APA Citation Guide

Understanding APA 7th Edition

You’ve finished your 10-page research paper. You’re exhausted. But now you have to “fix the citations.” For many students, this is the most stressful part of writing a paper. APA style can feel complex, but it is a critical skill for any student in the social sciences, nursing, or education.

APA style is an “author-date” citation system created by the American Psychological Association. It is the standard for academic writing in psychology, sociology, nursing, and other fields. This guide is your definitive resource for mastering the 7th Edition (the most current version). We will break down the two main parts of APA, provide clear examples for your reference list, and explain how to format in-text citations to avoid plagiarism.

The Two Core Components of APA Citation

APA formatting has two parts that work together:

1. In-Text Citations: A brief citation in the body of your paper that points your reader to the full source. E.g., (Smith, 2020).
2. Reference List: A complete list at the end of your paper that gives full details for every source you cited. E.g., Smith, J. (2020). *Title of book*. Publisher.

Every source in your reference list MUST have at least one in-text citation. Every in-text citation MUST have a corresponding entry in your reference list.

Why Does APA Style Matter?

Professors ask for APA format for several reasons that are critical to your education (and your grade):

• Credibility: It shows you have done your research and are basing your arguments on scholarly evidence, not just opinion.
• Traceability: It allows your reader (and your professor) to find the exact sources you used to verify your claims.
• Plagiarism: It is the primary way you give credit to other authors for their work. Failing to cite properly is a serious breach of academic integrity. Proper citation is an ethical and scholarly requirement (Smith et al., 2021).
• Conversation: It shows you are joining the academic “conversation” by building on the work of other scholars.

Key Changes in APA 7th Edition (From 6th)

If you used APA 6 in the past, be careful. The 7th Edition (published in 2019) made several key changes to simplify the style.

• Publisher Location: You no longer include the publisher’s city and state for books (e.g., “New York, NY”).
• “Retrieved from”: You no longer write “Retrieved from” before a URL for websites (unless a retrieval date is needed for a source that changes).
• DOIs: You now format DOIs as a full, clickable URL: https://doi.org/10.xxxx/xxxx
• Author Surnames (In-Text): For any source with three or more authors, you use “et al.” from the very first citation. E.g., (Jones et al., 2020).
• Author Surnames (Reference List): You can now list up to 20 authors in a reference list entry before using ellipses.

Part 1: How to Format the Reference List

This is where most students lose points. Your reference list must be perfect. It has its own page at the end of your paper.

Basic Reference Page Rules

• Title: The title “References” (not “Works Cited” or “Bibliography”) must be centered and bold at the top of a new page.
• Spacing: The entire reference list must be double-spaced (both within and between entries).
• Alphabetical Order: All entries must be alphabetized by the first author’s last name.
• Hanging Indent: All entries must use a 0.5-inch hanging indent. This means the first line of each entry is flush with the left margin, and all subsequent lines of that same entry are indented.

Reference List Examples (The Most Common Formats)

Here are the “templates” for the most common sources, as defined by the official APA Style guidelines. Pay close attention to italics and punctuation.

1. Journal Article (with DOI)

This is the most common scholarly source. A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a permanent link to the article.

Format:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of the article: Subtitle goes here. *Title of the Periodical, volume*(issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxx

Example:
Berndt, T. J. (2020). Friendship quality and social development. *Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11*(1), 7–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00159

2. Book (Print or Ebook)

Note that publisher location is no longer included.

Format:
Author, A. A. (Year). *Title of work: Subtitle in italics* (Xth ed., if any). Publisher.

Example:
Goldberg, L. R. (2023). *Personality psychology: The science of individuality* (4th ed.). Pearson.

3. Chapter in an Edited Book

Use this when the book’s author is an “editor” (Ed.) and you are citing one specific chapter written by a different author.

Format:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the chapter. In B. B. Editor & C. C. Editor (Eds.), *Title of the book in italics* (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Example:
O'Brien, L. (2021). The psychology of flow. In J. D. Smith (Ed.), *Advances in human performance* (pp. 45–62). Oxford University Press.

4. Webpage on a Website

Use this for online articles, news sites, or organizational pages. If the author and organization are the same, list the organization as the author.

Format:
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). *Title of the webpage in italics*. Site Name. URL

Example (with author):
Weir, K. (2023, March 1). Personality traits link to life satisfaction. *Monitor on Psychology*. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/03/personality-satisfaction-adult-lifespan

Example (Organization as author):
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, May 10). *Coping with stress*. https://www.cdc.gov/coping-with-stress

5. YouTube or Streaming Video

The “author” is the name of the account that uploaded the video.

Format:
Uploader, U. [Channel Name]. (Year, Month Day). *Title of video* [Video]. YouTube. URL

Example:
LastWeekTonight. (2024, November 11). *Mental health* [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example

Part 2: How to Format In-Text Citations

In-text citations are the “signposts” in your paragraphs. They are simple, but the rules change based on the number of authors and whether you are quoting or paraphrasing.

Parenthetical vs. Narrative Citations

You have two ways to cite a source:

• Parenthetical: The citation appears at the end of the sentence.
  Research shows that APA is difficult (Smith, 2020).
• Narrative: The author’s name is part of your sentence.
  According to Smith (2020), APA is difficult.

Good academic writing uses a mix of both.

How to Cite Different Numbers of Authors

One Author

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

Two Authors

Always use both names, joined by an ampersand (&) in parentheses or “and” in a narrative citation.

Parenthetical: (Smith & Jones, 2021)
Narrative: Smith and Jones (2021)

Three or More Authors

This is the big change in APA 7. Use the first author’s last name followed by “et al.” from the very first citation.

Source: (Smith, Jones, Baker, & Wang, 2022)
Parenthetical: (Smith et al., 2022)
Narrative: Smith et al. (2022)

Group or Organization as Author

If the group is well-known (like the CDC or APA), you can abbreviate it. The first citation includes the full name and the abbreviation.

First Citation: (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2024)
Subsequent Citations: (CDC, 2024)

How to Cite Direct Quotes

When you use an author’s exact words, you must include a page number (or paragraph number for websites).

Short Quote (under 40 words):
Research has found that "APA formatting is a primary source of student anxiety" (Smith, 2020, p. 12).

Block Quote (40+ words):
If your quote is 40 words or more, indent the entire block of text 0.5 inches from the left margin (do not use quotation marks).

Student anxiety is a major factor in higher education. Smith (2020) noted:

APA formatting is a primary source of student anxiety, leading to a significant increase in last-minute paper submissions and a measurable decrease in overall course satisfaction scores. (p. 12)

When to Get Expert APA Formatting Help

You can understand all the rules, but formatting a 20-page paper with 30 sources is still a frustrating, time-consuming process. That is where our experts, who format papers every day, can help.

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