In some research papers, you may want to reference a video. While you'll typically provide the same information, the format differs depending on whether you're using the American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago/Turabian, or Modern Language Association (MLA) citation method. Within each style, the format also may vary slightly depending on the type of video it is and how you accessed it.
APA Style
Start with the author of the video.
In most cases, the author of the video is considered to be the producer of the video. This may be an individual, or it may be an institution such as a corporation or a nonprofit organization.
- List the author’s last name first, followed by a comma and their first and middle initials. For example: “Palmer, A.”
- If you include more than one author with different roles, you can provide their role in parentheses after their name. For example: “Harris, M. (Producer), & Turley, M. J. (Director).”
- The author may be different depending on where and how you accessed the video. For example, if you viewed a TED talk on the TED website, you would list “TED” as the author. However, if you viewed the video elsewhere, you typically would provide the name of the person giving the talk as the author.
Include the date of broadcast or copyright in parentheses.
Start with the year the video was broadcast or produced, then place a comma and include the specific date. If no specific date is given, you can just provide the year.
- For example: “Palmer, A. (2013, February).”
List the title of the video and its format.
The title of the video follows the date, and should be italicized. Use sentence-style capitalization, capitalizing only the first word of the title (and subtitle, if relevant) and any proper nouns. Include the format of the video in square brackets after the title.
- For example: “Palmer, A. (2013, February). Amanda Palmer: The art of asking [Video file].”
- Use “video file” if you accessed the video online. For physical media, provide the type of media, such as “DVD.”
Provide information about distribution or availability.
If the video you’re referencing is a widely available video, such as the DVD of a TV show or major motion picture, include the location and the name of the producer or distributor.
- For example: “Smith, J. D. (Producer), & Smithee, A. F. (Director). (2001). Really big disaster movie [Motion picture]. United States: Paramount Pictures.”
- If you accessed the video online, distribution and availability information should include a complete URL for the video. For example: “Yale University (Producer). (2010, April 14). Globalization of energy demand [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJM7HLyzsCM.”
Use the author and date for in-text citations.
Whenever you mention the video in your paper, you should include a parenthetical citation that will direct your readers to the full citation included in your reference list.
- For example: “(Palmer, 2013).”
Chicago Style
Start with the principle subject of the video.
For Chicago or Turabian style formatting, the name you use as the first part of your citation depends on the focus of the video and why you’re referencing it in your work.
- For example, suppose you have the video of an interview that you want to use as a reference in your paper. If the person being interviewed is the reason you’re referencing the video, you would put their name first in the citation. However, if your paper evaluated interviewing styles and techniques, your focus would be on the interviewer, so you’d put their name first.
- Names are listed in “last name, first name” format. For example: “Harwood, John.”
- If the principle subject of the video is the video itself, or if there is no principle subject, leave this part of the citation off and move on to the title.
Provide the title of the work.
For a full video, place the title of the video in italics immediately following the first name or names that you listed in your citation. Use the same capitalization as in the video itself.
- If you’re citing a shorter clip, put the title in quotation marks rather than in italics. For example: Harwood, John. “The Pros and Cons of Biden.”
- Include the names of the director or key performers, if they are relevant to the reason you are citing the work. This typically comes up when citing motion pictures or creative works. For example: “Joe Versus the Volcano. Directed by John Patrick Shanley.”
Provide a date of copyright or publication.
Tell readers where and when the video was published and distributed. Start with the year of copyright or publication, then the location, then the production or distribution company. If the year the video was made differs from the copyright year, include that year at the end.
- For example: “Joe Versus the Volcano. Directed by John Patrick Shanley. 1990. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2002.”
Note the medium or where the video can be found.
Close your citation by identifying specifically how you accessed the video. For online video clips, include the time length of the recording and a direct URL to the video.
- For example: “Harwood, John. “The Pros and Cons of Biden.” New York Times video, 2:00. August 23, 2008. http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=a425c9aca92f51bd19f2a621fd93b5e266507191.”
- If you watched the video using a physical medium, such as a DVD, you don’t need as much information. For example: “Joe Versus the Volcano. Directed by John Patrick Shanley. 1990. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2002. DVD.”
Use the author-date system for in-text citations.
Chicago and Turabian styles use either footnotes or parenthetical citations. The format for footnotes is similar to the format for the bibliography. For parenthetical citations, simply use the last name listed first in your citation, followed by a comma and the year of publication.
- For example: “(Harwood, 2008).”
- If the title of the video appears first in your full citation, you can use the first word from the title, or a keyword. Just make sure it adequately identifies the correct citation. For example: “(“Joe,” 1990).
MLA Style
Start with the title of the video.
In most cases, if you’re citing a video in MLA style, you’ll put the title of the video first. The title of the video should be in italics. Use the same capitalization as is used in the video itself.
- For example: “Fahrenheit 9/11.”
Start with a contributor’s name if you’re referencing their work.
In some cases, it may be that you’re only using the video as a reference to highlight one particular individual’s work in that video. If that’s the case, start your citation with their name rather than the title of the video. Include an abbreviated description of their role after their name.
- For example: “Moore, Michael, dir. Fahrenheit 9/11.”
List the director or producer.
Unless they are listed first, follow the title of the video with the name of the director or producer. You may also want to include key performers, especially if they are mentioned specifically in your paper.
- For example: “Citizen Kane. Dir. Orson Welles. Perfs. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten.”
Describe the format of the video.
A video may be edited or changed when it is distributed in different formats. For this reason, you need to point your readers directly to the version you viewed and referenced in your paper.
- For example: “Frankenstein. Dir. James Whale. Perfs. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clark. 1931. DVD.”
Provide distribution information.
Generally, you need to provide enough information that your reader could follow in your footsteps and view the same video you did. The type of information you include will vary depending on how you accessed the video and how much information is available to you.
- If you viewed a subsequent edition of the original video recording, include the date the video you watched was produced. For example: “Frankenstein. Dir. James Whale. Perfs. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clark. 1931. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2006.”
- If you accessed the video online, you’ll need to provide the name of the website where the video appears, the date you accessed it, and a direct URL to the video. For example: “Lucasfilm, Ltd. “Star Wars Trailer.” 05 November 1999. Online video clip. Star Wars Official Site. Accessed on 02 April 2008. .”
Use signal words and phrases for in-text citations.
MLA style doesn’t generally require parenthetical citations to non-print sources when you paraphrase or quote them in your paper. However, you should mention the title and other information about the video.
- Give your readers enough information that they could go to your Works Cited and find the citation they needed.