How to Cite a TED Talk in APA Style | Format & Examples
Published on
December 7, 2020
by
Jack Caulfield.
Revised on
June 16, 2022.
To cite a TED Talk in APA Style, the format differs slightly depending on whether you viewed it on TED’s website or on YouTube.
To cite a TED Talk from the TED site, list the speaker as author, give the date listed on the site, include “Video” in square brackets after the title, list the publisher as “TED Conferences,” and give the URL.
APA format
Speaker last name, Initials. (Year, Month). Talk title [Video]. TED Conferences. URL
Sivaram, V. (2020, October). India’s historic opportunity to industrialize using clean energy [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/varun_sivaram_india_s_historic_opportunity_to_industrialize_using_clean_energy
If you viewed the TED Talk on YouTube, the format differs slightly. The uploader (usually TED) is listed as author, the date given is when the video was uploaded to YouTube, and YouTube is listed as the publisher.
APA format
Channel name. (Year, Month Day). Talk title [Video]. YouTube. URL
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Timestamps are used in place of page numbers when you need your in-text citation to identify a specific moment in the talk—for example, when you quote something the speaker said.
In-text citation with timestamp(Sivaram, 2020, 1:04)
When your in-text citation doesn’t include the name of the speaker (i.e. when you cite from YouTube), it’s generally useful to name the speaker in the text, so that you’re not just referring to “TED.”
Specifying the speaker in the textJustice reform advocate Nisha Anand opens her talk with the story of her family’s experiences during the Partition of India (TED, 2020, 1:59).
Frequently asked questions about APA Style citations
When you need to highlight a specific moment in a video or audio source, use a timestamp in your APA in-text citation. Just include the timestamp from the start of the part you’re citing. For example:
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
Caulfield, J.
(2022, June 16). How to Cite a TED Talk in APA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr.
Retrieved November 3, 2023,
from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/ted-talk/
Jack is a Brit based in Amsterdam, with an MA in comparative literature. He writes for Scribbr about his specialist topics: grammar, linguistics, citations, and plagiarism. In his spare time, he reads a lot of books.
