Everything you need to know about citing APA reports
Do you know what is the gray literature? It is a term used to categorize technical and research reports published by government agencies, academic institutes, and businesses, organizations, or organizations. Although they have not been reviewed, it is a good idea to cite them as they contain official data from these organizations with which you can work, analyze and compare. Let's talk a bit more about it, especially how cite APA reports.
These documents include:
- Work documents.
- Policy documents.
- Reports
What you need to cite APA reports
According to the 7th edition of the American Psychological Association (APA for its acronym in English), these are the data that you must collect when you make the bibliographic reference of a report:
- When you are faced with the task of citing and making references to literature, gray, these are the data you must collect to form them: Who wrote that gray literature document? You must indicate their last name and initials when it is a report signed by up to 20 authors and if there are more, include the first 19 names followed by an ellipsis plus the name of the last author.
- Year of publication: When was the work you cite published? If possible and as long as the information you want to make known allows it, always look for the latest report, the latest edition. The more up-to-date your information, the better. You will write this in parentheses, followed by a period.
- Report Name: What is the document titled? Remember that only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. The title is written in italics.
- When you are faced with the task of citing and making references to literature, gray, these are the data you must collect to form them: If the number is available, indicate it in parentheses.
- Who edited the book? Write your last name and first initials, followed by an Ed. or Eds in parentheses. What publishing house commissioned the publication of said report? If it was done through the author himself, then replace that information with the word "Author".
With this data, you will build your bibliographic citation as follows:
Author(s) of the report. (Year of publication). Report title. (Report number). Editorial.
Bibliographic references of reports and reports
In this case, follow the following format:
Surname, N. (Year of publication). Report Title: Subtitle of the report (Report number xxx). Publisher name. url.
Note that the year of publication is in parentheses. The title of the publication is written in italics. If you do not have the report number, leave the field blank. If the author and publisher are the same person, omit that information.
References from a written report on an agency website
It often happens that some reports are published on the website of the agency that was in charge of data collection and analysis. Said agency remains responsible for the report and not the author. In other cases, the name of the author(s) is maintained, but the agency acts as the publishing house.
In this case, the bibliographical references are made in this way:
Cecodap (2021). Effects of social isolation on the behavior of children: Case Venezuela. Editorial Cecodap, https://estoessolounejemplo
In-text citations are made as follows:
(Cecodap, 2021, p.30)
Reports from government institutions
The reports from government institutions are an excellent source of information, as it contains official numbers and information that you can rely on or refute using your own data.
When you are going to make the bibliographical reference of said report, follow the following format:
Name of the Institution. (Year of publication). Report name. url.
That is to say:
Statistics National Institute. (2019). Report on informal trade 2019. https://www.estoessolounejemplo.com
And the quotes are done like this:
- The first date:
(National Statistics Institute [INE], 2019, p.15).
- The later ones:
(INE, 2019, p. 15).
Reports from private organizations available on the web
Private institutions also offer interesting information that can help create the theoretical framework for your research.
In these cases, references are made in this way:
Author's name. (Year of publication). Report name. Name of the institution. url.
That is to say:
Sanchez, L. (2015). Waste collection report in Colombia. EcoGreenCo. https://www.thisisjustoneexample.pdf
And the quote is done like this:
(Sánchez, 2015, p. 40).
general tips
- As you can see, citations and references to official reports and the rest of the gray literature are done in the same way as if you were referencing a book.
- Be very careful identifying the publisher where the information comes from, since in many cases it will be the same name as the author.
- The reports are usually numbered because, most of the time, it is a series of documents that serve a purpose, especially comparison. Be very careful identifying their number, search for it very carefully so you can point it out, and if you finally realize it hasn't been added, leave the field blank. That means it doesn't exist.
Reference and citation generators
There are plenty of applications on the web that generate bibliographical references and citations. Considering that the APA has so many rules and needs so much data, the average person might feel overwhelmed by so much information, so these reference generators make the job much easier.
All you have to do is “empty” the information it asks for. Each data, then you click and voila: you have the reference ready to be copied and pasted on the corresponding page.
Of course, remember that the APA statutes are constantly changing, so you should note if the citation generator is up to date and really adjusts to what you need.
About the APA
The American Psychological Association (APA) is a renowned institution that, after seeing how the research papers did not follow a format, organized a series of standards so that the writing and presentation would be more homogeneous.
In this way, it improves reading comprehension, helps codify components of writing and help prevent plagiarism information published by other authors.
APA standards are ideal for researchers to use the information you are publishing, either to use you as a reference or to use your references to supplement their information.