APA 6th Referencing Style Guide

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Conference papers found online

Conference papers and proceedings - published, conference papers and presentations - not formally published.

Conference paper as a PDF from a website

In-text citations guide  

If conference proceedings are published:

Conference paper online - in regularly published proceedings or retrieved from a library database

Reference list entry:

Conference proceedings - published as a book

Conference paper - in regularly published proceedings and retrieved in print

Conference paper - abstract retrieved online

Symposium contribution

reference format:

Paper presented in a conference 

APA 6th referencing style

Published conference paper

Unpublished conference paper, conference paper from proceedings published regularly online.

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APA Conference Paper Citation (6th Edition) | Format & Examples

Published on November 6, 2020 by Koen Driessen .

Proceedings are contributions to scientific conferences, congresses, symposiums or meetings. They often are published bundled and are formally published in a book or in periodicals. This represents a report about what has been discussed during a particular conference. The APA Style has specific rules for the notation of proceedings or conference papers.

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Driessen, K. (2020, November 06). APA Conference Paper Citation (6th Edition) | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/6th-edition/archived-conference-paper/

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how to cite conference paper apa 6th

APA Style 6th Edition: Citing Your Sources

Standard Format

Various examples.

Unpublished Paper

Contributor Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year, Month of presentation). Title of contribution. In First Initial. Second Initial. Chairperson Surname (Chair), Title of conference. Conference conducted at the meeting of Organization Name, Location.

Paper Presentation or Poster Session

Presenter Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year, Month). Title of paper or poster session. Paper presented at the meeting of Organization Name, Location.

American Psychological Association

Conference Presentation References

This page contains reference examples for works presented at conferences and meetings, including the following:

1. Conference presentation

Evans, A. C., Jr., Garbarino, J., Bocanegra, E., Kinscherff, R. T., & Márquez-Greene, N. (2019, August 8–11). Gun violence: An event on the power of community [Conference presentation]. APA 2019 Convention, Chicago, IL, United States. https://convention.apa.org/2019-video

2. Abstract of a conference presentation

Cacioppo, S. (2019, April 25–28). Evolutionary theory of social connections: Past, present, and future [Conference presentation abstract]. Ninety-ninth annual convention of the Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA, United States. https://westernpsych.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WPA-Program-2019-Final-2.pdf

how to cite conference paper apa 6th

This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition.

how to cite conference paper apa 6th

Conference papers — APA 6th edition

The 7th edition of APA was published in October 2019. Some departments and lecturers may still be using the 6th edition. Ask your lecturer or supervisor if you are unsure which edition to use.

Conference papers – published in a book or journal

Conference proceedings may be formally published in a book or journal. If conference proceedings are published:

Use the same format as for a book or book chapter, e.g.

Bowles, T., Musgrove, E., & Hornsby, Z. (2009). The consistency of attachment styles: An experiment eliciting a response to acceptance or rejection. In Z. J. Hazelwood (Ed.), Connecting research and practice in relationships: Conference proceedings (pp. 9–14). Melbourne, Australia: Australian Psychological Society.

In a journal

Use the same format as a journal article, e.g.

Helton, W. S., Kemp, S., & Walton, D. (2013). Individual differences in movements in response to natural disasters: Tsunami and earthquake case studies. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting , 57 (1), 858–862. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541931213571186

Conference papers or posters - not formally published

For paper or poster presentations that have not been formally published as a book or journal, use the following as a guide:

Presenter, A. A. (Year, month). Title of paper or poster . Paper or poster session presented at the meeting of Organisation name, Location. If you retrieved the proceedings online, include either the doi or Retrieved from and the URL.

Proudfoot, F. (2015, February). Understanding cultural differences at the frontline . Paper presented at the Australasian Housing Researchers Conference, Hobart, Australia. Retrieved from http://ahrc2015.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Fiona%20Proudfoot.pdf

For more information see the APA Style Blog How to cite material from meetings and symposia

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / How to Cite a Conference Paper in APA

How to Cite a Conference Paper in APA

Last name, FM. (Year published). Title of Paper or Proceedings, Title of Conference, Location, Date. Place of publication: Publisher.

Cloyd, AM. (2014). Surveying students: A look at citation habits of college students, presented at EasyBib Info Lit Conference, New York City, 2014. New York, NY: EasyBib Publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

Citation Examples

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You should not use URL if the DOI number is present. The following rules will help you identify when to use DOIs and when to use URLs in references:

The in-text citation of a conference paper in APA is similar to the in-text citations used for a journal article or a book chapter. You need to know the names of the author and the publication year to cite a conference paper. Here, you can see in-text citation templates and examples for APA conference papers with one, two, and more than two authors.

