APA Citation Style

APA defines the 'date' element as the publication date (American Psychological Association, 2019, p. 289). 

There are 5 forms to format the date:

• Year 
• Year, month, and day 
• Year and month
• Year and season
• Date ranges 

The reference category of the work you are trying to cite will determine how the date is formatted. The most common way to cite the date of a work is with solely the year. However, digital resources are typically the exception. 

General rules:

• Enclose the date within parentheses for both in-text citations and for the reference list.
• For the date in the reference list, enclose the date with parentheses and follow with a period. 
• For dates with month values spell out the name of the month
• For books use the copyright date 
• For journals use the journal's year of volume 
• For works with no date, use "(n.d.)" with no spaces between the 'n' or 'd.' Use for in-text citations and in the reference list
• For categories that include the year, month, day, or season, always put the year first. Follow the year with a comma, and the the month and date or season
  • (2021, September 9)
  • (2021, Spring)

See pp. 289-291 in APA Seventh Edition

The Online Media category as defined by APA includes webpages, websites, and social media. Here are a few rules about the date format:

• Do not use the copyright date in the webpage footer, unless it is known that it pertains to the cited content
• Use more precise dates for sources published/updated more frequently (e.g. blog posts)

For updated or reviewed works

• Do not use the 'last reviewed' date
• Use the "last updated" date, if it pertains to the content you are citing
• For online sources undergoing constant change (e.g. Google maps or social media posts/pages), include the retrieval date before the source element**
  • Example*:

Morey, M. C. (2019). Physical activity and exercise in older adults. UpToDate. Retrieved July, 22, 2019, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/physical-activity-and-exercise-in-older-adults

*Example taken from p. 319 of APA Seventh Edition

**For best practices for constantly updated sources, especially social media posts, cite the archived version of the webpage

See pp. 290, 329 in APA Seventh Edition

• Do not record information about publication status. Use the production date for the date for informally published works
• Only if a work has been accepted for publication but is not officially published, use 'in press' for the date
  • For reference list
    • Smith, J. (in press). Title of work. Journal name 1(2), pp 1-14. http//doi.thisisawebsite.org. 
  • For in-text
    • Narrative
      • Smith (in press) is researching...
    • Parenthetical 
      • The research shows that 15% of people chose option A (Smith, in press).

See p. 290 in APA Seventh Edition

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/000165-000