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APA 7th Referencing Style Guide

Computer software & apps

Reference format

Who When What Where  
Author, A. A. (Year). Name of the software or app (Version number) [Computer software or Mobile app].

Publisher.

App Store.

Google Play Store. 

 https://xxxx

Examples

Athenahealth (2019). Epocrates (Version 19.10.1) [Mobile app]. http://www.epocrates.com/

Xero. (2019). Xero practice manager [Computer software]. https://www.xero.com/nz/features-and-tools/practice-tools/practicemanager/
  • 'Common' or well known software (e.g. Microsoft Office, Facebook, etc.) does not need to be referenced. Give the proper name of the software or app along with the version number in the text
  • If your audience is unlikely to be familiar with software or apps of limited distribution, provide in-text citations and reference list entries
  • Treat manuals and handbooks as books
  • If the publisher is the same as the author, as in the examples above, you may omit it

 

Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

Computer games

Reference format

Who When What Where  

Developer, D. D.

Group Name.

 (Year released). Title [Platform]. Publisher. https://xxxx

Examples

Fox, Toby. (2015). Undertale [Steam]. Toby Fox.

Vollmer, A., & Wohlwend, G. (2014). Threes [Mobile iOS]. Sirvo. http://play.threesgame.com/
  • The APA Publication Manual does not specifically discuss computer games, so this format is an adaption of the Computer software and apps reference type 

 

Find how to cite in text on the In-text citation page.

Artificial intelligence software

Referencing the information generated by an algorithm or artificial intelligence software tool, such as ChatGPT. 

Credit the author of the algorithm/AI tool with a reference list entry and an in-text citation. 

Reference list format

Who When What Where

Author of AI tool.

 (Year released). Title of tool (Version) [Description]. URL to access tool

Reference list example

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (Mar 14 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

 

In-text citation examples

OpenAI (2023) generated the following response when... 

...that indicates a limitation of the software (OpenAI, 2023). 

In your writing

  • Describe how you used the tool.
  • Provide the prompt you used.
  • Provide any portion of the relevant text that was generated in response.
  • Document the exact text created because tools like ChatGPT generate unique responses in each chat session, even if given the same prompt.

More information