Learn Everything About How to Cite Ted Talks

Motivational speakers in Ted talks provide highly compelling and encouraging notions that could provide you with an excellent topic to write your research papers. However, when you use these Ted talks in your paper, you may have to give citations. Here is a complete guide on how to cite Ted Talks.

In text-citations addressed your reader allows you to insert the references automatically at the end of the research. Well, there are numerous ways to give citations in any research, and APA and MLA are the two most used reference styles.

An APA (American Psychological Association) style is the format for academic documents, such as research papers, journals, articles, and e-books. Moreover, it is usually used to cite sources that are relevant to the domain of the social or behavioral sciences.

On the other hand, MLA (Modern Language Association) referencing style is the format of crediting the sources used in research. This citation style is essentially used in research papers on the English language and other communication classes. Before we begin the guide with examples of how to cite Ted Talks, here is a brief explanation of Ted Talk.

What is a Ted Talk?

TED Talks is an American-Canadian television network that distributes presentations free on the internet. Richard Saul Wurman invented TED as a seminar, which he co-founded with Harry Marks in February 1984. Since 1990, it has been hosted on a yearly basis.

Nevertheless, the purpose of the Ted talks is to provide accessible information and education to a worldwide audience On the Ted platform, researchers, scholars, engineers, CEOs, artists, illustrators, and other world specialists deliver “Ideas Worth Spreading”: important new information and breakthrough study in their respective domains.

Scholarly Help also listed some Ted Talks for Students here.

Now, let’s get started with a detailed guide on how to cite Ted Talks.

How to Cite Ted Talks APA from Ted Website?

Learn about how to cite Ted talks in APA style from the Ted official platform.

Begin the Reference List with the Speaker’s Name

If you got the ted talk directly from the official ted site, then the speaker would be considered as the author of the talk. However, the method to write the author’s name is that the last name should be placed first, followed by the comma, and place the initial letter of the first name after the comma.

For instance,

Smith, A.

Insert Date When the Video was Posted

Now, provide the date in an organized form. Right after the name, insert date within the brackets. Type the year when the video was posted on the website; then the month and the date. Remember, insert a comma after the year and then the month and the day. Also, keep in mind, you should not abbreviate the month; instead, place the month in full form.

For example,

Smith, A. (2021, September 04).

Provide with the date when the video was posted instead of when the talk was delivered.

Put the Video Title

When you visit the Ted Talk website, you would find multiple videos with their respective titles and descriptions along with the speaker’s name and posted date. These titles give an idea about what the talk is about. So, in your research paper, type the title of the particular talk in the sentence case. No matter in which style the title is mentioned on the video, you should follow an explicit style such as;

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word
• Capitalize any proper noun within the title
• Italicize the entire title

Now, once you have added the video title, in the square brackets, type “Video file” and place a full stop in the end.

For instance,

Smith, A. (2021, September 04). An NFL quarterback on overcoming setbacks and self-doubt [Video file].

Give a Direct URL

Now, in the end, provide the direct link to the Ted Talk video. Before inserting the URL, type “Retrieved from” and then add a link to the video. Keep in mind, do not add a full stop at the end of the link.

For instance,

Smith, A. (2021, September 04). An NFL quarterback on overcoming setbacks and self-doubt [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_smith_an_nfl_quarterback_on_overcoming_setbacks_and_self_doubt

How to Cite a Ted Talk MLA from YouTube?

Another way to cite Ted Talks is if you are taking the Ted Talk video from YouTube. However, the following method is how to cite a Ted Talk MLA.

Begin with the Speaker’s Name

Just like the APA format, start referencing your research with the name of the author or the speaker. Yet, this format would be slightly different from the APA style. Firstly, type the last name of the author followed by the comma. Then comes the first name. In this format, you have to type both first and surname in complete form. Lastly, place a full stop after the author’s name.

For example,

Johnson, Steven.

Write the Title of the Video

Unlike the APA style, you need to place the title of the ted talk video instead of the date. After the author’s name, list the full title of the ted talk. The requirements for inserting the title are:

• Capitalize the first letter of the first word
• Capitalize any proper noun within the title
• Place quotation marks around the title
• Place a full stop at the end and within the inverted commas.
• Do not italicize the title.

For example,

Johnson, Steven. “How humanity doubled life expectancy in a century.”

Write the Website Name

Now, list the name of the website, which is YouTube. Write this name right after the title in italicized form. Then place a comma and insert the posted date. While taking the video from YouTube, you need to add “Uploaded by Ted” after placing the website’s name and place a comma after.

For instance,

Johnson, Steven. “How humanity doubled life expectancy in a century.” YouTube, uploaded by Ted,

Add the Date of the Posted Video

Now, add the date when the video was posted on YouTube instead of the post date on the Ted website. The format of the date would be day-month-year. Make sure to write the month name in abbreviated form and the letters of the month name should not be more than three. Also, place a comma after the date.

For instance,

Johnson, Steven. “How humanity doubled life expectancy in a century.” YouTube, uploaded by Ted, 09 Dec 2021,

Provide URL in the End

Now, close the citation by inserting the URL of the video. Copy the link to the ted talk from YouTube and paste it after the date. However, remove the “https:/” part from the URL and place a full stop at the end.

For example,

Johnson, Steven. “How humanity doubled life expectancy in a century.” YouTube, uploaded by Ted, 09 Dec 2021, youtu.be/m9bTgNjYTS0.

Wrap Up

We hope you have learned about how to cite ted talks in both MLA and APA formats. However, if you want to insert MLA format in your research and the video is taken from the website, follow the same process, but instead of “YouTube, uploaded by Ted” provide the website’s name. The same is the case with the APA style. Now you should not worry about citing your research paper if you want to give ted talk citations. Still, if you are looking for more assistance in your research paper, contact Scholarly Help and get an authentic piece of paper within no time.