APA Citation Examples: The Bible, TED Talk, PPT & More

• Nov 16, 2023
• 6 min read

• Tags: APA, APA Citation, APA Style, Citations and References

At a first glance, citing sources under the APA guidelines seems like a headache. But with some help (and a lot of APA citation examples from us) you can become a master at citing all kinds of sources as per the APA 7 guidelines.

In this article, we’ll tell you how to cite the Bible, TED talks, PowerPoint presentations, lectures, court cases, and dictionaries under the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual. To make this easier for you, we’ll also provide examples of in-text citations as well as the entries on your reference page. 

For a thorough breakdown of APA citations and how each element should be written, visit this article instead. For examples of APA citations for some lesser-known sources, keep reading!

APA citation: TED talk

The APA citation for a TED talk varies based on the source you use. If you cite it from the TED website, mention the speaker as the author in your reference. 

Include as specific a date as possible, and add “[Video]” after the title of the TED talk. List TED Conferences as the publisher and then provide the URL of the video. 

Name of the speaker. (Date). Title of the TED talk [Video]. TED Conferences. URL

Kitaina, O. (2022, July). How to alter the perception of mental health care in Russia [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/olga_kitaina 

If you’re referring to a TED talk on YouTube, mention the owner of the account (TED) as the author. In this case, the publisher will be YouTube.

TED. (Date). Title of the TED talk [Video]. YouTube. URL

TED. (2007, July 07). Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY 

If you wish to credit the speaker in this case, you may mention their name in a narrative citation. Here’s an example of the APA in-text citation for a TED talk:

Robinson explains how “schools kill creativity” (TED, 2007, 5:25).

Citing the Bible under APA 7

While citing the Bible, use the citation format that the version falls under. So if you cite a version of the Bible that is a book, use the reference format you’d use to cite any other book.

The Bible. (1978). Fray & Davidson.

Religious works are treated as not having an author. But in the case of an annotated version of the Bible, cite it in the same manner as you would any other book.

Name(s) of the editor(s) (Eds.). (Date). Title. Name of the publisher.

Crossway, E. B. B., & Simons, C. R. (Eds.). (2021). ESV Single Column Journaling Bible. Crossway.

In-text citation for the Bible

The in-text citation for the Bible includes chapter and verse numbers instead of page numbers. For example,

(The Bible, 1978, Isaiah 40:13)

(Crossway & Simmons, ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, 2021, Isaiah 40:13)

When referring to the Bible outside of a citation, you don’t have to italicize it. Simply mention it in the title case and you’re done! 

Citing other religious works

The citation rules for the Bible also apply to other religious texts. You can cite them depending on the format. For example, here is an entry in the reference list for an online version of the Quran:

The Noble Quran. (2022). Quran.com. https://quran.com/en

There is no author for religious texts, but editors’ names may be inserted in case of annotated versions.

As we saw in the case of the Bible, the APA in-text citation for religious texts replaces the page numbers with chapter and verse numbers.

(The Noble Quran, 2022, 2:1-6)

Citing PowerPoint presentations under APA 7

There are three ways to cite PowerPoint presentations under APA 7 depending on their source and availability. When slides are hosted on a website and are available to anyone online, provide the site name as the source.

Name of the author. (Date of publication). Title of the presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Name of the platform. URL

Marakkar, R. K. (2015, July 11). Challenges in mental health nursing [PowerPoint slides]. Slideshare. https://www.slideshare.net/riazmarakkar 

The in-text citation for a PowerPoint presentation contains the author’s name and year of publication. Example: (Marakkar, 2015)

In an APA Style document meant for a specific audience, you may want to cite a presentation to which only that audience has access. In this case, provide the site name as the source, followed by the link to the login page.

