You've finally found it. That perfect three-minute clip of a neuroscientist explaining synaptic pruning better than any textbook ever could. You're deep into your research paper, the coffee is cold, and now comes the annoying part. You have to cite it. Honestly, apa citation for youtube sounds like it should be easy, right? It’s just a link and a name. But the American Psychological Association is notoriously picky about the details. If you get the formatting wrong, you’re basically telling your professor you don't care about the nuances of digital scholarship.
Getting it right matters. Not just for your grade, but for the sake of giving credit where it's actually due.
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Why Everyone Messes Up the Author Field
People usually just grab the name of the person talking in the video. That's a mistake. In the world of APA 7th Edition, the "author" is technically the person or entity that uploaded the video. If you’re watching a TED Talk, the author isn't the speaker; it's TED.
Wait.
What if the channel name is something weird like "PhysicsGirl" or "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell"? You use that. Exactly as it appears. If you happen to know the real name of the creator—let's say you're citing a video by Marques Brownlee—you put the real name first, followed by the channel name in brackets. It looks like this: Brownlee, M. [MKBHD].
But check this out. If the channel name and the real name are the same, don't repeat yourself. You aren't a broken record. Just write the name once and move on to the date.
The Date Isn't Just the Year
In a standard book citation, you just need the year. For YouTube, that's not enough. You need the full date. Year, month, and day. Why? Because YouTube is a high-frequency platform. Content changes. Context changes. Someone might upload three videos in a single week, and your reader needs to know exactly which one you’re talking about.
Put the year first. Then a comma. Then the month and day. Wrap it all in parentheses. Like this: (2024, March 14). Simple.
The Title and the Brackets Rule
Here is where it gets kind of funky. You need to italicize the title of the video. But—and this is a big "but"—you have to add a specific description right after the title.
You must put [Video] in square brackets immediately after the title, before the period. It feels redundant. We know it’s a video. But APA style demands that you categorize the medium so the reader knows they aren't looking for a blog post or a journal article.
The title itself should be in sentence case. That means you only capitalize the first word and any proper nouns. If the video title on YouTube is in ALL CAPS because the creator wanted to clickbait you, don't copy that. Fix it. Make it professional. "HOW TO FIX A TOASTER" becomes "How to fix a toaster [Video]."
Where Does the URL Go?
At the very end. No period after the URL. This is a weirdly specific rule that actually has a practical purpose: if you put a period at the end of a web address, a computer might think the period is part of the link. Then the link breaks.
And skip the "Retrieved from" language. That's old school. That's APA 6th Edition stuff. Unless the content is likely to change—like a live-streaming data feed—you just provide the direct link. Use the one in your browser's address bar, or the "Share" link. Either is fine, but shorter is usually cleaner.
Real-World Examples to Copy
Let's look at a few different scenarios because real life is messy.
Example 1: A Channel with a Real Person's Name
If you're citing a lecture from Dr. Becky Kennedy's channel, and she uses her name as the channel name, it looks like this:
Kennedy, B. (2023, May 10). How to handle a toddler meltdown [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example
Example 2: A Corporate or Group Author
Scientific American (2021, January 5). The evolution of the human eye [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example2
Example 3: A Username Only
Veritasium. (2022, September 18). The speed of light is not constant [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example3
See the pattern? Author. Date. Title. Platform. URL. It's a rhythm.
The "YouTube" Part
People often forget to mention the site name. After the title and the [Video] bracket, you must include "YouTube" as the source. It’s the publisher in this context. It sits right there between the title and the link, acting as a bridge.
What About In-Text Citations?
This is where you actually use the citation in your writing. Most people think they need to include the timestamp in every single mention. You don't.
If you are just referring to the video as a whole, a standard (Author, Year) works perfectly.
Example: Some argue that the speed of light remains the most misunderstood concept in modern physics (Veritasium, 2022).
But.
If you are quoting a specific line or pointing to a specific visual, you must use a timestamp. This replaces the page number you'd use for a book. Instead of (p. 45), you use (1:12).
Example: "The data suggests a 40% increase in atmospheric carbon" (Scientific American, 2021, 4:25).
It helps the reader find the exact moment you're talking about without having to sit through a 20-minute video. Be a hero. Give them the timestamp.
The Tricky Stuff: Citing a Whole Channel
Sometimes you aren't citing one video. You're citing a creator's entire body of work. Maybe you're analyzing the visual style of a specific YouTuber.
In this case, you don't use a date. You use (n.d.) which stands for "no date." You also change the title. Since a channel is a collection, you include the tabs you're referring to, like [YouTube channel].
Example: MKBHD. (n.d.). Home [YouTube channel]. YouTube. Retrieved March 10, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd
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Note that for a whole channel, you do include a retrieval date because channels change every day. Videos are added; others are deleted.
Common Myths and Misconceptions
One of the biggest lies students tell themselves is that they can use an "APA Generator" and call it a day. Those tools are often stuck in 2015. They might give you a citation for a "Web Map" or a "Blog" instead of a "Video." Or they'll mess up the sentence case.
Another mistake? Citing a video that was re-uploaded by someone else. If you're watching a clip of a 1990s documentary that some random user named "CoolGuy82" uploaded last week, you shouldn't really be citing CoolGuy82. You should try to find the original source. If you absolutely must cite the YouTube version, acknowledge that it's a secondary source.
Practical Steps to Clean Up Your References
- Check the uploader. Is it a person or a company? Use the bracketed format if you have both a real name and a handle.
- Fix the capitalization. Title case (Capitalizing Every Word) is for the YouTube UI. Sentence case (only the first word) is for your APA paper.
- Verify the date. Don't just put the year. Look for the "Uploaded on" date under the video description.
- Don't forget the brackets. [Video] is the tag that tells the reader what they're looking at.
- Get the timestamp. If you quote it, time it.
APA style is basically a game of "follow the leader." Once you have the template down, you just plug in the variables. It feels tedious because it is, but it also gives your work a level of authority that "I saw this video online" never will.
Go through your reference list right now. Look for those italicized titles. Ensure the word "YouTube" is there. Check your links. If you've done all that, you're ahead of 90% of other researchers.
Open your document and verify the uploader names. If you see a channel name like "National Geographic," make sure you haven't tried to invent a person's name to go with it. Use the organization as the author. Make sure your in-text citations match your reference list exactly. If you cited (Veritasium, 2022) in the text, the reference must start with "Veritasium." Consistency is the entire point of the system.
Check the URLs. Click them. Do they actually go to the video, or do they go to a playlist? You want the individual video link. Avoid citing "shorts" unless the specific short is the source of the data; the citation format remains the same, but the brevity makes the timestamp even more vital if you're quoting a specific phrase.
By following these specific steps, you'll ensure your apa citation for youtube is bulletproof against any academic scrutiny.