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APA Formatting & Style Guide (7th Edition)

The Four Citation Elements

One Author

  • Invert author's name (last name first) followed by first initials. Separate an author's last name from first initials with a comma. 
  • Authors' first initials should be followed by a period. This applies to 1+ authors. 
  • Use one space between initials. This applies to 1+ authors.
  • Do not include titles or positions such as MS, PhD, MD, etc. 

Example: 

Tungate, M. (2011). Branded beauty: How marketing changed the way we look. Kogan Page.

In-text Citation:

In-Text citations always consists of the author's last name and publication year no matter the source type. If you're citing a specific part of a source, also include a locator. For books this is usually a page number, videos a timestamp, and for webpages a paragraph number or heading. Note: You only need to include a locator if you're using a direct quote. Below you will find an example of both a narrative and parenthetical in-text citation. 

Narrative Citation:

Tungate (2011) found that . . . . (p. 43). 

Parenthetical Citation:

There is a finding that . . . . (Tungate, 2011).

See p. 286-287 in APA Seventh Edition

Two Authors

  • Use a comma to separate first author's initials with additional author names. This applies to 2+ authors
  • Separate authors' names with commas with the last author's name preceded with an ampersand (i.e. "&"). This applies for when there are between 2-19 authors

Example:

Manley, A., & Whitaker, L. (2011). Wii-learning: Using active video games to enhance the learning experience of undergraduate sport psychology students. Sport & Exercise Psychology Review, 7(2), 45–55.

In-text:

  • Use "and" between authors’ names when citing in the sentence
  • In parentheses, use "&" between authors' names

Manley and Whitaker (2011) . . . . (p. 53).    OR    . . . . (Manley & Whitaker, 2011, p. 53).

See p. 286-287 in APA Seventh Edition

Three+ Authors

VanFleet, R., Sywulak, A. E., & Sniscak, C. C. (2010). Child-centered play therapy. Guilford Press.

In-text: 

  • List first author's name followed by "et al." (the period goes after "al") even if citing in the text the first time. Unless when multiple authors leads to ambiguity such as when there are two citations with similar authors' names.

VanFleet et al. (2010) . . . . (p. 245).    OR    . . . . (VanFleet et al., 2010, p. 245).

See pp. 266-267 in APA Seventh Edition

Twenty+ Authors

  • List the first 19 authors' names and follow the 19th author's name with an ellipsis. Put a comma after the nineteenth author's name.
  • After the ellipsis list the last author's inverted name. 

Example: 

Aslam, S., Courtwright, A. M., Koval, C., Lehman, S.M., Morales, S., Furr, C. L., Rosas, F., Brownstein, M. J., Fackler, J.R.,Sisson, B. M., Biswas, B., Henry, M., Luu, T., Bivens, B. N., Hamilton, T., Duplessis, C., Logan, C., Law, N., Yung, G.,... Schooley, R. T. (2019). Early clinical experience of bacteriophage therapy in 3 lung transplant recipients. American Journal of Transplantation 19(9), 2631-2639. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.15503, 10.1111/ajt.15503

In-text:

Aslam et al. (2004) . . . . (p. 33).   OR    . . . . (Aslam et al., 2004, p. 33)

See pp. 286, 317 in APA Seventh Edition 

Group, Association, Organization, Institution, or Corporation Authors

  • For some resources there are layers of government agencies involved in the publication of the resource. List the most specific agency responsible, and then use the overseeing body/institution/department as the source. 

Example:

National Institute of Nursing Research. (2016). NINR Strategic Plan:Advancing Science, Improving Lives. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. https://www.ninr.nih.gov/sites/files/docs/NINR_StratPlan2016_reduced.pdf. 

In-text:

  • You can abbreviate group/institutional authors' names. There are a few stipulations of how to format this both in-text and for the reference page. Generally, provide the full name of group author name upon citing in parenthetical or narrative citations. Do not put the abbreviated version of the name in the reference list. 

Example:

Narrative citation

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, 2020) described...

OR 

Parenthetical citation 

(National Center for Biotechnology Information [NCBI], 2020)

See pp. 268, 288 in APA Seventh Edition

No Author

  • If no author is present, use the title element in place of the author’s name.
  • If the title is lengthy, it may be shortened in the in-text reference 
  • Use “Anonymous” in place of the author only if the source author is designated as such.

Example:

Gas main replacements continue. (2012, August 9). Medicine Hat News, p. A4.

