APA 7 Citation Builder — Quick Reference Tool

Section 01

Interactive Citation Builder

Select your source type, complete the fields, and generate a correctly formatted APA 7 citation — both the full reference list entry and the in-text forms. All rules derive directly from APA (2020), Chapters 9–10, and the APA Style website (apastyle.apa.org).

APA 7th Edition Citation Generator

American Psychological Association · 7th Edition (2020)

Verified Against APA Manual

Step 1 — Select source type

* Required fields must be filled

Generated Citation

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Parenthetical

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Narrative

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First citation note (3+ authors)

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No saved citations yet — generate and click "Save to List"

Section 02

Core APA 7 Formatting Rules

These rules apply universally across all reference list entries. Every rule is sourced directly from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., 2020) with the relevant section noted.

"The goal of a reference is to provide the information needed to identify and retrieve the work."

— APA Publication Manual, 7th Ed. (2020), p. 283

Hanging Indent

All reference entries use a hanging indent: first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 in (1.27 cm). Apply via: Format → Paragraph → Special → Hanging.

§9.43, p.303

Author Format

Surname, then initials: Smith, J. K. Use & (not "and") before the final author. For 21+ authors: list first 19, then ellipsis (…), then the final author's name.

§9.7–9.8, pp.286–291

Title Case Rules

Article & chapter titles: sentence case — first word, first word after colon/dash, proper nouns only. Book & journal titles: italicize. Journal title = title case; book title = sentence case.

§9.19–9.22, pp.294–296

DOI Format

Always format as: https://doi.org/xxxxxxx
Never use doi: or DOI: prefix. Do not write "Retrieved from" before a DOI. Include when available — omit URL if DOI present.

§9.34–9.36, pp.299–302

Publication Date

Year only for most works: (2020).
Full date for magazines/newspapers/blogs: (2020, March 14).
No date: (n.d.).
Advance online: use the specific date.

§9.15–9.17, pp.292–293

Publisher Location

Removed in APA 7. Do not include city/state for books. Only list the publisher name. This is a key change from APA 6th edition that confuses many writers.

§9.29, p.297 (APA 7 change)

Retrieval Dates

Required only for content that changes over time: wikis, social media, dynamic databases. For standard webpages, articles, and stable URLs: no retrieval date.

§9.16, p.293

Volume & Issue

Journal: volume is italicized, issue is in parentheses (not italicized):
Journal Name, 12(3), 45–67.
No pp. for journal page ranges. Use en dash (–), not hyphen (-).

§9.25–9.26, p.296

Key Changes from APA 6th to 7th Edition

Publisher location removed — not needed for books (§9.29)
20 authors listed before et al. — APA 6 allowed only 7 (§9.8)
3+ authors: et al. from first citation — APA 6 used full names for up to 5 authors on first mention (§8.17)
DOI as URL — https://doi.org/xxx replaces "DOI: xxx" format (§9.35)
Running head — no longer required for student papers (§2.2)
Singular "they" — accepted as gender-neutral pronoun (§5.5)

Section 03

Reference Formats by Source Type

Complete, validated formats for each source category. All examples follow APA (2020), Chapter 10 (pp. 313–352). Use the builder above for instant automatic generation.

Periodicals — Journals, Magazines, Newspapers

Source	Format Template	Worked Example
Journal (with DOI)	Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Article title in sentence case. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx	Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2011). Designing mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 5(2), 89–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689810395462
Journal (no DOI, URL available)	Author, A. A. (Year). Article title. Journal, Volume(Issue), pages. URL	Smith, J. K. (2019). Rethinking qualitative inquiry. Qualitative Report, 24(3), 511–527. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol24/iss3/3 §10.1 p.316
Magazine	Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Magazine Name, Volume(Issue), pages. URL	Gawande, A. (2017, January 23). The upgrade: Why doctors hate their computers. The New Yorker, 93(43), 62–73. https://www.newyorker.com
Newspaper	Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Article title in sentence case. Newspaper Name. URL	Ramirez, A. (2024, March 5). Researchers find new link between sleep and memory. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com §10.1 p.317

