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APA Citation and Formatting: Reports

Attention Students!

This guide is a starting point. For full details on correctly citing resources and creating references, please consult
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Ed.) (2020), or Cites & Sources (6th Ed.) (2021).

Please Note! Library staff do not teach APA, and cannot evaluate or correct work. If you need help with APA Style, please contact your instructor.

How Do I Cite Reports?

The title page of a 2019 report called, “Economic freedom of the world : 2019 annual report”, by James Gwartney, Robert Lawson, Joshua Hall, and Ryan Murphy. It was published by the Fraser Institute. Blue arrows point to the titles, the authors, the publisher, and the date of publication.

There are multiple kinds of reports, including annual reports, government reports, technical reports and research reports. Regardless of the kind of report, the citation format is largely the same, with minor variations.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.4)
Author, A. (Date). Title of report (Report number, if applicable). Publisher Name. URL or DOI if applicable.

Please Note! The author of an annual report is usually the organization that produced it, unless otherwise specified in the report. In this case, in the reference list entry, the organization would be listed as the author (9.7).

Example
Gwartney, J., Lawson, R., Hall, J., & Murphy, R.(2019). Economic freedom of the world: 2019 annual report. Fraser Institute. 

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), (Author & Author, Date) or (Author et al., Date) for reports with three or more authors, e.g.: (Gwartney et al., 2019)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), (Author & Author, Date, Page number) or (Author et al., Date, Page number) for reports with three or more authors, e.g.: (Gwartney et al., 2019, p. 10)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), Author & Author (Date) or Author et al. (Date) for reports with three or more authors, e.g.: Gwartney et al. (2019)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), Author & Author (Date, Page number) or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for reports with three or more authors, e.g.: Gwartney et al. (2019, p. 10)

Please Note!

This guide is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (2020). Library staff have reviewed the information in this guide, and to the best of our knowledge, it is accurate. However, mistakes do occur. Students bear sole responsibility for ensuring that their citations are correct, and that their assignments meet the criteria laid out by their instructor. Students are encouraged to contact Peer Tutoring or the Writing Clinic for assistance.