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APA 7th Edition Citation Style Guide

A quick guide to using APA citation style

Important note about citing business resources

Business Citations - APA 7th Edition

Important Note on Citing Business Resources:

Although the APA provides clear instructions on how to cite standard publication types, some business-specific resources include unique information that doesn't directly match APA instructions. Because of that, some of the examples and instructions on this page represent the WVU Libraries' interpretation of APA rules. The American Psychological Association maintains a Style Blog that addresses many frequently asked questions. 

For citing resources in standard article databases including: ABI/INFORM, Factiva, and Business Source Premier, please consult the Journal Articles or Magazine & News Articles tabs.

If you have questions about citing your specific source, please contact the WVU Libraries.

Business Source Premier - Reports

MarketLine. (2018, November). Wine in North America: MarketLine  Industry Profile (Reference Code: 0205-0800) [Industry profile]. Retrieved from Business Source Premier database. 

IBISWorld

Diment, D. (2019, December). Corporate wellness services (OD4621) [U.S. specialized industry report] . IBISWorld. https://www.ibisworld.com/

 
NOTE: If the report has a unique identifier number, use it in parentheses after the title. In this case, include a more specific description in the brackets than just [Industry report] as is often used elsewhere, because IBIS has risk and other reports as well as global, state, and other levels of industry reports, and sometimes the titles and numbers are the same. 

Mergent

Mergent. (n.d.). Hain Celestial Group [Company profile]. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://www.mergentonline.com/login.php 

Mergent. (n.d.). Hain Celestial Group: R. Dean Hollis [Executive bio]. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://www.mergentonline.com/login.php 

Dun & Bradstreet. (2019, May 27). Automotive repair & maintenance services [Industry profile]. 

NOTE: Dun & Bradstreet reports seem to be available in multiple databases, so in such cases APA says not to include the database name or URL.

Mintel

Failla, J. (2020, April). Quick service restaurants - US. Mintel. https://reports.mintel.com/display/986928/# 

Mintel. (n.d.). Shampoo & conditioners: Retail market segmentation by values. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://marketsizes.mintel.com/ 


Nexis Uni

Company dossier

LexisNexis. (n.d.). Ford Motor Company [Company profile]. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.lexisnexis.com/

Executive biographies

The Who's Who of Company Directors. (2017, April 6). H. Jay Sarles. NexisUni. https://www.lexisnexis.com

Company information

Zoom Company Information. (2020, May). Ernst & Young Global Limited. NexisUni. https://www.lexisnexis.com

Company lists or directories

LexisNexis. (n.d.) [List of automobile companies in Germany, over $200M in sales]. Retrieved June 22, 2020, from

https://www.lexisnexis.com

NOTE: Since there is no official title, create a description in square brackets, non-italicized, to describe how you compiled this data. See section 9.22 in the Manual. The square brackets in this case indicate that somebody else searching the resource cannot use these exact words to search for it; but they could figure out what you did.

SWOT Analysis 

MarketLine. (2020, January 13). Ford Motor Company [SWOT analysis]. NexisUni. https://www.lexisnexis.com

 

PrivCo

Company profiles

PrivCo. (n.d.). PopSockets [Company profile]. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://system.privco.com/auth/login 

 

Company lists or directories

PrivCo. (n.d.). [List of VC-backed companies in the Boulder, CO, area with up to $500M in revenue]. Retrieved June 29, 2020, from https://system.privco.com/auth/login 

NOTE: Since there is no official title, create a description in square brackets, non-italicized, to describe how you compiled this data. See section 9.22 in the Manual. The square brackets in this case indicate that somebody else searching the resource cannot use these exact words to search for it; but they could figure out what you did.

ReferenceUSA

Company profiles

Infogroup. (2020, June). Jackson Hewitt Tax Svc-Walmart, Kenai, AK [Company profile]. ReferenceUSA. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://www.referenceusa.com 

NOTE:  If the title of the company profile is sufficiently unique to identify the company profile (i.e. there is only one of that company in that city & state), then the company name with city is the title.

Infogroup. (2020, June). Jackson Hewitt Tax Svc-Walmart (3101 A. St, Anchorage, AK) [Company profile]. ReferenceUSA. Retrieved June 26, 2020, from https://www.referenceusa.com 

NOTE:  If there are multiple locations of that business in that city/state, include the exact address in parentheses as a form of unique number identifier.

Company lists or directories

Infogroup. (n.d.). [List of companies in Walworth county, Wisconsin with 5 or more employees]. ReferenceUSA. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from https://www.referenceusa.com 

NOTE: Since there is no official title, create a description in square brackets, non-italicized, to describe how you compiled this data. See section 9.22 in the Manual. The square brackets in this case indicate that somebody else searching the resource cannot use these exact words to search for it; but they could figure out what you did.

