APA 7th Edition Guide

Master APA citation format with this comprehensive reference

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Basics Authors Journals Books Websites In-Text Citations Reference List

APA Basics

APA (American Psychological Association) style is widely used in the social sciences, education, and business. The 7th edition, published in 2019, introduced several updates from the 6th edition.

Key Principles

  • Give credit to original sources to avoid plagiarism
  • Allow readers to locate and verify your sources
  • Follow a consistent format throughout your paper

What's New in APA 7

  • Include up to 20 authors before using ellipsis
  • No location required for publishers
  • "Retrieved from" only used when retrieval date is needed
  • DOI format standardized as https://doi.org/xxxxx
  • Running head only required for professional papers

Formatting Authors

Author Name Format

List authors by last name first, followed by initials:

Last Name, F. M.

Multiple Authors

Number Reference List Format
1 author Smith, J. A.
2 authors Smith, J. A., & Jones, B. C.
3-20 authors Smith, J. A., Jones, B. C., & Williams, D. E.
21+ authors First 19 authors, ... Last author

No Author

When no author is listed, move the title to the author position.

Journal Articles

Basic Format

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

Example:

Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelber, J. (2019). Emotions in storybooks: A comparison of storybooks that represent ethnic and racial groups in the United States. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(3), 207-217. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000185

Key Elements

  • Journal name: Italicized, title case
  • Volume: Italicized
  • Issue: In parentheses, not italicized (if available)
  • Page numbers: No "p." or "pp."
  • DOI: Always include if available, in URL format

Books

Basic Format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter for subtitle. Publisher.

Example:

Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000

Special Cases

Edition: Include edition number in parentheses after title: (2nd ed.)
Edited book: Add (Ed.) or (Eds.) after editor names
Chapter in edited book: Include chapter author, chapter title, "In" editor, book title, pages

Websites

Basic Format

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

Example:

World Health Organization. (2020, May 28). Mental health and psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19 outbreak. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/mental-health-considerations.pdf

Important Notes

  • Site name: Omit if same as author
  • Retrieval date: Only include if content may change (e.g., wikis)
  • No author: Move title to author position
  • No date: Use (n.d.) for "no date"

In-Text Citations

Parenthetical vs. Narrative

Parenthetical:

Research shows that... (Smith, 2020).

Narrative:

Smith (2020) found that...

Number of Authors

Authors First Citation Subsequent
1 author (Smith, 2020) (Smith, 2020)
2 authors (Smith & Jones, 2020) (Smith & Jones, 2020)
3+ authors (Smith et al., 2020) (Smith et al., 2020)

Reference List Formatting

Formatting Rules

  • Title: Center "References" at the top (bold)
  • Order: Alphabetical by first author's last name
  • Spacing: Double-space all entries
  • Indentation: Hanging indent (0.5 inch) for each entry
  • Same author: Order by year (oldest first)
  • Same author, same year: Add lowercase letters (2020a, 2020b)

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