APA7 Guide

• Social media is often considered an unreliable or non-academic source. Before using it as evidence, you should check with your tutor or lecturer to make sure this is an appropriate source type to use for your assessment.
• Do not change or correct nonstandard spelling and capitalization. You can insert [sic] after any incorrect or nonstandard spelling or grammar to make it clear to your marker that you are quoting the source verbatim (i.e. without any changes).

For example:

            “we arent [sic] okay with this.”

• Include any links or hashtags.
• If emojis are used, replicate them where possible or include the emoji name in square brackets, e.g., [winking face].
• Make it clear what platform you are citing – examples include Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
• Briefly describe the type of post – whether it is a Tweet, Facebook post, etc.
• If the source includes an image, graph, poll, or other audio-visual source, provide a brief description of it in square brackets – i.e. [image of a duck], [graph about xyz] etc.

Paraphrase

Template:

            (Author/s, Year)

            OR

            Author/s (Year)

For example:

The University of Wollongong (2021) has announced that two of their rural campuses will soon run entirely on renewable energy.

Bri Lee (2021) describes her latest article as an examination of the inequalities inherent in current defamation laws.

Direct quote 

Template:

            (Author/s, Year)

            OR

            Author/s (Year)

For example:

“UOW's Shoalhaven and Bega campuses will use 100 per cent renewable energy generated in Nowra from early 2022” (University of Wollongong 2021).

“My piece in today's @satpaper is about how expensive defamation litigation is - either to launch or defend - and how that threatens our democracy” (Lee, 2021).

• Usernames and the type of post (e.g. Facebook post, tweet, etc) should be enclosed in square brackets, as in the examples below.

Template:

Author, A. A. OR group name [username]. (Day Month Year). First Twenty Words of the Post/Tweet/etc. [type of post]. [description of post if audiovisual]. Name of platform. URL

For example:

University of Wollongong [@UOW]. (29 November 2021). UOW's Shoalhaven and Bega campuses will use 100 per cent renewable energy generated in Nowra from early 2022! ?☀️. [Facebook post]. Facebook. https://bit.ly/3HZb0I5

Bri Lee [@bri.e.lee]. (13 November 2021). My piece in today's @satpaper is about how expensive defamation litigation is - either to launch or defend - and how that [Instagram post]. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CWMdvW_vGP8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link