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Goldstein (1999)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Goldstein, 1999)

Two authors

Author Surname1 and Author Surname2 (Publication Year)

Thomas and Solomon (1998)

(Author Surname1 & Author Surname2, Publication Year)

(Thomas & Solomon, 1998)

More than two authors

Author Surname1 et al. (Publication Year)

David et al. (2004)

(Author Surname1 et al., Publication Year)

(David et al., 2004)

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APA 7th Edition - University of Lincoln

Acknowledgements

This guide is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) and some of the examples used are taken from here.

Many thanks to the Southern Cross University, Australia, for permission to use and adapt their  APA Citation Style 6th Edition libguide.

Useful books in the Library

Cover Art

APA 7th edition

Banner containing the text 'A guide to the referencing system : APA 7th edition banner'

How to use this guide

This guide has the same content as the  Library's  APA Referencing Handbook but the information is arranged in a different way. To find out how you would reference a particular source, use the options on the blue left hand menu bar. So if you needed to find out how to reference a book with four authors, hover over the Books section on the blue menu bar and use the drop down menu to select the Book with three to 20 authors option. This provides an example of how to reference this particular source in APA 7th style.

The four most commonly cited sources are listed first (books, journal articles, official publications and reports, and websites). Under Other sources are lots of other different sources of information - including social media, newspaper articles and TV programmes - just select the relevant one to see an example of how you reference this in APA 7th.

Getting Started with APA referencing

APA referencing (7th ed.) is used for the Schools of Education, Psychology, and  Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Lincoln.

The APA referencing style is published in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The 7th edition of the Manual was published in October 2019 and covers all aspects of writing in APA style. The Library's referencing information is based on the guidance in the Publication Manual.

Help with APA referencing

If you need any help with APA referencing or have any queries please contact your Subject Librarian:

Alexis Lamb  ( [email protected] ) (Academic Subject Librarian for  Psychology  and  Sport and Exercise Science )

Subject guides available at:

http://guides.library.lincoln.ac.uk/psychology

http://guides.library.lincoln.ac.uk/sport

Tracey Newby  ( [email protected] ) (Academic Subject Librarian for  Education )

Subject guide available at:

http://guides.library.lincoln.ac.uk/education

Recordings of Library APA referencing webinars

                            Link to Introduction to APA referencing library webinar

The Library also runs Introduction to APA referencing webinars if you would prefer to attend an online session. You can view all upcoming Library webinars here 

Useful links

Logo link

APA (American Psychological Association) 6th is an author-date referencing style where you have an in-text citation and a related entry in a reference list at the end of your document.

APA 6th - conference proceedings/presentations/posters Reference list In-text citation Quoting

APA 6th - conference proceedings/presentations/posters

If the conference/symposium/meeting paper is formally published in a book format reference as a book or a chapter in an edited book.

If the conference/symposium/meeting paper is published regularly, use the format for a journal article.

If there is no year of publication use the abbreviation (n.d.) for no date.

Reference list

Add a reference list at the end of your essay, citing all sources used in the body of your writing. The reference list should be in alphabetical order by the first author's surname.

Unpublished paper presentation

Format (Electronic) Author. (Year of presentation, Month). Title of presentation . Paper presented at the meeting of name of conference or occasion, Location. Retrieved [or Abstract retrieved] from URL  Format (Print) Author. (Year of presentation, Month).  Title of presentation . Paper presented at the meeting of name of conference or occasion, Location. Example Stuart, J., Pacheco, G., Hedges, M., & Morton, S. (2014, July). Monkey see, monkey do: How do parental socioeconomic shifts influence children’s cognitive outcomes? Paper presented at the meeting of the New Zealand Association of Economists (NZAE) 55th Annual Conference, Auckland, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.nzae.org.nz/event/nzae-conference-2014/conference-papers/ Chang-Richards, Y., Wilkinson, S., Seville, E., & Brunsdon, D. (2015, July). A systems approach to managing human resources in disaster recovery projects . Paper presented at the meeting of the 5th Annual International Conference on Building Resilience, Newcastle, Australia.  

