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How to Cite a Report in APA Style

How to Cite a Report in APA
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A report is an original research document issued by an agency, organization, or company. You will often have to use official reports when writing an APA paper to share statistics or important data. That's why you need to know how to cite a report in APA style properly. Today our essay writing website will show you how to create reference entries and in-text citations for different types of reports in APA format 7th edition. Let’s get started!

Although a report is not a classic source type (like books, newspapers, etc.), it may have a lot of value. A reference entry for APA report will typically include the author's or organization's name, publication date, italicized title of report followed by report number in parentheses, name of the published and URL. Note that if the report doesn't have a number, you can omit it. 

To create an in-text citation for a report in APA style, mention the author's last name or the name of the organization and the year of publication. If the report has a specific page or section number, include that as well.

Reference entry format 

Author's Last Name, Initials or Organization Name (Year of Publication). Title of report (Report No. XXX). Publisher. URL

Reference entry example 

Smith, J. (2022).  Washington State COVID-19 response dashboard (Report No. WA-CE 945.2). Washington State Department of Health. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/DataDashboard

In-text citation format 

(Author's Last Name or Organization Name, Year)

In-text citation example

(Smith, 2022)

Read on and you will finfd out how to cite different kinds of reports and how to go about referencing sources with missing information. 

APA Citation for Printed Report With One Author

To APA cite a report with a source of an individual researcher, you will need to include the writer's name and initials, title, number and organization that published it. Include the report number in brackets where relevant. You can also include publisher information if needed. The general format will look like this:

Full reference formula

Writer’s last name, Initials. (Year). Title: Subtitle (Report No. number). Publisher.

In-text citation formula

(Last name, Year, p. #)

Now let’s take a look at the examples:

APA Citation: Printed Report with One Author Example


Of course, you can look for how to cite a lecture APA and it is a good source for your work. That's why we have a simple guide to help you.

APA Report Citation With Multiple Authors

Obviously, sometimes you need to include all creators' lists from a used source. Here it is very important to follow this rule: when your paper has multiple writers – up to 20 – they should be listed in the reference. Pat your attention to the general format below.

Full reference formula

First author’s last name, Initials & Second author's last name, Initials. (Year). Title: Subtitle. Publisher.

In-text citation formula

(First author’s last name & Second author's last name, year, p. #)

Now let’s look at our example. Pay attention to publisher information that is also included. Feel free to add this information when needed.

APA Report Citation with Multiple Authors Example


If it has 21 or more names, list the first 19, then an ellipsis, then last listed writer:

APA Report Citation with Multiple Authors Example

Citing a Report in APA: Organization as Author

It happens, when reports do not list individual names, only the responsible agency. In these cases, APA citation reports will list an organization in the writer position as in our formula.

Full reference formula

Agency name. (Year). Title: subtitle. URL

In-text citation formula

(Agency name, year)

Example will look like this: 

Citing a Report in APA: Organization as Author Example

APA: Cite a Report With One Author Online

Sometimes in the APA report citation process you need to use different formats of reference for online publishers. Use this formula to cite them properly:

  • Publishers of the report used in your paper: Use last name and initials (e. g. Burch, L. K.) of up to 20 names with the last name connected by an ampersand (&).
  • Remember, for 21 or more writers you should include the first 19 names followed by an ellipsis (…) and use the last name.
  • Year of publication: Put a year in brackets followed by a full stop.
  • Title: Make only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
  • Publisher: Give a name of that publisher but avoid terms, such as Publishers, Co., and Inc.
  • URL: Give full URL of used web-page including a protocol (http:// or https://).

Full reference formula

Creator’s last name, Initials. (Year). Title: Subtitle. Publisher. URL.

In-text citation formula

(Last name, Year)

Let’s convert the above information into the real life example:

APA: Cite a Report with One Author Online Example

APA: Cite Report With Multiple Authors

If you are citing a source that has multiple writers, follow these basic steps.

If a source has 2 and more authors always cite both names in-text every time you reference them. The format is as follows:

Full reference formula

First author’s last name, Initials., Second author's last name, Initials., Third author’s last name, Initials. (Year). Title: Subtitle. Publisher. URL.

In-text citation formula

(First author’s last name, Second author's last name,Third author’s last name, year)

Let’s take a look at our example: 

APA: Cite Report with Multiple Authors Example


If a document has six or more creators, simply provide the first author’s last name with "et al." from the first citation. Follow the general format below to see how to write in APA format.

Full reference formula

First creator’s last name, Initials. (Year). Title: Subtitle. Publisher. URL.

In-text citation formula

(Last name, Year)

An example is as follows:

APA: Cite Report with Multiple Authors Example

APA: Citing a Report With Organization as Author

Sometimes in your report APA citation you may experience an online source. If it is an online resource with an institution or organization as the author, you should include the name, year, title, number, and search information in the reference entry.

If it is an online resource with a different creator than this institution or an organization itself, please include names of an authoring institution before your website URL. Check out a general formula below.

Full reference

Agency name. (Year). Title: subtitle (Report number). Publisher. URL

In-text citation

(Agency name, year)

Let’s look at our example:

APA: Citing a Report with Organization as Author Example


You may be looking for APA reporting and we have got you covered. Use one more of our blogs and follow all the rules mentioned there. 

Final Thoughts on Citing a Report in APA

Citing an APA report is definitely a useful thing to keep your idea working. All the magic is in sharing your results with other researchers.

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Article posted on:Nov 30, 2022
Article updated on:May 10, 2023

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