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APA YouTube Citation

How to Cite a YouTube

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While doing research for a paper, you may find

relevant YouTube videos that you want to cite. You
may already know how to cite a website in APA,
but it can be difficult to know how to cite YouTube
in APA style. You may also want to cite quotes
within 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 any
various YouTube video content in APA style. For
similar but different media, like citing a movie in
APA or a tv show, you’ll need to visit another
guide.

Guide Overview
Here’s a run-through of everything this page
includes:

Step-by-step instructions for a YouTube video

citation in APA style
Basic YouTube video citation structure
Video with creator’s real name and screen
mame
Video without uploader’s real name OR video
by an organization
Citing a YouTube channel
Citing a direct quote from a video
Citing a comment on a YouTube video
Citing a TED talk found on YouTube
A note on APA 7th edition
Citing a YouTube video in APA
What you need
Troubleshooting
References

Step-by-step
instructions
for a YouTube
video citation
in APA style
1. List the real last name of the video’s
uploader, capitalizing the first letter.
Place a comma after the last name
and then list the first initial of their
first name, followed by a period. If
you find their middle initial, list it after
the first initial and period, also
followed by a period. If the creator’s
name is unavailable, skip this step
and begin your citation with the next
step.
2. Next, using brackets, list the screen
name of the video’s uploader as it is
spelled on the page. Place a period
after the closing bracket.
3. Then, in parentheses, put the full
numerical year followed by a comma,
the full written month starting with a
capital letter and followed by a
comma, and the numerical day that
the video was posted. Close the
parentheses and follow with a
period.
4. Put the title of the video in Italics and
in sentence case (only capitalizing the
first letter and proper nouns). Do not
place a period after the title.
5. After the title, put the word Video (for
the source format), capitalized, in
normal font, and in brackets. Place a
period after the closing bracket.
6. Put the word YouTube (for the
website source name) as it is spelled
here, followed by a period.
7. List the full URL for the web page
containing the YouTube video you are
citing. Do not follow with a period.
Note that in your citation, you must
indent any lines after the first line. APA-
style in-text citations for quoting and
paraphrasing are the same for YouTube
videos.

Basic YouTube
video citation
structure
Reference Page

Structure Uploader Last Name,

First Initial. Middle
Initial. [Screen
name]. (Year,
Month Day). Title of
the video [Video].
Name of website.
URL

In-text citation

Structure (Uploader Last Name

OR Screen name,
Year)

Video with
creator’s real
name and screen
name
Reference Page

Example Bissett, A. [Ariel Bissett]. (20

28). Some thoughts on the
in the rye [Video]. YouTub
https://www.youtube.com
v=GRj4R0hgi8w

In-text citation

Example (Bissett, 2016)

Video without
uploader’s real
name OR video by
an organization
If only the screen name is available, you put the
screen name first in the citation and omit the
“[Screen name]” part of the citation.

Reference Page

Example Chegg. (2018, November 15).

cite quotes to avoid plagia
[Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com
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
style, you may need more specific information 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, there
are a few key differences you can see in
the format guidelines below.

You will always use “n.d.” for “no

date” because YouTube channels are
undated.
The word “Home” is included
because every YouTube channel’s
page name is “Home” by default.
If you are instead citing another
tab of the account (Videos,
Playlists, Channels, Discussion,
About), put the correct tab name
instead of the word “Home.”
Use the words “YouTube Channel”
instead of the name of any specific
videos since you’re citing a whole
channel (not just one video).

Reference Page

Structure YouTube Channel Uploader

& Name, First Initial OR Sc
Example
name. (n.d.) Home [YouT
Channel]. URL of YouTu

The Guardian. (n.d.) Home [

Channel].
https://www.youtube.co

In-text citation

Structure (YouTube Channel

& Uploader’s Last
Example
Name OR Screen
name, n.d.)

(The Guardian, n.d.)

Citing a direct
quote from a
video
You may want to include a direct quote from a
YouTube video within your paper. While your
reference page citation for the quote will be the
same as a citation for the whole video, your in-text
citation will need a timestamp to help readers
easily access the quote (Publication Manual, p.
274). It is commonly accepted to only include a
timestamp for the beginning of the quote, but you
may use a timestamp range if you think it would
be helpful.

Reference Page

Structure Uploader’s Last Name,

First Initial. Middle
Initial. [Screen
name]. (Year,
Month Day). Title of
the video [Video].
Name of website.
URL

In-text citation

Structure (Author/Creator Last

Name OR screen
name, Year,
Timestamp 0:00)

Citing a comment
on a YouTube
video
While researching your topic, you may find that
you want to include a comment left on a YouTube
video. You 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 key differences.

Reference Page

Structure Commentor’s Last Name, F

& Username. (Year, Month
Example
to the Uirst 20 words of t
video “Title of video”]. Yo

Blanco, B. (2021, November

entire Galaxy! [Comm
indoor cat
happiness”]. YouTube. h
v=EaVttlOqcX4

In-text citation

Structure (Commentor’s Last

& Name OR
Example
Username, Year)

(Blanco, 2021)

Citing a TED talk

found on YouTube
TED Talks are often great sources of information,
and they can be found on both the TED website
and on YouTube. When citing a TED Talk found on
YouTube, list TED as the author for the in-text
citation and the reference page.

Reference Page

Structure TED (2011, January 3). The p

vulnerability [Video]. You
https://www.youtube.co
v=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 6th 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 7th edition changes include:

Omission of “Retrieved from” before
URLs
Addition of the website name
Uses “Video” instead of “Video file.”
In-text citation format is the same,

APA 6th Edition Reference Page Format:

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial.

[Screen name]. (Year, Month Day).
Title of the video [Video Uile].
Retrieved from URL

APA 7th Edition Reference Page Format:

Uploader Last Name, First Initial.

Middle Initial. [Screen name].
(Year, Month Day). Title of the video
[Video]. Name of website. URL

In-text Citation Format (6th AND 7th

Edition):

(Author/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 name.
Video uploader’s screen name
Date attached to the video (including
year, month, date)
Title of the video
URL of the video’s webpage

If any of the above information is not

available on the same page as the
YouTube video, you may need to do a
little more research to find it. For
example, to find the real name of the
video’s uploader, you can click on the
screen name to view the creator’s
account where you might find their real
name in the bio.

If any of the information is not available,

even after doing additional research,
simply leave it out of the citation, but
include the rest of the information
following 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
“author” of the video, even if they are not the
creator of it.

Further information on citing in APA can be found

in the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association in Section 10.12.

Troubleshooting
Solution #1: How to cite a video when the
uploader’s real name cannot be found
In APA

When you want to cite a video from YouTube,

Vimeo, or any other video-hosting sites, but
cannot find the uploader’s real name, use their
username in place of their actual name in your
APA works-cited citation.

If using a username in place of a typical name,

keep 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.

Use the username in place of the author’s name

for your in-text citation.

Example in-text citation:

(videogamedunkey, 2021)

Example 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
Association (7th ed.).
https://doi.org/10/1037/0000165-000

Published July 21, 2014. Updated April 16, 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 Citation
Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital
marketing, libraries, and publishing.

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