On this page
Updated . Example details checked against cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html, page dated May 15, 2024.
The APA format
Pattern
Organization Name. (Year, Month Day). Title of the page. URL
- Group author: a government agency, company or association that wrote the page is its author (APA 7, 9.11).
- Site name is left out when it is the same as the group author, as here.
- Truly no author: the title goes first, in italics, followed by the date: Title of page. (Year). Site Name. URL.
- In the text: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024). A group with a well-known abbreviation can be introduced once: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024), then (CDC, 2024).
A real example
Reference entry
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, May 15). About sleep. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html
In-text citation
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024)
When details are missing
- No author and no group: use the title in the citation, in italics for a web page: (About sleep, 2024).
- No date: (n.d.) in the entry and the citation.
- Never “Anonymous” unless the page itself is signed “Anonymous” (APA 7, 9.12).
With nobody responsible: the title moves to the front
Reference entry
About sleep. (2024, May 15). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about/index.html
In-text citation
(About sleep, 2024)
Common mistakes
- “Anonymous” in the author spot. Only for works actually signed Anonymous.
- Repeating the organization as the site name. When the author and the site are the same, give the name once.
- Abbreviating the group on first mention. Spell it out the first time, with the abbreviation in brackets, then abbreviate.
Or let Format do it.
Paste the link and Format fills in what the page publishes, and leaves the author empty when there is none. Format writes the References entry and the in-text citation in APA 7, exactly as shown above, and builds the References page when you export to Word or PDF. MLA and APA are free.
Questions
Is “CDC” the author of a CDC page?
Yes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a group author. Spell it out in the reference list.
What if the page has no title?
Describe it in square brackets in the title position, such as [Home page], and keep everything else the same.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in APA
Every source kind is on the APA page, and every style is on How to cite.