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To cite a poster in APA 7th edition, treat it as a conference presentation: give the presenter, the full span of conference dates, the poster title in italics, the label [Poster presentation] in square brackets, then the conference name, its location and a link if one exists. In the text, cite it like any other source with the author’s surname and the year.
The format
University library guides that follow the APA Publication Manual, 7th edition (the University of Queensland, the University of Newcastle and George Washington University’s Himmelfarb Library) give the same pattern for a poster:
Author, A. (Year, Month Day-Day). Title of poster [Poster presentation]. Conference Name, City, State, Country. DOI or web address (if available)
| Element | What goes there |
|---|---|
| Author, A. | Presenter’s surname and initials, as in the Okoye example below for several authors. |
| (Year, Month Day-Day) | The days of the conference, written as a range (for example, October 21-23), not only the day the poster was presented. |
| Title of poster | The title as printed on the poster, in italics. |
| [Poster presentation] | A bracketed description of the format. Use the description the conference itself gives the item. |
| Conference Name, City, State, Country | The name of the meeting and where it was held. |
| DOI or web address | Only if the poster is available online. If there is no link, end the entry after the location. No “Retrieved from” is needed before a link. |
Posters, sessions and papers presented at a meeting all follow the same pattern. Only the word inside the square brackets changes, so a talk is cited as a [Conference session] and a poster as a [Poster presentation].
Examples
The two examples below are fictitious and are shown only to illustrate the pattern. The author, titles and conferences do not exist.
Poster with an online link
Alvarez, M. (2025, June 9-12). Sleep timing and recall in first-year students [Poster presentation]. Example Conference on Learning Sciences, Springfield, IL, United States. https://example.org/posters/alvarez
Poster with no link
Okoye, T., Lindqvist, P., & Chen, R. (2024, October 21-23). A pilot audit of consent forms in small trials [Poster presentation]. Example Research Administration Symposium, Leeds, England, United Kingdom.
The second entry ends at the location because no web address is available. Do not add a placeholder link.
In-text citation version
A poster is cited in the body of the text the same way as other sources: the presenter’s surname and the year. The year is the one given in the date element of the reference entry.
- Parenthetical: (Alvarez, 2025)
- Narrative: Alvarez (2025) reported that …
The same form is used for a paraphrase and for a direct quotation (Himmelfarb Library guide).
Citing a poster in a manuscript or thesis
A poster you cite in a manuscript or thesis is cited like any other source: an in-text citation in the body and a matching reference entry in the format above. For designing the poster itself, see our guide to scientific poster design, and for what the accompanying abstract should contain, see a poster abstract example.
Common errors
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| Leaving out the bracketed label | Add [Poster presentation] (or the description the conference uses) after the title. |
| Giving only the day the poster was shown | Give the days of the conference as a range. |
| Not italicising the title | Put the poster title in italics. |
| Adding a link that does not exist | Include a DOI or web address only if there is one. |
| Adding “Retrieved from” before the link | Presentations do not need it; give the link on its own. |
For slide-based sources, see citing sources in PowerPoint with Zotero. For other presentation-style and social media sources, see how to cite an Instagram post and how to cite a blog in APA.
Style-guide edition
This page follows the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2020), the current edition as of October 2026. The reference pattern is taken from the three university library guides listed under Sources, each checked on 29 October 2026.
FAQ
Do I cite a poster differently from a conference paper or talk?
Only in the bracketed label, according to the Himmelfarb Library guide. Posters, sessions and papers presented at a meeting use the same pattern, and the label should match what the conference calls the item.
What date do I use for a conference poster?
The days of the conference, written as the year, month and day range, for example (2025, June 9-12). The year alone appears in the in-text citation.
What if the poster has no link?
Leave the link element out. The DOI or web address is included only if one is available, as in the University of Queensland guide.
How do I cite a poster in the text?
Use the author’s surname and the year: (Alvarez, 2025) or Alvarez (2025).
Sources
- University of Queensland Library, APA 7th referencing guide, “Conferences”: https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/referencing/apa7/conferences (checked 29 October 2026).
- University of Newcastle Library, APA 7th referencing guide, “Conference”: https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/apa-7th/conference (checked 29 October 2026).
- George Washington University Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, APA guide, “Conferences”: https://guides.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/APA/conferences (checked 29 October 2026).
