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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.

Other examples

Please consult the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association for additional examples not listed on this page.

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)