Okay, so yesterday I was trying to figure out how to cite a Netflix show in APA style for my research paper. It was a real head-scratcher at first, but I dove right in and got it sorted. Thought I’d share my process here in case anyone else is struggling with the same thing.
First off, I hit up the good old internet to see what the basic rules are for APA citations. Turns out, it’s all about giving credit where it’s due, which makes sense. You gotta mention who made it, when it was made, and what it’s called. Easy enough, right?
Digging into Netflix Shows
Then I started looking specifically at how to do this for a Netflix show. I found some helpful guides online. They said I needed the producer’s name, the year the show came out, the title (which should be in italics), and some info about it being a TV series.
So, let’s say I wanted to cite “Stranger Things.” I had to find out who the big bosses behind it were. A quick search told me it was the Duffer Brothers. Then, I needed the year it premiered, which was 2016.
Putting It All Together
Here’s where it got a bit more detailed. The format I found was something like this:
- Producer(s). (YEAR). Title of TV Show in Italics [Television series].
So for “Stranger Things,” it looked like this:
- Duffer Brothers. (2016). Stranger Things [Television series].
But that’s not all, folks! If you’re citing a specific episode, you gotta add more stuff.
Citing a Specific Episode
For an episode, the format changed to include the episode’s air date, title, season and episode number, and who the executive producers were. Phew, that’s a mouthful! It looked something like this:
- (Year the episode was originally aired, Month Day if known). Title of episode (Season Number, Episode Number) [TV series episode]. In Executive Producer’s First Initial. Last Name (Executive Producer).
So if I wanted to cite the first episode of “Stranger Things,” which is called “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers,” I had to dig up when it first aired (July 15, 2016) and find the executive producers (which includes the Duffer Brothers and a few others). The citation then ended up looking like:
- (2016, July 15). Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers (Season 1, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In M. Duffer & R. Duffer (Executive Producers).
And there you have it! That’s how I figured out how to cite a Netflix show in APA style. It took a bit of digging and piecing things together, but it’s not so bad once you get the hang of it. Hope this helps someone out there!
