How to Cite a YouTube Video in APA

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While doing research for a newspaper, you may find relevant YouTube videos that you desire to cite. Y'all may already know how to cite a website in APA, but it can be difficult to know how to cite YouTube in APA mode. You may also desire to cite quotes inside the video, user comments, or entire YouTube accounts.

The guidelines of this page cover APA 7th edition and specifies what you need to know to cite whatever various YouTube video content in APA style. For like but different media, like citing a movie in APA or a television receiver show,  you'll need to visit another guide.

Guide Overview

Here'due south a run-through of everything this page includes:

  • Pace-by-stride instructions for a YouTube video citation in APA manner
  • Basic YouTube video commendation structure
  • Video with creator's real proper noun and screen mame
  • Video without uploader's real proper name OR video by an organization
  • Citing a YouTube channel
  • Citing a directly quote from a video
  • Citing a annotate on a YouTube video
  • Citing a TED talk establish on YouTube
  • A annotation on APA 7th edition
  • Citing a YouTube video in APA
  • What yous demand
  • Troubleshooting
  • References

Step-by-step instructions for a YouTube video commendation in APA style

  1. List the existent last name of the video's uploader, capitalizing the starting time letter of the alphabet. Place a comma after the last proper name and and so list the first initial of their first proper name, followed by a period. If you lot find their center initial, listing it later the kickoff initial and period, also followed past a menstruum. If the creator'due south name is unavailable, skip this footstep and begin your commendation with the next step.
  2. Side by side, using brackets, list the screen proper name of the video's uploader as it is spelled on the folio. Place a menstruum subsequently the endmost bracket.
  3. Then, in parentheses, put the full numerical yr followed by a comma, the full written month starting with a capital and followed past a comma, and the numerical mean solar day that the video was posted. Close the parentheses and follow with a period.
  4. Put the championship of the video in Italics and in judgement example (simply capitalizing the first letter and proper nouns). Do not place a catamenia after the title.
  5. After the title, put the give-and-take Video (for the source format), capitalized, in normal font, and in brackets. Place a period afterward the endmost subclass.
  6. Put the word YouTube (for the website source proper noun) as information technology is spelled here, followed past a period.
  7. List the full URL for the web page containing the YouTube video you lot are citing. Practise non follow with a flow.

Note that in your commendation, you must indent any lines after the beginning line. APA-mode in-text citations for quoting and paraphrasing are the same for YouTube videos.

Basic YouTube video citation structure

Reference Folio
Structure

Uploader Last Proper name, Commencement Initial. Middle Initial. [Screen proper name]. (Year, Calendar month Day). Title of the video [Video]. Name of website. URL
In-text citation
Structure

(Uploader Last Name OR Screen proper noun, Yr)

Video with creator's real name and screen name

Reference Page
Instance

Bissett, A. [Ariel Bissett]. (2016, May 28). Some thoughts on the catcher in the rye [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRj4R0hgi8w
In-text citation
Example

(Bissett, 2016)

Video without uploader'due south real name OR video by an organization

If simply the screen name is available, yous put the screen name outset in the commendation and omit the "[Screen name]" part of the citation.

Reference Page
Example

Chegg. (2018, November 15). How to cite quotes to avert plagiarism [Video]. YouTube. https://world wide web.youtube.com/watch?v=N4gmmme8HjQ

View Screenshot

In-text citation
Example

(Chegg, 2018)

View Screenshot

Citing a YouTube channel

Now that you know how to cite YouTube in APA mode, you may demand more than specific data on citing channels, quotes, or comments.

Instead of citing one particular YouTube video, you may want to cite an entire YouTube channel. While the format is similar to citing a YouTube video, at that place are a few central differences you can encounter in the format guidelines below.

  • You lot will always utilise "n.d." for "no appointment" considering YouTube channels are undated.
  • The word "Habitation" is included because every YouTube aqueduct's page proper noun is "Dwelling" past default.
    • If yous are instead citing another tab of the account (Videos, Playlists, Channels, Discussion, About), put the correct tab proper noun instead of the word "Home."
  • Use the words "YouTube Channel" instead of the proper noun of any specific videos since you're citing a whole channel (not just ane video).
Reference Page
Structure & Example

YouTube Channel Uploader'south Last Proper noun, First Initial OR Screen proper noun. (n.d.) Home [YouTube Aqueduct]. URL of YouTube aqueduct

The Guardian. (n.d.) Home [YouTube Channel]. https://www.youtube.com/guardian
In-text citation
Structure &

Case

(YouTube Channel Uploader'due south Terminal Proper name OR Screen name, n.d.)

