APA 7th Edition Referencing and Citation Guide
Learn how to cite sources in APA 7th edition, an author–date style used in psychology, education, nursing, business and other subjects.
Follow the examples below, or use our free tool to create an APA reference.
APA 7th edition citation overview
APA uses a short author–date citation in your text and a full entry in your reference list. This guide follows the American Psychological Association’s official seventh-edition examples. Check any additional requirements set by your course.
Sources
UK Essays writing support
Need an assignment written with APA 7 references?
An experienced specialist in your subject will research and write a complete model answer to your assignment question from scratch, with APA 7 citations and a full reference list.
Send us your question and, if you wish, any marking criteria.
All our writers hold at least a 2:1 degree from a reputable university. Most hold a master’s degree or PhD, and/or have teaching experience.
Already written your draft? Get help with editing or get marking and feedback.
APA in-text citation examples
A narrative citation makes the author part of your sentence; a parenthetical citation puts the author and year in brackets. Use “and” between two authors in a sentence, but an ampersand (&) inside a parenthetical citation.
One author: Green (2024) or (Green, 2024).
Two authors: Green and White (2024) or (Green & White, 2024).
Three or more authors: Green et al. (2024) or (Green et al., 2024).
Use the first surname followed by “et al.” from the first citation when there are three or more authors. If that would make two different works indistinguishable, include enough surnames to tell them apart. “Et al.” is not italicised.
For a quotation, include a page number, such as (Green, 2024, p. 18). If there are no pages, identify the passage with a paragraph number, section heading or another suitable locator. Paraphrases normally need the author and year; a page number can help readers find a particular passage.
Short quotation: “Shared meals create opportunities for conversation” (Green, 2024, p. 18).
Paraphrase: Green (2024) links eating together with social interaction.
Use quotation marks for quotations shorter than 40 words. Set quotations of 40 words or more as an indented, double-spaced block without quotation marks; put its parenthetical citation after the final punctuation.
Official guidance: author–date citations, quotations and paraphrasing.
APA reference-list format
- Use the heading References. Double-space the list and give each entry a 0.5-inch hanging indent: the first line starts at the margin and subsequent lines are indented.
- Alphabetise by the first author’s surname. Keep each source’s authors in their published order.
- For up to 20 authors, include them all, using surnames and initials, with an ampersand before the final name.
- For 21 or more authors, give the first 19 names, an ellipsis, and the final author. Do not put an ampersand before that final name.
- Use sentence case for book, chapter, article and webpage titles: capitalise the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Journal and other periodical names keep title case.
- Use (n.d.) when no date is available. If no author can be identified, move the title to the author position.
- Present a DOI as https://doi.org/…, without a “DOI:” label. Do not add a full stop after a DOI or URL.
Example APA reference list
References
Green, A. (2024). Food and community. Example Press.
White, B. (2024, June 12). Community kitchens open their doors. The Example Herald, 6–7.
Official guidance: reference elements, DOIs and URLs and reference-list formatting.
1. Books
Books with one or two authors
Give the author, year, italicised title and publisher. Put an edition other than the first in parentheses immediately after the title, without italics. Do not include the publisher’s city.
Green, A. (2024). Food and community. Example Press.
Green, A. (2024). Food and community (2nd ed.). Example Press.
Green, A., & White, B. (2023). Shared meals: A social history. Example Press.
Books with three or more authors
The reference list uses the author rules above, even though the in-text citation is shortened to “et al.”.
Green, A., White, B., & Black, C. (2022). Studying everyday life. Example Press.
In-text citation: (Green et al., 2022).
Use the same format for ordinary ebooks. Add a DOI when available. For an ebook from an academic database without a DOI, normally omit the database name and URL. An ebook publicly available on a website can include its URL. Do not add the reading device or ebook format.
Official guidance: book and ebook references.
A chapter in an edited book
Start with the chapter author and chapter title. After “In”, give the editor’s initials before their surname, followed by “(Ed.)” or “(Eds.)”, the italicised book title and the chapter’s page range. Include an edition only when it is not the first. A chapter in a book written throughout by the same author normally uses a reference to the whole book.
Green, A. (2024). Meals and memory. In B. White & C. Black (Eds.), Everyday communities (2nd ed., pp. 28–46). Example Press.
Official guidance: chapters in edited books.
