PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Class lecture or notes

How to Cite a Lecture or Lecture Notes in APA 7

How you cite a lecture in APA 7 depends on whether your reader can find it. Lecture notes posted online get a reference with the instructor, the date, the title in italics, [Lecture notes] in square brackets, the site, and the URL, and an in-text citation like (Jackson, 2012). A recorded lecture is cited as the video it's in. A lecture you only heard in class goes in your text alone, as a personal communication with the instructor's initials, last name, and the date: (F. M. Lastname, personal communication, Month Day, Year).

The format

Instructor, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of the lecture [Lecture notes]. Site Name. URL

PERRLA APA Experts ยท Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Type lecture into PERRLA's reference search, or choose Lecture & Presentation Materials from the reference types. Add your instructor as the Presenter, then fill in the Title of the Material, type Lecture notes in the Format box, pick the Presentation Date, and enter the site in Institution or Platform and the URL. PERRLA puts the title in italics and the format in square brackets. If the title looks like title case, it points that out and offers a sentence-case version, so check that version before you keep it.

Watching the lecture on YouTube? Paste the video's link into the reference search instead. PERRLA builds it as a video, with the channel, the title, the upload date, [Video], and YouTube filled in.

Citing a lecture you heard in class? Choose Personal Communication, add your instructor as the Personal Source, and pick the Communication Date. PERRLA writes the in-text citation and keeps it off your references page, the way APA 7 wants.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Instructor

For lecture notes or slides, the instructor who wrote them is the author: last name, a comma, and initials. Two instructors? List both, with an ampersand (&) before the last.

Jackson, J.

A recorded lecture is different. When it's a video on YouTube, the author is the account that posted it, which is often the school, not the person speaking. Name the instructor in your sentence if it matters who said it.

MIT OpenCourseWare.

2. Date

Use the date of the lecture, or the date the notes were posted, as exactly as you can: year, month, and day.

(2020, May 6).

Course sites often give only a term, like Spring 2012. Then use the year alone: (2012). No date at all? Write (n.d.). For a video, the date is the day it was uploaded, not the day of the class.

3. Title and [Lecture notes]

Write the title of the lecture in italics and in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Then describe the format in square brackets, in plain type.

Stigmatized conditions: Responsibility and blame [Lecture notes].

Match the label to what you have: [Lecture notes] for written notes or outlines, [PowerPoint slides] or [Lecture slides] for slides, and [Video] for a recording on YouTube. If the notes have no title, put a short description in square brackets where the title goes, with no italics, and leave out the separate label.

4. Site name

Name the site where you found the notes: an open course site, the school's site, or your course's learning management system, written the way your school writes it.

MIT OpenCourseWare.

For a recorded lecture on YouTube, the site is YouTube.

5. URL

End with the link to the notes or the page they're on, with no period after it.

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21a-215-disease-and-health-culture-society-and-ethics-spring-2012/resources/mit21a_215s12_lecture_21/

Notes inside Canvas, Blackboard, Moodle, or another course site need a login, so use the site's login or home page as the URL. A link to the file itself won't open for anyone outside the course.

Examples

Lecture notes posted online

An instructor's notes for a lecture on stigma, responsibility, and blame in an MIT anthropology course on disease and health, posted on MIT OpenCourseWare. The course site gives only the term, so the date is the year.

  • Parenthetical citation(Jackson, 2012)
  • Narrative citationJackson (2012)

Slides from a lecture, with the date it was given

The slides an MIT economics professor used for a lecture on happiness and mental health, dated on the first slide. The instructor is the author, the lecture date is the date, and a quote points to the slide, since slides have no page numbers.

  • Parenthetical citation(Schilbach, 2020, Slide 9)
  • Narrative citationSchilbach (2020, Slide 9)

A recorded lecture on YouTube

The recording of that same lecture, posted on YouTube. Compare it to the slides above: as a video, the author is the account that posted it, the date is the upload date, and the label is [Video]. Quote it with a timestamp. To credit the professor, name him in your sentence: In a lecture recorded by MIT OpenCourseWare (2021), Frank Schilbach explained ...

  • Parenthetical citation(MIT OpenCourseWare, 2021, 12:40)
  • Narrative citationMIT OpenCourseWare (2021, 12:40)

In-text citations

Which in-text citation you use depends on whether your reader can find the lecture.

