Getting Started with APA Citations

APA (American Psychological Association) style is one of the most widely used citation formats in academic writing -- and the one you're most likely to encounter in college. Whether it's your first research paper or your fiftieth, this guide covers the core rules of APA 7th edition so you can format citations correctly from the start.

What Is APA Style?

APA style was originally developed for psychology journals, but it's now the standard across social sciences, education, nursing, business, and many STEM disciplines.

APA is currently in its 7th edition (published 2019), which introduced several changes from the 6th edition -- including simplified publisher locations, expanded author lists, and new guidelines for citing digital sources like DOIs and URLs.

If your professor says "use APA," they almost certainly mean the 7th edition unless they specify otherwise.

Basic In-Text Citation Format

APA uses an author-date system. You place the author's last name and the publication year in parentheses wherever you reference a source.

By Number of Authors

• One author: (Smith, 2024)
• Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2024)
• Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2024)

Narrative vs. Parenthetical

You can weave citations into your sentence (narrative) or place them at the end (parenthetical):

Narrative: Smith (2024) found that citation accuracy improves with automated tools.

Parenthetical: Citation accuracy improves with automated tools (Smith, 2024).

Page Numbers

Include page numbers when quoting directly or referencing a specific passage:

(Smith, 2024, p. 45)

For paraphrased ideas, page numbers are encouraged but not required.

Reference List Entries

The reference list appears at the end of your paper. Every in-text citation must have a corresponding reference entry, and every reference entry must be cited in the text.

General Format

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work in sentence case. Source Title, Volume(Issue), Pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Journal Article

For a more detailed breakdown, see our guide to citing journal articles.

Smith, J. D., & Johnson, M. K. (2024). The impact of citation accuracy on academic publishing. Journal of Academic Writing, 15(3), 45--62. https://doi.org/10.1234/example

Key rules:

• Article title in sentence case (only capitalize the first word and proper nouns)
• Journal name in title case, italicized
• Volume number italicized, issue number in parentheses (not italicized)
• Include the DOI as a full URL when available

Book

For full details on book citations, see our guide to citing books.

Brown, L. M. (2023). Research methods in education (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Key rules:

• Book title in sentence case, italicized
• Include edition number in parentheses after the title
• Publisher name only -- APA 7th dropped the publication location requirement

Website

World Health Organization. (2025, January 15). Mental health in the workplace. https://www.who.int/example

Key rules:

• Use the organization name as the author when no individual author is listed
• Include the full date if available
• Include the URL (no "Retrieved from" prefix unless the content changes over time)

Formatting the Reference List

Your reference list should follow these formatting rules:

1. Title: Center the word "References" at the top (bold in APA 7th)
2. Alphabetical order: Sort entries by the first author's last name
3. Hanging indent: The first line of each entry is flush left; subsequent lines are indented 0.5 inches
4. Double spacing: The entire list is double-spaced with no extra space between entries
5. Italics: Italicize titles of standalone works (books, journals, reports) but not article or chapter titles

Common Mistakes

These are the errors students make most often (for a deeper dive, see our complete list of common citation mistakes):

1. Forgetting the hanging indent -- Word processors don't apply it by default. Set it manually in your paragraph settings.
2. Using "et al." too early -- In APA 7th, use "et al." only for works with three or more authors. For two authors, always list both names.
3. Missing the DOI -- If a DOI exists, you must include it. Use CrossRef to look up DOIs you can't find on the article page.
4. Incorrect title capitalization -- Article and book titles use sentence case (only first word and proper nouns capitalized). Journal names use title case.
5. Adding "Retrieved from" before URLs -- APA 7th dropped this phrase for most sources. Only use it for content that changes over time (e.g., social media profiles, wikis).
6. Listing the publisher location -- APA 7th no longer requires the city and state for publishers. Just list the publisher name.
7. Using "&" vs. "and" incorrectly -- Use "&" inside parenthetical citations and reference entries. Use "and" in narrative citations (running text).
8. Wrong date format -- APA uses (Year) in references and in-text citations, not month/day unless you're citing a specific webpage or news article.

APA 7th vs. 6th Edition: Key Differences

If you're working from older guides or templates, watch out for these changes:

Quick Checklist Before You Submit

Run through this list before turning in your paper:

• Every in-text citation has a matching reference entry
• Every reference entry is cited in the text
• DOIs are included for all sources that have them
• Reference list is alphabetized by first author's last name
• Hanging indent is applied to all reference entries
• Article titles are in sentence case
• Journal names are in title case and italicized
• No publisher locations in reference entries

Try It with CiteTools

Remembering every APA rule is tedious, and one missed comma can cost you points. Paste any DOI, URL, ISBN, or messy reference into CiteTools.io and get a perfectly formatted APA 7th edition citation instantly. No manual formatting, no guessing about capitalization or punctuation.

CiteTools supports APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, and Vancouver -- so if you need to switch styles later, the same tool has you covered. Not sure which style to use? Our APA vs MLA vs Chicago comparison breaks down the differences.