How to Cite Seminars in APA Format

A seminar is a class or presentation that often requires a high level of participation from both presenters and students. The sixth edition of the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style requires you to cite your seminar when you reference it in the text of your paper, as well as on a separate list after the body of your essay.

Citing Retrievable Seminar Resources

How you cite a seminar on your reference page depends on whether you can find seminar information online. If there are notes, slides, videos or other materials from the seminar online, you can cite these items. Use the following format for online seminar items:

Author Lastname, First Initial(s). (Year, Month Day of Seminar). Title of seminar: Any subtitles [Type of document]. Retrieved from URL.

For example, your citation might look like this:

Arbaje, A. (2011, December 13). Healthy aging: Strategies to Prevent Common Problems as You Get Older [video file]. Retrieved from http://webcast.jhu.edu/

Citing a non-Retrievable Seminar

If you can't find materials from the seminar online to cite, cite the seminar as a meeting instead. To do so, you'll need the location of the seminar as well as the name of the group or organization hosting.

For example: Grant, C. (1998, May 7). Fridays and 13ths: Luck or superstition? Seminar presented at the meeting of the American Cultural Society, Tacoma, WA.

In-Text Citations

APA style also requires you to include in-text citations in your paper. Whenever you reference or quote a source in your paper, include a parenthetical immediately afterward that includes the author's name and the year of the seminar--month and day is not required.

For example: (Arbaje, 2011) or (Grant, 1998).

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