APA Citation Format: The Complete Guide with Examples (7th Edition)
By Priya Anand 8 min read
You have 48 hours until your paper is due. Your professor wants APA format. And you are staring at a reference list wondering whether the period goes before or after the parenthetical date.
You are not alone. APA citation format is the most widely used citation style in the social sciences, education, psychology, and business. Over 30,000 people search for it every month. And most of them are in the exact same boat you are.
This guide gives you everything you need. No fluff. Just the rules, the format, and copy-paste examples you can use right now.
If you are not sure whether APA is the right style for your field, check our comparison of all 6 citation styles first.
APA 7th Edition Basics: When to Use It and Who Requires It
The American Psychological Association published the 7th edition of its Publication Manual in October 2019. It is the current standard. If your professor says "use APA," they mean this edition unless they specifically say otherwise.
APA format is required by most programs in:
- Psychology and behavioral sciences
- Education and teaching
- Social work and sociology
- Business and management
- Nursing and public health
- Communication and media studies
The two core pieces of APA citation format are in-text citations (short references inside your paragraphs) and the reference list (the full details at the end of your paper). Every in-text citation must have a matching reference list entry, and vice versa.
In-Text Citations: Rules and Examples
In-text citations follow the author-date system. You include the author's last name and the year of publication. Here is exactly how it works for every scenario you will encounter.
One Author
Use the author's last name and the year. You can write it two ways:
Parenthetical: Research supports this conclusion (Smith, 2022).
Narrative: Smith (2022) found that research supports this conclusion.
Two Authors
List both names every time. Use "&" in parenthetical citations and "and" in narrative citations.
Parenthetical: (Smith & Johnson, 2022)
Narrative: Smith and Johnson (2022) demonstrated that...
Three or More Authors
This is where APA 7th edition simplified things. Use the first author's last name followed by "et al." from the very first citation. No more listing all authors the first time.
Parenthetical: (Smith et al., 2022)
Narrative: Smith et al. (2022) argued that...
Direct Quotes and Page Numbers
When you quote someone's exact words, you must include a page number. Use "p." for a single page and "pp." for a range.
Short quote: The results were "statistically significant" (Smith, 2022, p. 45).
Page range: (Smith, 2022, pp. 45-48)
Narrative: Smith (2022) noted that "the effect size was large" (p. 45).
For quotes of 40 words or more, use a block quote: indent the entire quote 0.5 inches from the left margin, skip quotation marks, and place the citation after the closing period.
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Try Litrevu freeReference List Format: Templates and Examples
Your reference list goes on a new page at the end of your paper. Title it "References" (centered, bold). Entries are double-spaced with a hanging indent (first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches). Alphabetize by the first author's last name.
Journal Article
Template
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Volume(Issue), Page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example
Grady, J. S., Her, M., Moreno, G., Perez, C., & Yelinek, 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
Book
Template
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter for subtitle. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example
Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000
Edited Book Chapter
Template
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx-xx). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx
Example
Dillard, J. P. (2020). Currents in the study of persuasion. In M. B. Oliver, A. A. Raney, & J. Bryant (Eds.), Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4th ed., pp. 115-129). Routledge.
Website
Template
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. Site Name. https://url
Example
World Health Organization. (2023, March 10). Mental health in the workplace. https://www.who.int/ news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work
Note: If the author and the site name are the same (like the WHO example above), omit the site name to avoid repetition. This is a 7th edition rule that many students miss.
The 7 Most Common APA Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
These are the errors that cost students the most marks. Every single one is avoidable.
- Using "et al." wrong. In APA 7th edition, use "et al." for three or more authors from the first citation onward. The old rule (listing all authors the first time) was APA 6th edition. If you are still doing that, update your approach.
- Missing the DOI. If a journal article has a DOI, you must include it. Format it as a URL: https://doi.org/10.xxxx. Do not write "DOI: 10.xxxx" or "Retrieved from."
- Forgetting the hanging indent. Every reference list entry needs a hanging indent. The first line is flush left; every subsequent line is indented 0.5 inches. Most word processors have a setting for this under paragraph formatting.
- Capitalizing article titles incorrectly. In the reference list, article and book titles use sentence case (only capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns). Journal titles use title case.
- Mismatched citations and references. Every in-text citation needs a reference list entry. Every reference list entry needs at least one in-text citation. No orphans allowed. This is especially common in literature reviews. See our literature review writing guide for tips on managing citations across a long section.
- Using "Retrieved from" for everything. APA 7th edition dropped "Retrieved from" for most sources. Only use it when the content might change over time (like a social media post or a wiki page). For stable sources, just include the URL.
- No page numbers on direct quotes. Paraphrasing does not require page numbers (though APA encourages them). Direct quotes always do. Missing page numbers on quotes is an automatic deduction at most universities.
APA Citation Format Quick Cheat Sheet
Bookmark this table. It covers every scenario you are likely to encounter.
| Scenario | In-Text Format |
|---|---|
| 1 author | (Smith, 2022) |
| 2 authors | (Smith & Johnson, 2022) |
| 3+ authors | (Smith et al., 2022) |
| Direct quote | (Smith, 2022, p. 15) |
| Organization as author | (World Health Organization, 2023) |
| No author | ("Title of Article," 2022) |
| No date | (Smith, n.d.) |
| Multiple works, same author | (Smith, 2020, 2022) |
| Multiple sources | (Adams, 2020; Smith, 2022) |
| Source Type | Reference List Order |
|---|---|
| Journal article | Author. (Year). Title. Journal, Vol(Issue), Pages. DOI |
| Book | Author. (Year). Title. Publisher. DOI |
| Edited chapter | Author. (Year). Chapter title. In Editor (Ed.), Book (pp. X-X). Publisher. |
| Website | Author. (Date). Title. Site Name. URL |
Check Your APA Citations Are Right
Litrevu drafts APA citations from your uploaded papers. Upload your references, draft your literature review, and get in-text citations and a reference list formatted for you, so you can stop guessing where the period goes and check each one against the source. Need to see how citations look inside a real literature review? Check out our annotated example.
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