To cite a PowerPoint, treat it like any other work: give the presenter, the date, the title, a description that it's a slide presentation, and where your reader can find it. In APA 7, the description goes in square brackets: [PowerPoint slides]. In MLA 9, the title goes in quotation marks and you can add "PowerPoint presentation" at the end. Cite specific slides with a slide number rather than a page.
Examples below use fictional presenters and titles.
What to collect before you cite
- Presenter name(s), or the organization if no person is named.
- Date the slides were presented or posted.
- Title of the presentation.
- Where you accessed it: a course platform, a website, a slide-sharing service or a conference.
- URL, if it's online.
- The slide number for anything you quote or reference specifically.
APA 7th edition
Slides from a public website
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Site Name. URL
Lindqvist, E. (2023). Designing low-cost water filters for rural schools [PowerPoint slides]. Northgate Engineering Society. https://www.northgate-eng.example.org/talks/water-filters
In-text: (Lindqvist, 2023) or, for a specific slide, (Lindqvist, 2023, Slide 12)
The title is in italics and sentence case: only the first word, proper nouns and the first word after a colon are capitalized.
If the slides were made with Google Slides or Keynote, change the description to match: [Google Slides] or [Keynote slides]. If the slides are on the same site as the author's name (for example, an organization posting its own deck), you can omit the site name to avoid repeating it.
Slides from a course platform
When the people reading your paper can access the same course, APA allows you to cite the learning platform as the source.
Ortiz, M. (2025, February 14). Water rights in the arid West [PowerPoint slides]. Canvas@Harlow University.
In-text: (Ortiz, 2025, Slide 7)
Some instructors want the login URL of the platform added; others don't. Ask if you're not sure.
Conference presentation
If the slides accompanied a talk at a conference, cite the presentation itself:
Presenter, A. A. (Year, Month Day–Day). Title of presentation [Type of presentation]. Conference Name, City, State, Country. URL
Ferreira, D., & Moreau, L. (2024, June 10–12). Teaching citation skills with peer review [Paper presentation]. Western Writing Educators Conference, Portland, OR, United States.
In-text: (Ferreira & Moreau, 2024)
MLA 9th edition
MLA uses the same core elements for every source: author, title, container, contributors, version, number, publisher, date and location. Slides are usually a work inside a larger container, such as a website or a course, so the presentation title goes in quotation marks.
Slides from a website
Lindqvist, Emma. "Designing Low-Cost Water Filters for Rural Schools." Northgate Engineering Society, 2023, www.northgate-eng.example.org/talks/water-filters. PowerPoint presentation.
In-text: (Lindqvist, slide 12)
MLA titles use title case, so every major word is capitalized. Adding "PowerPoint presentation" at the end is optional, but it helps readers know what they're looking for.
Slides from a course
Ortiz, Marisol. "Water Rights in the Arid West." Environmental History 210, Harlow University, 14 Feb. 2025. PowerPoint presentation.
In-text: (Ortiz, slide 7)
Course names aren't italicized or put in quotation marks in MLA.
Conference presentation
Ferreira, Daniel, and Lea Moreau. "Teaching Citation Skills with Peer Review." Western Writing Educators Conference, 11 June 2024, Portland. Presentation.
If a deck was published as a standalone work rather than inside a website or course, some instructors prefer the title in italics. When the container isn't clear, check your instructor's preference or the MLA style guide's current advice.
Citation GeneratorAPA, MLA, Chicago and moreChicago style
In Chicago notes and bibliography, the description "PowerPoint presentation" appears after the title. The examples below use the notes-and-bibliography system.
Footnote:
- Emma Lindqvist, "Designing Low-Cost Water Filters for Rural Schools" (PowerPoint presentation, Northgate Engineering Society, 2023), slide 12, https://www.northgate-eng.example.org/talks/water-filters.
Bibliography:
Lindqvist, Emma. "Designing Low-Cost Water Filters for Rural Schools." PowerPoint presentation, Northgate Engineering Society, 2023. https://www.northgate-eng.example.org/talks/water-filters.
In Chicago author-date, the in-text citation is (Lindqvist 2023, slide 12).
Quick reference table
| Element | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago (bibliography) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title format | Italic, sentence case | "Quoted, Title Case" | "Quoted, Title Case" |
| Description | [PowerPoint slides] after title | PowerPoint presentation, at end (optional) | PowerPoint presentation, after title |
| Date | (Year) or (Year, Month Day) after author | Day Month Year near end | After the description |
| Slide locator | (Author, Year, Slide 7) | (Author, slide 7) | slide 7 in the note |
Citing sources inside your own presentation
When you build slides for class, the same rules apply in reverse. Every chart, image, statistic and quotation on a slide needs a credit.
- Put a short in-text citation directly on the slide, near the material: (Varga, 2022) or "Source: Varga, 2022."
- Add a final references or works-cited slide, formatted in your class's style.
- For images, credit the creator and source. Stock image sites and open-license collections usually state how they want to be credited.
Common mistakes
- Citing the slides for a fact that came from elsewhere. If a slide quotes a study, find the study and cite it directly when you can.
- Using page numbers. Slides use slide numbers. Count from the first slide if they aren't printed.
- Mixing title formats. APA uses italic sentence case; MLA and Chicago use quotation marks with title case.
- Leaving out the description. Without [PowerPoint slides] or "PowerPoint presentation," readers may hunt for a book or article.
Key takeaways
- Same core information in every style: presenter, date, title, description, location.
- APA: italic title plus [PowerPoint slides]; cite slides as "Slide 7."
- MLA: title in quotation marks, container, date, URL, optional "PowerPoint presentation."
- Chicago: "PowerPoint presentation" after the title, in both the note and the bibliography.
If the slides came from a class session, our guide on how to cite a lecture covers the spoken part of the talk.