(The Guardian, north.d.)

Citing a straight quote from a video

Y'all may desire to include a straight quote from a YouTube video within your paper. While your reference page citation for the quote volition exist the same as a citation for the whole video, your in-text citation will need a timestamp to assist readers easily access the quote (Publication Transmission, p. 274). It is unremarkably accepted to only include a timestamp for the starting time of the quote, merely yous may use a timestamp range if you lot call back it would exist helpful.

Reference Page
Construction

Uploader'southward Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. [Screen name]. (Yr, Calendar month Twenty-four hour period). Championship of the video [Video]. Proper name of website. URL
In-text citation
Structure

(Writer/Creator Final Name OR screen name, Year, Timestamp 0:00)

While researching your topic, y'all may observe that you want to include a comment left on a YouTube video. You lot will need to cite the comment itself rather than the YouTube video. The format for citing a YouTube comment is similar to citing a YouTube video with a few primal differences.

Reference Folio
Structure & Example

Commentor's Terminal Proper name, Showtime Initial. OR Commenter's Username. (Year, Month Solar day). Championship of comment OR upward to the showtime 20 words of the comment [Comment on the video "Title of video"]. YouTube. URL of YouTube video

Blanco, B. (2021, November 21). My favorite Jackson… in the entire Galaxy! 💕 [Comment on video "Essentials for indoor cat happiness"].YouTube.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaVttlOqcX4
In-text citation
Construction &

Instance

(Commentor'south Final Name OR Username, Yr)

(Blanco, 2021)

Citing a TED talk institute on YouTube

TED Talks are often not bad sources of information, and they tin exist establish on both the TED website and on YouTube. When citing a TED Talk found on YouTube, list TED equally the author for the in-text citation and the reference page.

Reference Page
Structure

TED (2011, January 3). The power of vulnerability [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?five=iCvmsMzlF7o
In-text citation
Structure

(TED, 2011)

A note on APA 7th edition

The 7th edition of the APA Manual came out in 2020, replacing the sixth edition that came out in 2009. There are a few changes in the newest manual that apply when you need to cite YouTube video APA style.

Notable seventh edition changes include:

  • Omission of "Retrieved from" earlier URLs
  • Addition of the website name
  • Uses "Video" instead of "Video file."
  • In-text citation format is the same,

APA sixth Edition Reference Folio Format:

Final Proper noun, First Initial. Middle Initial. [Screen proper noun]. (Year, Calendar month Day). Championship of the video [Video file]. Retrieved from URL

APA 7th Edition Reference Folio Format:

Uploader Concluding Proper name, Starting time Initial. Center Initial. [Screen name]. (Year, Month Day). Title of the video [Video]. Proper name of website. URL

In-text Citation Format (6th AND seventh Edition):

(Writer/Creator Last Name OR Screen name, Year)

Citing a YouTube video in APA

What you need

To cite YouTube videos in APA style, you will need certain information. If available, find the following to include in your citation:

  • Name of the individual(s) or group who uploaded the video. If it's an individual, use their real proper name.
  • Video uploader's screen proper name
  • Date attached to the video (including year, calendar month, date)
  • Title of the video
  • URL of the video's webpage

If any of the above information is not bachelor on the same page every bit the YouTube video, you may need to exercise a little more inquiry to notice it. For example, to find the real name of the video's uploader, you can click on the screen name to view the creator'due south account where y'all might find their real name in the bio.

If any of the information is not available, fifty-fifty after doing boosted research, simply leave information technology out of the citation, only include the rest of the information post-obit the order of the basic format below.

Who is the author?

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association(2020, p. 344) clarifies that the uploader of the video is used as the "writer" of the video, even if they are not the creator of it.

Farther data on citing in APA can be plant in the Publication Transmission of the American Psychological Association in Department ten.12.