In-text Example:

“Gas Main Replacements Continue” (2012) states . . . (p. A3).   OR   . . . . (“Gas Main Replacements Continue,” 2002, p. A3).

See p. 289 in APA Seventh Edition

APA defines the 'date' element as the publication date (American Psychological Association, 2019, p. 289). 

There are 5 forms to format the date:

  • Year 
  • Year, month, and day 
  • Year and month
  • Year and season
  • Date ranges 

The reference category of the work you are trying to cite will determine how the date is formatted. The most common way to cite the date of a work is with solely the year. However, digital resources are typically the exception. 

General rules:

  • Enclose the date within parentheses for both in-text citations and for the reference list.
  • For the date in the reference list, enclose the date with parentheses and follow with a period. 
  • For dates with month values spell out the name of the month
  • For books use the copyright date 
  • For journals use the journal's year of volume 
  • For works with no date, use "(n.d.)" with no spaces between the 'n' or 'd.' Use for in-text citations and in the reference list
  • For categories that include the year, month, day, or season, always put the year first. Follow the year with a comma, and the the month and date or season
    • (2021, September 9)
    • (2021, Spring)

See pp. 289-291 in APA Seventh Edition

Online Media

The Online Media category as defined by APA includes webpages, websites, and social media. Here are a few rules about the date format:

  • Do not use the copyright date in the webpage footer, unless it is known that it pertains to the cited content
  • Use more precise dates for sources published/updated more frequently (e.g. blog posts)

For updated or reviewed works

  • Do not use the 'last reviewed' date
  • Use the "last updated" date, if it pertains to the content you are citing
  • For online sources undergoing constant change (e.g. Google maps or social media posts/pages), include the retrieval date before the source element**
    • Example*:

Morey, M. C. (2019). Physical activity and exercise in older adults. UpToDate. Retrieved July, 22, 2019, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/physical-activity-and-exercise-in-older-adults

*Example taken from p. 319 of APA Seventh Edition

**For best practices for constantly updated sources, especially social media posts, cite the archived version of the webpage

See pp. 290, 329 in APA Seventh Edition

Unpublished or Informally Published

  • Do not record information about publication status. Use the production date for the date for informally published works
  • Only if a work has been accepted for publication but is not officially published, use 'in press' for the date
    • For reference list
      • Smith, J. (in press). Title of work. Journal name 1(2), pp 1-14. http//doi.thisisawebsite.org. 
    • For in-text
      • Narrative
        • Smith (in press) is researching...
      • Parenthetical 
        • The research shows that 15% of people chose option A (Smith, in press).

See p. 290 in APA Seventh Edition

The American Psychological Association (2020) defines the title of a work as, "...the title of the work being cited" (p. 291).

The title element1 falls within two categories: 

  • Works that stand alone
    • whole books, gray literature, dissertations and theses, informally published works, data sets, videos, films, podcasts, data sets, etc.
  • Works that are a part of a greater whole
    • periodical articles, edited book chapters, TV and podcast episodes.

1. See p. 291 in APA Seventh Edition 

Stand Alone Works

For works that stand alone:

  • Do italicize the title
  • Use sentence casing 
  • For Book and report references that include additional information such as edition or volume number, enclose the information within parentheses. There is no period between the Title element and this information. The additional information should not be italicized. 
  • The title element is ended with a period unless the title of the work ends in alternative punctuation (i.e. exclamation or question marks). For these instances use the work's title punctuation at the end of the Title element. 

See pp. 291-293 in APA Seventh Edition

Works Part of a Whole

For works that are part of a whole:

  • Do not italicize the title
  • Use sentence casing 
  • The title element is ended with a period unless the title of the work ends in alternative punctuation (i.e. exclamation or question marks). For these instances use the work's title punctuation at the end of the Title element.

See pp. 291-293 in APA Seventh Edition

Bracket Descriptions

Include bracketed descriptions proceeding the Title element when:

  • There isn't a title of the work.
    • Include the work's medium and other information to help identify the work. 
  • Untitled comments  
    • Within periodicals include up to the first 20 words 
    • Within social media posts include up to the first 20 words. Italicize the words and follow with a bracketed description of the comment.
  • The work being cited is a particular medium

See pp. 292-293, 320, 348-350 in APA Seventh Edition

According to the American Psychological Association (2020) they explain, "In a reference, the source indicates where readers can retrieve the cited work" (p. 293).