Unpublished poster session

Format (Electronic) Author. (Year of presentation, Month).  Title of presentation . Poster presented at meeting of name of conference or occasion, Location. Retrieved [or Abstract retrieved] from URL  Format (Print) Author. (Year of presentation, Month).  Title of presentation . Poster presented at meeting of name of conference or occasion, Location. Example Magnusson, J., & Zaar, J. (2017, April).  Improving information literacy instruction through reflection!  Poster presented at the meeting of the Librarians' Information Literacy Annual Conference (LILAC), Swansea, Wales. Retrieved from http://www.lilacconference.com/lilac-archive/lilac-2017-1#papersandposters Doci, F., Eiliat, H., Gillard, K., Burton, S., Kustra, E., & Meadow, K. (2014, May). Teaching culture indicators: Valuing and enhancing quality teaching in higher education. Poster presented at the meeting of the Windsor-Oakland Eighth Annual Conference on Teaching & Learning: Empowering Students to Learn, Oakland University, Rochester, MI. Wilcock, J. (2013, November).  A co-citation network for biometrics . Poster presented at the meeting of the New Zealand Statistical Association Conference, Hamilton, New Zealand. 

An example reference list

See also: multiple works by the same author , one source cited in another , similar information from multiple works , abbreviations .

In-text citation

When you use another person’s ideas or words in your text include the author’s name and publication date.

If you use the author’s name as part of a sentence, include the date of publication in brackets.

… analysis of highly co-cited papers (Wilcock, 2013). Wilcock’s (2013) graph illustrates …

Wilcock (2013) presents a graph of co-citation papers published in the biometrics field. Wilcock analyses the data ...

Two authors

Use ‘&’ between the authors' surnames when they are enclosed within brackets. Use ‘and’ when they form part of the sentence.

Magnusson and Zaar’s (2017) colourful poster demonstrates the use of reflection with information literacy. Magnusson and Zaar show how this improves …

Three to five authors

List all surnames in the first citation, but subsequently, only the first listed author is used, followed by et al. A comma precedes 'and' and '&' when there are three or more authors.

…  the impact of socioeconomic significance on the cognitive development of children (Stuart, Pacheco, Hedges, & Morton, 2014). Stuart et al. (2014) also considered the effect ...

Six or more authors

Cite only the surname of the first author followed by et al.

See also: Multiple works by the same author, Similar information from multiple works, One source quoted in another

An example paragraph

See also: more on paraphrasing ...

Direct quotes of less than 40 words require quotation marks and the page number/s.

This research "illustrates the areas of study that have dominated in the journal" (Wilcock, 2013, p. 1). Wilcock (2013) purported that the "edges are weighted by the frequency of co-citation" (p. 1). The employment "shortage was further compounded by factors such as the shortage of temporary accommodation" (Chang-Richards, Wilkinson, Seville & Brunsdon, 2015, p. 12). Chang-Richards, Wilkinson, Seville, and Brunsdon (2015) observed that "significant skill shortages have re-emerged from the earthquakes" (p. 5).

See also: more on quoting, including long quotes ...

This material is based on the  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association   (2010), the   APA style guide to electronic references   (2012)   and the  APA style blog . For further information, please consult the manuals directly.

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COMMENTS

  1. Conferences

    Presenter, A. A. (Year, Month). Title of paper. Paper presented at the meeting of Organisation Name, Location. In-text citations guide.

  2. Conferences

    Presenter name - last name, initial(s). (Year, month). Title of paper - italicised. Paper presented at the Conference name, Location. doi:doi:xx

  3. APA Conference Paper Citation (6th Edition)

    APA Conference Paper Citation (6th Edition) | Format & Examples ; APA-format, AuthorLastName, Initials. (Year). TitleConferencePaper.

  4. Conference Presentations

    Contributor Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year, Month of presentation). Title of contribution. In First Initial. Second Initial.

  5. Conference proceeding references

    Conference Proceeding References ; 1. Conference proceedings published in a journal · Parenthetical citation: (Duckworth et al., 2019) · : Duckworth et al. (2019).

  6. Conference presentation references

    Describe the presentation in square brackets after the title. The description is flexible (e.g., “[Conference session],” “[Paper presentation],” “[Poster

  7. Conference papers

    For paper or poster presentations that have not been formally published as a book or journal, use the following as a guide: Presenter, A. A. (Year, month).

  8. How to Cite a Conference Paper in APA

    Last name, FM. (Year published). Title of Paper or Proceedings, Title of Conference, Location, Date. Place of publication: Publisher. Example: Cloyd

  9. Conference papers, symposia and poster sessions

    Conference papers can be published in book or periodical form, or online.To cite published proceedings from a book, use the same format as

  10. APA 6th

    Author. (Year of presentation, Month). Title of presentation. Paper presented at the meeting of name of conference or occasion, Location.