Troubleshooting

Solution #1: How to cite a video when the uploader's existent name cannot exist constitute

In APA

When you want to cite a video from YouTube, Vimeo, or whatever other video-hosting sites, but cannot find the uploader'due south real name, use their username in place of their bodily name in your APA works-cited citation.

If using a username in place of a typical proper name, proceed the same format and case of the username as it is discovered online, and omit the bracketed "username" part of your APA citation in your bibliography.

Utilise the username in place of the author's name for your in-text commendation.

Example in-text citation:

(videogamedunkey, 2021)

Instance reference:

videogamedunkey. (2021, September 21). Originality in video games [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOQzTtsr3AQ

References

American Psychological Association (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Clan (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10/1037/0000165-000

Published July 21, 2014. Updated April xvi, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Commendation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

What is the proper way to cite a YouTube video in APA?

To cite a YouTube video, y'all demand to accept the name of the uploader or the screen name, the full date the video was uploaded, the title of the video, and the URL (uniform resource locator). If any of these details are not available, y'all can skip information technology and add together only the bachelor information. The templates for in-text citations and reference listing entries of a YouTube video along with examples are given below.

In-text citation templates and examples:

Narrative:

Video uploader's proper noun or Screen name (publication year)

Seburn (2020)

Parenthetical:

(Video uploader'southward name or Screen name, publication yr)

(Seburn, 2020)

Note that calendar month and 24-hour interval are not mentioned in in-text citations.

Reference list entry template and instance:

Video uploader's Surname F. M. [Screen name]. (Publication Year, Month Twenty-four hour period). Video title [Video]. YouTube. URL

Seburn, C. [Smart Screen]. (2020, May xx). Welcome to the smart student! (Introductory video) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.exist/wz9kb_cQ57Y

If you desire to include the screen name, include it in foursquare brackets after the uploader's proper name. Ready the title of the video in italics and sentence case. The discussion "Video" follows the title in square brackets. Apply the word "YouTube" before the URL.

How do I cite a movie, TV show, or streaming video in APA mode?

Movie

To cite a movie in APA style, information technology is important that yous know basic information such as the proper name of the director, the date, the championship of the motion picture, and the name of the product company.

In-text citation template and instance:

Narrative:

Director Surname (Year)

Coppola (1972)

Parenthetical:

(Manager Surname, Year)

(Coppola, 1972)

Reference listing entry template and case:

Managing director'southward Surname, F. Grand. (Director). (Yr). Title of the movie [Motion-picture show]. Product Company.

Coppola, F. F. (Director). (1972). The godfather [Picture show]. Alfran Productions.

Boob tube series

To cite a Television receiver series in APA mode, it is important that yous know bones information such every bit the proper name of the executive producer, the date, the title of the TV serial, and the name of the production visitor.

In-text citation template and case:

Narrative:

Executive Producer Surname(due south) (Twelvemonth/s)

Crane and Kauffman (1994–2004)

Parenthetical:

(Executive Producer Surnames, Twelvemonth/s)

(Crane & Kauffman, 1994–2004)

Reference listing entry template and example:

Executive Producer's Surname, F. M. (Executive Producers). (Year). Championship of the TV show [TV series]. Production Company.

Crane, D., & Kauffman, M. (Executive Producers). (1994–2004). Friends [TV series]. Vivid/Kauffman/Crane Productions.

Streaming video

To cite a streaming video in APA style, information technology is important that you know bones information such as the name of the person or group who uploaded the video (or their username), the year, month, and day the video was uploaded, the championship of the video, the streaming service, and the URL.

In-text citation template and example:

Narrative:

Video uploader'due south surname or username (Year)

Stanford (2010)

Parenthetical:

(Video uploader's surname or username, Year)

(Stanford, 2010)

Reference list entry template and instance:

Video uploader's Surname F. Thousand. [Username]. (Publication Year, Month Day). Video title. [Video]. YouTube. URL

Stanford. [Smart Screen]. (2010, March 29). Introduction to human behavioral biology. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA

If you want to include the username with the uploader's full name, include information technology in foursquare brackets after the uploader's name. Set the championship of the video in italics and sentence instance. The word "[Video]" follows the title. Use the streaming service's title, "YouTube," before the URL.