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APA Citation Guide (7th Edition)

The APA 7th edition was published in October 2019. Please check with your instructor about which edition should be used for your work.

Creating Your Reference List

  • The References list goes on its own page at the end of your paper.
  • Use a Level 1 Heading for the References heading at the top of the page (Bold & Centered).
  • You will need to list every source you used in the text of your paper
  • The list goes in alphabetical order by the first element of the reference citation, which is usually the author but may also be the title if the source has no author. 
  • Each reference should be formatted with a hanging indent, which means the first line starts all the way to the left and subsequent lines start indented to the right. 

Along with showing your knowledge of the subject and credibility as an author, the point of providing a reference is to allow a reader to look up the source for themselves. You will need to provide as much information as possible. You can either learn the reference elements and their formatting rules so that you can apply them to any source, or you can use reference examples. Keep in mind that if you use the examples, you may need to combine several of them to get the best citation for your source. For example, if you have an edited book with an edition and several authors, you may need to look at the edited book example, a book with multiple authors example, and the book with an edition example. 

For a Word Document with citation examples already formatted with hanging indent, download the APA 7th Ed. Paper Template.

  • Only the last name and initials are used in APA formatting when citing names of authors, editors, or translators.
  • If you have only authors, only editors, they belong at the beginning of the citation.
  • Authors or editors’ names at the beginning of a citation are inverted. This formatting helps with the alphabetization of the References list.

Ex: Author, A. A.
Ex: Editor, A. A. and Editor, B. B. (Eds.).

Kruglanski, A. W. (2004). The psychology of closed mindedness. Psychology Press.

  • When a source has an author(s) and an editor(s), include the author(s) at the beginning of the citation and the editor(s) before the title of the source formatted first initial middle initial last name preceded by ‘In’ and followed by the abbreviation for editor or editors.

Ex: In A. A. Editor (Ed.),
Ex: In A. A. Editor & B. B. Editor (Eds.),
Ex: In A. A. Editor, B. B. Editor, and C. C. Editor (Eds.),

Suffla, S. & Seedat, M. (2021). Africa's knowledge archives, black consciousness and reimagining the community psychology. In G. Stevens & C. C. Sonn (Eds.), Decoloniality and epistemic justice in contemporary community psychology (pp. 21-38). Springer Nature. 

  • If there are 21 or more authors, include the names of the first 19 authors. After the 19 authors use an ellipses, then add the final author after the ellipses.

Ex: Author, A. A., Author, B. B., Author, C. C., Author, D. D., Author, E. E., Author, F. F., Author, G. G., Author, H. H., Author, I. I., Author, J. J., Author, K. K., Author, L. L., Author, M. M., Author, N. N., Author, O. O., Author, P. P., Author, Q. Q., Author, R. R., Author, S. S., . . . Author, Z. Z.

  • If there is no author, you can move the title to the beginning of the citation in place of the author. The publication date remains in the second position.

Epistemic. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epistemic

  • An author can also be a group, institution, or organization.

Ex: American Psychological Association.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019, September 13). Key facts about influenza (flu). cdc.gov/flu/about/keyfacts.htm

  • Dates are formatted as Year, Month Day. Provide as much date information as the source gives and spell out the month rather than abbreviating it.

Ex: (2006, January 31).

Ehrenfeld, J. M. (2023, July 25). AMA applauds proposed rule on Mental Health Parity Law [Press Release]. AMA. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-applauds-proposed-rule-mental-health-parity-law

  • If no date is given, use the abbreviation n.d. for no date.

Ex: (n.d.).

Epistemic. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epistemic

To Capitalize or Not to Capitalize

  • Most titles in APA need to be in sentence case. Sentence case means that only the beginning word of a title, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon are capitalized. This rule applies no matter the capitalization you see in the source itself.

Ex: The psychology of affiliation: Experimental studies of the sources of gregariousness.

  • The exceptions to the sentence case rule are the title of a periodical or website name. A periodical is a source published on a regularly scheduled basis. These include journals, magazines, and newspapers. Periodicals and website names follow title case, which means that all the beginnings of important words are capitalized.  

Journal Ex: American Journal of Psychology
Website Name Ex: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

To Italicize or not to Italicize?   

  • Titles of whole works, such as a book or journal, are italicized.
  • Titles of pieces of smaller works, such as an article in a journal, a chapter in a book, or a video in a series, are not italicized.
  • Journal volume numbers (but not issue numbers!) are also italicized.

