How to cite course materials in APA

Course packs are collections of articles and/or materials from different original sources. Treat these like an anthology with your instructor as the editor. If there is a year printed on it, use that, otherwise use the current date:

Author, A. (Year). Title of article. In A. Tutor (Ed.), Course number: Course title (pp.). Athabasca University. (Reprinted from Journal Title, Volume(issue), page numbers).

Mendelsohn, S. & Walker, C. (2021). Agents of change: African American contributions to writing centers. In C. Smith (Ed.), MAIS 601: Making Sense of Theory in the Humanities and Social Sciences course pack (pp. 12-53). Athabasca University. (Reprinted from The Writing Center Journal, 39(1-2), 55-96). 

Sometimes your study guide may not have an identifiable author. In this case, use your institution’s name. If the year isn’t printed, use the current year.

Institution. (Year). Name of study guide [Study guide]. URL

Athabasca University. (2024). EDDE 801 [Study guide]. URL

These are notes provided by your instructor, and not your own notes.  

Author, A. (Year). Title [Description of format: Lecture Notes, Module __, Handout, PowerPoint]. Athabasca University. URL 

Rosso, G. (2021). The microbiome [Lecture Notes]. Athabasca University. https://learning.athabascau.ca/… 

*Note that if you don’t see an author, the institution may be the author: 

Athabasca University. (2021). The microbiome [PDF]. https://learning.athabascau.ca/… 

Posts

Author, A. [handle]. (Year, Month Day). Title of post [Online forum post]. Platform. URL.

Singh, G. [gsingh1]. (2024, December 2). Safe injection sites in the Downtown Eastside [Online forum post]. Brightspace. URL.

Comments

Author, A. [handle]. (Year, Month Day). Title of comment [Comment on the online forum post Post title]. Platform. URL

Stein, S. [sstein2]. (2019, September 3). Three concerns [Comment on the online forum post Safe injection sites in the Downtown Eastside]. Brightspace. URL

If you cannot see the commentor’s full name, use their handle without brackets:

sstein2. (2019, September 3). Three concerns [Comment on the online forum post Safe injection sites in the Downtown Eastside]. Brightspace. URL

This can include student and guest presentations.

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Name of presentation including the course code and name [Course presentation]. University. URL

Fields, A., & Salazar, J. (2024, May 5). Social justice in the health sciences: NURS 200 [Course presentation]. Athabasca University. URL

Author, A. (Year, Month Day). Title. Name of blog. URL

Schonberg, H. (2024, January 17). Types of Leadership. EDUC 200 Class blog. URL

“Title of entry”. (Year, Month Day). In Wiki Name. URL

“Types of Leaders”. (2024, January 17). In EDUC 200 Course wiki. URL

Uploader or name of account. (Year, Month Day). Title of the video [Video]. YouTube. URL

Athabasca University. (2023, June 21). Canada’s Open University [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w33AKq13PyI

List the authors alphabetically:

Efthymiou, A., Naydan, L., & Ozer, H. (2023, October 15). Dissertation analysis [Group presentation]. EDUC 200. URL

Sometimes you may need to cite letters, emails, phone interviews, or other conversations with your instructor’s permission. Cite these as in-text citations only, and not in the references page.

(M. Haen, personal communication, September 30, 2023).

You may have online course texts. Cite them as you would a print text, just add a [description].

Zhang, F. (2020). Matrix theory [eBook]. Springer.

No page numbers?

Your eBook may not have page numbers, or it may have page numbers that differ from the print version. Use the page numbers of the version you are using. If there aren’t any page numbers, you may notice paragraph numbers in the margin. In the absence of paragraph numbers, you could use a heading or section name. It’s okay to abbreviate long headings or section names.