How to Cite a Professional Organization in APA

Research paper writers sometimes quote or paraphrase from sources authored by professional organizations. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association specifies the requirements for creating both in-text and References page citations for sources authored by governmental or other professional organizations.

In-Text Citations

When the author is an organization versus an individual, completely spell out the name of the entity in your signal phrase -- this is the preferred use -- or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source. When an entity has a widely know abbreviation, place it in brackets directly after the name so that you can use the abbreviation alone in subsequent citations.

Subsequent signal phrase citations would read: "The NAACP refuted . . ."

List subsequent parenthetical citations as:

Do not repeat the date or "n.d" -- which stands for no date -- for the same composition by the same author in later citations.

References Page

The References page entry includes the name of the organization in full, the date or "n.d." in parenthesis, the title of the Web page in sentence case, the most recent date of access following the word "Retrieved" and the URL address with no ending period.