How to cite a conference paper in APA Style
The format for citing conference papers in APA Style depends on whether the paper has been published, and if so, in what format. Note that a separate format exists for citing dissertations.
To cite a paper that has been presented at a conference but not published, include the author’s name, the date of the conference, the title of the paper (italicized), “Paper presentation” in square brackets, the name and location of the conference, and a URL or DOI if available.
| Format | Author name, Initials. (Year, Month Day–Day). Paper title [Paper presentation]. Conference Name, City, State, Country. URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Jang, S. (2019, August 8–11). Deconstructing the opposition of natural/arbitrary in Coleridge’s theory of language [Paper presentation]. NASSR 2019: Romantic Elements, Chicago, IL, United States. |
| In-text citation | (Jang, 2019) |
Citing a conference paper published in a journal
Conference papers are sometimes published in journals. To cite one of these, use the same format as you would for any journal article.
| Format | Author name, Initials. (Year). Paper title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page range. DOI or URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Elgafy, A., & Lafdi, K. (2010). Nanoparticles and fiber walls interactions during nanocomposites fabrication. Journal of Scientific Conference Proceedings, 2(1), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1166/jcp.2010.1003 |
| In-text citation | (Elgafy & Lafdi, 2010) |
Citing a conference paper published in a book
Conference papers may also be collected in book form. In this case, you can cite one in the same way as you would cite a chapter from a book.
| Format | Author name, initials. (Year). Paper title. In Editor initials. Last name (Ed.), Book title (pp. Page range). Publisher. DOI or URL |
|---|---|
| Reference list | Shareef, M., Ojo, A., & Janowski, T. (2010). Exploring digital divide in the Maldives. In J. Berleur, M. D. Hercheui, & L. M. Hilty (Eds.), What kind of information society? Governance, virtuality, surveillance, sustainability, resilience (pp. 51–63). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15479-9_5 |
| In-text citation | (Shareef et al., 2010) |
Frequently asked questions about APA Style citations
- How do I format a DOI in APA Style?
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Include the DOI at the very end of the APA reference entry. If you’re using the 6th edition APA guidelines, the DOI is preceded by the label “doi:”. In the 7th edition, the DOI is preceded by ‘https://doi.org/’.
- 6th edition: doi:10.1177/0894439316660340
- 7th edition: https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340
APA citation example (7th edition)
Hawi, N. S., & Samaha, M. (2016). The relations among social media addiction, self-esteem, and life satisfaction in university students. Social Science Computer Review, 35(5), 576–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439316660340
- When should I include a DOI or URL in an APA journal citation?
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In an APA journal citation, if a DOI (digital object identifier) is available for an article, always include it.
If an article has no DOI, and you accessed it through a database or in print, just omit the DOI.
If an article has no DOI, and you accessed it through a website other than a database (for example, the journal’s own website), include a URL linking to the article.
- When should I use “et al.” in APA in-text citations?
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The abbreviation “et al.” (meaning “and others”) is used to shorten in-text citations with three or more authors. Here’s how it works:
Only include the first author’s last name, followed by “et al.”, a comma and the year of publication, for example (Taylor et al., 2018).
2 comments
Laura
February 16, 2021 at 5:01 PMWhat should I do when I cannot find a volume and/or issue number?
Jack Caulfield (Scribbr Team)
February 17, 2021 at 3:19 PMHi Laura,
Most journal articles do have volume and issue numbers, so do look carefully in the article and the publication or site where you found it to try to locate them.
However, if they're not listed anywhere, you can just omit either or both numbers. If you can only find an issue number but no volume number, it should still be listed in parentheses to identify it as an issue number, e.g. Journal Name, (4), …