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This article was co-authored by Cara Barker, MA and by wikiHow staff writer, Elaine Heredia, BA. Cara Barker is an Assistant Professor and Research and Instruction Librarian at Hunter Library at Western Carolina University. She received her Masters in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Washington in 2014. She has over 16 years of experience working with libraries across the United States.
This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources.
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The American Psychological Association (APA) is the governing body that creates the rules for citing sources for people who work or study in the sciences, education, and psychology. If you need to cite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in APA 7th Edition format for an article or a paper, this step-by-step guide will show you the correct way to do it.
How to Reference the CDC in APA
Write Center for Disease Control and Prevention ending with a period. Note the publication year in parentheses, followed by a period. Write the webpage title in sentence case and italics. End with the page URL. For example: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. URL
Steps
How to Cite the CDC in a Reference List
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List the full name of the CDC and the publication date first. The very first item in your reference list citation should be the full name of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, followed by a period. Then, include the year of publication in parentheses, also followed by a period. For example:[1]- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017).
- If you're citing more than one document from the CDC published in the same year, distinguish them by putting a letter after the year. For instance, you might write "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017a)." and "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017b)." Use "a" for whichever source comes first alphabetically by title.
- For each citation, make the first line left-justified and indent each subsequent line 1⁄2 in (1.3 cm) afterward. This is called a hanging indentation.
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Write the title of the source and the URL. After the name of the CDC and the publication date, list the full title of the CDC webpage you're quoting from, followed by a period. Write it in italics and use sentence case capitalization. In sentence case, most words (all except the first word and words that appear after colons or semicolons) aren't capitalized. Finally, include the URL of the page with no period after it.[2] For example:- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Family health and diabetes. [3]
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Alphabetize the entry among your other sources. When writing a reference page in APA format, list all the entries in alphabetical order. Sort them according to the first letter of the first word of the entry, excluding “a,” “an,” or “the.”[4]
Writing the First CDC In-Text Citation
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Reference the CDC by its full name when introducing a quote. For the first in-text citation, reference the CDC by its full name (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), followed by its abbreviation. Include "CDC" in parentheses if you're introducing it as a source before the quotation or in brackets if you're referencing it after the quotation. We explain the 2 different ways to write it below.[5]- With introductory text: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...
- Without introductory text: Certain studies have shown that "Over 30 million people have diabetes" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]).
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Write the year of publication for the quoted material in parentheses. Always include the year of publication for the source you're citing in-text. APA format is often used by scientists and other researchers who value using the most recent, up-to-date research, so including the publication date is vital. For example:[6]- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Over 30 million people have diabetes" (2017).
- Include the publication year in an in-text citation even after paraphrased material, not just direct quotes.
- Differentiate CDC articles or documents published in the same year by adding a letter after the year. For example, your in-text citations could read "(CDC, 2017a)" and "(CDC, 2017b)."
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Write the page or paragraph number after the publication date. Write "p." followed by the page number (p. 28). In the absence of a page number (in the case of web articles, for instance), write "para." and list the paragraph number afterward (para. 3). If you didn't introduce the CDC in the introductory text, write the date and page or paragraph number in the same parentheses as the source (separated by commas). For example:[7]
- With introductory text: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "Over 30 million people have diabetes" (2017, para. 3).
- Without introductory text: Certain studies have shown that "Over 30 million people have diabetes" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017, para. 3).
Sample Citations
Community Q&A
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QuestionHow to cite a CDC fact sheet in APA?
Community AnswerGovernment Report Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ( 2014). ... First citation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). Subsequent citations: (CDC, 2014). First citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], (2014). Subsequent citations: CDC (2014). -
QuestionWhat if there is no publication date?
CageyCatTop AnswererMake the citation begin as, No date. Then write out the rest of the citation. -
QuestionI am doing an in-text citation from the national institute on deafness and other communication disorders. I used two different online publications, how do I differentiate the two in my paper?
LibArtsPremed18Top AnswererIn your in-text citations, only the author and year should be cited. If those happen to be the same, that is okay. In the reference list, including all required fields should differentiate the two, as the authors, titles, publication years, or even URL will likely be different.
Video
Tips
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Use the above guidelines when referencing other government agencies, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) or the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).Thanks
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References
- ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/govdocsonline
- ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/govdocsonline
- ↑ <nowiki>https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/famhistory/famhist_diabetes.htm<nowiki>
- ↑ https://libguides.jcu.edu.au/apa/reference-list
- ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/govdocsonline
- ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/govdocsonline
- ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
- ↑ https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/apa/citations/commonsources
- ↑ https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/govdocsonline
About This Article
To cite the CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in APA format on your Reference page, write out its full name followed by a period and then the year of the publication date in parentheses followed by another period. For example, “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017).” After that, list the title of your source and the URL of the CDC website page you’re quoting from. You don’t need to include a period after the URL. Remember to alphabetize entries on your Reference page! If you want to cite the CDC in your text, write the full name of the CDC along with its abbreviation in parentheses, the year of publication for the quoted material, and then the paragraph number. For example, you could write, “(CDC, 2017, para. 3). For more information, including how to use proper hanging indentation in your Reference list, read on!