  • Notes or slides posted online: the instructor's last name and the year: (Jackson, 2012) or Jackson (2012)
  • A quote from slides: add the slide number: (Schilbach, 2020, Slide 9)
  • A recorded lecture: the video's author and year, plus a timestamp for a quote: (MIT OpenCourseWare, 2021, 12:40)
  • A lecture you heard in class: the instructor's initials and last name, the words personal communication, and the exact date of the class: (F. M. Lastname, personal communication, Month Day, Year). As a narrative citation: F. M. Lastname (personal communication, Month Day, Year).

A personal communication never goes on the references page. Your reader has no way to find a lecture that wasn't recorded or posted, so the in-text citation carries all the detail. The same goes for an unrecorded guest speaker or webinar.

Common mistakes

  • A references-page entry for a lecture you heard in class(F. M. Lastname, personal communication, Month Day, Year) in your text onlyA lecture that wasn't recorded or posted can't be found by your reader, so APA 7 cites it as a personal communication, in the text only.
  • (Professor Lastname, class lecture)(F. M. Lastname, personal communication, Month Day, Year)A personal communication takes the speaker's initials and last name, no title like Professor or Dr., and the exact date.
  • (J. Jackson, personal communication, 2012)(Jackson, 2012)Notes posted online are recoverable, so they get a full reference and a regular author-date citation. Personal communication is only for what your reader can't find.
  • Schilbach, F. (2021, September 27).MIT OpenCourseWare. (2021, September 27).A YouTube video's author is the account that posted it. Name the professor in your sentence instead.
  • Stigmatized conditions: Responsibility and blame [Lecture notes].Stigmatized conditions: Responsibility and blame [Lecture notes].Only the title is italic. The label in square brackets stays in plain type.
  • Citing the lecture for a study your instructor describedFind the study, read it, and cite the studyAPA 7 prefers the research a lecture was built on. Cite the lecture for what your instructor added that isn't published anywhere else.

Quick checklist

  • Could your reader find it? If not, it's a personal communication, in your text only
  • Instructor's last name and initials, or the uploader for a video
  • The most exact date you have: lecture date, posting date, or upload date
  • Title in italics and sentence case
  • [Lecture notes], [Lecture slides], or [Video] in plain type
  • Site name and URL, or the login page for a course site
  • A slide number or timestamp, not a page number, when you quote slides or a video

Questions students ask

How do I cite my professor's lecture in APA 7?

If the lecture wasn't recorded or posted, cite it as a personal communication in your text only: (F. M. Lastname, personal communication, Month Day, Year). If your professor posted notes or slides, or the lecture was recorded, and your reader can get to them, cite what you used with a full reference.

How do I cite lecture notes from Canvas or Blackboard?

When you're writing for the class, and your instructor can log in and see the notes, use a full reference with the course site's name and its login page as the URL. If your paper is for readers outside the course, who can't log in, cite the notes as a personal communication instead.

Can I cite my own notes from class?

No. Your notes aren't a source your reader can find. Cite the lecture they came from, which is usually a personal communication, or better, the published research your instructor talked about.

How do I cite a recorded lecture in my course site, like a Panopto or Zoom recording?

Give it a reference like other course materials: the instructor, the date, the title in italics, a description of the format in square brackets, like [Video], the course site's name, and the login page as the URL. Use this only when your reader can log in. A recording on YouTube is cited as a YouTube video instead.

Do personal communications go on the references page?

No. A personal communication is cited only in your text, with the person's initials and last name and as exact a date as you can give.

How do I cite a guest speaker in my class?

The same way as your instructor. If the talk wasn't recorded or posted, cite it as a personal communication with the speaker's initials, last name, and the date. If it was recorded and your reader can watch it, cite the recording.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 6.17, 8.8, 8.9, 8.28, 10.12, and 10.14 (Example 102), and the APA Style website's PowerPoint slide and lecture note, classroom and intranet source, personal communication, and YouTube pages. Example sources verified on MIT OpenCourseWare's lecture pages, the lecture notes and slide PDFs themselves, and the video's YouTube page (channel, title, and September 27, 2021, upload date).

PERRLA builds the reference for posted notes and recorded lectures, and writes the personal communication citation for the lectures you heard in class.

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