How to Find a Publication Date for APA

• Step 1

  Scan the first few pages of a book, where the publication date is usually printed on the copyright page. This page includes the date, author, publisher, Library of Congress card number and, if the book was published after about 1980, the International Standard Book Number, or ISBN. Look for the page with just a few lines of text. Sometimes the date is printed at the bottom of the title page, one of the first pages in the book. Foreign publications often print the date on one of the last pages of the book.

• Step 2

  Look on the cover itself of a scholarly journal for the date. If it is not there, look at the bottom of the inside cover or on one of the first few pages. The same general rule applies for magazines. If the date is at the bottom of one of the early pages, it is often in very small script, so have a magnifying glass handy if necessary.

• Step 3

  For an electronic book, view the "Details" tab or similarly labeled tab, usually found at the left side of the computer screen. While the date of publication might be listed on the copyright page, many e-books do not have one. Essentially, it depends upon the individual e-book or the library database that is listing the book. The information should always be available, however, so keep clicking on tabs to find it.

• Step 4

  Look in the summary of an article (the annotation) that is listed online, under the title. Databases such as Academic Search Premier will give you lists of articles in response to your search queries, and under the title there is a summary, and usually a date. If not, view the article itself. The date often appears at the top of the first page. You can also often click on the title itself to get further publication information, including the date. Magazine articles are treated the same way.

• Step 5

  Read the credits of a motion picture, which run at the start and at the end of the film, to get the date. It often appears as very nearly the last thing on the screen. Unfortunately, if you are viewing the film on television, the credits are often cut off or run so quickly that they are unreadable. You can refer to movie databases such as the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com, which lists dates and plot summaries along with ratings.

• 3
• As a general rule, look at the start and the end of all documents, films and voice recordings to find the date.
• As a general rule, look at the start and the end of all documents, films and voice recordings to find the date.

References & Resources

• American Psychological Association: Basics of APA Style