Simmons Insights

MRI-Simmons. (2017). Spring 2017 NHCS adult study 12 month [Cell phones / smartphones brands owned by consumer demographics - age, gender, household income] [Data set]. https://simmonsinsights.com/ 

MRI-Simmons. (2017). Spring 2017 NHCS adult study 6 month [Computer software types owned by age] [Data set]. https://simmonsinsights.com/ 

NOTE: Since the title of the dataset is not very descriptive of your particular data retrieved, include a description of the variables you used so that somebody else could figure out what you did. 

Sports Business Research Network (SBRNet)

SBRnet. (n.d.). Basketball: College fan market summary. Sports Market Analytics. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://sportsmarketanalytics.com/home.aspx

 

Statista

Statistics, dossiers, and reports

Daniel Research Group. (2019, September). Unit shipments of mobile personal computers (PCs) and laptops in the

United States, from 2013 to 2023 (in millions) [Chart]. Statista.  https://www.statista.com/ 

NOTE: Look under the Source section for “Survey by” -- that is the author.

Statista. (2020, May). Laptops & tablets [Consumer market outlook]. https://www.statista.com/ 

 

NOTE: Anything without a named author, should cite Statista at the corporate author.

Infographics

Armstrong, M. (2020, June 4). UK government approval on the slide [Infographic]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/ 

Thomson ONE

Zekauskas, J. (2020, March 10). Albemarle Corporation: J.P. Morgan conference takeaways [Analyst report]. Thomson ONE. https://www.refinitiv.com/en

 

Web-based Data Sets (Census, IMF, Federal Reserve, etc.)

United States

U.S. Census Bureau. (2017). Construction: Summary statistics for the US, states, and selected geographies (Table EC1723BASIC) [Data set]. U.S. Department of Commerce. https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?tid=ECNBASIC2017.EC1723BASIC&t=Employment%3ANew%20Housing%20%28Construction%20and%20Sales%29&vintage=2017&hidePreview=false

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). QuickFacts: Madison city, Wisconsin. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/madisoncitywisconsin/LND110210

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Census business builder: Small business edition - 3.0.1 [Map showing restaurants in the Dane County, WI area and surrounding counties].  U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://cbb.census.gov/sbe/#

Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2020, May 28). Price indexes for personal consumption expenditures by major type of product and by major function. (Table 2.3.4U) [Data set]. United States Department of Commerce. https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=19&step=3&isuri=1&nipa_table_list=2013&categories=underlying 

 

International

International Financial Statistics. (2020). Government finance: Japan 2013-2020 [Data set]. International Monetary Fund.

https://www.imf.org 

World Health Organization. (2020, June 2). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Situation report - 134.

https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200602-covid-19-sitrep-134.pdf?sfvrsn=cc95e5d5_2

Eurostat. (2020). Area under organic farming [Data set]. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/sdg_02_40

 

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)

Standard & Poor’s. (n.d.). Compustat daily updates - fundamentals annual [Microsoft Corporation: Income statement items - January 2015 to January 2020] [Data set]. Capital IQ. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/ 

The Center for Research in Security Prices. (n.d.). CRSP daily stock [Tesla Motors stock prices from 2007 to 2020] [Data set]. Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/

NOTE: Since the title of the dataset is not very descriptive of your particular data retrieved, include a description of the variables you used so that somebody else could figure out what you did. 

General Notes About Citing Business Sources

  • DOIs, if available, should always be used instead of the URL (whether you read the print or the online version of a work).
    • If there’s no DOI and it’s widely available from a number of academic research databases, then use no URL or database information at all -- thus, many periodical articles without DOIs will look like a print article citation.
  • No database information needed if it’s something widely available from multiple sources (e.g. press releases, stock info, etc.)
  • If it is NOT widely available from multiple sources (i.e. it’s proprietary), then list the database information:
    • Some individual schools may wish to include the proxied-login link if that is what their professors prefer; if the work is being shared only with other people who are part of the campus community who would also have access to the content behind the login, one could make the argument that the URL would resolve for that audience. But for the examples in this document, the homepage URL has been used
    • “If the URL requires a login or is session-specific (meaning it will not resolve for readers), provide the URL of the database or archive home page or login page instead of the URL for the work.” 
    • “The name of the database or archive is provided in the source element (in title case without italics), the same as a publisher name, and followed by a period.”
    • Read the full page on database information in references for more detail.  

Credits

The citation examples on this webpage come from: Schemm, N., Dellenbach, M., Grisham, Z., Hageman, M., Tingle, N., Trowbridge, M., & Wheatley, A. (2020). APA 7th ed. citation for business sources. https://bit.ly/APA7business