The source element1 falls within two categories: 

  • Works that stand alone
    • whole books, gray literature, dissertations and theses, informally published works, data sets, videos, films, podcasts, etc.
  • Works that are a part of a greater whole
    • periodical articles, edited book chapters, TV and podcast episodes. 

For works that are part of a greater whole, the greater whole is the information that will go within the Source element.

1. See pp. 293-301 in APA Seventh Edition

The source element is dependent on the work's reference category. The information included on this page was selected for popular reference categories that are highly cited within the medical domain. For information on how to determine the formatting for the source, see sections 9.25-9.37 (American Psychological Association, 2020, pp. 294-300).

Stand Alone Works

For works that stand alone include in the source element:

  • Include the publisher
    • Some reference categories and resource types may require additional information for the source element (e.g. edited book chapters; books with multiple publishers; translated works; etc.)
  • If applicable, the DOI or URL that will help the user retrieve the work
  • For works being cited, where the information is volatile (or are subject to change, e.g. article in the UpToDate database), include the retrieval dates in the source element

See pp. 293, 323-324, 326-329 in APA Seventh Edition

Works Part of a Whole

For works that are part of a greater whole include in the source element:

  • The source element is the greater whole
    • The information regarding the greater whole will go into the Source element
    • The source element for works being cited that are part of a whole may require additional information (e.g. edition number, volume number, page numbers, etc.) in the source element. 
    • For works being cited, where the information is volatile (or are subject to change, e.g. article in the UpToDate database), include the retrieval dates in the source element
  • If applicable, the DOI or URL that will help the user retrieve the work

See p. 293, 319, 323-324, 326-329 in APA Seventh Edition 

Periodicals

For periodicals (i.e. journal articles, etc.) for the source element:

  • Only abbreviate the periodical title, if the official journal abbreviates its name
    • e.g. JAMA Pediatrics
  • Use title case for the periodical name (i.e. the journal's name)
  • Follow the periodical name with a comma
  • Italicize the periodical name and volume number if applicable 
  • For periodicals with issue numbers, put the issue number in parentheses (do not italicize) following the volume number with no space between
    • Nature, 587(7834)
  • Follow the issue number (or volume number for periodicals with no issue number) with a comma and list the page numbers of the article's location within the periodical
  • For articles that lack page numbers and have e-locators use:
    • Article e0269585

See p. 294, 317-319 in APA Seventh Edition 

Publisher Sources

Reference categories such as whole books, edited book chapters, software, and data sets require the publisher to be listed

  • If the publisher and the author name is the same, do not include publisher's name in the source element
  • Do not include the location of the publisher
    • Exceptions: Conference Sessions and Presentations and some types of Visual Works
  • Do not abbreviate the publisher's name unless that is the format on the work being cited 
  • List the publisher's name exactly how it is on the work being cited 
  • If there is more than one publisher, list all publisher names in the order as they are found on the work being cited 

See pp. 295-296, 332-333, 346-347 in APA Seventh Edition 

Edited Book Chapters

  • For edited book chapters, the names of the editors, title of 'the greater whole,' and additional information regarding the resource will need to be listed within the Source element.
  • Provide the names of the book's editors by beginning the Source element with the word "In." Follow with the un-inverted names of the editors with first and middle names as initials. Use (Ed.) for one editor and use (Eds.) for more than one editor after listing the editors' names.
    • Include the book's edition, volume number, and page numbers in this order if the resource has this information. Some edited book chapters may not have volume information such as in the example below
      • In P.  Wexler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Toxicology (3rd ed., pp. 822-829) Elsevier Inc. https://10.1016/B978-0-12-386454-3.00080-4 
  • For books that are numbered volumes, include the volume number after the main title of the book preceded by a colon
    • Main Title of Book: Vol. 2. Volume Title. 

See pp. 295, 326-329, 343, 345 in APA Seventh Edition 

Website Sources

Here "Website" in "Website Sources" means the webpages and websites' reference category. It is important to remember that only a few works fall within this category as many of the works that can be found online fall within one of the other reference categories. 

  • Ensure the work is not classified within another reference category
    • e.g. if you found a government report on a government website, you would cite it as you would a "government report" as opposed to a "webpage" or "website"
  • Provide the website's name in the source element, unless the website's name is the same as the author's name

See pp. 282, 298, 350-352 in APA Seventh Edition 

APA 7th Edition Manual

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/000165-000