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Citing Online Business Sources Using APA

Important Note on Citing Business Resources

Please consult various APA 7 resource guides to help build and check your citations. Here are some suggested resources: 

Books & eBooks

Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials. (Year of publication). Title italicized. Publisher.

Print Book:

Grant, A. (2013). Give and take: A revolutionary approach to success. Viking. 

Ebook:

Aragon, G. A. (2011). Financial ethics: A positivist analysishttps://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305968.001.0001

**More information about citing an ebook can be found on the APA Style Blog

Book Chapter:

Child, J., Elbanna, S., & Rodrigues, S. (2010). The political aspects of strategic decision making. In P. C. Nutt & D. C. Wilson (Eds.), Handbook of decision making (pp. 105-137). John Wiley and Sons. 

Company Annual Report from a Company Website

The Walt Disney Company. (2022). 2022 annual report. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/investor-relations/

Data Sets

If you use resources like SimmonsSAGE Data or the Complete Economic and Demographic Data Source (CEDDS), you will need to know how to cite data sets. Below is an example, and more information can be found at the APA Style Blog.

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023, July 20). Inflation Rate: 1-year inflation rate, all areas, all items, 01/1914 - 06/2023. [Data

set]. Sage Data. https://doi.org/10.6068/DP189898115BB14

Journal, Magazine & Newspaper Articles

Journal Article

Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year). Title of article. Title of Journal italicized, volume number italicized(Issue number), Page numbers. URL or DOI link*

Cui, Y., Cao, Y., Ji, Y., I‐Shin Chang, & Wu, J. (2022). Determinant factors and business strategy in a sustainable business model: An

explorative analysis for the promotion of solid waste recycling technologies. Business Strategy and the Environment, 31(5), 2533-2545. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3042

*Note: if the journal article was retrieved from a database such as ProQuest, EBSCO or JSTOR but does not include a DOI, do not include the URL. If the article has a non-database URL, the URL should be included. If the database publishes original or proprietary content that are only available in that database, as is the case with many business resources, provide the name of the database and the database homepage, rather than the session-specific URL that appears in your browser. 

Trade Publication or Magazine Article

Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year, Month and Day of publication, if available). Title of article. Title of Magazine italicized, Volume number italicized(Issue number, if available). URL or DOI link

Duff, M. (2022). Links in the chain: here’s what grocers need to know about evolving cold-storage solutions. Progressive Grocer, 101(10), 68-72.

Newspaper Article

Elements: Author’s Last name, Author’s First and Middle initials, & Last names and initials of other authors, if any. (Year, Month and Day of publication). Title of article. Title of Newspaper italicized. URL for article

Isaac, M. and Metz, C. (2023, July 18). Meta unveils a more powerful A.I. and isn’t fretting over who uses it. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/technology/meta-ai-open-source.html

**For more detail on when to use a DOI and when to use a URL, see this APA Style Blog flowchart

Websites

Web page citation follows this basic format

Author, A. (date of publication). Title of document. http://URL

Author, A. (date of publication). Title of document. http://URL

Note: the title of the website or webpage should be italicized in the reference list if the work on the page stands alone but not italicized if it is part of a greater whole (if this is not clear, choose what you think makes the most sense). 

Author, A. (date of publication). Title of document [Format description]. http://URL

Note: The format description is used only when the format is something out of the ordinary, such as lecture notes; otherwise, it's not necessary. 

Web page or something found on a website

Thorbecke, C. (2023, July 22). "It almost doubled our workload": AI is supposed to make jobs easier. These workers disagree. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/22/tech/ai-jobs-efficiency-productivity/index.html

Web page where no author and/or date is identified

American University. (n.d.). Kogod School of Business - Our story. https://www.american.edu/kogod/about/

Generative AI

It can be helpful to use generative AI to supplement your other research resources but before using ChatGPT or other AI sources in your paper, check with your professor to make sure doing so is permitted. 