Books, Chapters & Reference Works

Source	Format Template	Worked Example
Book (whole)	Author, A. A. (Year). Title in sentence case (Xth ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx	Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE. §10.2 p.321
Edited Book	Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (Year). Title (Xth ed.). Publisher.	Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (Eds.). (2010). SAGE handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research (2nd ed.). SAGE.
Book Chapter (edited book)	Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx	Morse, J. M. (2010). Procedures and practice of mixed methods design. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), SAGE handbook of mixed methods (pp. 339–352). SAGE. §10.3 p.326
E-Book	Author, A. A. (Year). Title. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx	Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th ed.). SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526478290

Theses, Dissertations & Reports

Source	Format Template	Worked Example
Doctoral Dissertation	Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Doctoral dissertation, Institution Name]. Repository Name. URL	Harris, L. R. (2014). Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods in research [Doctoral dissertation, University of Melbourne]. Melbourne Repository. https://hdl.handle.net/11343/40747 §10.6 p.333
Master's Thesis	Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Master's thesis, Institution]. Repository. URL	Santos, M. R. (2022). Academic resilience among first-generation students [Master's thesis, University of the Philippines]. UP Digital Library.
Government / Technical Report	Agency Name. (Year). Title of report (Report No. X). Publisher. URL or https://doi.org/xxxxx	World Health Organization. (2023). Global tuberculosis report 2023. WHO Press. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240083851 §10.4 p.329

Webpages, Social Media & Audiovisual

Source	Format Template	Worked Example
Webpage (individual author)	Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Page title. Site Name. URL	Goldberg, J. (2020, April 1). What the pandemic means for remote learning. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org §10.16 p.350
Webpage (organization)	Organization. (Year, Month Day). Page title. URL	American Psychological Association. (2020, October 8). Publication manual of the APA, 7th edition. https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/publication-manual
Webpage (no date)	Author, A. A. (n.d.). Title. Site Name. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from URL	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). About COVID-19. Retrieved January 15, 2025, from https://www.cdc.gov/covid
YouTube Video	Creator/Channel. (Year, Month Day). Title [Video]. Platform. URL	Crash Course. (2017, October 23). Research methods: Crash course psychology #38 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1dMDRCiimI §10.12 p.343
Twitter/X Post	Author, A. A. [@handle]. (Year, Month Day). First 20 words of post [Tweet]. Twitter. URL	APA Style [@APA_Style]. (2020, March 4). Here is how to cite a tweet in APA 7th edition format [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/APA_Style/status/123456 §10.15 p.348
Podcast Episode	Host, A. A. (Host). (Year, Month Day). Episode title (No. X) [Audio podcast episode]. In Podcast Name. Producer. URL	McRaney, D. (Host). (2022, January 18). The sunk cost fallacy (No. 14) [Audio podcast episode]. In You Are Not So Smart. YANSS Media. https://youarenotsosmart.com

Section 04

In-Text Citation Rules

APA 7 uses the author–date system. Every in-text citation must match an entry in the reference list. All rules from APA (2020), Chapter 8 (pp. 253–278).

1 Author

Parenthetical: (Smith, 2020)
Narrative: Smith (2020) found…

With page: (Smith, 2020, p. 45)
With paragraph: (Smith, 2020, para. 3)

§8.17, p.266

2 Authors

Always cite both, every time.
Parenthetical: (Smith & Jones, 2020)
Narrative: Smith and Jones (2020)…

Use & inside parentheses; use "and" in narrative text.

§8.17, p.266

3+ Authors

Use et al. from the very first citation (APA 7 change):
Parenthetical: (Smith et al., 2020)
Narrative: Smith et al. (2020)…

No comma between name and et al.

§8.17, p.266

Group Author

Spell out + introduce abbreviation on first use:
First: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023)
After: (WHO, 2023)

If no common abbreviation: spell out every time.

§8.21, p.268

No Author

Use the first few words of the title:
Article title in quotes: ("New Directions," 2020)
Book/report title italicised: (Global Report, 2023)

§8.14, p.264

No Date

Use n.d. in place of year:
Parenthetical: (CDC, n.d.)
Narrative: CDC (n.d.) recommends…

§9.17, p.293

Multiple Works — One Citation

Alphabetical order, semicolons:
(Jones, 2018; Smith, 2020; Torres, 2022)

Same author, multiple years: (Smith, 2018, 2020)
Same author, same year: (Smith, 2020a, 2020b)

§8.12, p.263

Secondary Source

Use sparingly. Cite the work you actually read:
(Freud, 1900, as cited in Jones, 2020)

Only Jones (2020) goes in the reference list — not Freud.

