APA 7th edition is the most widely used citation style in the social sciences, education, and psychology. This guide covers everything you need to cite sources correctly, with real examples for every source type.
APA 7 Formatting Basics
- Font: Any legible font (Times New Roman 12pt, Arial 11pt, Calibri 11pt, Georgia 11pt)
- Spacing: Double-spaced throughout
- Margins: 1 inch on all sides
- Running head: Not required for student papers (check with your instructor)
- Reference list: Hanging indent (0.5 inch), alphabetical by author last name
In-Text Citations
Narrative Citation
The author's name is part of the sentence.
Smith (2020) found that students who used citation managers scored higher on research papers.
Parenthetical Citation
The author and year are in parentheses at the end.
Students who used citation managers scored higher on research papers (Smith, 2020).
Direct Quote
Smith (2020) stated that "citation management is essential for academic success" (p. 45).
Reference List Examples
Journal Article (with DOI)
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, Volume(Issue), page range. https://doi.org/xxxx
Journal Article (without DOI)
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the article. Title of the Journal, Volume(Issue), page range. https://www.jstor.org/stable/xxxx
Book
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle (edition.). Publisher.
Book Chapter
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In A. A. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx-xx). Publisher.
Website
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of page. Site Name. URL
AI Tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude)
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (GPT-4o version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com
YouTube Video
Author, A. A. (Year, Month Date). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL
Multiple Authors (3 or more)
List the first author followed by "et al." from the first citation onward.
(Smith et al., 2020, p. 45)
Number of Authors
| Authors | In-Text Citation | Reference List |
|---|
| 1 author | (Smith, 2020) | Smith, A. (2020). |
| 2 authors | (Smith & Jones, 2020) | Smith, A., & Jones, B. (2020). |
| 3+ authors | (Smith et al., 2020) | Smith, A., Jones, B., & Lee, C. (2020). |
| Group author | (APA, 2020) | American Psychological Association. (2020). |
Quick Tips
- Include DOIs as hyperlinks (https://doi.org/xxxx)
- No "Retrieved from" before URLs — just include the URL directly
- Italicize book titles, journal titles, and volume numbers
- Do not italicize issue numbers
- Capitalize only the first word of the title and subtitle (and proper nouns) in book/article titles
- For student papers, check with your instructor about running head and abstract requirements
Recommended Tools
Use a reference manager to handle APA formatting automatically: Zotero (free), Mendeley (free), or EndNote (paid). Or use the Citation Machine or MyBib for quick one-off citations.