The world of generative AI is rapidly evolving and citation formats are doing their best to keep pace. We’ve captured how APA recommends citing AI below as of Summer 2023, but  if you are reading this much later than Summer 2023, check out the APA blog to see if their recommendation has changed: https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/

When citing AI as a source, you’re really sharing an algorithmic output and therefore you want to credit the author of algorithm, which in the case of ChatGPT is Open AI. If you’re citing Copilot, the author would be Microsoft.

Open AI (2023). ChatGPT (July2023 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

In other words, the author is the algorithm’s author; the title is the name of the model; the version number is the retrieval date; and the descriptor is large language model.

You might also want to add the full text generated by AI to an appendix or any supplemental materials.  

EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) Resources

The Economist Intelligence Unit. (2022). Country report: Lithuania. https://www.eiu.com/

The Economist Intelligence Unit. (2021). Country commerce: Malaysia. https://www.eiu.com/

 

eMarketer Insider Intelligence

Davidkhanian, S. (2022). U.S. retail mobile app features benchmark 2022: What makes retail apps sticky? A guide to the features consumers value

most. eMarketer Insider Intelligence. https://www.insiderintelligence.com/

Willens, M. (2022). Publisher ad monetization: Ad buyers and sellers are rewriting the rules of engagement as privacy-first era dawns. eMarketer

Insider Intelligence. https://www.insiderintelligence.com/

 

Euromonitor Passport

Country Report

Euromonitor. (2023, January). Apparel and footwear in the US [Country report]. Passport. https://www.euromonitor.com/our-

expertise/passport

Briefing 

Linares, F. (2023, June 23).  Retail Shifts in Latin American Fashion. [Briefing]. Passport.  https://www.euromonitor.com/our-expertise/passport

Chart

Euromonitor. (2023, April). Apparel and footwear in Latin America: sales of apparel and footwear. [Chart]. Passport. https://www.euromonitor.com/our-expertise/passport

First Research

First Research. (2022, July 18). Government Sector. [Industry Profile]. https://www.firstresearch.com/

First Research. Industry prospector - Human resource metrics - Employment wages. [Data Set]. Retrieved August 2, 2022 from https://www.firstresearch.com/

GlobalData Explorer

GlobalData. (July 2023). Agtech in the United States [Industry profile]. https://www.globaldata.com/data/

Hoover's

Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers. (n.d.). Berkshire Hathaway – Company summary [Company profile]. Hoovers. Retrieved August 4, 2022

from https://signon.onesource.com/Web/Logon/Signin.aspx

IBISWorld Reports

If the report has a unique identifier number, use it in parentheses after the title. In this case, include a more specific description in the brackets than just [Industry report] as is often used elsewhere, because IBIS has risk and other reports as well as global, state, and other levels of industry reports, and sometimes the titles and numbers are the same. 

Rose, A. (July 2022). Ice Cream Production in the U.S. (31152) [Industry profile].  IBISWorld. https://www.ibisworld.com/

IMF eLibrary

International Monetary Fund. (2022). Republic of South Sudan: 2022 Article IV consultation and second review under the staff monitoring program

[Country report]. https://www.elibrary.imf.org/

Key Business Ratios

Dun & Bradstreet Key Business Ratios. (2022). Reports - Industry - Furniture and fixtures. Retrieved August 4, 2022 from https://www.mergentkbr.com/

Dun & Bradstreet Key Business Ratios. (2022). Ratios - Industry Food & Kindred Spirits- Solvency. Retrieved August 4, 2022 from https://www.mergentkbr.com/

MarketResearch Reports

Pastre, T. (2022). U.S. beverage market outlook 2022: Inflation, supply chains & trends in beverage consumption [Market report]. Packaged Facts.

https://www.marketresearch.com/

Mergent Online

Mergent. (n.d.). Hain Celestial Group [Company profile]. Retrieved August 4, 2022 from https://www.mergentonline.com/login.php 

Mergent. (n.d.). Hain Celestial Group: Mark L. Schiller [Executive bio]. Retrieved August 4, 2022 from https://www.mergentonline.com/login.php 

Mintel Reports

You may need to use a search engine to find the URL for a particular report. 

