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Citing Help

Common Scenarios in Citing Business Sources in APA

The APA style manual covers many major publication types, but business databases present unique challenges for citation. When stating from where you retrieved the information, the only URLs you should give are those on the open Internet (as opposed to URLs from sites that require you to login).

Be sure to check with your instructor for any specific citation requirements.

 

CanLII Case Law

With minor formatting changes, the references provided by the CanLII database are acceptable at Assiniboine. Copy the reference provided by CanLII, then change the formatting to match the examples below.

Copied References

  • Bartello v. Canada Post Corp., 1987 CanLII 177 (ON SC), <https://canlii.ca/t/1p77l>, retrieved on 2023-11-21

  • Canada Post Corp v. Canada (Minister of Public Works) (C.A.), 1995 CanLII 3574 (FCA), [1995] 2 FC 110, <https://canlii.ca/t/4nj2>, retrieved on 2023-11-21

  • Canada Post Corp. v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 2019 SCC 67 (CanLII), [2019] 4 SCR 900, <https://canlii.ca/t/j47p4>, retrieved on 2023-11-21

     

Updated References

 

In-Text Citations
  • (Bartello v. Canada Post Corp., 1987, paras. 14-15)
  • (Canada Post Corp. v. Canada (Minister of Public Words) (C.A.), 1995, para. 23)
  • (Canada Post Corp. v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 2019, para. 37)

When quoting directly from a case in CanLII in your assignment, include the paragraph number(s) in your in-text citation to help the reader locate the information. You may have to count the paragraphs manually to determine what number to assign.
Ask your instructor if they require the inclusion of paragraph numbers.

 

Citing CanLII in Zotero

Zotero and other citation tools are not perfect. They rely on the information you add. You need to check that information is entered correctly. If something is wrong or missing, you will need to fix it yourself.  

 If using Zotero to create your reference list, do the following to cite a CanLII case:​

  • Open the Zotero application
  • Select the reference from your list
    • If you haven't imported the reference from your browser using the Zotero Connector, click the add new item icon
      • Choose Case
  • Item Type: Case
  • Title: Enter the case name [e.g. Canada Post Corp. v. Canada ( Minister of Public Works ) ( C.A. )]
  • Author: Leave blank
  • Court: (Court acronym) [e.g. (FCA)]
  • Date Decided: Delete imported date or leave blank
  • Docket Number: Year CanLII number (e.g. 1995 CanLII 3574)
  • Reporter Volume: Delete imported number or leave blank
  • First Page: Delete imported number or leave blank
  • URL: Enter the URL (e.g. https://canlii.ca/t/4nj2)
  • Accessed: Delete imported date or leave blank
When using the Zotero plugin for Word, you need to manually add the court case date in the in-text citation.
If you use a citing tool other than Zotero to create your reference list, the formatting may be different. Check with your instructor to ensure it meets requirements.

 

Company or Association Websites

Typically, there is no individual author for a company or association website, so the company is the corporate author. The italicized title is the name of the webpage or web article. If the content is not dated, use "n.d." instead.

  • Ford Motor Company. (2009). About Ford. http://www.ford.com/about.html

  • National Restaurant Association. (2015). Restaurant performance index. http://www.restaurant.org/News- Research/Research/

 

Company or Industry Profile

Most profiles do not have a personal author name, but you can use the corporate name of the publisher or database instead. Notice that you designate what kind of information this is in the square brackets. If you can't find a date, use n.d. instead.

  • Economic Development Brandon. (n.d.). Behlen Industries LP [Company profile]. http://economicdevelopmentbrandon.com/business-profiles

  • PrivCo Media, LLC. (2018). Mary Kay profile and business model [Company profile]. PrivCo.

 

IBISWorld Report

When referencing IBISWorld content, you include the date that you accessed the information. This is because content in the IBISWorld database is designed to change over time.

When an author name is listed, use it in your reference. If an author isn't listed, leave the author out of your reference. In this case, the report title will move to the front of your reference.

Always use this exact URL: https://ibisworld.com/

 

General Example

Author(s). (Publication year). Report title (Industry Report #). IBISWorld. Retrieved date, from https://ibisworld.com/

No Author Example

Report title (Industry Report #). (Publication year). IBISWorld. Retrieved date, from https://ibisworld.com/

 

Reference List Example

Le, T. (2024). Coffee & snack shops in Canada (Industry Report 72221BCA). IBISWorld. Retrieved August 30, 2024, from https://ibisworld.com

No Author Example

Coffee & snack shops in Canada (Industry Report 72221BCA). (2024). IBISWorld. Retrieved date, from https://ibisworld.com/

 

Citing IBISWorld in Zotero

Zotero and other citation tools are not perfect. They rely on the information you add. You need to check that information is entered correctly. If something is wrong or missing, you will need to fix it yourself.  

 If using Zotero to create your reference list, do the following to cite an IBISWorld report:​

  • Open the Zotero application
  • Select the reference from your list
    • If you haven't imported the reference from your browser using the Zotero Connector, click the add new item icon
      • Choose Blog Post
Note: While a Global Road Warrior article isn't technically a blog post, choosing the blog post source type gives the correct formatting for your reference.
  • Item Type: Blog Post
  • Title: Industry name (Industry Report [report number]) [e.g. Coffee & snack shops in Canada (Industry Report 72221BCA)].
  • Author: Enter the author's name, if listed
  • Blog Title: IBISWorld
  • Date: Enter publication date
  • URL: Retrieved [enter the date you last accessed the article], from https://ibisworld.com (e.g. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://ibisworld.com)
If you use a citing tool other than Zotero to create your reference list, the formatting may be different. Check with your instructor to ensure it meets requirements.

 

Press Release

You can usually find an author of a press release. Use a specific date rather than just the year. You may have retrieved a press release from a website or from a database, and the citation should reflect that.

  • Franco, J. (2010, November 11). Four in five adults say that being able to charge their devices wirelessly would make life easier. http://www.ipsos-na.com/

 

Social Media

The owner of the page is the author and the social media platform is the title if it is a page in LinkedIn or Facebook.  For Twitter, the title is the actual tweet. You should indicate the date you retrieved it as well.

  • American Marketing Association. (n.d.). Home [LinkedIn page}. LinkedIn. Retrieved September 22, 2021 from https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-marketing-association

  • ACC Library [@ACCLIBR]. (2019, April 23). Come out for Cram Jam today! We're open late to help students get ready for exams or work on projects. Reduce stress by cuddling with some furry friends and enjoy free pizza snacks! [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/ACCLIBR

 

Stock Quotes

The author is the stock exchange name from which you got the price. Notice that you need to be specific about the date, since prices change constantly. In the section for where you retrieved it, state where you found it with a database name if behind authentication or with a URL if on the open Internet.

  • NYSE. (2015, June 24). Starbucks Corporation [Stock quote and chart]. Retrieved October 30, 2017 from http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GPS&d=1.

Adapted and used with permission from Southern Methodist University Library.