Multiple books by the same author
Arrange entries with identical authors in the same order by date, earliest first. For books with identical authors and the same year, order them by title, ignoring an initial “A”, “An” or “The”, then add “a”, “b” and so on to the year in both references and citations.
Green, A. (2021). Food traditions. Example Press.
Green, A. (2024a). Community kitchens. Example Press.
Green, A. (2024b). Shared tables. Example Press.
In-text citations: (Green, 2024a) and (Green, 2024b).
Official guidance: works with the same author and date.
Reference a book Reference a book chapter
2. Articles
Journal articles: print, websites and databases
Use sentence case for the article title. Italicise the journal name and volume number, but not the issue number in parentheses. Give the page range without “p.” or “pp.”. Include the issue number when the journal provides one; use an article number instead of pages where applicable.
Green, A., & White, B. (2024). Shared meals and student belonging. Journal of Community Research, 12(2), 45–59.
With a DOI, the structure is:
Author, A. A. (Year). Article title. Journal Title, volume(issue), page range. https://doi.org/DOI-assigned-to-the-article
Add the DOI whenever one exists, including for a printed article. Without a DOI, an article from a normal academic research database usually ends after the page range; omit its database URL and name. For an article on a public journal website without a DOI, add its working URL. Special databases publishing original or limited-circulation material have separate rules.
Official guidance: journal articles and database information.
Newspaper and magazine articles
Include the available publication date in year, month, day order. Italicise the newspaper or magazine name, not the article title. For print newspapers, give pages without “p.” or “pp.”; for magazines, include the volume, issue and pages if supplied.
Print newspaper:
White, B. (2024, June 12). Community kitchens open their doors. The Example Herald, 6–7.
Print magazine:
Black, C. (2024, July). Eating together. Example Living, 8(4), 22–25.
Online newspaper:
White, B. (2024, June 12). Community kitchens open their doors. The Example Herald. https://example.org/news/community-kitchens
For online articles, add a DOI if available, otherwise a public URL. Omit an ordinary academic database’s name and URL. An article from a news website without an associated newspaper, such as BBC News, uses the webpage format below.
Official guidance: newspapers and magazines.
3. Online sources
Webpages
Give the named author or responsible organisation, the publication or relevant update date, the italicised page title, the site name and URL. Omit the site name when it is identical to the author. If no author is identifiable, start with the title; use “n.d.” if there is no date.
Green, A. (2024, May 8). Planning a community meal. Example Food Network. https://example.org/planning-a-community-meal
Example Food Network. (n.d.). About our network. https://example.org/about
A normal webpage does not need an access date. Add a retrieval date for unarchived content designed to change over time. A report or journal article found online keeps its own source format; it does not automatically become a webpage reference.
Official guidance: webpages.
Social media
Create an APA social media reference
Use the author or account name and the full post date. The title is the first 20 words of the post, in italics. Count each URL, hashtag and emoji as one word; do not italicise emojis. Add a bracketed description of the post or attached material, the platform name and a link to that specific post. Details vary by platform; include a username or handle when the relevant format calls for one.
Illustrative Facebook status update:
Example Food Network. (2024, May 8). Our community kitchen opens on Saturday. Everyone is welcome to join us for lunch [Status update]. Facebook. https://example.org/social-post
A dated post normally needs no retrieval date. Include a retrieval date for a profile or page whose contents change. See the platform-specific examples in APA’s reference examples.
Official guidance: Facebook posts and pages.
Cite a website Cite a wiki Cite a blog
4. Films, videos, images and podcasts
Films
Credit the director, add their role, and give the release year, italicised film title, “[Film]” and production company. Separate multiple production companies with semicolons. Do not add a country of origin.
Green, A. (Director). (2023). A place at the table [Film]. Example Films.
YouTube videos
Credit the person or organisation that uploaded the video. Use the upload date, italicised title, “[Video]”, “YouTube” and the video URL. A regular dated video needs no retrieval date.
Example Food Network. (2024, January 30). How to plan a community lunch [Video]. YouTube. https://example.org/video
Official guidance: YouTube videos.
Television broadcasts and episodes
For a whole series, credit its executive producer or producers and give the year or year range. For an episode, credit its writer and director, give its original broadcast date, and name the series and executive producer in the source information. The episode title is not italicised; the series title is.
Whole series:
White, B. (Executive Producer). (2022–2024). Community stories [TV series]. Example Television.
