How to cite using APA in the Health Sciences

Elements for a Webpage with an Individual Author

Author(s). (Date). Title of webpage. Site Name. URL

Example

Heller, J.L. (2019, July 2). Jellyfish stings. MedlinePlus.  https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002845.html

Elements for a Webpage with an Organizational Group Author

Organizational Group. (Date). Title of webpage. URL

Example

World Health Organization. (2018, May 24). The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-

10-causes-of-death

Elements for a Webpage with a Government Agency Group Author

Agency. (Date). Title of webpage. Parent Agency. URL

Example

National Institute of Mental Health. (2018, July). Anxiety disorders. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National

Institutes of Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml

Individual Author

• Author: When individual author(s) are credited on the webpage, list them as the author in the reference.
• Date: Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage, starting with year and then month and day.
• Only use the last updated date if it is for the specific content you are citing, otherwise use the webpage date. 
• Do not include a date of last review in a reference because content that has been reviewed has not necessarily been changed. If a date of last review is noted on a work, ignore it for the purposes of the reference.
• Title: Supply the title of the webpage in sentence case and Italicized.
• Source: Provide the site name in title case.
• End the reference with the URL. Do not follow with a period.

Organizational Group Author

• Author: For a webpage from an organization’s website without individual authors, use the name of the organization as the author.
• Date: Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage, starting with year and then month and day.
• Only use the last updated date if it is for the specific content you are citing, otherwise use the webpage date. 
• Do not include a date of last review in a reference because content that has been reviewed has not necessarily been changed. If a date of last review is noted on a work, ignore it for the purposes of the reference.
• Title: Supply the title of the webpage in sentence case and Italicized.
• Source: Because the author of the webpage and the site name are the same, omit the site name.
• End the reference with the URL. Do not follow with a period.

Government Agency Group Author

• Author: For a webpage on a government website without individual authors, use the specific agency responsible for the webpage as the author.
• Date: Provide as specific a date as possible for the webpage, starting with year and then month and day.
• Only use the last updated date if it is for the specific content you are citing, otherwise use the webpage date. 
• Do not include a date of last review in a reference because content that has been reviewed has not necessarily been changed. If a date of last review is noted on a work, ignore it for the purposes of the reference.
• Title: Supply the title of the webpage in sentence case and Italicized.
• Source: Provide the names of parent agencies not present in the author element appear as the publisher.
• End the reference with the URL. Do not follow with a period.

What is the difference between sentence and title case? Find out in Formatting Tips.

Don't leave it blank! Find out how to properly indicate that information is missing from one of your reference elements by reading more about missing information.

Information on this page was adapted from "Chapter 10: Reference List", in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), as well as the APA webpage, "Reference Lists".