrieved July 14, 2020, from https://next.srds.com

Claritas 360 reports

Claritas. (2017). Pop facts demographics report: Middlesex County  [Data]. Retrieved January 29, 2019, from https://claritas360.claritas.com/

Claritas. (2019). Market potential report: Alcohol in analysis area Boston, et al MA-NH DMA [Data]. Retrieved January 29, 2019, from https://claritas360.claritas.com/

Statista contains content from a variety of sources in addition to publishing their own dossiers and reports. Look in the Source section for “Survey by” to identify the author of the information you are citing.

PwC. (2019, July).  Global eSports revenue in 2023 by segment  (in millions US dollars) [Chart]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/

McCarthy, N. (August 7, 2020). Covid-19's widespread impact on mental health [Infographic]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/

Statista. (2020). Social media usage worldwide [Dossier]. https://www.statista.com/

Statista. (2020, June). Bottled water - United States [Consumer market outlook]. https://www.statista.com/

National Center for Education Statistics (2020). College enrollment by sex and attendance status: 2000 to 2017 (by age, selected years, as of fall). [Data]. In  ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the U.S.  

U.S. Census Bureau. (2018). All Sectors: County Business Patterns by Legal Form of Organization and Employment Size Class for U.S., States, and Selected Geographies 2018:  Middlesex County, MA (Table CB1800CBP) [Data]. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?d=ANN%20Business%20Patterns%20County%20Business%20Patterns&table=CB1800CBP&tid=CBP2018.CB1800CBP&hidePreview=true& lastDisplayedRow=18&g=0500000US25017

U.S. Census Bureau. (2018).  Selected social characteristics, American Community Survey 5-Year estimate s: San Antonio, TX (Table DP02) [Data]. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=San%20Antonio%20city,%20Texas&g=1600000US4865000&hidePreview= true&tid=ACSDP5Y2018.DP02&table=DP02

U. S. Cenus Bureau. (n.d.). Quick facts: Waltham, MA [Data]. Retrieved August 9, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/walthamcitymassachusetts,US/PST045219

U. S. Census Bureau. (n .d.) Profile: Chicago, IL  [Data]. Retrieved August 9, 2020, from https://data.census.gov/cedsci/profile?q=Chicago%20city,%20Illinois&g=1600000US1714000

Note: We recommend retrieving the PDF version to help with finding the date of the report.

Value Line. (2020, July 17). Coca-Cola . Value Line Research Center. https://valueline.com/

Describe the work in square brackets in the title element. It is not necessary to specify how you watch a film (e.g. in a theater or streaming online), however you may include any special information in the format description (e.g. Film; Director's Cut).

Film or Video

Tarantino, Q. (Director). (2019).  Once upon a time...in Hollywood [Film]. Heyday Films; Bona Film Group; Columbia Pictures. 

Bateman, J., Dubuque, B., & Williams, M. (Executive Producers). (2017-present). Ozark [TV series]. Zero Gravity Management; Media Rights Capital (MRC); Netflix.

Films on Demand database

HBO. (2007).  Little Rock Central High: 50 years later [Film]. Films on Demand. https://fod.infobase.com/

NewsHour Productions. (2018).  Climate activist Greta Thunberg on the power of a movement [Video]. Films on Demand. https://fod.infobase.com/

CHOICE Media Channel. (2019, October 25). What’s new in APA style—Inside the seventh edition of the Publication Manual of the APA [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOVZp8m0PCM

• see more Film and Television References examples on the APA Style website
• see more YouTube References examples on the APA Style website
• see TED Talk References examples on the APA Style website

Use this format only for recorded, retrievable webinars . Cite unrecorded webinars as personal communications. 

Neher, K. (2019, September 28).  Design a customer experience transformation [Webinar]. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/webinar/2018/10/design-a-customer-experience-transformation

Many types of works can be retrieved online, including articles, books, data sets, and reports. Use the "webpages" and "websites" category only when the work does not fall into a different category . 

General guidelines:

• Do not create references or in-text citations for whole websites. To mention a website in general, and not any particular information on that site, provide the name of the website in the text and include the URL in parentheses. For example, you might mention that you used Qualtrics to create a survey. See an example here:  https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/whole-website-references
• If a webpage does not have a date use (n.d.)
• If a work on a webpage does not have an author, begin the citation with the title. 
• Note about retrieval dates:  Include a retrieval date in the reference if the work is unarchived and designed to change over time.
• Use this format for articles from news websites that are not associated with daily or weekly newspapers. For example, BBC News, Bloomberg, CNN, HuffPost, Reuters, Salon, and Vox. These sites do not have associated daily or weekly newspapers.
• Use the newspaper article category for articles from newspaper websites such as  The New York Times  or  The Washington Post .

Bradham, B. (2020, July 29).  How the pandemic may change ‘work-life balance’ forever . Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-29/how-the-pandemic-is-changing-the-world-of-work-life-balance

Edgington, T. (2020, July 13).  Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU . BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887

Remy, N., Speelman, E., & Swartz, S. (2016, October 20).  Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula . McKinsey Sustainability. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula#/

• When the author and site are the same, omit the site name from the source element. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009). CDC recommendations for the amount of time persons with influenza-like illness should be away from others . http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/exclusion.htm

Facebook. (2020, January 30). Form 10-K . https://investor.fb.com/financials/default.aspx

JetBlue. (2018). 2018 environmental social governance report . https://www.jetblue.com/magnoliapublic/dam/ui-assets/imagery/info-assets/JetBlue-Environmental-Social-Governance-2018_v2.pdf

Patagonia. (n.d.) Core values . https://www.patagonia.com/core-values/

• When contents of a page are designed to change over time but are not archived, include a retrieval date in the reference.

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.).  U.S. and world population clock . U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved July 31, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/popclock/

• see more Webpage on a Website References examples on the APA Style website

This database contains data from a variety of sources (e. g. World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO). Cite the original source of the data in the author element.

World Bank Group. (n.d.). Costa Rica (Country profile) [Data]. World Development Indicators. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://data.worldbank.org/

UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (n.d.).  Literacy rate, adult female (% of females ages 15 and above) - Costa Rica [Data]. World Development Indicators. Retrieved August 5, 2020, from https://data.worldbank.org/

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