Episode:
Green, A. (Writer), & Black, C. (Director). (2024, March 12). A shared table (Season 3, Episode 2) [TV series episode]. In B. White (Executive Producer), Community stories. Example Television.
Official guidance: films and television.
Images and photographs
For museum artwork or photographs, give the creator, year, italicised title, medium in brackets, and the museum’s name and location. Add the museum’s URL for the work when available. Use the hosting site for an image published on a website.
Black, C. (2021). Lunch together [Photograph]. Example Museum, London, United Kingdom. https://example.org/collection/lunch-together
Official guidance: artwork and online and stock images.
Podcasts
Create an APA podcast reference
Credit the host and give their role. A whole podcast uses its title in italics and the years it ran. For an episode, give the exact date, the episode title and number if there is one, “[Audio podcast episode]”, then “In” and the italicised podcast title. Finish with the production company and episode URL when available.
Green, A. (Host). (2024, October 16). Food and friendship (No. 6) [Audio podcast episode]. In Everyday communities. Example Audio. https://example.org/podcast/episode-6
Official guidance: podcasts and episodes.
5. Other source types
Reports: online or print
Give the individual or organisation responsible, year, italicised title and any report number in parentheses. Include the publisher only if different from the author. Add a DOI or public URL for an online report when available.
Example Food Network. (2024). Community food projects: Annual report. https://example.org/reports/annual-report
Official guidance: reports with individual authors and reference elements, including publishers.
Dissertations and theses
A thesis in a database or institutional repository counts as published for APA referencing. Give its degree type and awarding institution in square brackets, then the database or repository and a public URL when available. Include an assigned publication number after the title. For an unpublished thesis, put “Unpublished” and the degree type in brackets, followed by the institution as the source.
Available in a repository:
Green, A. (2024). Community kitchens and student belonging [Master’s thesis, Example University]. Example University Repository. https://example.org/theses/green
Unpublished:
White, B. (2023). Food and local identity [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Example University.
Official guidance: published theses and unpublished theses.
Government and official publications
Credit the specific agency responsible, rather than automatically using “UK Government”. A government report follows the report format; a general government webpage follows the webpage format. Include a parent department as publisher when it differs from the credited agency.
Report template:
Specific Agency. (Year). Report title (Report No. 123). Parent Department. URL
Official guidance: government reports.
Presentations and lectures
For accessible slides, give the author, date, italicised title, “[PowerPoint slides]”, the hosting site and URL. For course materials behind a login, use the platform name and login URL if your intended readers can access them. A lecture or slides that readers cannot retrieve are cited in text as a personal communication, without a reference-list entry.
Black, C. (2024, March 8). Researching everyday meals [PowerPoint slides]. Example University. https://example.org/slides/everyday-meals
Official guidance: slides and lecture notes.
Music
For a nonclassical album, credit the recording artist or group, then give the year, italicised album title, “[Album]” and record label. A normal album reference does not need the streaming service or CD format. Classical recordings, reissues and individual tracks have additional rules.
Green, A. (2024). Shared tables [Album]. Example Records.
Official guidance: music albums.
Dictionaries
For an entry, give its author or responsible organisation, date, entry name, “In” and the italicised dictionary title. Include edition and page details for print entries. An online dictionary that continually changes without archived versions needs “n.d.” and a retrieval date. Do not repeat a publisher identical to the author.
Print entry:
Example Dictionaries. (2024). Community. In Dictionary of social life (2nd ed., p. 85).
Changing online entry:
Example Dictionaries. (n.d.). Community. In Dictionary of social life. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://example.org/dictionary/community
Official guidance: dictionary entries.
Computer programs and software
For software requiring a reference, give the developer or organisation, release year of the version used, italicised software name, version in parentheses, a bracketed description and its source. Omit a publisher identical to the author. Simply mentioning common software, such as a word processor, normally does not need a reference-list entry.
Example Software. (2024). RecipeGen (Version 8) [Computer software]. https://example.org/recipegen
Official guidance: APA Publication Manual, section 10.10.
AI references in APA 7
AI chats and tools: updated guidance
APA’s September 2025 guidance distinguishes a specific shareable chat from the tool generally. A chat reference names the company, full date, italicised chat title, [Generative AI chat], tool and sharing URL. A general tool reference uses the update year and italicised tool name. A version number is no longer required by default. Create an APA AI reference.