Authors of works are individuals or groups who participated in its creation. Individuals and groups may appear together in a reference as authors of a work.
Individual names used in a reference generally appear in the formats "LastName, A. A." or "A. A. LastName" depending on location in the reference. For example, "Obama, B. H." or "B. H. Obama."
Group authors can be businesses, government agencies, associations, non-profit organizations, task forces, hospitals, and study groups. In a reference full group names are spelled out. For example, "Delaware County Community College" rather than "DCCC."
Authors in specialized roles such as editors, directors, and so on are identified as such. For example, a director as author would appear as "Anderson, W. W. (Director)."
Who is used as author varies based on the media type as follows:
In reference citations these titles appear in "sentence case." This means that as with a sentence, most words are lowercase. Words capitalized are:
These titles are also italicized.
For less standard sources, after the title bracketed descriptions are often provided to identify what these sources are exactly. There are no absolute rules about the language used to describe such sources, but research paper writers try to be as consistent as is reasonable. Only the first word of these descriptions are capitalized. Some examples:
Director last name, Initial(s) (Director). (Release YYYY). Title of film [Film]. Production Company.
Note: how the film was viewed (DVD, streaming, theater, etc.) is not required.
Garbus, L. (Director). (2016). What happened, Miss Simone? [Film]. Netflix.
Executive producer last name, Initial(s) (Executive Producer). (Series start YYYY-series end YYYY). Title of series [TV series]. Production Company(ies).
Basch, G., Bush, E., Clement, J., Rudin, S., Simms, P., & Waititi, T. (Executive Producers). (2019-present). What we do in the shadows [TV series]. FX Productions; Two Canoes Pictures; 343 Incorporated; FX Network.
Episode writer last name, Initial(s) (Writer), & Director last name, Initial(s) (Director). (Air date YYYY, Month name DD). Episode name (Season #, Episode #) [TV series episode]. In Executive producer Initial(s) Last name (Executive Producer), Title of series. Production Company(ies).
Bob-Waksberg, R., & Purdy, K. (Writers), & Hulsing, H. (Director). (2019, September 13). The hospital (Season 1, Episode 2) [TV series episode]. In E. Aron, R. Bob-Waksberg, N. Bright, J. Calo, T. Pallotta, & K. Purdy (Executive Producers), Undone. Minnow Mountain; Submarine.
Group or Person who uploaded the video last name, Initial(s) [Username if applicable]. (Upload date YYYY, Month name DD). Title of video [Video]. Website name. URL
CrashCourse. (2019, January 8). Introduction to Crash Course navigating digital information #1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLlv2o6UfTU
Artist last name, Initial(s). (Publication YYYY). Album title [Album]. Label.
NOTE: How the album was listened to (streaming, CD, etc.) is not required; a URL is required if it is the only means of retrieval.
Lizzo. (2019). Cuz I love you [Album]. Atlantic.
Artist last name, Initial(s). (Publication YYYY). Song title [Song]. On Album title [Album]. Label.
Fish, S. (2019). Bulletproof - Tangle Eye Mix [Song]. On Kill or be kind. Rounder.
Host last name, Initial(s) (Host). (Series start YYYY-series end YYYY). Title of podcast [Audio podcast]. Production company(ies). URL if accessed online
Rocca, M. (Host). (2019-present). Mobituaries [Audio podcast]. CBS News; Simon & Schuster. https://www.mobituaries.com/the-podcast/
Host last name, Initial(s) (Host). (Air date YYYY, Month name DD). Title of episode (No. #) [Audio podcast episode]. In Title of podcast. Production company(ies). URL if accessed online
Glass, I. (Host). (2019, November 15). The out crowd (No. 688) [Audio podcast episode]. In This American life. WBEZ Chicago. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/688/the-out-crowd
Artist last name, Initial(s). (Creation YYYY). Title of work [Format]. Museum Name. URL if accessed online
Cassatt, M.S. (1881). A woman and a girl driving [Painting] . Philadelphia Museum of Art. https://philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/104447.html?mulR=739928573|1
Creator last name, Initial(s). (Creation YYYY). Title of photograph [Photograph]. Where retrieved from. URL if accessed online
Barry, D.F. (1885). Standing Holy, daughter of Sitting Bull, Dakota, bust [Photograph]. Digital Collections, Denver Public Library. http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/68828/rec/5
Group name or Map creator last name, Initial(s). (Publication YYYY). Title of map [Map]. Map publisher. URL if accessed online
Beers, S.N., & Lake, D.J. (1860). Map of the vicinity of Philadelphia [Map]. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. https://shorturl.at/buO58