If you’re writing a college paper for a course where the class materials are hosted on Blackboard, you’ll use the Blackboard handle of your university as the source element. Here’s an example:

Marakkar, R. K. (2015, July 11). Challenges in mental health nursing [PowerPoint slides]. Blackboard@UOW. https://learning.westminster.ac.uk/ 

If the audience you’re writing for doesn’t have access to the presentation, there’s no use adding it to the reference list. In this case, you may cite it as personal communication. 

For this type of presentation, you’ll only write the in-text citation: (Marakkar, personal communication, July 11, 2015).

Citing a lecture in APA 7 format

There are various ways you may want to cite a lecture. It can be the material used by the professor while teaching such as notes or slides, or the lecture itself.

The APA Publication Manual recommends that you cite sources that can be easily discovered by your readers. So if you want to cite a lecture that has no online recording out there, be warned!

Instead of citing sources that can’t be accessed by readers, you can instead search for sources that can. So, in place of citing a lecture, you can go through the professor’s research for the information you want to cite, and use that source in your reference list.

But in cases where no concrete sources are available, you may cite a lecture as personal communication. This appears only as an in-text citation and has no corresponding entry in the reference list.

(Professor’s name, personal communication, date of the lecture)

(Marakkar, personal communication, June 23, 2022)

The same format applies to your personal lecture notes. Since they’re notes you took while attending a class and don’t exist in online or print format, they qualify as personal communication.

In case the lecture is available to your audience on an online learning platform as a recording, cite it in a format similar to the APA citation for a PowerPoint presentation. Just replace the “PowerPoint slides” with a “Lecture recording”.

Here’s an example:

Marakkar, R. K. (2015, July 11). Challenges in mental health nursing [Lecture recording]. Blackboard@UOW. https://learning.westminster.ac.uk/

Court case citation under APA 7

Citing a court case is a bit different than any other citation under APA 7. For starters, there’s no author name. Legal references also feature the reporter, which means a publication that documents court cases.

A legal citation begins with the name of the court case, which is not italicized. It is followed by the volume and abbreviated name of the reporter, the page number, the name of the court, and the year. If available, you can also add the URL.

Name of the court case, volume number, name of the reporter, page number, (year).

Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us 

Note that only the first page number of the case is mentioned in the reference instead of a full page range.

Although the name of the court case isn’t italicized in the reference list, it’s written in italics for the in-text citation. An APA in-text citation for court cases includes the name of the case and the year.

(Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 1989)

Dictionary citation in APA 7

While citing dictionary entries under the 7th edition of the APA Style guide, start with the author’s name. Since most dictionaries are published by organizations, the name of the organization can serve as the author element of your reference.

If you’re citing a print dictionary, include the year of publication next. In the case of online dictionaries, finding a publication date may be difficult, so you may mention “n.d.” instead.

After the year of publication, mention the word you’re citing, followed by the name of the dictionary, in italicized sentence case.

Name of the Author/Organization. (Year of publication). Name of the dictionary. DOI (if available)

Cambridge University Press. (2011). Cambridge essential English dictionary (2nd ed.).

In the case of online dictionaries, make sure to add a retrieval date. APA recommends adding a date of retrieval for online sources that may be updated at intervals. Since online dictionaries are such a source, a retrieval date helps avoid confusion for your readers.

Name of the Author/Organization. (Year of publication). Name of the dictionary. Date of retrieval and URL

Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). Bias. In Cambridge dictionary. Retrieved July 22, 2022, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary 

The APA in-text citation for a dictionary consists of the author or organization’s name and year of publication. In this case, the in-text citation will look like this:

Print: (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

Online: (Cambridge University Press, n.d.)

As your loyal editors, it’s our job to ensure that you do your best with your academic documents. So if you want us to add any more examples of APA citations, make sure to let us know in the comments!

If you’d like to read about the APA 7 formatting guidelines for academic documents, visit this article.

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Tanvi

With a foundation in Life Sciences, Tanvi enjoys curating technical writing tips tailored for ESL students. When she's not translating complex concepts into bite-sized nuggets, she can be found playing with dogs or painting landscapes.