Ex: 10(2),

Feldman, K. D. (2013). Engaged anthropology on “the last frontier”. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 37(1), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12020

You may have noticed that some citations in APA require a description in brackets while others do not. If a description would help your reader identify the source or if the source is not typical for a research paper, such as social media or videos, then include a description in brackets after the title.

Ex: [Tweet], [Status update], [Comment], [Brochure], [Video file], [Motion picture], [Lecture notes], [Monograph], [Transcript], [Video webcast]

Ehrenfeld, J. M. (2023, July 25). AMA applauds proposed rule on Mental Health Parity Law [Press Release]. AMA. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-applauds-proposed-rule-mental-health-parity-law

Journal and Magazine Articles

  • Magazine and journal articles often have both volume and issue numbers. Typically, a magazine or journal will publish multiple issues within a year. The volume will refer to all the issues published within that year, and the issue will indicate which order it was published in that year. 
  • The magazine and journal volumes are italicized.
  • The issue is placed within parentheses next to the volume, is not italicized, and is followed by a comma.

Ex: Volume 5, Issue 12 would be formatted: 5(12),

Author, A. A. (date of publication). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Title in Title Case, Vol.(Issue), xxx-xxx. https://doi.org/xxxxxxx

Feldman, K. D. (2013). Engaged anthropology on “the last frontier”. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 37(1), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12020

Books with Volumes or Editions

  • With books, volumes indicate there is more than one to complete a set. Volumes are most often used with reference books with too much information to fit into a single book binding. 
  • Editions are when a single book is published multiple times, often because they are updated. Textbooks often have editions.
  • Both volume and edition number information belong in parentheses following the title of the book. 

Ex: (Vol. 1)

Ex: (Expanded ed.)

Madigan, M. L. (2018). First responders handbook: An introduction (2nd ed.). CRC Press.

  • In the Reference citation, a page number range for the entire source referenced is listed.
  • Page numbers for an article in a journal or magazine are listed after the volume/issue number and are followed by a period.

Ex: 465-473.

Feldman, K. D. (2013). Engaged anthropology on “the last frontier”. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 37(1), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12020

  • Page numbers for a book chapter are listed in parentheses after the Title of the book with the abbreviation pp. for pages if there are more than 1 and p. for a single page.

Suffla, S. & Seedat, M. (2021). Africa's knowledge archives, black consciousness and reimagining the community psychology. In G. Stevens & C. C. Sonn (Eds.), Decoloniality and epistemic justice in contemporary community psychology (pp. 21-38). Springer Nature. 

  • A publisher is a company that edits, formats, and distributes published works. For the purposes of APA, you only list the publisher information for books, book chapters, and works in an anthology. 
  • Spell out the full publisher's name without abbreviations.
  • The publishing location does not need to be included.

Ex: Oxford University Press

Suffla, S. & Seedat, M. (2021). Africa's knowledge archives, black consciousness and reimagining the community psychology. In G. Stevens & C. C. Sonn (Eds.), Decoloniality and epistemic justice in contemporary community psychology (pp. 21-38). Springer Nature. 

  • DOIs or Digital Object Identifiers are the preferred method for citing an electronic source. Have you ever clicked on the link to a website only to find the link was broken? DOIs are permanent urls assigned to an article to make sure a reader can always find it. They are most commonly assigned to journal articles, but sometimes ebooks, ebook chapters, and online magazine articles have them too.

Ex: https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12020

Feldman, K. D. (2013). Engaged anthropology on “the last frontier”. Annals of Anthropological Practice, 37(1), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.1111/napa.12020

  • Some publishers put the DOI in number only form. In this case, change the DOI into the url form with the prefix https://doi.org/

Ex: Change this: DOI:10.1037/arc0000014
To This: https://doi.org/10.1037/arc0000014

  • For electronic journal, magazine, and newspaper articles without DOI’s, you do not need to provide an alternative URL from the database or browser bar.

  • Websites do not have DOIs. If you’re citing a website you can use the full URL of the page you’re citing from.

  • Do no put a period after a DOI or URL.

  • The DOI or URL should not be hyperlinked unless your professor asks for it to be.

Need to see reference citation formatting explained in a different way? Check out this Scaffolded Reference Elements Worksheet by the American Psychological Association: