No Author, Date, or Title in APA Style | Formats & Examples
Webpage citations in APA Style consist of five components: author, publication date, title, website name, and URL.
Unfortunately, some of these components are sometimes missing. For instance, there may be no author or publication date. This article explains how to handle different kinds and combinations of missing information.
| What’s missing? | Solution |
|---|---|
| Nothing | – |
| No author | Use title in place of author. |
| No date | Use “n.d.” (“no date”) in place of date. |
| No title | Describe the source in brackets. |
| No author or date | Use title in place of author; use “n.d.” in place of date. |
| No author or title | Use bracketed description in place of author. |
| No date or title | Use “n.d.” in place of date; describe the source in brackets. |
| No author, date, or title | Use bracketed description in place of author; use “n.d.” in place of date. |
Basic webpage citation format
You can explore the basic citation format for a webpage using the example generator below.
No author
| Format | Page title. (Year, Month Day). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | APA citation guidelines. (2020, October 30). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (APA Citation Guidelines, 2020) |
No date
| Format | Last name, Initials. (n.d.). Page title. Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Streefkerk, R. (n.d.). APA citation guidelines. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (Streefkerk, n.d.) |
No title
| Format | Last name, Initials. (Year, Month Day). [Description of page]. Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Streefkerk, R. (2020, October 30). [Article about APA citations]. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (Streefkerk, 2020) |
No author or date
| Format | Page title. (n.d.). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | APA citation guidelines (n.d.). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (APA Citation Guidelines, n.d.) |
No author or title
| Format | [Description of page]. (Year, Month Day). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | [Article about APA citations]. (2020, October 30). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | ([Article about APA citations], 2020) |
No date or title
| Format | Last name, initials. (n.d.). [Description of page]. Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Streefkerk, R. (n.d.). [Article about APA citations]. Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | (Streefkerk, n.d.) |
No author, date, or title
| Format | [Description of page]. (n.d.). Website Name. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | [Article about APA citations]. (n.d.). Scribbr. https://www.scribbr.com/category/apa-style/ |
| In-text citation | ([Article about APA citations], n.d.) |
Don’t forget: Our APA Citation Generator can handle all of these exceptions for you automatically!
Try the APA Citation Generator
6 comments
Brooke
November 5, 2021 at 9:09 AMHi, I was wondering how to cite a correspondence in a journal article? For example, a critical response to an article published in the American Journal of Clinical Pathology (AJCP). This response is in the correspondence section of the journal and is essentially a critique of a published article. The original authors then respond to the physicians who wrote the critique. Below is the beginning of the correspondence.
"To the Editor:
We read with interest the recent article by He et al1 comparing conventional karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While the authors clearly show no advantage to FISH when karyotyping is adequate and propose an algorithmic approach to testing, there is no discussion regarding practical matters, such as turnaround time, potential delay in diagnosis, and actual cost vs benefit."
I'm listing the case here to clarify:
https://academic.oup.com/ajcp/article/145/3/430/1767542
Thank you!
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
November 9, 2021 at 2:04 PMHi Brooke,
As far as I can tell, APA doesn’t specifically cover citing correspondence like this, but applying their general principles I think you could use a format like the following, just clarifying the nature of the source in brackets after the title:
Hammer, R. D., Doll, D., & Layfield, L. (2016, March). Is it time for a new gold standard? FISH vs cytogenetics in AML diagnosis [Correspondence]. American Journal of Clinical Pathology, 145(3), 430–432. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcp/aqw008
Phang Wei Lian
June 27, 2021 at 5:54 AMHi there
May I know how date of access from a website can be added to APA referencing? I notice insofar this component has not been included when citing from a website where info may be updated from time to time.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
June 28, 2021 at 5:45 PMIt's not always necessary to include an access date, but yes, you're right that this should be done when the site is designed to be updated frequently. You can see an example of how to format the access date here.
Melissa
January 24, 2021 at 8:48 PMIn APA 7th edition, when there is no author and you just have the title to put on alpha order, do you count the word “the?” So if I have “ The adventures of a spy” and “Behind the scenes” which title goes first on the RP?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
January 26, 2021 at 3:26 PMHi Melissa,
When the reference entry begins with a title, you ignore articles ("a," "an," or "the") at the start of a title for the purposes of alphabetization. So in your case, "The adventures of a spy" comes first, since you're alphabetizing by "adventures."