How to Cite a YouTube Video?

Citation is necessary to avoid any kind of plagiarism and to give your viewers proper insight to your data collection sources. If you used some other video or site to take ideas from, it is necessary to cite your videos. Adding citation is very easy and can be done in the short time. Let’s discuss how to cite a YouTube video in basic formats that are commonly used:

How to Cite a YouTube Video in Different Formats?

We can cite YouTube videos in both MLA and APA format. In fact, you might have seen a few videos cited in these formats during your time on YouTube. You should choose the format for your video and cite it accordingly.

MLA Format:

MLA formatting includes the detailed information. It shows Creator, Video Title, Platform in Italics, Channel, Upload Date and the link to the original video. Let’s start with the formatting.

Gather Info:

The video you used as a reference contains all the information you need in the description. You can simply copy the data from there and use it for your citing.

Format Your Data:

Arrange all the data you gathered in the MLA format as mentioned above. You can skip the Author Name if not given and start directly with the song title. Here’s an example of MLA video formatting:

In case you use any direct quote from a source or paraphrase it, be sure to add in-text citations at that place with proper source name. It can be a Book, Website, Movie, Article or any other source. Just add the name, title and proper reference to the content (URL or Page Number).

APA Format:

APA formatting also includes the person or organization that uploaded the video, in addition to the other necessary information. APA video citation starts with the Uploader Name, Date, Title, “Video” in brackets, Website and the URL.

Gather The Info:

The author and the uploader of the video are not the same people sometimes. In that case, you can start with the uploader name which will let your viewers to reach that video easily. Also, if the channel and author name are different, include them both, with channel name in the brackets.

Format Your Data:

Write the information in sequence as mentioned above, in your video description. For in-text citation, use the name of the author, or whichever name appears first in the reference.

If the material is from different sources, it is good to add time-stamps with them as well. They give your video a detailed oriented look that shows that your content is thorough and well researched.

There is also a case where you might need to cite a channel. How to cite a YouTube video with a channel? It is easy too. Just write the channel’s name, Home (as in Homepage) instead of title, and [YouTube Channel]

In place of [Video]. You don’t need to write the date since the content of the channel is updating constantly, just write ‘n.d’ meaning no date. In order to cite a YouTube video, you just need to gather data properly. The rest will come easily on its own.