§8.6, p.258

Direct Quotations — Additional Requirement

When quoting directly (word-for-word), you must add a locator: page number, paragraph number, section heading + paragraph, or timestamp for audiovisual. This is required regardless of source length.

Examples: (Creswell, 2018, p. 45) · (Freire, 1972, para. 12) · (APA, 2020, "Author" section, para. 3) · (WHO, 2023, 2:34)

Section 05

Author Name Format — All Scenarios

Incorrect author formatting accounts for a disproportionate share of APA errors. Source: APA (2020), §9.7–9.12 (pp. 286–291).

Scenario	Reference List	In-Text
1 Author	Smith, J. K.	(Smith, 2020)
2 Authors	Smith, J. K., & Jones, A. R.	(Smith & Jones, 2020)
3–20 Authors	List all: Smith, J. K., Jones, A. R., & Lee, C. D.	(Smith et al., 2020)
21+ Authors	List first 19, then …, then final author: Smith, J. K., Jones, A., Lee, C., [continue to 19th], … Final, Z. Z.	(Smith et al., 2020)
Organization	Full name: World Health Organization.	First: (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023); After: (WHO, 2023)
No Author	Title moves to author position: Title of book. (Year).	(Title, 2020) or ("Article title," 2020)
Editor as Author	Smith, J. K. (Ed.). or Smith, J. K., & Jones, A. (Eds.).	(Smith, 2020)
Pseudonym / Username	Display name as shown, e.g., @APA_Style or Username, A. A. [@handle].	(APA_Style, 2020)
Hyphenated Surname	García-López, A.	(García-López, 2019)
Compound Surname	Plano Clark, V. L. (no hyphen unless part of the name)	(Plano Clark, 2011)

Section 06

10 Most Common APA 7 Errors

Drawn from analysis of APA Style guidance (apastyle.apa.org), correction patterns documented in the APA Style Blog, and Masic (2012). These are the errors most frequently appearing in student submissions.

Error 01 — "DOI:" instead of URL format

Wrong: doi: 10.1177/1558689810395462
Correct: https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689810395462
APA 7 requires the full hyperlink format. Source: §9.35.

Error 02 — Including publisher location

Wrong: New York, NY: SAGE.
Correct: SAGE.
Publisher location was removed in APA 7. Source: §9.29.

Error 03 — Spelling out 3+ authors on first citation

Wrong (APA 6 habit): (Smith, Jones, & Lee, 2020)
Correct (APA 7): (Smith et al., 2020)
Use et al. from the very first citation for 3+ authors. Source: §8.17.

Error 04 — Title case for article titles

Wrong: Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology
Correct: Using thematic analysis in psychology
Article and chapter titles use sentence case. Only first word, first word after colon, and proper nouns capitalized. Source: §9.19.

Error 05 — "Retrieved from" before URL/DOI

Wrong: Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/…
Correct: https://doi.org/10.1177/…
"Retrieved from" is only needed for sources with n.d. that may change — and only before the URL, not a DOI. Source: §9.16.

Error 06 — Using et al. in the reference list

Wrong: Smith, J. K., et al. (2020).
Correct: List all authors (up to 20) in full.
Et al. is for in-text citations only. Source: §9.7.

Error 07 — "and" instead of "&" in parenthetical

Wrong: (Smith and Jones, 2020)
Correct: (Smith & Jones, 2020)
Use ampersand inside parentheses and in the reference list; use "and" only in narrative text. Source: §8.17.

Error 08 — Hyphen instead of en dash in page ranges

Wrong: 45-67 (hyphen)
Correct: 45–67 (en dash)
Also: journal article page ranges do not use "pp." — only book chapters and newspapers do. Source: §9.26.

Error 09 — Omitting the issue number

Wrong: Journal of Education, 45, 23–41.
Correct: Journal of Education, 45(3), 23–41.
Always include the issue number in parentheses (not italicized) after the volume. Source: §9.25.

Error 10 — Missing hanging indent

The hanging indent is mandatory for every reference list entry. First line flush left; all continuation lines indented 0.5 inches. Apply via: Format → Paragraph → Special → Hanging → 0.5". Source: §9.43.