APA Citation Format: Complete Guide to APA 7th Edition

APA (American Psychological Association) style is used in psychology, social sciences, education, and nursing. The 7th edition (2020) is the current version. This guide covers in-text citations, reference list formatting, and the most common source types.

APA in-text citations

In-text citations are parenthetical and include the author’s last name and the year of publication.

One author:

(Smith, 2024)

Two authors:

(Smith & Jones, 2024)

Three or more authors — use et al. from the first citation:

(Smith et al., 2024)

Organization as author:

(American Psychological Association [APA], 2020)
Second reference: (APA, 2020)

No author — use the title (shorten if long, in italics for books/reports, in quotes for articles):

("Study Finds," 2024)

No date:

(Smith, n.d.)

Page numbers — required for direct quotes:

(Smith, 2024, p. 47)
(Smith, 2024, pp. 47–48)

Narrative citation — author as part of the sentence:

Smith (2024) found that...
According to Smith et al. (2024)...

Reference list basics

The reference list goes on a new page at the end of your paper, titled References (centered, bold). Rules:

• Alphabetical by author last name
• Hanging indent: first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches
• Double-spaced throughout
• DOI or URL for online sources when available

Books

Template:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Subtitle. Publisher.

Example:

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Two authors:

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1999). The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman.

Edited book:

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.). (2004). Character strengths and virtues. Oxford University Press.

Chapter in edited book:

Bjork, R. A. (1989). Retrieval inhibition as an adaptive mechanism in human memory. In H. L. Roediger & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Varieties of memory and consciousness (pp. 309–330). Erlbaum.

Journal articles

Template:

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page–Page. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example with DOI:

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks. Emotion, 19(7), 1172–1191. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000504

No DOI — online:

Weir, K. (2017, January). Forgiveness can improve mental and physical health. Monitor on Psychology, 47(1). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/01/ce-corner

Note: In APA 7, volume numbers are italicized; issue numbers are not.

Websites

Template:

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Website Name. URL

Example:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, March 18). COVID-19 vaccines. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html

No author:

Autism and vaccines. (2024, April 2). National Institutes of Health. https://www.nih.gov/autism-vaccines

Reports and gray literature

Government report:

National Cancer Institute. (2024). SEER cancer statistics review. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://seer.cancer.gov/csr

Research report:

Baxter, P., & Jack, S. (2023). Qualitative case study methodology. Brock University.

APA 7 key changes from APA 6

Topic	APA 6	APA 7
Authors	List up to 6, then et al.	List up to 20, then et al.
DOI format	doi: 10.xxx	https://doi.org/10.xxx
Publisher location	Required (City, State)	Omitted
Running head	Required for all papers	Only for manuscripts for publication
et al. threshold	6+ authors	3+ authors

Reference page example

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American
     Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, J. (2019). Emotions in
     storybooks. Emotion, 19(7), 1172–1191. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000504

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

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