Reports, articles, etc: 

Roberts, W., Jr. (29, July 2022). Nuts, Seeds and Trail Mix US, 2022 [Industry report]. Mintel. https://www.mintel.com/academic

Market Sizes content:

Mintel. (n.d.). Breakfast cereals - Australia - market size [Data set].  Retrieved August 4, 2022 from https://www.mintel.com/academic

MSCI ESG Manager

MSCI ESG Research LLC. (2022, 29 July). GSK PLC ratings report [Company profile]. https://www.msci.com/msci-esg-manager

MSCI ESG Research LLC. (2022, June). Diversified Chemicals [Industry rating]. https://www.msci.com/msci-esg-manager

OECD iLibrary

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2022, July 12). OECD handbook on measuring the space economy (2nd

ed.) https://doi.org/10.1787/8bfef437-en 

Sage Data Statistical Datasets

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2023, July 20). Inflation Rate: 1-year inflation rate, all areas, all items, 01/1914 - 06/2023. [Data

set]. Sage Data. https://doi.org/10.6068/DP189898115BB14

S&P Capital IQ

Company Profile:

Standard &Poor's. (2020). Restaurant Brands International [Company profile]. Capital IQ. https://www.standardandpoors.com/

Industry Survey:

Scarola, C. & Ko, W. (2020, May). Aerospace & defense [Industry survey]. S&P NetAdvantage. https://www.capitaliq.com

Simmons Insights

Since the title of the dataset is not very descriptive of your particular data retrieved, include a description of the variables you used so that somebody else could figure out what you did. 

MRI-Simmons. (2022). Spring 2019 NHCS adult study 12 month [Cell phones / smartphones brands owned by consumer demographics - age,

gender, household income] [Data set]. Retrieved August 5, 2022 from https://www.mrisimmons.com/

MRI-Simmons. (2022). Spring 2019 NHCS adult study 6 month [Computer software types owned by age] [Data set]. Retrieved August 5, 2022

from https://www.mrisimmons.com/

SimplyAnalytics

SimplyAnalytics. (2019). [Map of Minneapolis, MN metro with family income $200,000 and over]. Census US. http://app.simplyanalytics.com

Statista

Statistics, Dossiers, and Reports

Look under the Source section for “Survey by” -- that is the author

IRI. (2023, July 13). Frozen pizza sales in the United States from 2015 to 2022 (in billions of dollars). [Chart]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/

Anything without a named author: 

Statista. (2023, June 1). Revenue of the laptops & tablets market in the United States from 2016 to 2026 (in billions of U.S. dollars). [Chart]. Statista.

 https://www.statista.com/

Infographics

Armstrong, M. (2020, June 4). UK government approval on the slide [Infographic]. Statista. https://www.statista.com/ 

SRDS

SRDS Media Solutions. (n.d.). Beloit Daily News [Publication profile]. Retrieved May 22, 2020 from https://next.srds.com/

SQAD. (2020). Augusta, GA [SQAD TV report]. SRDS Media Solutions. https://next.srdr.com/

 

Vivvix

Competitive Media Reporting. (n.d.) Mixed media. Kellogg’s Raison Bran [Kellogg media spend for June – September 2024] [Data set]. Vivvix. Retrieved Nov. 21, 2024, from https://www.vivvix.com/home

Wall Street Transcript

The Wall Street Transcript. (2023, July 5). Interview with the CEO and Board Chair: Etho Capital. https://www.twst.com/

Winmo/Advertising Redbooks.com

Winmo. (2022). 2022 Q1 Media Spend. Fed Ex Corporation. [Media Spend]. Retrieved August 2, 2022 from https://my.winmo.com/hubignite