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APA Citation Style Guide

This guide will support you in creating common citation formats in the APA (American Psychological Association) Style - 7th edition.

Quick tips

This guide contains basic citation information for legal documents. For specific information and more examples, please refer to the APA Manual (pp. 355-368) or to the UBC Law - Legal Citation Guide. Note: the UBC Law guide is in Chicago Style; adapt the material you need to match APA style. 

Cases or court decisions

Template for cases

Reference list: Name v. Name, volume Jurisdiction (Year). URL

Parenthetical in-text citation: (Name v. Name, Year)

Narrative in-text citation: Name v. Name (Year)

Names are italicized in-text, but not in the reference list.

(APA, 2020, p. 358)

EXAMPLE

Blueberry River First Nation v. Laird, 76 BCCA (2020). https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/ca/20/00/2020BCCA0076.htm

  • BCCA stands for British Columbia Court of Appeal. The jurisdiction is included by way of citing the court. For example, BCCA or SCC for Supreme Court of Canada. 
  • This case is the 76th judgment from the British Columbia Court of Appeal in 2020.

Parenthetical in-text citation: (Blueberry River First Nation v. Laird, 2020)

Narrative in-text citation: Blueberry River First Nation v. Laird (2020)

Statutes (laws and Acts)

Template for Laws and Acts:

Name of Act, Title source and section number (Year). URL

(APA, 2020, p. 361)


EXAMPLE - Act

University Act, RSBC c. 468 (1996). http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96468_01

  • RSBC is the Source, and c. is the section number, i.e.: the act is published as chapter 468 in the Revised Statutes of British Columbia.

Parenthetical in-text citation: (University Act, 1996)

Narrative in-text citation: University Act (1996)

To refer the reader to a specific section, add it after the year, with a comma, as s or ss:

(University Act, 1996, s 6)


EXAMPLE - Bill

Bill C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States, 1st Sess, 43rd Parl, (2020). https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-1/bill/C-4/third-reading

Parenthetical in-text citation, first time: (Bill C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States, 2020)

Parenthetical in-text citation, subsequent citations: (Bill C-4, 2020)

Narrative in-text citation, first time: Bill C-4, An Act to implement the Agreement between Canada, the United States of America and the United Mexican States (Bill C-4) (2020)

Narrative in-text citation, subsequent citations: Bill C-4, 2020)

To refer the reader to a specific clause, add it after the year, with a comma, as cl or cls (plural):

(Bill C-4, 2020, cl 7)