The American Psychological Association maintains a series of standards for students and writers that are known as APA style. APA style creates consistency for formatting, mechanics, grammar, and other aspects of writing and publishing, including in-text citations and reference lists.
When using a press release for an article, blog post, or other types of content, it’s customary to cite it as a source. Depending on whether you use a quote from a press release in the body of your content or if you need to include one as part of your reference list, there are specific ways to properly cite a press release using APA guidelines.
APA Standards On How To Cite A Press Release In-Text
When including a direct quote from a press release and following APA standards, the text from the press release should be enclosed in quotes, followed by the name of the publisher and the publication date.
Here is an example taken from a press release that shares interesting facts about a service.
“When employed in hatcheries and man-made fishing habitats, the systems have been shown to promote the propagation of larger, healthier fish.”
The quote should then be followed by the name of the publisher or party responsible for issuing the press release, such as the company name. In this example, the press release issuer is Aqua Zelm.
A comma and the year of the press release’s publication will follow the name of the company. This information is enclosed in parenthesis, like so: (Aqua Zelm, 2022)
Altogether, the quote and in-text citation for this press release would look like this:
“When employed in hatcheries and man-made fishing habitats, the systems have been shown to promote the propagation of larger, healthier fish.” (Aqua Zelm, 2022)
APA Standards On How To Cite A Press Release As A Reference
When a press release is used as an information source or needs to be credited on a works cited list, APA standards will specify the publisher, the publication date, the press release’s title, the specification that it’s a press release, and the website URL where it can be found.
Here is an example taken from a press release that compares a business with a major competitor.
The company that issued the press release is Persuasive Printing. It was published on March 8th, 2023. The title is “Persuasive Printing Outshines Competitors In The Screen Printing And Product Customization Market”, and the website URL is magoda.com.
On an APA-style works cited page, this press release reference would appear as follows:
Persuasive Printing (2023, Mar 8) Persuasive Printing Outshines Competitors In The Screen Printing And Product Customization Market [Press Release]. magoda.com
Also, take note of the text format:
- The publisher’s name is in plain text.
- The date starts with the year and after a comma, adds the month and day, which are all enclosed in parenthesis.
- The press release title is in italics.
- The content type is enclosed in brackets, followed by a period.
- The reference ends with the URL and no closing punctuation.
To practice with additional examples, try applying this method using press release templates. These resources can also be helpful when your goal is to learn how to write a press release in addition to learning how to cite one under APA guidelines.
