💡 Before we show you how to cite a PowerPoint in APA, we would like to tell you that all examples and explanations are about APA 7th edition.
In your PowerPoint presentation, you’re going to use a combination of texts and images to present information. You’ll need to cite the sources for these documents and media so your audience knows where to find out more about the topic.
This way, you will both adhere to the rules of using copyrighted information and show that your knowledge on the topic is well researched and you have spent time finding the resources.
What we will discuss in this article is the APA standard and how to make a proper PowerPoint citation in APA standard. Let’s dig deep.
Article Overview:
1. What is Apa?
2. Why do people use APA as a standard?
3. How to cite a PowerPoint presentation in APA?
4. How to Cite a Picture in PowerPoint?
1. What is APA?
APA is one of the most popular and widely used styles for writing research papers. This style of writing citations and citing sources is used in most social sciences – mainly psychology, sociology, and education. The acronym comes from American Psychological Association. You can check APA’s website for more information.
2. Why do people use APA as a standard?
Before we tell you how to cite a PowerPoint presentation in APA style, we need to clarify the main reason why people use this style. As the most common standard, it is widely accepted around the world, and the manuals have been sold millions of times.
What makes the APA citation style so popular among educational institutions is that it gives “weight” to the documents that are being examined. Adding the sources and using the right way to present the sources could greatly influence the credibility of any thesis or PowerPoint presentation.
3. How to cite a PowerPoint presentation in APA?
There aren’t one or two ways to cite a Powerpoint presentation in APA. Why? Because there are different conditions that can affect the accessibility of the original source. Let’s see some of the most common occasions in citing PowerPoint presentations in APA style.
3.1. Citing a PowerPoint in APA – Accessible Documents
This is probably the best-case scenario for citations, as your readers will have access to the information, thus they can easily find the original source. Bear in mind you should not include PowerPoint presentations in the reference list if your audience cannot access them.
3.1.1. Citing in PowerPoint from public sites
When you have the source and it is an available webpage, you will have to link directly to the original source.
Example:
| In-text citation | (Ritchie & Roser, 2017) |
| Reference List | Ritchie H., & Roser M. (2017, August). Meat and Dairy Production [PowerPoint slides]. Ourworldindata. https://ourworldindata.org/meat-production |
N.B. You should always cite the original source. If you have found a piece of statistics somewhere – let’s say a WeForum article, it is not the original source, thus you cannot refer to information that has not been published by the author.
3.1.2. Citing PowerPoints on password-protected portals
When it comes to citing from a university or other password-protected website, you should refer to the login page, as a direct link will lead to it. Let’s see an example I’ve made up myself.
| In-text citation | (Kaloyanov, 2022) |
| Reference list | Kaloyanov, N.(2022, June 22). How to make good designs [PowerPoint slides]. Faculty of Design, Graphic Mama University of Design Varna. https://graphicmama.com/login |
N.B. Sometimes, there is no author mentioned. In such cases, we proceed in two ways:
- If there is no author, but an organization that is behind the source:
| In-text citation | (Graphic Mama, 2022) |
| Reference list | Graphic Mama(2022, June 22). How to make good designs [PowerPoint slides]. Faculty of Design, Graphic Mama University of Design Varna. https://graphicmama.com/login |
What we have done is we have replaced the author’s name with the name of the organization that has published the report.
- If there is an unknown author.
| In-text citation | Designs, 2022 |
| Reference list | How to make good designs [PowerPoint slides] (2022, June 22). Faculty of Design, Graphic Mama University of Design Varna. https://graphicmama.com/login |
In case there’s an unknown author, we replace their name with the title.
3.2. Citing a PowerPoint in APA – Inaccessible Documents
In case your PowerPoint slide is inaccessible to readers, then you have the option to cite the source as personal communication. Let’s see how this happens.
During the presentation, Peterson made a prediction that low-fare airlines will become dominant by 2030 (personal communication, June 3, 2022).
You can add personal communication citations in parentheses somewhere in the text but not in the reference list, as the original source cannot be directly tracked.
3.3. Citing a PowerPoint Slide
Sometimes, a slide during a presentation makes a great impression and you want to add it to your sources. When this happens, it’s better to cite the original source, rather than the PowerPoint slide itself, because of the requirements we discussed in 3.1.1.
4. How to Cite a Picture in PowerPoint?
If you want to learn how to cite a picture in PowerPoint in APA format, then you should apply some different techniques. What you need to do first is to have a very detailed look at the terms and conditions of the original image. Some images require attribution while others don’t.
Once you insert the image, you need to then create a new text box, align it at the center and write the following:
Figure 1. Image Description. Adapted from SOURCE. Retrieved from SOURCE LINK. Copyright by COMPANY NAME COPYRIGHTS (located at the bottom).
Let’s see how it’s done in practice.
Figure 1. Carbon Footprint and Renewable Energy. Adapted from GraphicMama. Retrieved from https://graphicmama.com/design-bundle/infographic-template-collection#flat-tree-vector-ecology-infographic-template. Copyright by © 2022 GraphicMama.com
Conclusion
Learning how to cite a PowerPoint presentation correctly is crucial if you are submitting your thesis or working on a serious project. The APA style has specific rules that should be followed for your presentations or paper dissertations to look formatted and credible.
If you found our content useful, why don’t you check some of our other tutorials related to PowerPoint and presentations in general:
